My Thoughts on “The Year of Less” by Cait Flanders

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I just finished reading The Year of Less by Cait Flanders. The byline of this book says so much. It reads: how I stopped shopping, gave away my belongings, and discovered life is worth more than anything you can buy in a store. I had been recommended this book a few times and finally had the chance to read it.

This is not a how-to book about minimalism.

I had read some bad reviews from people that were upset because they were expecting a how-to guide. The how-to physical part of minimalism is fairly straight forward. It’s hard to get rid of our things because of mental attachments. There is a very short guide in the back that helps you to set up your own shopping ban.

Why a shopping ban and minimizing belongings at the same time?

This book simply follows her journey during a year-long shopping ban during which she got rid of anything she didn’t need. This may sound counterintuitive to people who haven’t attempted to rid themselves of all the excess but it actually makes perfect sense. We have inadvertently been doing the same thing for the last couple of years. Once we decided that we wanted to get out of debt and started talking about traveling, we had a mental shift occur. We stopped buying things that weren’t completely necessary while trying to pay off debt but that continued since we were planning to massively downsize for long-term travel.

She was able to replace things as she ran out of them such as toiletries or clothing items that wore out. This just makes sense with both goals. We have been using things up since we started this journey towards minimalism. We haven’t bought any lotion, nail polish, or hair products (except dry shampoo) since we began. There were many things that we didn’t buy for over a year. When approaching minimalism for the first time, it helps to sort out all those consumable items and stop buying them until you run out.

The point is to live the life you want!

The purpose of this book was to show readers what she gained by stopping impulse buying and stepping off the track of consumerism. I feel like she did that very well. She’s very honest about her addictive personality including her previous problems with both alcohol and debt. I enjoyed the layout of monthly updates for the start of each chapter. I think it is hard to understand what she was going through unless you have started down this path yourself.

I enjoy reading other people’s journey into minimalism and where it has led them. It’s amazing what is possible when you stop living somebody else’s idea of what your life should look like. While we are still working our way towards our dream life, I find it inspiring to read things like this. I enjoyed this book and found it a very easy bedtime read.

This is the perfect book for somebody who is in the middle of their minimalism project. In the beginning, you’re so overwhelmed that you only want how-to guides. In the middle, you are trying to stay inspired to see the possible outcomes of your journey. That’s the time for books like this!

Here’s a link to this amazing book: The Year of Less