diff --git a/test/e2e/common.go b/test/e2e/common.go
index dd0b5e9f36..b6e9606b6a 100644
--- a/test/e2e/common.go
+++ b/test/e2e/common.go
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import (
 	kindcmd "sigs.k8s.io/kind/pkg/cmd"
 )
 
+// ZarfE2ETest Struct holding common fields most of the tests will utilize
 type ZarfE2ETest struct {
 	zarfBinPath string
 
@@ -91,7 +92,7 @@ func (e2e *ZarfE2ETest) setUpKind() error {
 
 	// Set up a KinD cluster if necessary
 	e2e.provider = cluster.NewProvider(cluster.ProviderWithLogger(kindcmd.NewLogger()))
-	nodes, err := e2e.provider.ListNodes(e2e.clusterName)
+	nodes, _ := e2e.provider.ListNodes(e2e.clusterName)
 	if len(nodes) == 0 {
 		err = e2e.provider.Create(
 			e2e.clusterName,
@@ -273,7 +274,7 @@ func (e2e *ZarfE2ETest) checkIfClusterRunning() bool {
 
 func (e2e *ZarfE2ETest) waitForHealthyCluster() error {
 	attempt := 0
-	for attempt < 10 {
+	for attempt < 15 {
 		pods, err := e2e.clientset.CoreV1().Pods("kube-system").List(context.TODO(), metav1.ListOptions{})
 		if err == nil && len(pods.Items) >= 0 {
 			allPodsHealthy := true
diff --git a/test/e2e/e2e_composability_test.go b/test/e2e/e2e_composability_test.go
index 06d1432114..a755d37f3d 100644
--- a/test/e2e/e2e_composability_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/e2e_composability_test.go
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ import (
 )
 
 func TestE2eExampleComposability(t *testing.T) {
+	defer e2e.cleanupAfterTest(t)
+
 	//run `zarf init`
 	output, err := e2e.execZarfCommand("init", "--confirm")
 	require.NoError(t, err, output)
@@ -33,6 +35,4 @@ func TestE2eExampleComposability(t *testing.T) {
 	// Validate the doom title in body.
 	assert.Contains(t, string(body), "Zarf needs games too")
 	assert.Equal(t, 200, resp.StatusCode)
-
-	e2e.cleanupAfterTest(t)
 }
diff --git a/test/e2e/e2e_data_injection_test.go b/test/e2e/e2e_data_injection_test.go
index 9564d9832f..6c7e5554f3 100644
--- a/test/e2e/e2e_data_injection_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/e2e_data_injection_test.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 func TestDataInjection(t *testing.T) {
+	defer e2e.cleanupAfterTest(t)
 
 	// run `zarf init`
 	output, err := e2e.execZarfCommand("init", "--confirm", "-l=trace")
@@ -40,6 +41,4 @@ func TestDataInjection(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 	assert.Contains(t, execStdOut, "this-is-an-example-file.txt")
-
-	e2e.cleanupAfterTest(t)
 }
diff --git a/test/e2e/e2e_example_game_test.go b/test/e2e/e2e_example_game_test.go
index d81d77ef4b..0d2977fcd9 100644
--- a/test/e2e/e2e_example_game_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/e2e_example_game_test.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 func TestE2eExampleGame(t *testing.T) {
+	defer e2e.cleanupAfterTest(t)
 
 	//run `zarf init`
 	output, err := e2e.execZarfCommand("init", "--confirm")
@@ -27,7 +28,4 @@ func TestE2eExampleGame(t *testing.T) {
 	resp, err := http.Get("http://127.0.0.1:22333?doom")
 	assert.NoError(t, err, resp)
 	assert.Equal(t, 200, resp.StatusCode)
-
-	// Clean up after this test (incase other tests cases will be run afterwards)
-	e2e.cleanupAfterTest(t)
 }
diff --git a/test/e2e/e2e_general_cli_test.go b/test/e2e/e2e_general_cli_test.go
index b37aaaddda..18451c70fe 100644
--- a/test/e2e/e2e_general_cli_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/e2e_general_cli_test.go
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ func TestGeneralCLI(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.NotEqual(t, output, "UnknownVersion", "Zarf version should not be the default value")
 
 	// Test for expected failure when given a bad componenet input
-	output, err = e2e.execZarfCommand("init", "--confirm", "--components=k3s,foo,logging")
+	_, err = e2e.execZarfCommand("init", "--confirm", "--components=k3s,foo,logging")
 	assert.Error(t, err)
 
 	// Test for expected failure when given invalid hostnames
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ func TestGeneralCLI(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestInitZarf(t *testing.T) {
+	defer e2e.cleanupAfterTest(t)
 
 	// Initialize Zarf for the next set of tests
 	// This also confirms that using the `--confirm` flags does not hang when not also specifying the `--components` flag
@@ -66,6 +67,4 @@ func TestInitZarf(t *testing.T) {
 	// Test that `zarf package deploy` gives an error if deploying a remote package without the --insecure or --shasum flags
 	output, err = e2e.execZarfCommand("package", "deploy", "https://zarf-examples.s3.amazonaws.com/zarf-package-appliance-demo-doom-20210125.tar.zst", "--confirm", "-l=trace")
 	assert.Error(t, err, output)
-
-	e2e.cleanupAfterTest(t)
 }
diff --git a/test/e2e/e2e_gitea_and_grafana_test.go b/test/e2e/e2e_gitea_and_grafana_test.go
index c98776c82b..f2c15b774d 100644
--- a/test/e2e/e2e_gitea_and_grafana_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/e2e_gitea_and_grafana_test.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 func TestGiteaAndGrafana(t *testing.T) {
+	defer e2e.cleanupAfterTest(t)
 
 	// run `zarf init`
 	output, err := e2e.execZarfCommand("init", "--components=gitops-service,logging", "--confirm")
@@ -31,6 +32,4 @@ func TestGiteaAndGrafana(t *testing.T) {
 	resp, err = http.Get("http://127.0.0.1:45002/monitor/login")
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 	assert.Equal(t, 200, resp.StatusCode)
-
-	e2e.cleanupAfterTest(t)
 }
diff --git a/test/e2e/e2e_gitops_example_test.go b/test/e2e/e2e_gitops_example_test.go
index 3d3892eed8..3ea74e133b 100644
--- a/test/e2e/e2e_gitops_example_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/e2e_gitops_example_test.go
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ import (
 )
 
 func TestGitopsExample(t *testing.T) {
+	defer e2e.cleanupAfterTest(t)
+
 	// run `zarf init`
 	output, err := e2e.execZarfCommand("init", "--confirm", "--components=gitops-service")
 	require.NoError(t, err, output)
@@ -43,7 +45,7 @@ func TestGitopsExample(t *testing.T) {
 	expectedTag := "v0.15.0\n"
 	err = os.Chdir("mirror__github.com__defenseunicorns__zarf")
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
-	gitOutput, err = exec.Command("git", "tag").Output()
+	gitOutput, _ = exec.Command("git", "tag").Output()
 	assert.Equal(t, expectedTag, string(gitOutput), "Expected tag should match output")
 
 	// Check for correct commits
@@ -62,6 +64,4 @@ func TestGitopsExample(t *testing.T) {
 
 	err = os.Chdir("..")
 	assert.NoError(t, err, "unable to change directories back to blah blah blah")
-
-	e2e.cleanupAfterTest(t)
 }