The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2007 American Housing Survey was released today, revealing that housing units in this country increased by 3.8 million from 2005 to 2007. In total, there are 124.4 million housing units, 110.7 of them occupied; however, not all of them are created equal:

70.8 million occupied homes have dishwashers

91.3 million have washing machines

88.5 million have clothes dryers

70.4 million have central air-conditioning

I haven’t had a dishwasher since I lived with my parents, but that’s okay because I live alone and don’t generate many dirty dishes. However, I think dishwashers greatly aid relationships. Unlike decades ago when these machines didn’t exist, doing the dishes or washing clothes doesn’t take much time or energy. Instead, all you have to do is press a button and wait. If you live with others, even friends, dirty dishes are a frequent cause of arguments, so having a dishwasher should mean there’s less to fight about—but then there’s the question of who has to load it and who has to unload it. For a couple to be truly well-matched, one should like to load and the other unload. Maybe I should put an ad on Craigslist: SWU looking for ML (that’s male loader—I prefer putting the dishes back in their cupboards). [U.S. Census Bureau]