My sister found this article that boasts a 2-hour cleaning routine. When our plans changed suddenly on a Saturday, we both decided to give it a try. The article gives a list of tasks per room to perform and moves through the rooms in the house.
While my sister read this list and thinks she can perform it weekly or at least pieces of it weekly, I read the list and thought…maybe seasonally. At most.
The author even provides estimates of the time required for both the room and sub-tasks.
Here’s the summarized times per room per the author:
- Kitchen – 22 minutes (includes washing dishes, disinfecting surfaces, and mopping)
- Dining Room – 20 minutes (also includes mopping)
- Living Room – 27 minutes (vacuuming sofa cushions and cleaning windows)
- Bathrooms – 16 minutes per (includes sanitizing and mopping)
- Bedrooms – 17 minutes per (dust, wipe, and vacuum)
- Office/Den – 15 minutes per
- Hallways – 15 minutes
So, here’s the disclaimer. We did not finish. I was panting and overheating doing the living room. My sister also felt overworked and we called it after the bathroom. I did go ahead and sweep and mop my bedroom floor after, but stopped there and wasn’t timing.
For Comparison:
My sister has a 1960’s 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom ranch (main level) with an unfinished basement and attached garage. I have a 1950’s box-like house with 2 bedrooms and one bath on the main level, a half-finished 2 bedroom basement, and a detached garage. Each of my sister’s rooms is larger than mine. My house is 800 sqft on the main level. Hers is 1100 sqft.
I latched onto minimalism 3 years ago and have gotten rid of many things. My sister has reduced clutter and décor in the main living spaces. Her living room has fewer pieces of furniture than mine but she has more day-to-day clutter sitting around.
We have no idea what the author’s home is like.
Additionally, my sister was the primary caretaker for her toddler during the time we were cleaning. It clearly added to the stress of these activities. He was not at all helpful and routinely got into what she’d just cleaned.
The plan:
To go through the checklist and determine if the author’s room estimates are accurate and if this is feasible to do in 2 hours (assuming one of each type of room). We both were only tackling the main level.
Since this wasn’t my plan for the day, I’d already cleaned the inside of my toilet and fridge before we even started.
How it played out:
Kitchen:
In the kitchen, you are supposed to sanitize first so that you can let the spray sit. My spray bottle had broken so I soaked my SwanStone sink in Vinegar water instead. I had also already emptied the fridge of spoiled food the previous day.
My sister started by handwashing dishes which took her at least 30 minutes prior to starting anything else – Not 5 minutes as the author says. I’m not sure how many she had at the beginning but with a toddler and just having made dinner, I’m sure there was a good-sized stack. Based on the time allowed, 5 minutes, we assume the author was hand washing dishes not just emptying and loading a dishwasher. I only emptied my dishwasher and reloaded it.
My sister did go through her fridge quickly but she did not apply disinfecting spray. She expressed issues with her stove taking longer due to cast iron and gas burners. I have a glass cooktop and it was fast. For me, 22 minutes was enough time. I remind you that I keep my counters completely clear and my kitchen is VERY small, essentially an L-shaped kitchen. My sister has a galley kitchen with plenty of clutter when she started. I’m not sure I would have had enough time if I also had to take the trash out after emptying the fridge though. With what my sister skipped she still washed the dishes, wiped the counters, and mopped the floor.
Kitchen = success for me, better for her. It was definitely much better in 22 minutes. For medium kitchens with an actual mess of dishes or any required soaking, more time should be added. Lots. Even for me, for all of those tasks, I would add some time for getting supplies and removing trash.
Dining Room:
My sister’s dining room is open to her kitchen and the table was full of items. My dining room is open to the living room and about 5-6 items needed to be cleared away. Neither of us has more than a small table and chairs and art on the wall. My sister does have a toddler and the dining mess that comes with that. I had a visitor dog a few times (small smudges on the patio doors).
Starting from this point the plan says to wipe all surfaces, wipe chairs including legs and feet, dust décor, sweep and mop floors. The author says “wash floor” so it could be scrubbing spots but we assumed this meant to mop.
Unfortunately, while I thought I’d learned my lesson about cleaning from top to bottom, I realized at the end that I had a chandelier that was very dusty and cleaned it last in the remaining time. I finished the tasks listed and taking off the glass and washing them but technically ran over putting the chandelier back together.
My sister was able to get her table reduced down and pushed against the wall and the room was nearly complete in time. The 20 minutes was nearly enough for our sparse rooms. My sister skipped wiping the legs of the chairs and didn’t finish clearing the table. Additionally, if I didn’t clean the chandelier glass, I would have finished in time as well.
For us, the Dining Room was a success. If you have much for décor, like our mother who has both a buffet and China cabinet, this would not be enough time. Also, if you need to deep clean the light fixture or clean windows (which wasn’t explicitly on her list) add more time.
Living Room:
The living room plan is nearly the same as the other two rooms. In addition, you are supposed to vacuum between cushions and wash windows.
My sister has less furniture than I do in her living room (sofa, tv stand, one small side table, and a buffet/sideboard). I have a sofa, loveseat, two side tables, a small chest, a small coffee table, a bench, and a tv stand. It was a lot of furniture to wipe down, so I skipped vacuuming the cushions. I have two windows and my sister has one very large picture window.
It’s much more difficult to maneuver a mop and sweeper around all my furniture so I’m fairly certain this is some of why I was burning out at this point. I moved a lot of small furniture. That may not have been necessary but I’d been sweeping around them for several cleanings at this point.
My sister accidentally included her hallway in the living room. The hallway has a designated time later in the author’s plan. My hallway is a square where 5 doors meet. I did it after the bedroom and as I was cleaning up.
The beginning of burnout…
We both actually finished the tasks we did in under 30 minutes and it may have been possible to get the vacuum out and finish the cushions in the time left, but I was too tired. She has you start with applying sanitizing spray to the bathroom before beginning the living room and we counted that in the 30-minute timer.
Living Room was a success though tiring. Additionally, it may or may not have been enough time to deal with a traditional vacuum. The author admitted to having a cordless vacuum and nothing prior to the living room required a vacuum so it wasn’t already out unlike the other cleaning supplies. My sister skipped dusting most of her décor in the living room. I have very little but used a Swiffer duster and easily covered dusting. My sister spent quite a bit of time scrubbing fingerprints from her buffet.
Bathroom:
So my sister’s bathroom and mine have very little in common. Mine is tiny with a small sink and solid shower surround. My sister’s bathroom is custom tiled with a standard sink and a built-in shelving unit. She also has a window.
The plan, according to the author, was that the disinfecting spray in the sink and shower/tub and toilet bowl cleaner has been sitting the entire time we were cleaning the living room. So we would start with wiping it all off, followed by the toilet handle, seat, etc. scrubbing as needed. Wipe the mirror, dust décor (which neither of us had), and mop floors.
I had nothing to help me remove the cleaner from the shower as my spray bottle was broken, so I just wiped it down with a cloth focusing on the fixtures and around the drain. I had already scrubbed the toilet and my floor is only about 4×5′ so I was done very quickly. At this point, we were both burning out quickly. My sister finished before the 16 minutes as well but she definitely wasn’t able to scrub at the tub much or the grout. However, for surface sanitation and basic removal of grime, this was sufficient.
The bathroom was a success. If you need to apply much of any elbow grease to your tub and shower surround, add time outside the 16 minutes.
Bedroom:
My bedroom is the smaller of the two main floor bedrooms. The larger room is set up as an office and craft/hobby room. This is where my sister bailed on the plan. I took the time to sweep and mop my bedroom floor and then bailed out as well. Both of us have hardwood floors through the living room and bedrooms (dining room for me) and grime is very noticeable so I wanted to mop before I threw all the cleaning supplies in the washing machine.
Kitchen After 
Dining Room After 
Bathroom After 
Living Room After
Observations:
The times were not terribly inaccurate if your spaces are minimally designed and you are generally tidy. If you love tchotchkes and nick-nacks, then you won’t be able to pick up and wipe down or dust with anything but running a feather duster over and through the items quickly.
The whole process has me wondering if I really need so many pieces of furniture in my living room. I was moving a lot of things. I also had to quickly move items to other places just to get them off the surface. There were recipe cards I was sorting through and a box for donations that I just moved to other surfaces so that I could clean. Otherwise, there was time to put a few items away in each room which felt reasonable.
If I’d skipped moving the bench and lifting the chaise part of the sofa, I may have been able to avoid being exhausted. It was great to get my cork floor cleaned up. Both it and the kitchen counters were dirtier than I’d realized and both hide spills well, so I did have to go back and scrub some spots that I found later.
Considerations:
I don’t think before and after photos would be impressive as dust and grime don’t show up in photographs. However, I could feel the difference between simply vacuuming the floors and actually mopping them. Additionally, after knowing how much dust was on the chandelier, I’m glad I dealt with it now rather than putting it off.
For my sister with a toddler in her care and for myself with health issues, we both found it unreasonable to complete the full routine without a long break and we didn’t return to it. I think we can both say that there really isn’t time to put away an entire counter worth of items either. Tidying really isn’t included, but then it isn’t fair to anticipate how much clutter everyone might let build up. I also think it would be unreasonable to have expected any less clutter than we had when we started the routine.
Cleaning Products we used:
My sister and I used primarily Norwex systems to clean with (windows and floor). I also used a Swiffer duster for the living room. While microfiber cloths do pickup dust well, it’s doesn’t pull the dust in like the Swiffer does, especially on uneven surfaces. This is why I save it for places where I do have items I want to dust around like picture frames or in lamps, etc.
Conclusion:
I think the times are pretty accurate for simply cleaning and straightening, but not actually tidying or decluttering. Since I didn’t complete the office, I have doubts about how well this can be completed in 15 minutes, but again if tidying and decluttering are done first then 15 minutes might be enough time to dust, straighten a few items, and sweep floors. I could have probably washed my windows in that time as well.
I am very happy that we tried this. It did show me that it doesn’t take so long to complete the main level of the house. My sister wants to try it again next week. I probably won’t, but I may do just my side entrance and office to finish.