Crunching numbers and picking up sales aren’t the only important aspects of an office environment. Your workspace needs to be in tip top shape for you to reach those monthly quotas!
Cleaning commercial spaces isn’t the most glamorous task, but it relieves you of all the stress from working in a cramped, cluttered, and dusty office. With the pandemic going on, keeping your office clean is as essential as it has ever been, and daily disinfection is a must for the everyday worker.
There are times when you should leave the cleaning to the professionals, such as deep cleaning and pest control. In regards to general cleaning, however, you can opt to clean your workspace yourself with our 5 ways to DIY your office cleaning:
1. DIY Cleaning Solvents
Take note that disinfection is separate from cleaning, and the CDC does not advise using vinegar or lemon juice to sanitize surfaces. Instead, these cleaning solutions are presented as homemade cleaning alternatives to wipe away general grime and dust.
Lemon and Salt Surface Spray
Lemon has been hailed for its cleaning properties for a long time, and salt is a known cleaning and germ-inhibiting agent. Mix together the juice of one lemon, a cup of warm water, and some table salt to create a cleaning solution with a refreshing scent.
Use the solution to clear dust and dirt from your tabletops and other surfaces, refresh your office chair, remove the odours from your office carpet, and clean marks off of the telephone and equipment. Clean out the office fridge and wipe down with the lemon and salt spray for a fresh finish. Use only on acidic-safe surfaces such as plastic and glass.
All-around Vinegar Spray
Getting fingerprints on your computer screen? Are those office windows looking cloudy? The copy machine printing hazy scans? Use a spray made from white distilled vinegar diluted with water to get rid of those marks without leaving streaks!
Put together a cup of white vinegar and a cup of water into a spray bottle. Spray directly on windows and glass partitions, and wipe clean using a dry, microfiber cloth in a circular motion. To clean screens, spray the solution onto a cloth first before wiping down the device. You can also use the spray to clean the walls and sink.
Essential Oil Deodorizer and Room Refresher
The office is a closed space, and smells can sometimes get trapped indoors. Food from lunches and take out, damp carpets, mold, and sweat are just some of the contributing factors to those off-putting office smells.
Get rid of these nasty odours with an essential oil deodorizer. Add together a cup of water, 2 tablespoons of neutral-smelling alcohol like vodka, a tablespoon of baking soda, and 20-30 drops of your favourite essential oil blends. Give your office a spritz and bask in the sweet smells of your essential oil room refresher!
2. Dry Cleaning
You can’t just wash your office chair in the middle of the workday, and you wouldn’t want to come into the office on a weekend just to do it. Instead, reach in the office pantry from some baking soda that will clear the dirt and smells off of your office chair.
Sprinkle baking soda all around your office chair, soda, or couch, and rub in the granules until the seat is fully covered in baking soda. Let the powder sit for around 20 minutes before vacuuming up the baking soda. Use the essential oil room refresher to finish up your dry cleaning.
Same goes for your office pillows, carpets, and curtains. Sprinkle baking soda on any fabric furniture in the office, as these can be cleaned using the dry cleaning method. Deodorize afterwards using the essential oil room refresher.
3. Wash Cleaning
If you have a wet vacuum cleaner, then washing some office fabrics is possible and easy. Simply wash your office furniture with some furniture shampoo, and scrub deep into the nooks and crannies of the sofa, chairs, and carpets.
Use the vacuum cleaner in the wet setting to vacuum up the excess moisture, then allow the fabrics to air dry. For rugs and chairs, you can opt to leave them outside to dry in the sunlight, while carpets can be dried faster with a fan blowing directly at it.
4. Steaming
Steam cleaning is one of the ways you can disinfect your office, and one of the proven ways to get rid of bacteria and viruses from surfaces. If your office has sprung for a steam cleaner, you can use the device to sanitize any surface that can withstand heat.
Go over the area twice or thrice to make sure you don’t miss a spot. Steam cleaning is perfect for fabrics that can’t be sanitized by harsh disinfectants, as well as varnished surfaces that melt in solvents like alcohol.
5. Disinfecting
After clearing your office of any grime and dust, it’s time to disinfect your surfaces for a full-on top to bottom clean. Daily disinfection is a necessity now, as we try to avoid Covid-19 from entering our homes and businesses.
For disinfection, we recommend using commercial sanitizers that are 99.9% effective at killing bacteria and viruses. Your personal office desk can be disinfected with hand sanitizer, effectively killing off viruses from your table. Fabrics and sensitive surfaces can be steam cleaned, while the majority of office surfaces can be cleaned with an alcohol disinfectant.
To sanitize the air, use a spray-type disinfectant solution such as Lysol. The bathroom and pantry areas are most susceptible to germs, so these areas will need to be disinfected frequently throughout the day.
