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“The Year of Less” book by Cait Flanders has been on my “to read” list for quite some time. I am always inspired by those willing to push the limits and challenge themselves to be the best version of themselves that they can be. I thought it would be a great book to read and share with all of you while on your simple living journey. I have to say that this book was far from what I expected as the title is definitely misleading…but I still loved it.
Cait started a blog quite a while ago to hold herself accountable for some of her early goals in early adulthood, like paying off debt and losing weight. I was actually unfamiliar with her blog until I started reading, or I should say listening, to her book. Since the audio version is read by Cait herself, you feel as though you really get to connect with her as a person as she explains her journey towards the year of less. In her book she explains how she shared some of her challenges on her blog with her readers to help hold her accountable, but how she never really shared the entire picture with her audience – her life journey towards living a year with less, mostly only sharing the superficial details of her purge on her blog.
Looking at the title, “The Year of Less: How I stopped shopping, gave away my belongings, and discovered life is more than anything you can buy in a store” you would probably assume what I and most readers thought the book was about – a step-by-step guide for inventorying the items you currently own, purging what you don’t need, and learning how to implement a shopping ban to slow your consumerism. This book certainly outlines her rules for her shopping ban, what she can and cannot buy and how she amended her list of items she can purchase after she discovers what a shopping ban actually means to her. The book also touches on how she took inventory of all of her possessions before the ban, and each chapter she shares the amount of money saved, how much she reduced her possessions by, and her confidence level at completing the challenge. She also shares tips in the back of the book to get you started with your own year of less. But this book is SO MUCH MORE.
If you are only looking for a step-by-step tutorial of the latest fad this book is not for you. This book is more of a memoir detailing her experiences as a child and early adulthood that led her to some very dark places and scary encounters, that eventually led to many breaking points to get her life “in order”. Think of a 12 year old girl meeting her biological father for the first time and expecting to go for ice cream. Instead she ends up drunk at a bar and can barely make it up the walkway of her parents’ house when her biological father drops her off. This leads to bragging and drinking in middle school on weekends to be “popular” which then leads to alcoholism in early adulthood. Or how she ignored all of her step-father’s financial lessons growing up and ends up with $30,000 of consumer debt – all credit cards maxed out, with the exception of $100 left on one card and only $100 left in her bank account that had to last 3 weeks. Or her struggle with weight and binge eating. Or her on-again-off-again abusive relationship. These were the struggles she had never fully disclosed to the readers of her blog.
Prior to her year of less Cait had tackled all of these one at a time. She had been sober for >1 year, had paid off all of her credit card debt, and was starting to make healthier life decisions when she had decided to implement a shopping ban. Many of these stories are woven through the book, sometimes repetitively. While a step-by-step guide is certainly helpful if you are just starting to learn about a topic, this book dives way deeper into recognizing and dealing with your emotional triggers for a behavior in order to prevent a relapse. And how important support systems are. Of course she parallels her past experiences, emotions, successes and downfalls for each new battle she faces. If you can’t realize your weaknesses, triggers and strengths, how are you to be successful? You won’t be; no matter what behavior you are trying to alter or cycle you are trying to break. The repetitiveness of her past experiences throughout the book, as well as learning of her parents’ divorce mid-ban, just goes to show you how human we all are and how she tried to juggle and deal with her many emotions to prevent from breaking the shopping ban or even worse, picking up an alcoholic beverage.
All-in-all this is a book all about striving to be the best version of yourself, no matter what battle you are facing. It’s not about striving to be someone you think you should be, but about being happy and mindful. It’s definitely a worthwhile read (or listen) for those wanting to start their journey towards simple living or minimalism or those who have started their journey but feel overwhelmed.
You can read “The Year of Less” for free with Amazon’s free Kindle Unlimited trial here or listen to it for free here with Amazon’s free Audible trial (highly recommend!). If you end up reading the book, be sure to come back and leave a comment! I’d love to know what you thought of the book!
