But wait... there's less!

As we wrap up 2019, here are the most-read posts here on But Wait There's Less . 5. Books. Do we need them anymore? Why do we keep books? To read them again? How many do we ever read a second time? I worked it out .For me not many. This lead to a second post on my technique for streamlining my book collection . 4. Living in a converted barn. This was something my wife and I tried on a trip away this year. Check out the pictures . I still reckon it could be possible long-term. We really don't need as much space as we have. 3. What's your retirement age? It's not 67. At least it doesn't have to be. If we spend less, compulsory work can become optional at a very early age . It could even be in your 30s. 2. The automatic guest room On the same trip as number 4, we stayed with a friend who (with some clever furniture ) converts her living room into another bedroom. It's a clever way to be able to have guests, but without paying a heap of money for a bigge

Have you seen these shows? People are shown three tiny houses and they choose one to buy. Here in Australia, double episodes of Tiny House Hunters currently screen on 9Life; Tuesday at 8.30pm, Saturday at 5.30pm or streamed online . Some things happen so often on these shows that we've made a Tiny House Hunting bingo game. ( Download the pdf version ) Here's the bingo sheet, with explanations below. Play along next time you're watching. See if you can get three in a row. Composting Toilet These are a common feature in tiny houses, particularly houses on wheels that are going to be moving a lot. Some people love them; some are freaked out. Mark this square if someone is passionate about the matter. Accommodating Pets Even in tiny homes, it feels like having pets is as common as having kids. I've seen an under-couch run area for guinea pigs, a cat walk for kittens to traverse from one loft to the other, and special built-in areas for dogs to sleep and eat. M

I often mention the expense of our homes. Whether it's renting or a buying, it's a major cost in our lives. Here in Australia it's widely accepted that prices are too high. Compared to four decades ago, we earn ten times more - but house prices are 30 times more expensive. So what do we do about it? This Australian documentary looks internationally to see what solutions other countries are coming up with. Solutions involve town planning and financial arrangements, and a lot of ideas involved living in a smaller space. While a lot of solutions take a long time to implement, one of the quickest is a change we can make ourselves. More about that at the end. First here are some of the ideas from the documentary: Just keep building In Tokyo each year there are more new homes built than in all of England. Commercial areas have been more flexibly re-zoned to allow enough new homes to match the need. As a result, prices don't increase alarmingly as they do elsewhe

Have you seen those fold-out desks that attach to the wall? I see them on the tiny home shows on TV. Here's what I'm talking about: They're ultra-space efficient as they fold right up when you're not using them. Very handy for a tiny house Artwork Too If the 'legs' form a frame shape, it can be an artwork when it's pack away. In the tiny home shows, people use this to display art, inspirational words, or to have a chalkboard for changeable messages or art. It's a desk that takes up no floor space, or art that also has a function. Either way it's a winner of an idea. Not just for tiny homes Until now I thought it was specifically something people made themselves for tiny homes. But my friend has one in her apartment. (Yes, the same friend I mentioned last time ). They're available in Australia and can be quite affordable. Due to the wall-mounting aspect, it's probably more for the home-owners and landlords. But it's definite

On our recent trip, my wife and I stayed with a friend in Sydney. That sounds normal - except our friend has a 1 bedroom apartment. Yes this is going to be another example of clever furniture adding a lot of value without adding a lot of cost. This is our friend's lounge room (when we're not in town). The lounge cleverly rearranges into a double bed. When it's made up, as it was when we arrived, it even looks like a bed. It can even become two separate single beds, which is an added advantage over a traditional sofa-bed. This is great for 2 platonic visitors or for when 2 parents and a sibling visit. The parents have the bedroom and the siblings can have single beds. So how was it? Absolutely fine. It took a few minutes to adjust to the novelty of having a kitchen in our 'bedroom', but then it was great. Why do I love this so much? This is so clever because it gives so many options. It also gives a small and affordable home the same function and

Could you live in a converted barn? Could we? My wife and I tried out this small cottage. I'm guessing it's around 35 - 40 m 2 . It's decorated to have that barn look from the outside, but inside it is quite modern. Down one end are the bathroom and the kitchen, which are more spacious than I expected. At the other end is the bedroom and sitting area (along with a table of tourist brochures). Behind the central curtain is an outdoor seating area. Tiny home enthusiasts: there is also a loft. It looks like there are hooks for a ladder to get up there. Could we live there? Obviously, visiting on a holiday is different to making a permanent home. On a trip you leave things behind. Your washing machine, musical instruments, bicycles, and Christmas tree - to name just some. Having said that, I think it would be very possible to live in a space this size. The height is a great feature as it allows for much storage, both in a loft above a room and by having even more

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

Who has ever had four saucepans cooking at once? So why do we have four hotplates on cooktops? Back in the day of all-in-one units, four hotplates were a nice fit on the top of the oven. These days the cooktop and ovens are usually separate but we've stuck with four hotplates. In many homes and apartments it's worth re-thinking. Is this is a wise use of bench space? Two-saucepan cooktops are making an appearance and freeing up some bench space in smaller kitchens. Aldi are taking it a step further with the Induction Cooking Plate . It's a stand-alone single-hotplate device that can be packed away when not in use. Aldi says it has 8 temperature settings, 5 preset cooking functions, a timer, touch controls and overheat protection. Could this be the future of smaller kitchens? Cost-savings in building. More bench space. Less energy consumption with the efficiency of induction cooking. Another great example of less is more. I don't mean this to be an ad, but

One of the things you look at when thinking about tiny living is better use of space. This video, with more than 13 million views, contains some amazing designs that make it so easy to save space. Why have a bedroom and a study if one room can do both. The furniture may cost a bit, but it would be far less than the cost of an extra room. This is the kind of thinking that is involved in the tiny living scene. It's not ordinary, but it's brilliant. Update: Check out the new transformer table my wife and I recently found.