This morning I opened up our new dishwasher after its inaugural run and found scoured bowls, gleaming glasses, spotless plates. All of this accomplished not by my hand but by the miraculous innards of our new machine. Six months of washing dishes by hand has made me appreciate what I used to greet with a shrug. And I’ve made a new resolution: no more pre-rinse. The dishes go in dirty and come out clean. That’s the deal we made.

But we’ve made another deal, too, a more subtle one. Using a dishwasher again saves time. What will I do with this windfall? It can’t involve another machine. It must be pure activity. Read more, write more, walk more, declutter more. Labor saved.