Shun the unitasker!

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Anyone who's watched Alton Brown's excellent Food Network show Good Eats knows that he encourages people to forsake "unitaskers" in the kitchen. A unitasker is any gadget that performs only one function -- a stainless steel avocado pit remover, for example -- and otherwise exists to take up real estate in your kitchen.

(Avocado lovers of the world, all you really need is a chef's knife and a tablespoon. This Chow video shows you how.)

The lesson I've taken away from Good Eats and its crusade against unitaskers is that you can get away with having a small toolbox full of versatile kitchen implements so long as you acquire a variety of techniques for using those tools. It's basically a time versus money tradeoff -- you can either spend money on highly specific gadgets or you can take the time to use a few good basics to do highly specific tasks.

When you're decluttering your place -- or watching your consumer habits to prevent a build up of clutter in your abode -- taking a comprehensive "shun the unitasker!" approach can be super-helpful in saving both space and money. It can help you curb your idealistic, unrealistic intentions in both Sur La Table ("I'll be making creme brulee constantly, I know it!") and Home Depot ("I'll be crafting my own gingerbread trim for the windowboxes I build, I knows it!").

Still, there are times when a unitasker comes in handy. Avid craftspeople -- be they scrapbookers or needlepointers -- can make arguments for why they'd need a specific paper cutter or type of needle. The real criteria for whether or not you need to hang on to something that performs only one specific function is this: Do you use this enough to justify the money you spent on it and the space it takes up in your house? Only you know what "enough" is -- more than once a fiscal quarter, more than once a year, more than once a presidential administration. But be honest when defining it.

For a good giggle, I urge you to check out Unclutter's regular feature, "Unitasker Wednesday." It truly is boggling what products are out there.

What unitaskers will you hang on to, no matter how often you declutter? Share your MVPs at dollarsandsense@sfgate.com.

Posted By: Lisa Schmeiser (Email) | January 07 2011 at 08:56 AM

Listed Under: Wallet-friendly habits