A circuit for operating a household appliance, having a switching power supply for transforming a grid voltage of a supply grid to a direct current supply voltage, a controller for controlling processes of the household appliance that can be coupled to the switching power supply and supplied by the DC supply voltage, and a button by means of which the switching power supply can be coupled to the supply grid by closing an electrical switch. The switch has two mechanically stable states and can be transitioned from one mechanically stable state to the other by actuating the button and/or by an at least indirect energy input from the controller.