The Experiment
Clean my entire house in one hour using Sarah Aguirre’s “15 Minute Clean-ups for Every Room” on About.com using the following steps:
Grab your supplies.
Put all items that do not belong in the living room.
Tackle the couch.
Dust down the coffee table and arrange its contents properly.
Neatly arrange magazines and books.
Vacuum or sleep the floor.
Put away your dust rag and vacuum or broom.
Difficulty Rating: Easy
This method was very simple.
Outcome:
To say that I am pleased with the results of my “15 minute clean-up” for the living area is an understatement. The good news is that my living room was almost sparkling – well, at least clean enough to entertain my company. The bad news is that I spent waayy too much time on the 80% cleaning – cleaning the back of the television, behind the tv console and organizing a cabinet. Thus, a 15 minute clean-up turned into a 45 minute cleaning. It’s easy to fall into, but you really shouldn’t do it. What I learned from this is that I need to really clean and organize. The 15 minute clean-up can’t work with a house in the shape mine is in, so I’ll be looking into that in future posts.
Step 1: Gathering Supplies
I skipped this step – likely to my own detriment. Subsequently, I had to keep walking back and forth to the kitchen for paper towels, cleaning supplies and the broom. This was a serious time waster.
Step 2: Put all items that do not belong in the living room in a container
Now this, I LOVED! It made cleaning a snap. I picked up Brent’s shoes, my coats, my bags—even the iron—and put them in a big plastic tub. Then I put said plastic tub in the laundry area and promptly closed the door. Voila! Clean. The problem? I still haven’t unpacked the bin. It’s still on the washing machine.
Step 3: Tackle the Couch
Again, loved this. Truth be told, my couch rarely gets special attention. It was nice to put things in order, fluff the pillows and wipe down the couch. It made the living area seem really clean.
Step 4: Dust down the coffee table and arrange its contents properly.
Very easy and quickly done!
Step 5: Neatly arrange the magazines and books.
Done!
Step 6: Vacuum or sweep up the floor.
Done!
Step 7: Put away your dust rag and vacuum or broom.
Gladly done!
Watch the after video.
