I don't know about the time travel, but it seems the laundry sacrifices happen whether we want them to or not... does it count as a 'sacrifice' if they just disappear? Ah, the deep ethics of washing-machine portals....

(Hee! I usually do that unintentionally - just kind of conk out for a while with the book under my face. But doing it intentionally's not a bad idea at all!)