With the weather starting to warm up, spring is officially in the air, and that means it’s almost time for your annual spring-cleaning. While most of you probably think of spring-cleaning as something you do at home, here at Lighthouse we recognize the importance of cleaning your office as well. Since you probably overlooked office cleaning, here are a few tips to help you out.
1) Organize Your Papers
Loose papers can be a nightmare in your office space, and doing something about these loose papers should be among your top priorities when spring cleaning rolls around. One trick you should try is getting folders, binders, or some kind of organization system so that even if you have a lot of papers, at least, you’ll have an organized way of storing them.
2) Clean Out Your Inbox
Office cleaning isn’t always physical; you also have to address the junk piling up in your inbox. Go through all the emails you’ve received in the past year and delete ones that you don’t need. You’ll be amazed at all the useless emails you’ve neglected to delete until now, and you’ll be relieved that your inbox is now a lot more organized.
3) Clear Computer Desktop
After your inbox is clear of useless messages, take a look at your computer’s desktop and look for things you can dump. Surely you don’t need the dozens of icons that are cluttering up your computer screen every time you look at it. Even if you can’t put everything in the trash, you can at least put the files and programs you don’t use on a daily basis into folders to make things less cluttered.
4) Leave No Surface Un-cleaned
When you return to physical cleaning, make sure you leave no stone unturned. Everything from computers, fax machines, printers, etc. needs to be cleaned off to prevent the build-up of dust and grime. Take your time and be thorough with your cleaning; after all, you work with these objects every day.
5) Throw Out Junk Mail, Gain A Plant
At the office, as it is at home, it’s easy to let junk mail and meaningless papers pile up when they should be in the trash. When spring-cleaning rolls around and you finally gain the courage to throw all of the useless papers on your desk away, replace all that junk mail with a plant. It doesn’t have to be big, but putting a plant near you breathes new life into your workspace and gives you less room to store useless papers that you’ll never need, forcing you to throw them out right away.
6) Clean Your Pen Cup
Most of us probably have some kind of container on our desk for storing pens, pencils, highlighters, and any other writing utensils. Well, once a year go through your pens and highlighters and see how many of them actually work. If you have to put forth any effort to make ink come out, the pen is not worth keeping, so throw it out; you’ll have less clutter on your desk and it won’t be so hard to find a working pen next time you need one.
7) Tie Up Loose Cords
With all the electronic devices in modern offices, having large amounts of electric cords is inevitable. The least you can do is tie them all up together, cover them up, and put them some place where they’re not going to get in the way or be noticed, and spring-cleaning in your office is the best time to take care of this.
8) Bring Important Items Close to You
Finally, you have to reorganize the items in your office or workspace in a way that’s convenient for you. The things that you need the most should be placed on top of your desk or in your top drawers, while things you require less often can be placed further away. This will not always save you time during your work day, but your entire office or workspace will feel clean and organized, and in turn, much more professional.
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