Richard AgamaAnybody can clean up a space but keeping that space clean requires discipline. However, such discipline shouldn’t be something to dread. Fortunately, you can clean a space once and then implement certain tactics and arrangements in many ways to keep things cleaner longer. Here’s how to clean any space so it stays clean.
Declutter Often
It’s a simple fact of life that we often have too much stuff in our lives. Far more than we’ll ever need. Take a day to look around your business’s office space to determine what you have and decide what you really need. Start with your desk. Take stock of what’s there, then set aside a space for three piles: necessary things, things to store, and things that you can throw or give away. Dump the thing if you haven’t used it for a very long time or no longer feel any attachment to it. After cleaning your workspace, do a periodic check to see if the “necessary” things are still necessary. It’s easier to clean once you get rid of that first batch.
Eliminate Paper
Paper takes up more space than you’d think. Paper also tends to stick around and leave a mess because we place importance on otherwise unnecessary documents. First, go paperless with bills and other documentation. Paper bills and invoices tend to stick around because they seem “important” enough to save. Well, you can save them just as well in electronic format. Truthfully, the only papers you should hold onto are contracts and leases, personal papers like birth, marriage, and death certificates, social security information, wills, insurance policies, and the like. Determine the individual importance of your business’s paperwork, and chuck the chaff by hiring a professional team to shred it. Make sure you receive a certificate of destruction to ensure the chaff is gone for good. Reducing paper will encourage you to stop collecting it.
Proper Storage
It’s important to have certain things available when you need them, but that doesn’t mean they have to be out in the open all the time. Assess your storage capabilities. Filing cabinets are best for storing all those important papers above. You can fit closet spaces and other out-of-sight areas with shelving and other accouterments to maximize your storage space. Off-site storage is a plus, but don’t let a rented garage or the like simply become a catch-all for trash and overflow. Out-of-sight, out-of-mind will eventually come back to bite you!
Involve Others
Here’s one last tip on how to clean any space so it stays clean. Have a lot of people working in a space with you? Such circumstances can lead to more trash, but they can also ensure a space stays clean through encouragement and education. Rotate cleaning duties and encourage the above habits in your employees. Train individuals to identify the early stages of clutter and uncleanliness so they can head them off. Office, facility, warehouse, or job site cleanliness is a team effort!
