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

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Cait Flanders: The year of less (2018)

189 pages

English language

Published Nov. 21, 2018

ISBN:
978-1-4019-5487-1
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OCLC Number:
991345135

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3 stars (3 reviews)

"In her late twenties, 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 from July 2014 to June 2015, during which time 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 …

1 edition

Review of 'The year of less' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Hmmm. 3.5☆, I think, although I may be being a bit harsh.
This is the second non-fiction book I have read this year that wasn't about what I thought it would be from the title and the blurb. (The other was "The End Of Life Book Club" by Will Schwalbe). This book was much more of a memoir of the author's life during and around the time she stopped buying things she didn't need, including some anecdotal discussion of the life events that led her to that decision, than it was an account of how she went about it (although there are some "how to" bullet points in the epilogue.
I spent about the first third of the book being irritated by the solipsistic discussions of the impact of everything on her, but once I got over my annoyance at the unexpected content, I found myself quite enjoying it. As …

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rated it

4 stars
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rated it

3 stars

Subjects

  • Personal Finance
  • Motivation (Psychology)
  • Consumption (Economics)
  • Decision making