The Year of Less

"This book is generally about living with less - although it’s important to note that it’s not just about buying less, but also working on carrying less emotional baggage. I appreciated reading about someone who attempted a goal, and instead of lying about a perfect journey, adjusted her goal to figure out what best fit her lifestyle."

"I’m really disappointed and confused at the same time by this book. It was marketed as a how-to, self-help guide, when really it was a memoir with less than 30% of what it purports itself to be about. She starts off the book with her telling her friends that she wanted to go a year without spending anything other than the basic nescessities (shopping ban). Then the author goes into almost endless amounts of detail about her getting sober and how she turned her life around. That’s great for her, but if I had known that, I wouldn’t have waited so long for a copy at my library. If I wanted the minute details about her health journey, I would have read another book about that exact topic, not this book. Some of the things she goes into (health and sobriety journey) do have something to do with one another, but the book was too much about that, and not about financial independence. There was no tangible information and tips until really at the last 5% of the book, which again was not what I expected going into this book."

"Found it quite boring. Didn’t gain a ton from the content"

"Although I enjoyed this book, it was much more of a memoir than I had expected— I was looking for more tips and tricks as someone who may be interested in trying a no-spend year again, but without a current backstock of items. More precise lists and info was more what I was after."

"Great ideas and insights on the struggle and challenges faced. Feels like something that would be possible for me to do."

"I liked hearing about her journey."

"Cait writes with a readable, relatable voice in this surprisingly engaging quick read. I appreciated her vulnerability and her willingness to reflect on how her relationship with stuff was broken - often in an addictive capacity. I would have appreciated some more practical and nitty-gritty details, which it sounds like were shared on her blog. Perhaps it’s not all that interesting to read about somebody NOT doing something, but I’d like to read some of the more specific numbers, more about purchases avoided, details on that inventory she took of her items, and more about what she decluttered and how she felt about living with so much less stuff. The epilogue also talked about year two of doing a no spend challenge and it would have been great to cover that more. Additionally, she mentions being allowed to spend on experiences and restaurants but never breaks that down or explains how she made decisions about when she could and couldn’t eat out; nor does she talk about groceries etc. <br/><br/>Maybe I’m asking this to be a book it isn’t. I do appreciate the fact that she pushed it beyond just “here’s what I didn’t spend”. But I’d like both-and! <br/><br/>Lastly, I’d like her to acknowledge a little more explicitly the privilege she holds in being able to make the choices she does. Obviously the changes she made were super necessary in her life and very healing! But to cut way back and live on $28,000 a year when that’s still more than somebody on minimum wage earns, and not at least talk about that, feels like she missed an opportunity. <br/><br/>Overall though I did enjoy this and I was deeply moved by Cait’s healing process and vulnerability. It sparked a great conversation with my husband about our money (and apparently we’re pretty happy with our choices already)"

"A memoir to motivate you to live the life you want. "