So much this. I can’t remember the last time I had a huge pile up of dishes that I didn’t clean while something was simmering or whatever. By the time my meal is ready, everything is clean or there’s one pot that might need to soak while I eat.
I really think this is one of the secrets to successfully keeping up with household chores as an adult. After I started focusing on cleaning up when I could while cooking and saw how much easier it made my life later, I started noticing stuff that’s quick and easy to put away/clean while just walking through the house on my way to do something else. Doing little things all the time instead of saying “Oh I’ll clean that up later” and leaving everything as a big project was a switch in mindset that’s helped me a lot.
