Cleaning Your Home Office (the Dirtiest Parts)

You spend a lot of your time in your home office — five days of the week most likely. Most of us even eat there when we have a lot of work to do (guilty!).

However, have you ever wondered just how clean your office really is? If you are not a germophobe, chances are that this question hasn’t really crossed your mind.

Still, it is an important one. After all, you spend a good part of the day there. Commercial cleaning experts know exactly where the dirtiest parts of the office are and what you should be careful about. Follow these suggestions for a super clean office. 

Doorknobs

Undoubtedly, the dirtiest part of the office is the doorknobs. Not only are they touched by literally everyone, but they are also typically made of metal, a surface that is very amenable to germs.

However, it is fairly easy to clean the doorknobs with just an alcohol solution or a store-bought cleaner. The problem is that they are constantly touched, so they don’t stay clean for long. SO Lysol is my friend.

If you work outside the home, you may be luckier. Some offices are introducing revolving doors or automated doors as a way to combat the grime and the potential disease distributor that are doorknobs.

Your Keyboard

Let’s be honest, most of us have eaten at our desk. Or touched our keyboard with dirty hands. Seeing how much we all use our keyboards, it is no wonder that they can get pretty gnarly and dirty.

In fact, it can have as many as 4000 germs per square inch. Cleaning your keyboard at least once a week should prevent it from becoming too dirty, but being more careful in the future also helps a lot.

The Office Desk

4000+ bacteria per square inch on your keyboard may sound shocking and a lot, but that is nothing compared to the 10,000+ that can be found on desks.

Not only do we put all kinds of things on those desks, but we also relatively rarely remember to clean them. The part of the desk under your computer screen is typically the dirtiest since it cannot be properly reached without moving the screen. Us lazy people just don't want to move it.

Microwave Oven

Okay, this isn't in your home office, per se, but it's another place where food meets a lot of different people. Plus it's not cleaned as often as it probably should be. Am I right?

Sure, it is an easy and convenient way to get a warm meal during the workday, but cleaning it somehow doesn’t feel like your responsibility. Most people have this kind of attitude, and that can result in a lot of grime and food remains can build up, not only inside the oven but also on the door handle. Yuck!

The Faucet in the Kitchen

Again, not in the office, but something you use a lot during the day. And just like the microwave oven, most people will gladly use it, but nobody really wants to clean it.

The faucet, in particular, is at risk of becoming a dirty hotbed of germs. Simply put, if your hands are dirty or greasy, you will want to wash them. That means touching the faucet with your dirty hands. Do you clean the faucet afterward? Most people do not.

Just be a bit more careful with how we treat our communal spaces can really make a difference.