Delay

Sometimes a little idea makes a nice difference in your life.  Every Tuesday I face the laundry.  It is a like a marathon- most weeks I am just hoping to finish.  Some weeks I pull out the all the stops and get all the socks sorted, shirts and skirts ironed and everything PUT AWAY (or my kids do;-) in one day (is this the equivalent to running a 2 hour marathon?!).  I have heard many different theories of laundry (do one load a day- make your kids do it) but for me right now it works to do it all in one day.  I chose Tuesday because my Mom did laundry on Tuesday.  Also, I can't seem to face laundry on Monday and by Wednesday I feel like I am losing momentum in my week!  So Tuesday it is. 

This week I was admiring my sister's beautiful new red washing machine and dryer.  She was showing me all the whistles and bells and mentioned that she could set her washer to start the next morning.  This way, she throws a load in at night, delays the start for 7 hours and when she gets up in the morning she is already a load ahead in her day.  Brilliant.  As soon as I got home I went and looked at my washer and lo and behold, it has a delay button!!  

I vaguely remember when I got my washer I saw the Delay button and thought "Why in the world would I ever delay a load of laundry?!"  However, if you don't think of it as a delay- but as getting ahead- the button makes sense.  Maybe the manufactures should rename the button!

So last night I loaded my first batch of laundry and set the delay button.  I crossed my fingers and went to bed.  When I woke up, my first load was just finishing!  It was fabulous. 

PS  I know it may seem like I have a small life when I get excited about laundry- however, I prefer to see it as finding joy in the everyday;-)
PPS I actually enjoy doing laundry- it is strangely satisfying to take a whole lot of chaos and turn it into order (for a few hours at least!).
PPPS A big apology to Paul who woke up in a panic when he heard water turn on in the middle of the night!