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Miscellaneous Monday: National Clean Your Desk Day

Amanda Barber

It's 8:30 am in Sydney, Australia, so I'm kicking off Miscellaneous Monday as I round out my chilly Sunday afternoon here in Wisconsin. 🥶

Each year, the second Monday of January is recognized as National Clean Off Your Desk Day. Some years, the second Monday falls on a much earlier date, which allows us to enter the new year on a clean and organized foot! This year, most of us have most likely been back at work for a bit already. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t take a day to tidy up your desk—including your desktop!

Brown and Cream Manhwa Anime Study Desk Organizer Desktop Wallpaper.png

🤔 Did You Know?

Anne Moeller in Clio, Michigan, is the organized, clean enthusiast who started this annual day of celebration, and it may have come from the pre- and post-holiday clutter!
The average work desk can be 100 times dirtier than a kitchen table and 400 times germier than a toilet! 🤢Germs thrive on computers and keyboards - go grab a cleaning wipe and give yours a bath.
Scientific research says tidy desks make you more efficient. -Source: https://hbr.org/2019/03/the-case-for-finally-cleaning-your-desk

☑ Tips for a Tidy Space:

Take out the trash (and any food) regularly
Figure out your filing style and try something new if it’s not working
Organize your drawers and desk with cups and dividers
Tuck your distractables like cell phones away in a drawer to keep your desk tidy and your mind focused

🧼 Let’s see your photos of your tidy (and clean 🧼) workspace! Feel free to share any organizing tips to keep your physical and digital spaces clean.

Sources: https://nationaltoday.com/national-clean-your-desk-day/

Text gif. The word "happy" in loopy script flashes between pink and white over static, boxy text that reads "moments" against a background video of people strolling in the surf on a beach at sunset.

Comments

John Funk

Well, this is timely! I am about to ship my desk (really a table on wheels) to the US, so I will be completely cleaning it today or tomorrow at the latest!

Anahit Sukiasyan

Such a fun and inspiring post, @Amanda Barber! 🧼✨ National Clean Your Desk Day is the perfect reminder to start the year fresh and organized. I had no idea a desk could be that germy.🧽

I'll definitely be trying out the filing style tip; sometimes a new system is all it takes to stay motivated.

Rilwan Ahmed

Water bottles, lunch bag, Atlassian Certified Expert jacket always in my desk.

Stephen.Lugton

I have just spent the last 10 minutes making my desk unreasonably messy, it will stay like that for the next 8 - 9 hours and then everything comes off it into my backpack or locker, hotdesking in the office is great!

Daria Kulikova_GitProtect.io

@Amanda Barber very inspiring post Cleaning my desk was definitely what I needed to start my Monday today. I work remotely and my daughter decided to play next to my working desk during the weekend- she was drawing pictures... As a result I had beautiful pictures and dirty desk from paints

Lacy Saute

Ewww, didn't really think about how germy desks were til this post. My desk is all ready for the week!

PXL_20250113_145517124.MP.jpg

Barbara Szczesniak

My work-from-home desk is way too small to be tidy—work laptop, personal desktop, 2 giant monitors, 2 keyboards, 2 mice, docking station…

You did say desktop, though, and I see that my laptop screen is more than 50% covered with icons, so I think I will take some time to go through that today, organize things, and get rid of the trash.

Amanda Barber

Oof, that's a lot of items for a home desk, @Barbara Szczesniak! Great time to clean up your desktop icons though. Thanks for chiming in. Happy cleaning. 🧹

Amanda Barber

I think we have the same desk, although I have a gray top. Looks nice and tidy - and hopefully germ-free!

Amanda Barber

Glad you were able to set aside to get your area clean and ready to be productive! My kids always leave me little treasures on and around my desk, too!

Amanda Barber

Ugh, my husband was stuck "hotdesking" up until a few weeks ago. He's happy to have his own desk now to leave a few odds and ends rather than making a new desk his home each day.

Thanks for sharing, @Stephen_Lugton

Amanda Barber

Have to wear and display that proudly, for sure, @Rilwan Ahmed!

Amanda Barber

I agree! I started a new job today and was able to purge my old system while I start fresh.

Amanda Barber

Are you moving back to the U.S., @John Funk? How exciting! This may be the cleanest your desk has been or will be once you get back to using it. 😜

Amanda Barber

I finally got a chance to do a little tidying. It's not perfect, but I also enjoy some of my little trinkets and things. I cheated and started a new job today which means my macbook's desktop was automatically clean. 😜

Tomislav Tobijas

Even though I have a wide desk, I don't have that much stuff on it. Few Lego sets, one plushy and equipment to work.

Although there are just a lot of cables going around as I have a laptop, desktop PC, and sometimes even a second laptop around with a couple of monitors and TVs all around the room 😅 I hate seeing all these cables hanging out everywhere so tend to have a cable management session once or twice a year. This was from last year when I moved in and despite upgrading my setup since then, it stayed clean as possible.

And as for this statement about dirty keyboards - I've been thinking about cleaning it for a while now so this came as a good reminder. I've reserved Saturday morning to finally do it 😄 2025-01-13 23-22-37.png

Lacy Saute

Ohh that after pic is beautiful. 🤩 I desperately need a better cable management solution.

Lacy Saute

Cute! Love all the colors and the plants!

Susan Waldrip

Congrats on your new job, @Amanda Barber ! (And a very nice, clean desk ☺️)

Susan Waldrip

Nice remake, @Tomislav Tobijas ! Just got a new desk, so I'm getting ready to do the same with mine -- this is inspiring!

John Funk

@Amanda Barber - yes! Will arrive on January 28 in Montana!

Ananjan_miniOrange

Wow, this is something new and so relatable! My desk is usually pretty tidy, but my drawers are like black holes—they just swallow up anything that doesn’t belong on the table! 😅 Definitely inspired to tackle them—thanks for the reminder!

This is such a fun and inspiring post, @Amanda Barber! And that article you shared is super interesting—loved it! 🙌

Amanda Barber

Wow, what a transformation! Great idea to set a reminder (maybe repeating every few weeks) for the keyboard scrubbing! 🧽

Amanda Barber

How exciting, @John Funk! Hoping for safe travels and a smooth move!

Shawn Doyle - ReleaseTEAM

After the holidays and coming back from conferences, this is about as clean as my desk will get for a while.

Barbara Szczesniak

@Shawn Doyle - ReleaseTEAM It looks like you have all your ducks in a row 🤣

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