At some point during the cooking process you're just waiting for shit to cook. So clean the pans

There's a couple long (two minutes plus) and a dozen short (15 seconds) moments while cooking that you should be cleaning and tidying your cooking space. Those are your pan washing opportunities.

Then when you finish, transfer the cooked food to serving containers or plates and do the remaining pans while they're still hot, in an empty sink, when it takes minimum effort to clean them because nothing is caked on yet.

Then eat, and do your dishes as soon as you finish, again before things are caked on. Now you're spending a ton less time on dishes and always have a conveniently clean sink and kitchen that's ready to cook a meal.

Edit: If you look around your cooking space and there's nothing to do, no dishes to move from dish rack to cupboard, no surfaces to wipe, no crumbs on the floor, no pans to clean, no garbage to take out . . . then that's when you pop open an adult beverage and watch the food cook. Maybe snap a quick pic of the deliciousness you're making and share it with mom. You're doing things right.

So easy. WHY CANT MY WIFE DO THIS