Cait Flanders “The Year of Less” for How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store

“The Year of Less” by Cait Flanders challenges our consumer-driven culture. This eye-opening memoir recounts Flanders’ journey of self-discovery through a year-long shopping ban. Her candid insights offer a fresh perspective on living with less and finding true fulfillment.

Ready to revolutionize your relationship with stuff? Dive into Flanders’ transformative experience and discover how less can lead to more.

Genres

Minimalism, Consumerism Critique, Sustainability, Personal Growth, Decluttering, Mindfulness, Personal Memoirs, Self Help, Personal Development, Biography, Finance, Biography Memoir, Adult, Personal Finance, Motivational, Characteristics and Qualities, Self-Improvement, Women’s Biography

Cait Flanders, a personal finance blogger, embarks on a year-long shopping ban after realizing her spending habits were out of control. She commits to buying only essentials and decluttering her home. Throughout the year, Flanders faces personal challenges, including a family illness and career changes. She discovers that her shopping habits were often a coping mechanism for deeper issues. As she progresses, she learns to confront her emotions directly and finds joy in experiences rather than possessions. The ban extends beyond a year, fundamentally changing her approach to consumerism and life.

Review

Flanders’ writing style is refreshingly honest and relatable. She doesn’t preach but shares her struggles and triumphs, making the journey accessible to readers. The book goes beyond simple tips for saving money, delving into the psychological aspects of consumerism and personal growth. While some readers might find the pace slow at times, the insights gained are worth the investment. Flanders’ experience prompts reflection on one’s own relationship with material possessions and the pursuit of happiness. It’s a timely read in our age of excess, offering a blueprint for a more intentional life. The book’s strength lies in its practical approach and the author’s vulnerability, making it a valuable resource for anyone considering a lifestyle change.

Introduction

After combating alcoholism and massive debt, Cait Flanders noticed that she still had a serious problem: Her shopping habit was out of control. So, Flanders decided to drastically change her lifestyle once again by stopping her shopping habit in its tracks and decluttering her life. Her journey was filled with both discoveries and disappointments, but it revealed to her that true happiness doesn’t come from your belongings. Rather, it comes from how you interact with the world and those in it.

True happiness can’t be bought.

READ THIS BOOK SUMMARY IF YOU:

• Have an addiction that you want to overcome
• Are trying to simplify your life by changing your habits
• Want to make a drastic change in your life, whether personally or professionally

Two days before Cait Flanders’ 29th birthday, she and her friends were hiking the trails of Garibaldi Provincial Park. As they spoke of where their lives were taking them, Flanders had a revelation. While all her friends were moving into the next stages of life, she seemed stagnant and still in need of working on herself. When her friends asked what her next step would be, she blurted out an idea she’d been dwelling on for a while: She would stop all unnecessary shopping for an entire year.

Flanders had made drastic life changes before, including combating alcoholism, obesity, and a large amount of debt. She’d spent her youth hiding dark secrets of being in debt and drinking from her family. While her struggle to relieve $30,000 of debt and distance herself from alcohol had been public triumphs, she feared her shopping experiment would crash and burn. But after a serious and revealing conversation with her younger sister, Flanders knew this drastic change was the only way to go.

These were the rules Flanders set up for herself on this journey:

1. She was not allowed to buy new clothes, electronics, shoes, accessories, books, or home goods.
2. She could buy food, gas, and other consumables.
3. She could only shop from an approved shopping list.
4. She could replace things that were broken only if she threw away the original item.
5. She could not buy take-out coffee.

While she assumed she would likely fail, Flanders still hit “publish” on her blog entry outlining the rules. Throughout the following year, she would face some of the lowest lows of her life. Yet by holding herself accountable for a full year, she succeeded in making huge, positive changes to her life.

In her book The Year of Less, Flanders outlines each month of her year-long journey, and this summary provides insight into Flanders’ trials and triumphs during several of those months. Through her journey, you can learn to live your own life of less.

July: Taking Inventory

Flanders was always a neat freak, which made her shopping problem less apparent to herself and others. It wasn’t until 2014 that she began losing objects she owned. It was while she looked for missing objects that she first noticed all the things she owned but didn’t really need: five black tank tops, multiple bottles of the same lotion, many never-worn clothing items with the price tags still on. Much like her original struggles with debt and alcoholism, Flanders tried to ignore the ensuing clutter until she absolutely couldn’t avoid it any longer.

But rather than a sudden “a-ha moment,” it was her inability to find a can opener that triggered her journey. After the 100th time of thinking that she should get rid of some things, she finally did so one July afternoon, shortly after starting the shopping ban. She started with her closet and quickly determined that she only wore roughly 15% of the clothes she owned. Then, she realized that she owned more books than she could ever read. And in her bathroom, she discovered she needed to get rid of roughly half the toiletries she’d collected over the years.

By the time Flanders finished clearing out her apartment, she’d gotten rid of almost half of her belongings. Suddenly, she felt lighter, as if her home belonged more to her than it had before. She knew, however, that the work ahead of her would only get harder. This was just the first step in her year-long quest to consume less.

August: Changing Daily Habits

The first time Flanders got drunk was with her biological father. He showed up in her life when she was 12, asking to take her out for ice cream. But ice cream soon turned into alcohol, leading her down a path that would haunt her for years. As a child, she viewed her drunken experience as a rite of passage — a tool to make her popular among her peers. She never found a niche doing anything else, so partying and getting drunk became her way of bonding with her friends. But as she grew, her troubles with alcohol grew as well.

She tried to quit drinking multiple times. Her first attempt came after a blackout, which led to her being picked up on the street by her friend’s parents. The thought of potential strangers kidnapping her off the street scared her enough to stop drinking for several weeks. But it didn’t last. After job losses, relationship breakups, and other big life changes, Flanders found herself returning to the bottle again and again. It wasn’t until the age of 27 when an epiphany finally stopped Flanders’ drinking.

Then, Flanders’ vice turned to take-out coffee. While certainly less problematic than drinking, it was very expensive. Two months into her shopping ban, Flanders discovered just how much she was spending on her coffee habit. Much like her journey to alcohol recovery, she realigned her thinking and focused on the triggers that caused her craving rather than immediately giving into it. By confronting these triggers, both with coffee and shopping in general, she forced herself to think about and soothe the negative thoughts fueling her desire to buy. As it turns out, her spending was based in emotions far more than she’d originally thought.

September: Breaking Up with Retail Therapy

While Flanders could acknowledge her compulsions with alcohol and food, it took much longer to realize the serious problem she had with shopping.

Her major trigger was breakups. After a seemingly positive relationship ended suddenly, she found herself in a shopping spiral, adding up clothes, home goods, and office supplies to her online shopping carts as if these things could comfort her. But then, unexpectedly, Flanders stopped herself before she hit “buy.”

She knew that before the shopping ban, she would’ve bought it all because she had done that very thing before. But this time, instead of drinking, bingeing, and shopping, she turned to decluttering, went out with friends, and kept on living, even in the face of sadness.

November: Blacking Out and Coming to

Flanders soon found that it was difficult to block herself from all advertisements. By switching from cable television to streaming shows, clearing out her email, and avoiding print ads, she was able to avoid a good deal of temptation — but not all of it.

On Black Friday, one specific advertisement slipped through the cracks. At first, it seemed like a blessing. Flanders was running a giveaway of an e-reader on her blog, and the advertisement was for e-readers at a reduced price. But soon, the voice in her head began whispering to her about her own old e-reader. She could get rid of it and replace it with a new one without technically breaking her rules. It wasn’t until she received the confirmation email that her choice hit home: She’d bought two e-readers instead of one. Much like her drinking days, Flanders had “blacked out” and then did something she regretted. She felt herself slipping back into bingeing habits as she fought the urge to continue breaking the ban with more purchases.

But instead of going into a binge or a shame spiral, Flanders used love and logic to confront the feelings she was having. She quickly emailed the store and canceled her purchase of the second e-reader. She was honest with herself about the fact that she couldn’t simply avoid all temptation, and now, she knew that the change she was seeking had to come from within.

January: Rewriting the Rules

January was shaping up to be a quiet month. As Flanders helped friends declutter their own lives, she learned more about who they were, and in the process, she learned more about herself.

She discovered that she wanted to explore her own creativity. Her parents were both creative — they had to be with a limited budget and three children. Her mother sewed, her father built, and both parents gardened food for the family.

As Flanders thought about what her family’s legacy meant, her sister called her to tell her the news: She thought their parents were getting a divorce. At first, Flanders couldn’t believe it, and she immediately rushed over to pay a surprise visit to her parents, who seemed fine. But as the possibility of divorce crashed over her, Flanders regretted all the time she had wasted not learning from her parents.

So, she made a decision: Instead of dwelling on the possibility of a divorce, Flanders took time to talk to her parents and relatives and learn from them. She learned about sewing, gardening, repairs, and a ton of other things, and she even amended her approved shopping list to encourage her new self-improvement endeavors.

February: Letting Go of the Future

After returning from a trip to New York City, Flanders visited her parents and found proof: Her parents were splitting up.

Depression hit her hard. And she credited her ability to save so much money during this month to her refusal to leave the house. Bedtimes got earlier each day, and work and creative endeavors were pushed aside. The divorce became allconsuming. It wasn’t until she was trying to work from her bed that she realized how depressed she’d become, and she immediately got angry with herself. In a fit, she began the decluttering once more.

Though this spree far from cured her of her depression, it was an important first step on her journey to accepting the situation.

March: Lightening Up

Flanders still slept too late and went to bed too early. She still avoided friends’ texts. She thought about drinking again as she battled the overwhelming depression. She even slipped back into eating as a comfort mechanism.

Eventually, a friend called her out on her behavior, and Flanders began to turn herself around. Instead of ignoring the problem or quitting cold turkey, she started tracking her eating and television use. Soon, she vowed to stop watching anything not educational and limited herself to podcasts and audiobooks. With her newly found time, she focused on things that took her mind off the divorce: reading, writing, researching, etc. She discovered mindfulness, which made the things she did do more meaningful.

By living without things, Flanders finally discovered what she truly needed.

May: Finding Myself in Unusual Places

At the 10-month mark, Flanders found her shopping triggers to be completely numbed. Now, she could control herself and her spending, and with her new creativity, she also had the option to make or repair her belongings.

The month of May was filled with travel, but every trip had a purpose. While her first trip was business related, her second trip was to talk with her brother about the divorce. His maturity in the situation soothed her, and many of her worries dissipated.

Her final trip was the first vacation she’d taken in the three years at her job. It was a 10-day road-trip in the US, starting with New York City. As she saw musicals, visited museums, and walked through the city, Flanders realized this could be a step on the journey toward her dream career as a freelance writer.

It was time for Flanders to quit her job, which she’d been considering for a while, and strike out on a new path. She called her boss and gave her the news that she would be leaving her job. When the shopping ban ended, Flanders would be free to follow her new path.

June: Packing Up and Moving On

While the final month of the shopping ban came with uncertainty, it was the uncertainty of a new path in life. Flanders had proven to herself that she could beat her shopping triggers. Not only had she defeated alcoholism, tackled debt, and dealt with binge eating, she had finally conquered those socially acceptable addictions that affect so many people. Now, she was giving up the comforts of boredom and stability to strike out on her own on a path that made her happy.

She realized she didn’t need objects to be content with her life. She was enough, just the way she was.

Conclusion

Throughout the year of less, Flanders spent 51% of her income on things she needed, spent 18% on travel, and saved the remaining 31%. She proved to herself that she could live a fulfilling life while still saving and being mindful of her income. She also discovered that much of her shopping was influenced by the same triggers that fueled her prior addictions.

One of the greatest things Flanders took away from this experiment was that most people (herself included) use shopping to avoid other negative feelings. By confronting and dealing with the feelings that trigger those actions and addictions, you, too, can begin living your own life of less.

About the author

Cait Flanders is a personal finance writer, blogger, and author. Her story has been featured on Oprah.com, Forbes, Yahoo!, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, CBC News, and more. Through her story and her writing, she inspires countless people to live more mindfully. Flanders lives in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi
1 July: Taking Inventory 1
2 August Changing Daily Habits 19
3 September: Breaking Up with Retail Therapy 35
4 October: Growing Up and Apart 51
5 November: Blacking Out and Coming To 67
6 December: Crafting New Traditions 79
7 January: Rewriting the Rules 91
8 February: Letting Go of the Future 107
9 March: Lightening Up 121
10 April: Planning My Exit 135
11 May: Finding Myself in Unusual Places 147
12 June: Packing Up and Moving On 157
Epilogue 167
Your Guide to Less 171
Resources 181
Community 183
Reading Group Guide 184
Acknowledgments 186
About the Author 189