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

Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

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)

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.

Eye-opening and relatable

Cait Flanders tells a captivating story about her struggles with substance abuse and her poor spending habits that eventually led to severe debt and self-doubt. To regain control of her life, she embraces sobriety and frugality, only purchasing everyday items she absolutely needs to get through life for an entire year. Cait's story is incredibly relatable and made me think about my own spending habits and triggers. I am tempted to start my own version of the "shopping ban", albeit a little more lenient.

Great book

Enjoyed this book a lot! It gives you a good perspective of what you can let in into your life when you empty your mind of always buying. Well written and loved the flow! Well done Cait Flanders. 👏👏👏

Good read!

This deeply personal perspective on dealing with the hardships of life and moving forward with what is truly important is the heart of this story.

I recommend this book for anyone looking to change the pathway of their lives!

kinda middle of the road

I'm always inspired to get rid of stuff and to save money regardless of what it is I'm listening to. this book was pretty good it did focus a lot on her problems of drinking and binging rather than on exactly ways to save.

What I did not enjoy at all was the author's way of reading or speech. She was very monotone throughout the whole book. It's like she doesn't know how to use an exclamation point or if she does she doesn't know how to read one. At the end she ended her name with a question, Cait?

I liked this book but didn't love it.

More Memoir Than Self-Help

I don’t recall if I went into this listening experience expecting a memoir, but that’s exactly what I found.

The first half of the story, I found myself nodding along and then embarrassed to admit her buying habits sounded a LOT like my own. The middle lagged a bit as she dove more into her family’s challenges, but because it’s such a short audiobook it didn’t diminish my enjoyment.

Overall the story felt somewhat disjointed, bouncing between thoughts and anecdotal retellings, but I can’t be sure if that’s because of the audiobook format or if the actual book would’ve had a similar issue.

Further, I could tell in her performance that Cait isn’t a professional narrator, but she made up for that with some emotion(s) that threatened to burst forth during some of the touching moments.

I wish I would’ve had this to read 10 years ago when I was in my mid-20s, more as a warning to set me up for financial success... but truth be told I probably wouldn’t have listened to the advice then, anyway. I’m glad to have heard her story now that I’m ready to face the facts. If you’re looking for the Self-Help angle and want a how-to guide, skip to the end for that content. It’s quite helpful (and approachable)!

gr8 read/listen to help me let go

many hurdles ascended to find what was important in life and stuff merchandise isnt really in the equation