I need to start keeping track of these things more.  Or rather, I need to just do them when I should instead of waiting for 6 months to realize the improvement.

Top on my list today was finally drilling a hole through the pressure-reducing valve in the stupid, way-overpriced burst-proof washing machine hoses that I bought from Lowes 6 months ago, on the advice of our home inspector.

Let me just put it this way… it was taking more than a half-hour to fill up the washing machine tub with water when we washed our clothes.

For SIX months we lived like this.

So, today, with the encouragement of a fellow house-hacker, I finally drilled through this more-intelligent-than-me contraption, hooked the hoses up and enjoyed a normal clothes-washing experience.  Gotta stop waiting so long to do stuff like this!  =:/