But wait... there's less!

My wife and I have recently been travelling and my mini pack of cards come in quite handy. I can fit a whole game of solitaire on one of those tiny tray tables. One pile fits neatly inside the cup holder, while I can hold a hand of cards with just a thumb and a finger. The actual card size is 5.2 x 3.7 cm. I can fit two of these cards onto a 'standard' playing card. Here is one of my cards sitting in the middle of my palm. As an item by itself this is not a huge deal. Yes it means I can squeeze a game onto a travel tray table. But I'm showing it mainly as another example where thinking differently can make things better. Another example of where bigger is not better, but less is more. PS. This is the first of my travel series after a recent trip. Subscribe above or follow on facebook for the rest of the series.

Buying a house can cost a lot of money - and that has consequences. It's the reason that a lot of us are working so hard, working at jobs we hate or working into old age. (Remember Linda ?). It's because we need the cash. One way to pay less for a home is to look around for a better home loan. The ABC's finance expert Alan Kohler recently illustrated how similar the home loan rates are at Australia's "big four" banks. I added the green square after doing some research. My research The rates shown on the TV are called standard variable rates (more on that later). I checked up the rates of some alternatives to the "big four". The bracketed numbers are the comparison rate. More on that in a minute. Bank Australia 4.82 (4.86) Bank of Queensland 4.56 (4.69) CUA 4.51 (4.52) Bendigo Bank 4.43 (4.72) depending on the amount borrowed. None of these even get to 5%. Some are almost a full percent lower than the "big four". The average home...

Our new table transforms itself, and our view of furniture Here is our new table It has 3 modes. Friends mode: Seating up to 6 for dinner or board games. Couple mode: Great for the two of us. Or for doing some writing while looking out at the view. 99% mode: Most of the time we don't need a table, so it folds away. Storage in the side drawers. Best of all it allows the space to be multipurpose. Ordinarily a traffic area (between the kitchen, other rooms and the balcony) it can also be a spacious area for the two of us, a table for 6, or an expanded lounge area if we push the lounge furniture back. How it transforms homes Traditionally each room has one purpose. TV room for TV; bedroom for bed; study for studying; the dining room for the dining table. When furniture is cleverly designed , spaces can be multifunctional and we don't need so many rooms. It's one of the key concepts behind tiny homes . One of the architects from The Tiny House Company showed...

Carl was chasing his dream of becoming a millionaire. He had severe anxiety and stress. His book, Less-Stress Lifestyle is his recipe for reducing stress. A lot his answers are about having less. Less Clutter Less Stress "The things we own end up owning us." Carl advises us to "start getting wise about the stuff you own and future purchases" . For instance he scaled down his wardrobe to only the items he regularly wears - and now only buys quality items that he wears often. He saves money by not buying things he'd rarely or never wear. "Clutter prevents focus" he says, and focus is one of his keys to having less stress. As well as the home and office, he say it's important to declutter the brain. Writing his problems down clears them from his mind. Then his brain can focus on dealing with each problem (one at a time) rather than getting anxious and stressed about them. Less TV Less anxiety "One of the biggest challenges we face to...

This cartoon kind of happened to me on the weekend. Joking about death My dad has his own unique sense of humour. Flippantly he joked that when he passes away, the first thing I'll need to do is get a rubbish skip (maybe two) and jam it full with all the junk from the garage. I was reminded of Marie Kondo, who says in her book that we have to deal with items either now or later; so it might as well be now. For people who have retired, I guess there's a third option: Ignore it for a few more decades and let descendants deal with it. Don't get me wrong - my dad has plenty of years left yet. But from his joke I'm guessing he's reasonably happy to let it all sit there while he enjoys retired life. Why not deal with it? I can kind of understand. It's an overwhelming task (even to look at). There's also the "I might need that" factor. Which is fair enough, but even if an item is needed, is it findable in amongst everything else? About half the ...

A 5m 19s phone call to my bank earnt me an extra $497.73 Term deposits can be a good way to save. They often pay more than saving accounts if you are able, and willing, to lock away money for a fixed amount of time. Specials Most banks will have a 'special offer' on one of their term deposit rates. For example the 7-month term deposit might have a far better rate than most other lengths. Seems like a good deal. The Catch At the end of 7 months the default option is to re-invest for another 7 months. But hang on - what if the 7 months rate is now terrible and the 9 months rate is really good? Doesn't matter. The default will be to invest for 7 months at the new terrible rate. It's a bit like the lazy tax I mentioned before. Big money for little work When your term deposit comes due, take notice. Check out the interest rates for different term lengths - if term deposits are still your preferred option. A branch visit or a phone call is enough to switch you to ...

Netflix causes mass dumping. Here's an alternative. January is usually a big month for physical donations to charity. In 2019 it's been over-the-top (literally) as charity donation bins have been overflowing with items. The Netflix series "Tidying Up" by famous declutterer Marie Kondo (see her book ) has inspired many to declutter their homes. But in the process they've cluttered the streets. What's so bad about donating? When the bins overflow the extra items are thrown away. Having been in the weather, the rain and on the ground, they are classified as contaminated and cannot be sold. To make it worse, much of what fills the bins is not good enough to sell, and is also dumped. Bad donations hurt charities 13 million dollars. That's how much it costs charities to deal with all the junk we dump on them - 60,000 tonnes a year. Lifeline says half its stores have stopped accepting donations. We might think we're helping, but that's a lot ...

Make sure your munchkins become money-smart grown-ups. Barefoot Investor helped adults sort out their finances. Scott Pape's new book The Barefoot Investor for Families: The only kids' money guide you'll ever need helps parents raise kids who understand how money works, and how to make the best of it. Do we want our kids to be normal? Scott says normal (for an adult) is $4,200 in credit card debt, working a job we resent, to make payments on stuff we regret buying. Doesn't sound like a great future for a kid. What if our kids' lives could be better than normal? Less debt, less resentment and less worthless stuff? The Barefoot Ten After some introductory pocket-money advice - a great simple method - Scott outlines the "Barefoot Ten". Ten things he reckons your kids should do before they move out of home. Everything from cooking their own food (a great money-saver) to opening their own savings account and promising to never get a credit card. Ea...

Pope Francis has encouraged people in developed countries to live more simply. At Christmas Eve mass the Pope encouraged people to live "not by devouring and hoarding, but by sharing and giving". He continued: "Let us ask ourselves: Do I really need all these material objects and complicated recipes for living? Can I manage without all these unnecessary extras and live a life of greater simplicity? "For many people, life's meaning is found in possessing, in having an excess of material objects. An insatiable greed marks all human history, even today, when, paradoxically, a few dine luxuriantly while all too many go without the daily bread needed to survive." It certainly makes me think. We do spend a lot of money on relatively meaningless things while so many of our fellow human beings have so little. News source: BBC World News

Here are the But Wait There's Less Top 5 most popular posts of 2018. The ones you read the most. I considered a Top 10 but, like most things, less is better. 1. Minimalism: A Documentary Two long-time friends ditch "success" for happiness . They debunk the consumerist message and find we can have more happiness and less stress by simply having less stuff. 2. It's so good - we DIDN'T buy one Sharing items can be way better than owning them. This story also shows how you can share items in your area. 2b. Do we have affluenza? An oldie but a goodie. This post about consuming less and Buy Nothing New Month was written a while ago but still gets lot of reads in 2018. 3. Jerry Seinfeld and the finance guy I'm guessing the Seinfeld stand-up is the big drawcard here. Both guys give good reasons to have less junk at home. One very funny. The other very insightful. 4. The best day for a garage sale I'm a big fan of downsizing by selling online (che...