diff --git a/daemon/timerthread.c b/daemon/timerthread.c
index 2f694523e..609a8b5b0 100644
--- a/daemon/timerthread.c
+++ b/daemon/timerthread.c
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ static void timerthread_thread_init(struct timerthread_thread *tt, struct timert
 	mutex_init(&tt->lock);
 	cond_init(&tt->cond);
 	tt->parent = parent;
+	ZERO(tt->next_wake);
 }
 
 void timerthread_init(struct timerthread *tt, unsigned int num, void (*func)(void *)) {
@@ -72,6 +73,7 @@ static void timerthread_run(void *p) {
 		rtpe_now = tt_obj->next_check;
 		ZERO(tt_obj->next_check);
 		tt_obj->last_run = rtpe_now;
+		ZERO(tt->next_wake);
 		mutex_unlock(&tt->lock);
 
 		// run and release
@@ -88,6 +90,7 @@ sleep:;
 		sleeptime = MIN(10000000, sleeptime); /* 100 ms at the most */
 		struct timeval tv = rtpe_now;
 		timeval_add_usec(&tv, sleeptime);
+		tt->next_wake = tv;
 		cond_timedwait(&tt->cond, &tt->lock, &tv);
 	}
 
@@ -114,7 +117,9 @@ void timerthread_obj_schedule_abs_nl(struct timerthread_obj *tt_obj, const struc
 		obj_hold(tt_obj); /* if it wasn't removed, we make a new reference */
 	tt_obj->next_check = *tv;
 	g_tree_insert(tt->tree, tt_obj, tt_obj);
-	cond_signal(&tt->cond);
+	// need to wake the thread?
+	if (tt->next_wake.tv_sec && timeval_cmp(tv, &tt->next_wake) < 0)
+		cond_signal(&tt->cond);
 }
 
 void timerthread_obj_deschedule(struct timerthread_obj *tt_obj) {
diff --git a/include/timerthread.h b/include/timerthread.h
index 0e3c38132..58b65a34b 100644
--- a/include/timerthread.h
+++ b/include/timerthread.h
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ struct timerthread_thread {
 	GTree *tree; // XXX investigate other structures
 	mutex_t lock;
 	cond_t cond;
+	struct timeval next_wake;
 };
 
 struct timerthread {