Spring Cleaning for the Home Office

There are two types of attitudes when it comes to spring cleaning, okay, maybe three. First, there are the people who dread “that time of year,” but still force themselves to get through it for the sake of their home. Then, there are people who love to get organized and level up their space. They see spring cleaning as an exciting task that is to be conquered. And finally, there are people who don’t even think about it at all. If you’re here, you’re at least somewhere between group A and group B. If you’re ready to get this knocked out, you can always use this post as your spring cleaning for the home office checklist!

Spring Cleaning for the Home Office

If you work from home, you likely spend a lot of time in your workspace. And, if the area is cluttered, it can actually make your brain feel the same way. Having a clean, organized place to work can help you to get more done. Here’s how you can nail the spring cleaning and create a workspace you love! Granted, now that we’re in the era of COVID, it may be necessary to kick things up a bit when it comes to cleaning your home office. Still, this is a good general guide to help you get your workspace clean and organized so you can kick butt during your workdays.

What You’ll Need

Gather as many of the supplies below as you’ve got around the house. If you’re missing something, you can get all of them on Amazon or at Target, etc., and bookmark this page to come back when you’re ready to start cleaning! Or, you can try to get through as much as possible with what you’ve got handy.

• Dry duster/broom (or vacuum if your office is carpeted)
• A good multi-surface cleaner
• Rags (or cut-up old T-shirts)
• A microfiber cloth
• A Swiffer or mop (only if your office isn’t carpeted)
• Air duster
• Isopropyl alcohol

Move Things Around

Gain a fresh perspective by moving the furniture in your home office. Even if all you do is move your desk from one wall to another, it will still make a huge difference. Plus, the entire purpose of spring cleaning is to clean things you wouldn’t otherwise clean, right?

Clear Off Shelves

Now that you’ve gotten all of your furniture situated where you like it, it’s time to start with the cleaning and organizing. Work your way from the top shelves downwards, removing everything from each and then wiping them down.

Clean Out Drawers

Empty out one drawer at a time, starting with the one nearest to you (or whichever one you use the most.) Take all of your papers and everything else out of the drawer. If you’ve got a divider or any type of storage, take those out too. Use your multi-surface cleaner and rag to wipe the inside of each out, all around the sides and bottom.

Organize Your Paperwork

Now that you’ve got everything out of your drawers, it’s the perfect time to sift through your paperwork and toss out anything you don’t need, won’t need in the future, or isn’t important to you. If you’re an online business owner, you may be paperless at this point, so if that’s the case, skip ahead to the next step! If you’ve still got mounds of papers lying around though, go through them and toss everything you don’t need. Separate everything you do need using groups that work for you. Then, place them in individual and/or accordion folders or an over-the-door hanging file system to keep each category together.

Declutter Your Digital Desktop

Spring cleaning for the home office wouldn’t be complete without cleaning out your computer. After all, if you work from home, chances are good that you’re on it for several hours every day, and probably saving a whole lot of stuff you no longer need. Start with your desktop, getting rid of anything that’s cluttering it, and placing things you do need into labeled (and relevant) folders. Organize everything in a way that’ll be easy for you to navigate and remember. Cleaning up your computer won’t just help you access everything more easily, but it can also speed the system up and help you get your work done more quickly and efficiently.

Clean the Outside of Your Computer

You may wipe it down from time to time, but when is the last time you really cleaned your computer? According to this extensive guide on Wired about how to deep clean your computer, you’ll need some air duster, cotton swabs, a microfiber cloth, some isopropyl alcohol, and an hour or two to get the job done right.

Build Your Immediate Space For Your Day-to-Day

Think about what you reach for (or around) on your desk every day. Is there something you always have to go just a bit too far out of your way to get that you use on a daily basis? And on the flip side of that, what do you have around you that you don’t need? Get rid of things that are lying around that you don’t actually use. An exception to this might be decorative pieces you’ve put out to liven up the room, but other than that, reserve your immediate workspace for things you use every day. If you could use some help in the organizational department, you can always add some decorative storage to the top of your desk to keep things in order.

Improve the Air Quality in Your Home Office

Once you’ve gotten everything moved around and organized in the way that feels best to you, it’s time to clean off the surfaces of all of your furniture. Use your rag and multi-surface cleaner and wipe everything down. Then, run your vacuum over the floor (or set your robot vacuum to do it for you.) Alternatively, if you have a hard floor, use a Swiffer sweep and vac or a broom and dustpan. Add an oil diffuser that doubles as a humidifier to control the air quality (and scent) of the room.

Take Inventory

Is there something that could be easier for you if you had access to an additional piece of equipment? Perhaps you’ve been considering making the buy for some time now but you keep forgetting about it or trying to convince yourself you don’t really need it. If it’s something that’s been popping into your mind for a while and this camera, etc., will improve the quality of your work and make your life even a little better, go for it!

Keep Your Home Office Clean

After you’ve gone through all of this work, the last thing you want to do is let the room get all dusty (again,) or get covered in nutrition bar wrappers and water bottles, etc. In any case, look around you. You always want your office to be this clean, so maintain it, since maintenance takes a lot less time and effort than deep cleaning does.

Keep some cleaning wipes nearby so that you can wipe anything down the second you need to. You should also store your microfiber cloth in the general vicinity of your computer so that you can clean it off at least once per week or so. Keep

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