The Year of Less

How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life Is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store

By: Cait Flanders

Narrated by: Cait Flanders

In her late 20s, Cait Flanders found herself stuck in the consumerism cycle that grips so many of us: earn more, buy more, want more, rinse, repeat. Even after she worked her way out of nearly $30,000 of consumer debt, her old habits took hold again. When she realized that nothing she was doing or buying was making her happy - only keeping her from meeting her goals - she decided to set herself a challenge: she would not shop for an entire year.

The Year of Less documents Cait's life for 12 months during which she bought only consumables: groceries, toiletries, gas for her car. Along the way, she challenged herself to consume less of many other things besides shopping. She decluttered her apartment and got rid of 70 percent of her belongings; learned how to fix things rather than throw them away; researched the zero-waste movement; and completed a television ban.

At every stage, she learned that the less she consumed, the more fulfilled she felt. Blending Cait's compelling story with inspiring insight and practical guidance, The Year of Less will leave you questioning what you're holding on to in your own life - and, quite possibly, lead you to find your own path of less.

©2018 Cait Flanders (P)2018 Tantor

Critic reviews

"If you've ever felt there must be more to life than consumerism and its vicious cycle, you'll find inspiration to break free in The Year of Less. Cait's highly readable and personal story is encouraging, challenging, and unbelievably helpful." (Joshua Becker, author of The More of Less)

Loved it!

I really enjoyed this book! It was so easy to listen to and had really great insights.

Memoir of habit changes

This is a memoir, not a how-to book. If you are looking to be inspired by the author's positive habit changes around spending, this is a fantastic book for imagining how you could do the same. I appreciated that the story focuses on WHY more purchases can't meet our emotional needs. Cait shares how buying less helped her realize that she HAS enough -- and that she IS enough.

Excellent!

I've already incorporated her formula. Inspiring. Great life changer. I'm 50. Wish I had started at 20. It's never too late
:)

liberating

stayed with it all the way through. a personal journey of growth, mindfulness celebrating less is more.

made me think about my consuming habits

It made me think about my consuming habits, I feel like I have several things in common with the author and my personal approach to joy has been a different one. I don't agree with the all or nothing approach, but I understand why the author did it that way. I won't pretend to know the authors motives, but in the description of her process it does feel very reminiscent of quitting a substance adiction. thanks for sharing your story with us!

Gets very personal

I liked the premise of this book - buy less, and Cait certainly did this, however there was a lot of autobiography in this and, at times, I felt like I was getting too much information about Cait's life and family. I would have preferred if she had done more with the central theme - consuming less. It would have been great if she could have talked about ways to recycle or repurpose or put in some statistics or other factual information. I found her observations about her friends and others', including her own, reactions to her consuming less really fascinating and would have loved more of these and for her to tease them out more. Overall it was a brave and interesting experiment and well done Cait for shining a light on a different way of living. I wish more people did this.

Fully Reccomend

This book has shown up in my life from time to time, mentioned in blog post and articles, and I finally got around to listening to the audio book. Cait is not a lively presenter, neither is she difficult to listen to.

I had no idea when I purchased this book that there would be so much more to the story.

She shares difficulties of her journey, completely unrelated to de-cluttering, and gives inspiration to anyone going through any anything at any point in their life. You can improve Wherever You Are.

if living a life outside of the normal hustle is a goal of yours, or an interest you're looking into, I highly recommend this book. Her challenge reshaped how she lives her life, and it could inspire you to do the same. Excellent read, can't recommend it enough!

#relatable

Thanks to Cait for sharing her story! As a person in her mid-twenties I found so many of the things that Cait discusses, very relatable. A great listen, if you want to reflect on the value that we place on money and items. This is not a how- to book, although I did find it to be inspiring.

Well done

This is not the first book like this that I have read but still Cait did a wonderful job... I did not follow her blog so was not expecting all the personal details but still e joyed her financial success

Inspiration!

This book has inspired me to do my own year of less. Going through some shifting and changing in my own life has created a desire for more via the less route. This is giving me some information as well as inspiration to take on challenges that I may not have been willing to try before. I am excited to explore Cait’s blog and find out what else is out there. She is a fabulous narrator for her own work narrator for her own work.