Got a Minute?
By Don Aslett

Excerpted from Don Aslett's book, No Time to Clean: How to Reduce & Prevent Cleaning the Professional Way

Transform your home in ... minutes.

Think of the old "drip of water" mystery ... tiny little drips of water, coming seconds or even minutes apart, will soon fill a large bucket. When you think about it, most cleaning "acts" can be done in seconds, and some of even the major ones in minutes -- we don't really need days anymore.

Just for fun, assuming our cleaning gear is handy, let's look at how long some common household tasks actually take:

    * Make a bed in 2 minutes (or less).

    * Vacuum an average room in 4 minutes.

    * Remove a fresh spot in 3 to 5 minutes.

    * Sweep the average floor in 3 minutes.

    * Clean a bathroom in 3 1/2 minutes (if you clean it regularly).

    * Do two people's worth of dishes by hand in 3 to 4 minutes.

    * Put in a load of wash in 2 minutes (if it's been presorted and pretreated).

    * Fold a dryerful of clothes in 5 or 6 minutes.

    * Clean the kitchen cabinet fronts in 9 minutes.

    * Clean a light fixture in 2 minutes.

    * Wash down a door (both sides) in 3 minutes.

    * Dustmop a floor in 2 minutes.