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)

a case study

i would call this book a case study for minimizing your life and consumer footprint. it is NOT a how-to, though the author gets to that somewhat toward the end. it's definitely a memoir of one person's 'coming-of-age' through a consumerist lens, and as an illustrative it's interesting. she does self-indulge somewhat with the life stories, though i don't discount them as they do help you relate to the evolution of her principles.
the most self-indulgent chapters were those regarding her parents' divorce, and this is what got my goat. it sounded as though she HAS a truly lovely family, and of course having that dismantled at all would be difficult, but...no one died - in the foreshadowings i assumed someone would, the way it was alluded to - and she went through it as an adult. sure, you know more about relationships as an adult so maybe the mechanics are too relatable, but having personally gone through divorce as a child, her two chapters lamenting it were seriously too much. i mean...your family isn't the same but everyone's alive and still love one another (it didn't read like a tabloid saga; everyone was civil); maybe it's a maturity thing, but, people change, things change, you can't control that. dragging your listener/readers through it as though it were an 8 year old's perspective was somewhat difficult to listen to and only very peripherally relevant to her year-long experiment. i don't want to belittle what i'm sure was a difficult experience for the author, but, frankly honey, ZOOM OUT; get a little perspective.
am i glad i listened to it? sure. was it life-changing? nope.
as many others have noted, the narration is fairly abysmal. maybe it's a millennial thing, maybe it's a chill canadian thing, i don't know, but there's a pronounced apathy in her voice that - especially voicing a few chapters of woe-is-me parental-divorce-angst - really wasn't convincing as much as confusing.

Interesting but voice cadence is wearing .

Kate I would have enjoyed this book more except the cadence of your voice on each and every sentence is tiring . No inflection . I almost stopped listening because all I could hear was the cadence .

Couldn’t stop listening!

It was simply an unexpected marvel. This book gently provokes you to take action and inspires you to question your own daily habits.
This is Book is for women who are willing to take the time to mindfully challenge themselves and to delve deep into what it would take to get there.

Engaging and down to earth

Loved this story and related a lot! Enjoyable "read" - would definitely recommend to others for an easy listen.

If You Want It, This Can Work for You

Great book with stories and real solutions to living with less. Loved it. Doing it.