It's surprising how dirty your smartphone, tablet, or laptop gets over time, even when you give them the odd wipe with the old microfiber cloth that you use pretty much everything else. Cleaning your devices isn't the most exciting chore around but it's necessary if you want to keep your devices looking and functioning at optimum levels instead of being known as that person with the grimy phone or laptop. This guide takes the slog out of cleaning your devices by making it as quick and painless as possible!
You will need:
Cotton buds: At $7.99, Sky Organics 500pk are about $1 more than competing products but are ethically made and sourced, cruelty-free, and most importantly, biodegradable.
Soft microfiber cloth: This multi-pack of 12 microfiber cloths for $12.99 has some fun colors and is reusable and washable making it an economical purchase for taking care of your devices and any other chores around the home.
Compressed air: The XPower A-2 Multi-purpose Air Duster is a great way to stay green with its 2-speed control, 10-foot cord, a bunch of handy nozzles, and an easy-to-change washable filter. This one-time investment of $50 means you'll never have to buy a can of compressed air again, saving both money and the environment.
Rubbing alcohol: Bastion’s is made in the USA, is 99.9% pure, and contains no methanol. It's suitable for hands and skin and you'll be glad to note that there isn't a foul odor present. Remember to follow the directions on the side of the bottle when handling rubbing alcohol. You can grab it from Amazon for $11.25.
Dust cleaning gel: I love this stuff! ColorCoral, or slime as I call it, is fun to use, easily stored, and comes in a fab color. Amazon has the ColorCoral slime on sale for $6.99.
Soft, small brush: A small paintbrush or unused makeup brush will do perfectly but if you don't have one handy, something like this from Amazon will do the job nicely for $8.
Glasses lens wipes: There are so many varieties of these, we've chosen Optix 55 as it's a good deal in terms of overall price and quantity.
Clear Sticky tape: This is something you probably have lying around the home, leftover from wrapping presents over the holidays. If not, grab a 6-pack of clear tape from Amazon for just $6.
Laptop
- Turn it off!
- Use compressed air to blow out dust from the interior.
- Use a soft microfiber cloth with a drop of rubbing alcohol to wipe the exterior.
- For the nooks, your cloth can't reach use a cotton bud with a drop of rubbing alcohol to gently get them clean.
- Use putty on your keyboard, take it out of its container and just roll it around (very satisfying!). Put it back in the container for next time and voila, a clean keyboard. You can also use compressed air if you don't have any putty.
- Take a soft brush and gently brush any slots, headphone jacks, and so forth to remove any particles the air didn't blow out.
- Take a glasses lens wipe and rub gently on your screen to remove any fingerprints or dust.
- The result is a shiny clean laptop!
Phone and tablet
- Take off the cover if you have one.
- Take a soft microfiber cloth with a drop of rubbing alcohol and wipe the back of your device. Be careful around the camera area.
- Use compressed air to clear the speaker grill or you can use a small, soft brush.
- Take a lens wipe and wipe the screen and camera lens, take special care if you have a screen protector to go around the edges as this is where dirt can accumulate.
Don't forget your case, this where the tape comes in. You don't want to have a sparkly clean device to put a dirty case back on it! Wrap some tape around your index and middle finger so it is sticky on all sides and gently rub this on the inside of the case. A lint roller will work as well. Take the microfiber cloth and use this to clean the outside of the case. Pop it back on to protect your device and it's clean and ready to use.
