Do the Laundry or Win the Lottery

On the Friday afternoon drive home, I'm relieved the weekend has finally arrived. Sleeping in, afternoons at the pool and?the looming pile of clothes on the laundry room floor! The endless list of household tasks never seems to go away. While stopping for gas along the highway, I pick up a few lottery tickets for the Saturday night draw.

Household chores revolve in an endless cycle of procrastination. No one really looks forward to pre-treating, washing, drying, folding and putting away laundry week in and week out. Laundry doesn't appreciate diligence. Even if you spend the entire day flipping loads and folding, there would still be laundry in the basket tomorrow.

The procrastination strategy is waiting until the very last pair of socks in the drawer has been worn. Then it's crisis mode. You absolutely have to do laundry now?but you're already late for work! You should've done it over the weekend.

I pull into the driveway and head towards the house. Down the hallway from the front door lies the laundry room - with the looming laundry right where it was this morning. Taking the lottery tickets out of my pocket, I stick them to the refrigerator.

Like laundry, playing the lottery also has a definite value of success and failure in the cycle of procrastination. You can faithfully buy tickets and never win the jackpot, but it will be there again tomorrow whether you win or not. However, if you put off playing altogether, you won't win anything at all but regret and the question "What if?"

A reminder to myself of the first thing I will treat myself to when I win the jackpot - someone to do the laundry for me!

Andrea O'Neill "Settlement Advocate" and consultant for Prosperity Partners Customer Service Department.

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