But wait... there's less!

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...

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld says "all things exist in different stages of becoming garbage" and describes our home as a garbage-processing centre. Demotion "Objects start at the highest level - visible in the living area. From there it goes down to a closet, cupboard or drawer. That's why we have those - so we don't have to see all the huge mistakes we've made." The garage "No object has ever made it out of the garage and back into the house. The word garage seems to be a form of the word garbage." Paid storage "Now instead of free garbage, you pay rent to visit your garbage. It's like a prison visit when you go there." What if it all burnt down? Last week I mentioned Scott Pape's book ( The Barefoot Investor (2018 Update): The Only Money Guide You'll Ever Need ). He's a finance expert who lost everything in a bushfire. The insurance cheque was a chance to start over. It was also a chance to realise that much...

There are three things that happy people have. Is more money one of them? Nope. Once your basic needs are met, extra money doesn't really make you happier. The three things are purpose, relationships and financial control, says author Scott Pape. I've just finished his popular book The Barefoot Investor (2018 Update): The Only Money Guide You'll Ever Need . I expected mainly tips on saving, investing and the sharemarket. Those topics are covered, but a lot of his advice is 1. Don't buy so much stuff, 2. Buy the basic stuff not the flashy stuff, and 3. Don't get sucked in by advertising and salespeople. He says millionaires drive average cars. People with flashy cars are generally not doing as well. ("All show and no dough") Stop making the bankers rich Credit cards don't help you get ahead or buy more. In fact they lock us in to a lifetime of debt and often people pay more in interest than they spend on the purchases. This mean our pay packet d...

Here's a question that came my way: "I plan on parting with a lot of things. But do I attempt to sell or just pass my belongings onto an op-shop? It feels overwhelming that I could be drawing out the length of the process by trying to sell." It's a good question. Here are four reasons why selling is great - and really helps you declutter. 1. You know it goes to someone who'll use it. There's something reassuring about an item you once loved going to a "good home". My wife sold her old money box to a mum and daughter for a small amount. It's nice to imagine the kid cheerfully saving up her pocket money in it - and makes it so much easier to part with. She'll get far enjoyment from it than we ever did. 2. Selling makes saying goodbye easier. My once-beloved jacket had not been worn for years and was an obvious candidate to be given away. Still, to see it go was difficult. Thirty dollars made it a whole lot easier. Many other items are in th...

Should people serve the economy or should the economy serve people? Because dollars are easy to measure, politicians and the media measure our economy by whether more dollars are changing hands. I think this is a poor way to measure how well we are going. It completely ignores other aspects like our happiness, the amount of free time we have and the amount of pollution that occurs. I recently saw the documentary Fixing the Future, and it contained this great illustration of how money is only a small part of the equation. By spending less we can improve our lives and other people's too, even if it can't be measured in dollars. We should look at the bigger picture if we want to live better lives.

We meet many people through selling our excess stuff. Some are fascinating. Some funny. Some odd. Some a little weird. Today a local buyer declined to pick up their desired item. Or to have me bring it to him/her. I say him/her because even their profile name sounded more like a code name, giving away no information. The instructions were to wait for the all-clear and then deposit the item at a designated letterbox (presumably theirs). The money would be in a side compartment. This was definitely a first. Unexpected and a little strange. I might not have done it, but being very local I did it during my afternoon walk. I'll probably never know who the buyer was - or why they wanted this secretive method. In my free ebook Less Clutter More Cash I said selling to people can be fun and interesting. At the time I didn't expect that to include doing a spy-like drop-off to a secret identity. Now that I've done it, I think they're onto a pretty good idea. Letterboxes...

Advertisers say some ridiculous stuff to manipulate us into buying useless items we don't need. The Checkout took a quick look at some of ludicrous items for bikes . Would you pay $1100 for a watch? How about $491 for a bike pump? It's funny, and slightly jaw-dropping, but the sad part is that we sometimes we are lulled into buying this stuff. Then we have to work more - or sacrifice other things - to pay for it all. PS. If you regret stuff that you've bought, why not sell it online? Download my ebook Less Clutter More Cash for handy tips.

Choosing to live small has many benefits. The positives are obvious: less overhead, less clutter, fewer financial commitments, less stress and more time. That's one of the first statements of the book Living the Airstream Life . The author goes on to the consequences of these benefits. ... learning more about yourself through having the perspective to consider the bigger picture rather than having to focus on the chores of daily living ... those who live this lifestyle for a long period of time find other ways to make positive contributions, figuring out what their true skills are and how to use them to be a productive member of society rather than having to focus on paying a massive mortgage and credit payments or keeping up with all the chores of modern day living. That bit resonated with me. I recently left a job to now figure out what my next 'positive contribution' might be. A number of people told me how lucky I was. How they'd like to do that, but can't ...

One of the struggles of decluttering is when people give unwanted gifts. A particular couple I know are often given gifts of alcohol. But they hardly drink - or at least not at home very much. This collection of part-used and untouched bottles was cluttering up the kitchen and probably losing quality. Solution: cocktail party! A friend of theirs is a professional bartender and mixed people some drinks. There was also some great food. About twenty people showed up. So even without over-indulging, it was an effective way to halve their alcohol collection and have a nice night along the way. Cheers to decluttering and downsizing!

When I shared the quote "The first step to getting what you want is getting rid of what you don't" I didn't realise it came from this book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying: A simple, effective way to banish clutter forever . Marie Kondo's mission is to help people experience more joy simply by having fewer things and things that bring you joy. Ms Kondo's clients really do find this to be life-changing. It seems to be as much about mindset as it is about actual tidying techniques. The physical clutter, and often the mental clutter and other factors that go with it, holds us back from achieving what we want. The approach A handy tip for downsizing is the order in which we approach our clutter. She suggests leaving the more sentimental items to last. They take the most time and if we start there we'll lose momentum before we even get going. Her suggested order is clothes, then books, then papers, then miscellany, and mementos last. I struggle with ...