How do you engineers keep your place clean? [closed]

Question

I have a major problem keeping not only my desk, but my entire place clean. I end up spending all of my time behind the keyboard and slowly but surely it all turns to crap everywhere but between my monitors and I. It's causing some major problems IRL and I need to fix it.

Question: I'm an engineer, and I eat, sleep, and breathe think like an engineer. Do you have any ideas for engineering a clean place?

Note to the messy users out there: Not really interested. I've been messy for ages so I've got that covered. I'm looking for real suggestions from people who actually keep clean, preferably from some who've been in my shoes before.

Answer 1

Ray Kroc was a big proponent of "Clean as you go". If you make a mental effort to clear a small bit of the mess at the end of every task, you will find things never get so messy that you can't snap it back into shape in about 3 minutes. Those who do not periodically maintain their work area end up being like the guy who has stacks of paper everywhere around his desk.

Even if it is just pick up or file one document, convert a scrap of paper to an electronic note, etc. A solid mental process that does not leave loose ends hanging out there will pay dividends in every engineering effort. Cleaning is a very simple requirement, so not a lot of process engineering to get it right. Continued adherence to the process you come up with will keep things looking fine in your end of the cubiverse.

Answer 2

We hired a cleaning lady. She comes every two weeks with two people in tow. They clean every room in our apartment and it is awesome. It is worth the money to remove the stress of the mess build-up.

Answer 3

I've been considering this problem as well and I would have to say, put some thought/design into it.

For example, look at your cluttered desk. What does not belong? Setup some rules for where stuff belongs and make sure you have enough room.

For example,

1. A paid Visa statement, shred it (buy a shred and put it on your desk), or file it (keep the filing cabinet or folder near by)
2. Garbage, get a garbage bin
3. Screws and wires, stop building bombs...I mean pick a box to store that stuff
4. Pens, remove all but one

Now you should have the minimal amount of stuff on your desk. Make sure stuff that ends up on the desk can be put in its proper place within reaching distance. This will prevent you from being too lazy.

Now look on your floor and do the same thing. And when you are done, buy a Roomba. Now you have clean floors and desk forever.

I actually haven't done all this myself yet, but that's because I don't have enough room yet. I will be getting a bigger place so I can implement these rules. Some other things I will be doing:

• Having in-suite laundry, so no dirty clothes basket, it just piles up in the washer.
• No carpet anywhere to reduce dust
• No gaps where a Roomba can't fit into
• Having only one set of utensils and dishes, so I can't pile them up
• Placing an air cleaner near my desk, where I usually am and run it during the day to reduce dust. (Don't know how effective this will be)
• Mounting as much as possible under the desk (for example internet routers, power bricks) to reduce surface area for dust
• No gaps behind or between things for dust
• Hang pictures without a frame (or a very thin one) to reduce that tiny bit of horizontal surface area for dust

Answer 4

True story: last night I came home and my wife had piled up a bunch of my stuff. We talked about what to do, I said I'd think about putting it on Craigslist and figuring out what to keep and what to get rid of.

I took my daughter to swim lessons. By the time we got home, my wife had listed it all on Freecycle and the whole lot was gone.

YMMV.

Answer 5

Buy a roomba. It won't work until the floor is cleaned of all clutter and no self respecting engineer will let a cool robot sit there idle.

Answer 6

Hire a cleaning lady. If you're an engineer you probably make enough money where it's not going to be a bank-breaking expense. Plus, doing a good job of keeping your place clean is something that will take hours per month. Depending on where you live - I live in an NYC studio apartment and it takes that long.

If you're a good engineer you probably get somewhere around 100 bucks an hour, and a cleaning lady is going to cost less than that for one session per month.

Answer 7

As an engineer myself i know what you mean...

For some reason, machined samples, broken parts, ect keep piling up on my desk (er, at least when I actually had a job...) as well as papers, reference books and other stuff.

My solution to the problem was 2 fold.

First, get a second desk/table near your computer if possible. This table will be designated as space to throw "stuff" on. I like to think of my desk as like a computer system (even though I'm a mech, not a comp). The second table represents the "computer's" hard drive while your primary desk represents the "cache" (and you, of course being the CPU). Anything that you are working on at that particular moment is on your primary desk, nothing else. Anything that you are not working on at that moment goes to your extra table.

The second part of this is the scheduled cleanups. I personally reorient myself every week in terms of project status and set goals and priories for the week. During this time (typically on a Monday morning) i will also go through the table of "stuff" and start either throwing stuff out, returning garbage to the production floor, or put stuff in "storage" (ie, the ground, this is reserved for projects that are going to be on hold for at least the next week and wont be used this week).

I believe in efficiency. however, I also believe in focusing on only one thing at a time and working with it, muti tasking reduces overall efficiency and that is why i don't have a "clean as you go" mentality (im also kinda lazy when it comes to cleaning...). If you are going to do cleaning, do it in one shot so that you know what you spend more time doing as opposed to wasting time figuring out what to do.

I hope that helps

Answer 8

we are having cleaning persons . they are cleaning every day evening and arrange each desk in office.

Suppose if you would like to read some techniques for that . I would suggest to read

http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-Up-Your-Desk

and I just taken out some points from there

organizers  (files...) for your work.

less photo frames

wipes and tissues

Answer 9

If you want a structured approach, you could implement 5S.

Answer 10

If you need some inspiration have a look at the Squalor Survivors site. It's aimed at people with real mess issues, but quite fascinating to read.