Practical and Helpful Spring Cleaning Tips for the Office

Spring cleaning tips for the office can come in handy at any time of the year. You don’t have to wait until Winter leaves us to keep your workspace tidy and more work-friendly.

In this article I wanted to present some cleaning tips for the office you can use any time of the year. To be honest, I do a really good job in cleaning my desktop and my immediate work area on a regular basis. What I have a problem with at times are with my desk drawers. I recently opened up one of my cubicle drawers and it was filled to the rim with basically junk.

It was stuff that simply had accumulated over the years of working at the same company for 17 years. I had stuff in there from when my kids were little and they used to draw and paint stuff for Dada (that’s what they called me and even though they are both in their 20s they still do). I do keep a lot of the things that they have made for me over the years but there are times when you just have to bite the bullet and throw some of it away.

I also had a bunch of CDs of software applications that I had from years gone by since I work in the IT field. Today, you basically download any software from a website and there really isn’t a need to have the CD on-hand anymore. So, I basically just threw all of those away. If you look closely at the picture on the right above you will see that my bucket next to my drawer is filled to the rim. I’m sure the cleaners didn’t like me when they came to clean the buckets that night.

Anyway, here are some spring cleaning tips for the office that you can utilize at any time of the year.

1. Buy some Wipes and use them Regularly!

I wrote an article about Must-Have Cubicle Cleaning Supplies a while back and I certainly included this tip in that article. I know this may sound like a no-brainer but if you have a container of wipes on hand and visible in your office cubicle, it just might remind you to use them on a regular basis. I usually pick Fridays to wipe down all of the surfaces in my office.

You’d be surprised how easily crumbs and dust accumulate on an office desktop especially if you eat in your office on a regular basis (like I do). I also like to wipe down my office phone with a wipe each week. Believe me it makes a real difference to stay on top of the dust and whatever is left to clean up in your office.

2. Cans of Compressed Air

I love this stuff. How else can you clean out a bunch of crumbs or dust in your keyboard? There are also many other hard-to-get-at spots in a small office like the corner of the desk behind your computer monitor or anywhere else that’s hard to reach.

It’s even better when your company springs for the compressed air as my company does but I have to buy my own for my home office. I simply won’t do without a can of compressed air when it comes to my working areas.

3. Get those Cords and Cables in Order

I wrote an article that talked about tidy cable ideas in the office because this was an actual exercise that we undertook at work as part of a safety initiative.

If you aren’t wireless there are cords running from your keyboard, mouse, computer, telephone, and any other electronic device that you use in your office. I also have a one cup coffee maker and an electric kettle that I use every day that have cords that could be a safety hazard.

As part of the safety exercise we concentrated on the areas near the employee’s feet where there could be cords that could get tangled in your feet. We ended up tying up the cords that were in the feet area using nylon cable ties that you can see in a photo within this article. I know it may sound like a small thing but the Safety Committee at my workplace looks at any potential safety hazard, this particular one is a tripping hazard, and takes steps to prevent any mishaps from occurring.

4. Clean up your Office Floor

Sometimes you just end up storing excess boxes, papers, or books on the floor in an office. I know I had a box with books and project files that I brought from a previous company and I kept it right on the floor of my office cubicle. I made it a point to clear out the box, put any of the books that I could use in my overhead bin in my cubicle, and threw out most of the stuff that I will never use. Try keeping the floor clear of clutter and, once you do, the footprint of your office might just appear bigger.

5. Clean out your Overhead Storage Bin

If you have a typical cubicle, as I do, you probably have an overhead storage bin. I store my books, my hand-crank burr coffee grinder, coffee, and many other odds and ends in this unique cubicle storage area. You can see that my storage bin needs some work!

Like my cubicle drawers just because it is hidden doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be clean inside. The problem with my overhead storage bin is that I usually have it open during the day. You can certainly see that my storage bin needs some more work and I plan on cleaning it up this week!

I hope you can use these spring cleaning tips for the office in your own work area. If you make it a point to stay on top of it throughout the year, maybe in the springtime you can just concentrate on your home and not your office!