The Year of Less is a book on personal finance. It is written and narrated by Cait Flanders. She is the bestselling author of the subject book. She was also a binge consumer who later turned into a highly mindful consumer, and that inspired her to write this book. Adventures in Opting Out is another bestseller by the author.
In the capacity of the narrator of this audiobook, Cait Flanders didn’t impress her listeners. It was a horrendous performance, to say the least.
Cait Flanders was in her late 20s when she discovered herself completely stuck in the consumerism cycle. It was something that got hold of so many of us. It would force us to buy more, earn more, want more, rinse and then repeat. Even after she worked her way to come out free of $30K consumer debt, her old spending habits found a way back. The time she realized that nothing that she was buying or doing was making her happy then she decided to change her tactics as that was keeping her from achieving her goals. She set a challenge for herself that she wouldn’t shop for a complete year.
This is the book that documents the life of Cait for those full 12 months. During that time, she only bought the consumables which includes groceries, fuel, toiletries, etc. She also challenged herself along the way to consume lesser of the other required things apart from shopping for them as well. Her apartment was also decluttered by her and in no time, she got rid of 70% of her belongings. She learned during that time how things should be fixed at home, rather than thrown them away.
The Year of Less is more of a memoir than personal finance or an instruction book. The content however was good but the narration by Cait was far away from being an acceptable one.
