Workshop Keep your home workplace clean

Rens Blom

Keeping your home workplace clean is important because dust is bad for your health and that of your equipment. It is therefore preferable to wipe a cloth over your desk or table every day to remove dust and remove any breadcrumbs and dirt. This way you prevent insects and other vermin from getting to it. You don’t have to clean your office chair as often. The vacuum cleaner over it once a week to remove dust and any food residues is sufficient for most people.

MONITOR AND PRINTER
Dust settles everywhere, but all the way to electronic devices. Your monitor, PC or laptop and printer therefore quickly look dirty. More importantly, dust can accumulate in holes and cracks and damage the equipment inside. It is best to remove dust from a screen and printer with a dry microfibre cloth. Then spray special screen cleaner on the microfibre cloth and gently wipe the screen. You always spray special screen cleaning liquid on the microfibre cloth and never directly on the screen. Make sure the liquid is free of acetone – this will damage your equipment. Depending on how much dust settles in your home office, you can clean your monitor and possibly printer daily or a few times a week.

KEYBOARD AND MOUSE
You touch your keyboard and mouse all day long and are therefore full of bacteria. And there is a good chance that there is also food residue, dust and other dirt between your keys and on your mouse. Cleaning your keyboard and mouse starts by unplugging the computer and/or removing the battery(ies). Then turn the keyboard upside down and shake it gently, preferably over a trash can. Put the keyboard back down and blow between all the keys. You can optionally use a cotton swab or can of compressed air (available for about six euros) to get dirt deep between the keys. Finally, wipe the keyboard with an antistatic, alcohol-free cloth. At many well-known (web) stores you can get a discount pack of a hundred cleaning wipes for a few euros.
You clean your mouse with an antistatic alcohol (free) cloth. If you have a – usually ergonomic – mouse with a ball, you can remove the ball and clean the inside of the mouse and the ball separately with the cloth. Put the ball back and your mouse is clean again.

COMPUTER
You can keep your laptop or computer clean in several ways. We have already discussed the laptop screen, but also pay attention to the ventilation holes of your desktop or computer. Dust also gets into the ventilation holes for the cooling, and if that builds up, it can negatively affect the functioning of your computer. It is best to unscrew a desktop cabinet – no matter where it is placed – every three months to remove dust on the inside. You can do this with a cleaning cloth or a handheld vacuum cleaner (on a soft setting). You can usually hardly disassemble a laptop, so it is advisable to regularly hold the handheld vacuum against the ventilation holes. That way you remove as much dust as possible.

(Photo: Samsung)

SMARTPHONE AND TABLET
You can also clean your smartphone and tablet. The screen is the dirtiest and is best cleaned with an antistatic, alcohol-free cleaning cloth. Preferably do this daily. An interesting alternative is the Samsung ITFIT UV sterilizer: a compact box that offers space for your smartphone and that would kill almost all bacteria via UV light. The box is large enough for a 6.7-inch phone and also suitable for other compact electronics. Cleaning takes ten minutes and in the meantime the box charges your device wirelessly, provided it is suitable for this, of course. The selling price is thirty euros.

(Photo: Philips)

IMPROVE AIR QUALITY
Now that your workspace and equipment are clean, you can think about further improving your home office. A popular choice is the purchase of an air purifier. It cleans the air in the room by sucking up bacteria, pollen and other dirt and holding it in one or more filters. An air purifier is extra useful if you work with several people in a room or if you are close to the kitchen. The smells and smells that arise during cooking have a negative influence on the air quality in the house. No matter how well your roommate cooks and regardless of whether the extractor hood is on. An air purifier is therefore extra effective if you place it near the kitchen. Anyone who often works with the window or door open can also benefit from an air purifier. The outside air also contains all kinds of bacteria and harmful substances, including exhaust gases. A decent air purifier starts at a hundred euros. Instead of an air purifier, you can also get an air-purifying plant species at home. Although it works less effectively, it does brighten up your home office. Finally, you can improve the smell of your home workplace by, for example, putting down fragrance sticks.