Cait Flanders

This is a read that’s so much more than a reduction of stuff as implied. I’m pretty sure I had read her blog and newsletter before I first read this, but she got very deep here and shared much more of her story which was very brave. All of it helped me realize what I have that works for me and what doesn’t. Her realization was so lovely: “I had to let go of the stuff I wanted the ideal version of myself to use, and accept myself for who I really was.”

After leaving behind her addictive relationship with alcohol and shopping, the author finds herself in possession of a clear head an a nearly empty house. She begins to wonder if she should be pursuing an urge which has haunted her for years - the desire to attempt travelling and living abroad. She goes about it with the same methodical tack as her previous missions and takes the reader along so that we can each plan our own adventures. This book is about challenging your assumptions about show more the type of life you want to lead. It's about looking deep within and asking the sometimes scary questions: Is this what I want out of life? Am I happy? Is there something I will regret never trying. The author embarks on a year of travel without a fixed address. Although it's not always successful, she learns a lot and ends up finding fulfillment in the journey.

This is an oddly ominous book. It all takes place during 2019, aka the last normal year of travel. Reading this in the heart of the pandemic, it made me pretty sad. It also seems like an archaic relic of a time long past which might never return. This light-hearted approach to life and encouragement to not take things so seriously and upend your life to pursue your passion wounded me. I'm not in a headspace to imagine how this type of life could be possible, and it honestly gave me anxiety to read.

Although it's not the time for me to read and appreciate this book, I think others will find it useful and encouraging. show less

I've been reading Caits blog for longer than I can remember. Before the finance community was something I knew about, Cait's approach to heartfelt stories about minimalism and consumption was what drew me to read more. This book dives deeper with a narrative that winds through a difficult year.

Going much deeper into personal stories than I expected, the common thread is a story of growth – both towards having less stuff, but also for better understanding what leads to happiness. Editing show more down a life to focus on what matters is no small undertaking, and many of these stories have inspired me to look at areas of my life that could use a little editing. show less

So at the beginning of the year, I made for myself a similar promise to the premise of this book - one that I haven't done altogether great at keeping. See, for example, the fact that I bought this book - though, it shall be noted that books were on my approved list. But this isn't about me.

The Year of Less is not a self-help book. It is a memoir. I need to emphasize this because it received a lot of negative reviews from people who didn't expect that from it and parted with money hoping to show more declutter their lives. I'll be honest, I thought it was a self-help book as well. But I wasn't offended to find that it wasn't what I'd expected because the author and I are on a similar journey anyway, and reading this book has helped me remember that and put it back in perspective for me. Still, if that's your interest - please read Marie Kondo's books if you haven't already (Spark Joy was a personal favorite) - or any of the other hundreds of books, blog posts, or YouTube videos available on the subject. This book can definitely serve as inspiration, that is in fact, it's intention. But it's not at all a guide.
Cait Flanders is like a lot of millennials: she's got a stable job, an apartment, her family is loving and supportive, she gets to travel a lot - what more could you want? Well, like almost all of us, what she wants is more junk. Or rather, maybe it's not something she wants, but it seems inevitable that every corner of her life seems cluttered with extra stuff she forgets she has, and it's a growing problem. Cait learns over time to focus her attention on fixing a lot of her personal problems by challenging herself: alcoholism, debt, and finally, zero spending. Originally she used her blog to keep her actions accountable, but this memoir examins it from other angles.
Obviously, some readers might have far more advanced degrees of addiction of their own and might want to seek more tried and true methods to "detox," as it were. But as for others, really studying and tracking your actions and behaviors, really making more conscious decisions and not allowing yourself to do what is easiest - that's the way some of us need to tackle some of our more ingrained habits. As I've mentioned, this memoir was meant to inspire and motivate the reader to assess their current situation. In particular, to study what you might spend too much on.
Cait goes chapter by chapter as month by month. She covers what happened in her personal life and how things changed to have her reevaluate her needs. It feels a little like

As for myself, I know I have a problem with clutter. I'm messy. I could only own five things and still find a way to make a mess with them. But I've done a pretty good job of controlling my impulse spending, mostly. Still, this memoir was a pretty good reminder and grounding for me, as I haven't got many people in my life I can talk about the trials I go through with my own mission to blacklist unnecessary spending.

For example, this book did actually inspire me to go through my closet just last night and ruthlessly purge anything I didn't wear because they didn't suit me. I don't mean stylistically, though some of these pieces were handed down, and probably better suited the person who bought them new, which the only I had in common was a dress size. But also blouses which I'd held on to for years because I thought they were beautiful, but rarely ever wore because the sleeves were annoying, or they were too sheer and I'd have to have a specific kind of undershirt to wear under it that I could never find when I wanted it, or it was snug over my "food baby." What remained were outfits I loved to wear and wear regularly. And I'm proud of this, it feels pretty good, and I'm glad she gave me some perspective and guidelines to use in my own life.
This review was originally posted on my blog, which you can find here show less