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Now, some of you have probably tried to clean your desk area before. However, you ultimately fail to do it properly as it keeps getting messy. Usually, you move a few things around and make it seem like you’ve cleaned it when really you haven’t. So, here’s a full breakdown of everything you should do to keep your desk clean and tidy at all times:
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Ways to keep your desk clean & tidy
Having a messy and untidy desk is a very good way to ensure you get absolutely nothing done. Believe it or not, a messy desk can stop you from doing your work and being as productive as possible. You’re distracted by all the junk everywhere and it’s made your work environment feel very uncomfortable.
Throw out all the clutter
Start by throwing away everything on and around your desk that is completely useless. You know what I’m talking about here! Those empty boxes, the old crisp packets, the used tissues, the candle that burnt out months ago; the list goes on and on. Ask yourself a simple question: do I need this to help me work? Follow it up with another easy question: will I ever need this to help me work?
If the answer is no, you can throw it away or move it somewhere else. Does this mean you should throw away any ornaments or little things you’ve placed on your desk to decorate it? Well, yes and no. I mean, no, never throw them away because you can put them elsewhere in your home. But, you should remove them if they are taking up too much space on your desk. Yes, they look cute and make your desk feel a lot more personal and fun, but if they use up too much of your desk space they have to go.
You’ll be pretty shocked at how much clutter you will end up throwing out from just on and around your desk. It’s a good idea to do this while you’re decluttering the rest of your home as it makes life easier. You can get some affordable skip hire, throw all the bin bags in the skip and let them be taken away. It saves you from making multiple trips to the waste management centre over many different weeks. If you’re tidying your desk, you may as well tidy the rest of the room it’s in at the very least!
Assess your desk
This might sound strange, but you basically have to look at your desk and assess how good it is. The chances are you bought this desk many years ago, simply as a place to do a bit of work now and then. However, circumstances have changed and you find yourself at your desk far more often than you ever expected. Back when you bought it, you looked for the cheapest thing you could find. As a result, you have a pretty small desk with minimal space, so it will always feel cramped and untidy, regardless of what you have on it.
If this is the case, it is worth upgrading to a better desk. Ideally, you want a desk that has at least one useful feature to help you keep it clean and tidy. For example, you could find a computer desk that has a keyboard table you pull out from under the main desk surface. It’s beneficial as it means you can keep your keyboard and mouse there rather than on the surface of the desk.
Right away, the desk looks cleaner, neater and more spacious. Another simple feature is some type of storage built into the desk. This can be a cabinet or drawer beneath the desk, giving you somewhere to keep a lot of your work stuff. Again, you keep things off your desk, making it much cleaner.
Furthermore, getting a slightly bigger desk can make a huge difference. When you have a tiny desk that barely fits your work setup on it, you can’t do anything to make it feel less cramped. But, if you get a desk that’s a bit bigger, you suddenly have more space. This instantly makes your workspace feel less cluttered and it can even give you some space to store a cute ornament or two.
Use desk organisers
Desk organisers are brilliant and come in all shapes and sizes. Some can be as simple as a little pot for pens, while others have multiple sections, mini drawers and loads of other cool features. The whole idea of a desk organiser is to, yep, keep your desk organised!
Adding one or two of these to your desk will really help you keep it clean and tidy 24/7. Instead of leaving things scattered around your desk, you have a place to put them. They’re all kept in little sections, so your desk space is nice and empty. This is easily one of the easiest things you can do, and you can buy a desk organiser from pretty much anywhere.
Get a shelf for your monitor
Firstly, everyone should work on creating an ergonomic place to work. We’re talking about a messy desk being bad for productivity, but so is a setup that’s not ergonomic. An easy thing you can do is raise your computer monitor so it’s eye level. To do this, you can buy little shelves that sit on your desk and raise it up. Not only will this help you on the ergonomic side of things, but it will also help you keep your desk tidy.
How? Because the shelf provides you with space underneath to keep things. It’s the perfect place to store files and paper, removing them from your main desk. By raising your monitor on a little shelf, you’ve unlocked more space on the desk itself. Also, some of these stands/shelves come with extra features that make them even better. Again, you could get drawers built-in, or you could see cable management features – which brings us to the next point.
Manage your cables
Sometimes, the top of your desk looks fine, but underneath is a mess. To sort this out, you need to get ahold of some cable management tips. Essentially, you want to minimise the appearance of cables as much as you can. For starters, you want to remove as many cables as you can from the top of your desk. A simple idea is to use a wireless mouse and keyboard.
Then, you need to tidy the cables behind and below your desk, creating a much cleaner workspace. The video below will give you all the tips and tricks you need to achieve this:
Get a desk vacuum cleaner
Genuinely, this is one tip everyone should follow. Desks can get dusty and dirty all the time – particularly if you sit there for hours and often have a snack or two. Now, you can’t be bothered to go and get your massive hoover to tidy up your desk. Wiping it with a cloth will never remove as much dust as you like. So, the best solution is a desk vacuum cleaner.
Effectively, this refers to any handheld cleaner you can pick up and use to tidy your desk. This is something you can do once a day or a few times a week, and it’s not an issue because the vacuum cleaner is small and easy to use. Just like that, you keep your desk clean.
If you’re struggling to concentrate because your desk is a complete mess, follow these tips. Yes, they are mainly aimed at people working from home, but you can apply all the same tips to your desk in the office as well.
