For those of us who live in the real world - wipe the worst off, degrease it, chain cleaner it, dry it & lube it takes too much time!
I can't clean my chain 'reasonably clean' as there's not enough hours in the day (commuter riding 4 times a day, 5 days a week + leisure riding on the weekends). I treat my chains quite harshly - cleaning them only once a week (wipe down, spray with GT85, wipe down until clear-ish & dry-ish, reapply lube) regardless of the british weather. If it's a particularly wet week I will even apply more lube when things start to sound rough (without cleaning first) to get me to the weekend clean. My cassette is usually a horrible black colour for most of the week during wet & dirty british winter weather. My chains may only see a chain cleaner once every 3-4 weeks! My time and riding is more important than their health!
Disclaimer: I change my chains more regularly than I should (before fully worn), but at £14 a chain (using SRAM rather than Shimano) I weather that as an 'easy' maintenance cost. I get less than 2000 miles and have been known to get less than 1800 during the winter. Still certainly cheaper than replacing a £45 cassette, or my £250 chainrings (powermeter) more frequently by letting things wear further!
I'd say I get through 2, maybe 3 chains a year - rode 5000 miles last year. A cassette generally lasting me over a year (tend to change them once pitting occurs, usually after winter road salts.
You can get a cassette amazingly clean by removing it and scrubbing the individual cogs. I'll tend to do that every 2-3 months, the more regular cleans are with a rag soaked in degreaser threaded and 'shuffled' between the cogs with the cassette still mounted on the freehub (scrubbing the surfaces of the cogs).
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hoping the bearings and cone are okay
I seriously doubt I'm getting good mileage out of my chains taking this approach but I don't do big miles and chains are cheap when you have a maximum of 9 speeds (only 8 on the winter machine).