Can You Clean Your House Before The Microwave Beeps?
Turn Chores Into a Game, Even If You're Exhausted After Work
If you’re waiting until you feel like cleaning, you’re going to be waiting a long time.
That used to be me. I’d stare at the sink, scroll a bit, promise I’d do it tomorrow.
Then the mess got worse, and so did the guilt.
But everything changed when I tried something small, almost silly:
I set a timer.
There’s something about racing the clock that wakes up your body and mind.
Suddenly, my kitchen had to be clean before the timer hit zero.
And I don’t mean a 45-minute deep clean. I mean 15-30 minutes of focused effort with no distractions.
Even when I’m not using an actual timer, I still work against a mental one, before the podcast ends, before the kettle boils, before the microwave beeps.
It’s a way to trick your brain into starting, and it’s become an amazing habit.
This idea is backed by research too. Ali Abdaal, in his video 5 Essential Tasks for Long-Lasting Productivity, talks about how adding fun (racing the clock) to boring tasks makes you way more likely to do them. He’s talking about school and work, but it applies to homemaking so well. Especially for those of us who are already tired by the time we get home.
Here’s why setting a timer works so well:
It limits your dread. You realize you’re not spending hours cleaning or cooking.
It increases focus. You don’t have time to answer a text, scroll, or drift.
It gives momentum. You break through the hardest part, just getting started.
It rewrites the story. You realize the task wasn’t even that bad.
Everything is going to feel hard at first. Especially if it’s new.
If you’re not used to cleaning daily, it will feel painful. You’ll want to quit. But if you keep setting that timer and doing what you can in the time you set? It gets easier! It gets faster. And yes, eventually, it even gets fun.
This is exactly what we do in my Working Homemaker Cleaning Flow.
It’s a realistic daily routine that breaks your home into weekday zones, so you know what to clean, when to clean it, and how to get it done in only 30 minutes a day.
Because working women don’t have time to waste.
Set the timer. Gamify it.
And give yourself a treat when you’re done!I promise: joy is on the other side of action.
You can have fun cooking and cleaning. You can reset your home after work. And you can build rhythms that actually work with your real life.
Here’s what to do next:
Download the Working Homemaker Cleaning Flow
Set your timer tonight! Even if it’s just for 10 minutes
Do one small thing for your home
If you’re ready for real accountability, structure, and peace in your home, I’d love to work with you 1-on-1.
My coaching program is four weekly sessions where we time-block your day, build out your cleaning system, and finally take homemaking off your mental load. You also get access to everything I’ve created.
I’m rooting for you,
Allie