I’ve been sitting here for a while, at my dusty desk that I cleaned recently, thinking and searching about why my desk and electronics get so dusty. Let’s review the 10 best hacks to prevent dust from getting to your setups.
How to Stop Dust From Collecting on Desk:
- Check Your Air Conditioner Filters
- Clean Ceiling Fan Blades
- Vacuum your Carpet
- Use An Air Purifier
- Clean The Room! (Walls and Ceiling)
- Clean the Curtains
- Close Windows Whenever Needed
- Stay Away From Wood Oils
- Keep Your Pets Out of The Room
- Finally, Dust Regularly!
I will explain each step thoroughly in a minute, but first, let’s quickly see what exactly dust is and where it comes from,
Based on Wikipedia:
“Dust in homes is composed of about 20–50% dead skin cells. The rest, in offices and other human environments, is composed of small amounts of plant pollen, human hairs, animal fur, textile fibers, paper fibers, minerals from outdoor soil, burnt meteorite particles, and many other materials which may be found in the local environment.”
Now let’s discuss every step required to prevent dust from getting on our desks.
1. Check Your Air Conditioner Filters
Most or even all the dust accumulated on your desk and computer is from the air flowing into your room through windows, open doors, and air conditioner.
Whether it’s a window, split, or any other type, every air conditioning system has filters that accumulate dust from the air passing through it.
So, every now and then, check those filters to see if they need to be cleaned.
If your air filters are dirty, your air-con becomes a source of dust! Every time you turn it on, it starts producing dust particles that’ll end up on your desk and electronics.
2. Clean Ceiling Fan Blades
While Ceiling fan blades may seem shiny clean, they attract a lot of dust on the back of the blades, which isn’t visible.
So, just like the air-con filters, if the blades aren’t cleaned regularly, the fan starts spreading all the dust accumulated on the back every time the fan is turned on.
Many people have their ceiling fans working for years with all the dirt, so without even knowing, all of their furnishers get dusty every time the fan is on.
For cleaning the blades, you can use a step ladder that is tall enough to reach the fans. Also, make sure that the step ladder doesn’t move or slip before you step on it; if it’s wobbly, ask a friend or family member to help you stabilize it.
Also, let others know that you’re cleaning, so no one accidentally turns the fan on; it’s pretty dangerous.
3. Keep Your Carpeting Clean
Most carpets are made of synthetic or natural fibers, these materials, while looking clean, can absorb a lot of dust. Dust in these carpets can’t be removed easily without using a vacuum cleaner.
And if not cleaned, every time we walk on the carpet, we help spread the dust around the room, including the desk setup.
So, to make sure the carpet always stays clean, have a simple schedule of vacuuming it regularly. For most people vacuuming once or twice a week would do just fine, but if you have pets or other things that make your carpets dirty, you should clean them more frequently.
The other option is use a vacuum cleaner robot. These robots have become very popular in last few years, they’re also very advanced now, you just have to program them once simply from an app on your smart phone, and they will do rest of the job.
Some models will map your room for obstacles and even have cameras that let you view your room on you phone.
Note that, even if you don’t have any carpeting in your room, still keep the floor clean; it may not get as dusty as carpets, but cleaning hard floors can definitely help maintain a dust-free desk setup, and it’s much easier too.
4. Use an Air Purifier
Using an air purifier, especially in urban areas with high traffic, can be very effective for breathing clean air. Also, it can help the whole indoor region, including the desks and computers, to stay dust-free.
Invest in a good air purifier, and for the maximum efficiency, try to place it near your main door or window, where most of the air enters.
Just as we discussed for air-cons, air purifiers have filters too. Usually, these filters must be changed every few months (it depends on the model and your usage). So if your model notifies you when to change the filters, just do that, and if it doesn’t, check them every now and then to make sure the system is working correctly.
5. Clean The Room (Walls and Ceiling Included)
To keep your desk setup clean, you must keep all the areas near your desk clean and organized. So, walls, windows, ceilings, and anything you think will store dust must be cleaned.
(also you can read these article about washing your desk mats:
How to Clean Your Desk Pad & How To Clean RGB Mouse pads)
Fortunately, these areas don’t have to be cleaned often; once or twice a year would be just fine. Again, you can use a step ladder to reach different areas for cleaning walls and ceilings. I’m not going to more details about it in this article, but if you want to know more about it, follow this fantastic tutorial.
6. Clean The Room Curtains
since room curtains are placed near windows, and most of the dust comes from there, they act as room filters. They naturally absorb dust and get dirty very quickly. These dirts will not just stay on curtains; they will spread all over the room, especially on your desk.
So, just as in the previous steps, try to check and clean them every few months to make sure that they don’t spread the dust in the room.
7. Close Windows Whenever You Don’t Need Them
As mentioned in step 6, a large amount of dust comes from your windows. So, whenever you feel you don’t need them, just close them; that’s it.
Suppose you live in a crowded urban area or beside a road or any other dusty area. In that case, I highly recommend you keep the windows closed as much as possible and use a good-quality air purifier.
These extreme amounts of dust from car exhausts will make your room dirty and will affect your body in the long term.
8. Stay Away From Wood Oils
While using wood or furniture oils may look very attractive at first, it is not recommended if you are trying to keep your desk clean and dust-free.
More than carpets or even curtains, these oils attract dust particles. And the worst part is that, when they get dusty, it is much harder to clean them afterward. So, my suggestion is to avoid these oils completely; instead, use a cloth and some water to clean your setup; it may not look as shiny as with oils, but it’s more practical for the long term.
9. Try to Keep Pets Out of The Room
Our beloved cats and dogs can be partly responsible for the dust on our desks, so the more we keep our pets in the room, the more cleaning we have to do.
Although the ideal solution is to keep the dog or the cat out of the room if you want to keep them beside you while working, make sure to groom them regularly to minimize the dust.
Also, try to prevent your pets from going to dirty places outdoors, and they do; make sure you clean them before bringing them home.
10. Finally, Dust Regularly!
Following all the steps mentioned above, you can ensure that the amount of dust on your desk is minimized, and you no longer have to dust your desk daily.
But this doesn’t mean that your desk is going to stay clean forever; we don’t live in a perfect world 🙂
Have a simple schedule based on the amount of dust that gets on your desk, use a microfiber cloth and some water for the best results, and that’s it. You are good to go.
Conclusion
Having a fresh and clean desk setup helps you enjoy your working hours, which relates to more productivity and creativity.
By now, I hope you have an overall understanding of what the dust is, where it comes from, and how to prevent it from collecting on your desk.
Most of the techniques mentioned in the article are common sense; I tried to summarize all the hacks and tricks in one place so you can use them as a checklist for your desk setup.
Each procedure alone may not have a tangible effect, but combined, they do make a big difference.
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