10 Steps to Clean Up Your Office in 10 Minutes

Do you have the guts to part ways with all those broken gadgets, notepads and pens? This 10 step office cleanup guide should have you neat and tidy in no time. Try to spend just one minute on each task, and move quickly.

1. Food

If you aren’t at your desk, it should look that way. Food is the biggest culprit in desk grime, smell and overall uncleanliness. Plus, it probably grosses out your office mates

How to Fix It: Throw away anything you haven’t taken a bite from in the last 5 minutes. Any plates, bowls or silverware that haven’t been cleaned since your last meal should be taken to the kitchen. Once you’re there, you can have a celebratory cup of coffee, after you wash your mug.

2. Streamline office Supplies

An all-in-one stapler, tape dispenser may not be your tool of choice, but maybe you don’t even need both. Office supply overload is unnecessary with so many documents living in the “cloud.”

How to Fix It: For every highlighter, stapler, staple remover and clip, choose a few to keep. You don’t need every color of pen, or 4 notebooks.

3. Disinfect

The last cold you got probably wasn’t from germs in the bathroom. Many studies suggest that the desktop in an office is dirtier than the restroom. If you keep anything at your desk, disinfectant isn’t a bad choice.

How to Fix it: Just like dusting, spray, swipe, repeat. Making sure your desktop is free and clear of dust and clutter will make it easier to spray often.

4. Hardware

Your printer and computer are the backbone of your office. Don’t let them get dusty and greasy. A quick clean is cheaper than buying new hardware.

How to Fix it: Wipe down your screen. Get a hold of canned air if you can, and blow the dust out of your keyboard and CPU.

5. Cards, Toys, Office Swag

It feels nice to get a card or thoughtful gift from a friend at work. Even if you didn’t get the present from a colleague, these things make your desk feel like home, understood. Don’t become one of those people with the desks that look like a museum.

How to Fix It: Parse through the desk toys and get rid of anything that you got for free or at a seminar. It detracts from any accolade related desktop items. If you have an award or certificate of achievement, make sure it’s not overshadowed by your convention pens and stuffed toys.

6. Clothes

If your office had a shower, you’d never leave, right? That doesn’t mean your office mates should have to hang out with your gym clothes in perpetuity.

How to Fix It: Your clothes – a sweater, a scarf, socks – probably accumulated over a few months, toted around in your purse or a shopping bag. Before you throw your take-out away, save the bag, stow your clothes and remember to take them home with you. Either that or drop them off at a laundromat.

7. Dust

How’d it get there? If you’ve had your desk covered in unnecessary paperwork, chances are you haven’t been able to give it a proper wipe-down.

How to Fix it: If you’re immobile, we suppose you could use the condensation from your cup of iced coffee and a napkin, but in case you can get up, give your desk a nice wipe with a damp paper towel. After a few swipes you’ll be squeaky clean!

8. Paper Clips

Let’s get real. When is the last time you used one? Chances are, unless you’re making jewelry, or roping off a room, you don’t need the 400 pack sitting on your desk.

How to fix it: This one’s rather simple. Grab as much as you can in one handful, give the rest to a friend or office mate. Paperclips are an office product lots of people tend to buy in bulk because they’re cheap, but they’re messy. If you ever find yourself without a paper clip, ask a friend!

9. Pens

Why they’re the culprit: You probably have 19 pens on your desk, only 3 work, and there’s only one you’ll happily write with.

How to fix it: Do you even need to bother checking all of the pens to see which ones work and which are duds? Start by tossing anything from a hotel, doctor’s office or golf course. Keep pens with sentimental value, of course, especially if you can refill the ink. Toss the rest. If you don’t own a pencil sharpener, donate them to a student.

10. Paper

Why it’s messy: Paper is the biggest desk culprit. Chances are you have piles of notes, receipts and cartoons strewn about, and it’s keeping you from getting to other office organization tasks.

How to fix it: Take 1 minute to organize receipts and documents into separate piles. Sift through for “to do” lists so you can compile them later. Throw away anything you already have on your computer. If you’re afraid of wasting printer ink by printing it again, save it.