6 Million People Have Seen This Former House Cleaner's Viral Hack For Cleaning Your Home Quickly, And Honestly, It Made A World Of Difference In My Own
Hey! My name is Ashley, and I just moved into my first LA apartment, so everything around me is in a constant state of messiness.
My apartment is larger than the traditional studio — around 670 square feet — so in theory it should be easier to keep clean than most one-bedroom apartments. But because it's still one giant room, any small areas of clutter make the entire place look like it's a mess. So I feel like I'm always cleaning and the space never feels neat and put together.
(This picture is strategically hiding messes. My mother would be sick if I showed you my apartment while it was dirty.)
And apparently, I'm not the only one who struggles to find a cleaning routine for their home or apartment after they move, or even after they're settled into a new living space. A 2023 poll by SWNS Digital for Affresh asked 2,000 Americans about their cleaning habits. It found that 68% of people surveyed took about six months to nail down a cleaning routine. However, 16% of people admitted they never found one.
One in six people typically put off cleaning their home for at least a month. While 1 in 10 people said they've gone as long as six months or more. That said, it sounds like a lot of us could either use a new cleaning routine, or need to develop our very first one.
Thankfully, there's a section of TikTok full of people like Cindell Kimbrough, known as @cindellkimbrough on TikTok. People like Cindell clean for fun and film it so the rest of us can learn. Kimbrough is a 37-year-old content creator living in Tennessee. She also used to clean homes for a living and shared this now-viral TikTok with more than 6 million views, explaining step-by-step how she used to clean giant homes in record time.
TikTok: @cindellkimbrough / Via tiktok.com
"I think the biggest house that I ever cleaned was about 5,000 and some change square feet, and I got it done in less than five hours...so this works," she said.
To start, Kimbrough explains that we're taking this one room at a time.
"If it's a big open space, make it into a room. I have ADHD — if I make myself do this I clean so fast. If not, I'll be cleaning all day and it looks like I did nothing."
Then, you'll choose the room you're starting in. Choose wisely, because you aren't leaving until it's clean. Cindell starts in her kids' room.
"Any clutter that's on the floor, put it where it goes... Here's the kicker. If there's something in this room that does not belong in this room, you are not going to take it where it needs to go, you are going to set it outside the door. If not, you're gonna go to the room where you take those and then you're gonna start cleaning in there."
"Next step, you're gonna choose a corner and work around the room," she said.
"Since you cleaned up the floor there shouldn't be anything in the middle. So pick a corner, put stuff where it should be or clean it up."
"Now, we're gonna dust."
"Again, choose your corner, go all the way around... When you come to doors, you're gonna do top to bottom... When you get back around to the door that leads out to the house, don't forget to close the door and do the insets of the back of those doors."
"All that's left now is to do the floors."
"In this case vacuum, if you were hardwood [floors] you would mop."
Now that you're done with that room, you rinse and repeat that process in every room or part of the house that you sectioned off as a room until the place is spotless.
"Hallways, you also treat like rooms."
"That is how you get it done quickly and efficiently," she said.
The part of this method that resonated with me the most was dividing my apartment into little rooms, and then tackling smaller sections of the room bit by bit. The epiphany was NOT leaving the room to put things away. I will absolutely get distracted and clean elsewhere, then no specific area gets completely clean.
Something about piling all of the Amazon boxes together actually made me take them to the recycling room. A miracle.
Also, making my way around each room, from corner to corner, helped me to stay focused on one task at a time.
That's because the rest of the mess was behind me, so I quite literally couldn't see a new task or pile of clutter to get distracted by.
Now, I will be honest and admit I did not get the whole place cleaned in a day. Once a room was clean, I would give myself a pat on the back and promise to tackle another room the next day. However, that's more of a me problem than a critique on this cleaning method.
I also suffer from "out of sight, out of mind," so the moving boxes definitely sat outside longer than necessary. Again, a me problem.
In an interview with BuzzFeed, Cindell validated my (our) ability to get so easily distracted as the most common mistake people make when trying to clean their homes. "The mental aspect of cleaning is by far the biggest hurdle. I’ve been using this method of focusing on one section at a time for over 10 years now, and I still have to constantly check in with myself and actively redirect my attention back to the task at hand."
"But here’s the thing, while it doesn’t get perfect, it does get easier. Over time, I’ve learned to recognize those moments when I’m drifting and quickly refocus."
I asked her what advice she's given friends and family when it comes to the roadblocks they face when they're cleaning. "I often hear from friends and family, 'it’s just hard for me to get started,' especially when they’re facing a bigger cleaning or decluttering job…when the mess feels overwhelming, even taking that first step can seem impossible."
"My go-to advice for anyone in this situation is to set a timer for whatever amount of time feels manageable: 20 minutes, an hour, even just 10 minutes if that’s all you can handle."
"I always recommend looking up videos that relate directly to your situation... These videos are game-changers because they not only give you practical ideas and strategies for your own space, but they also serve as visual proof that a transformation is possible."
"Sometimes, when the mess is overwhelming, your mind will try to convince you that the task is too big, or that it’s not worth even trying because it feels impossible. But by feeding your brain literal evidence that others have done it...and that they started from a similar place, it breaks down that mental barrier. It reminds you that your desired outcome is within reach. Seeing the process and the end results in those videos creates a mindset shift from, 'this is too much, I can’t do this' to, 'this is doable, I’ve got this!'"
What is the biggest hurdle you face when cleaning your living space? Let us know in the comments!