Want to learn the ideas in The Year of Less better than ever? Read the world’s #1 book summary of The Year of Less by Cait Flanders here.

Read a brief 1-Page Summary or watch video summaries curated by our expert team. Note: this book guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by the publisher or author, and we always encourage you to purchase and read the full book.

Video Summaries of The Year of Less

We’ve scoured the Internet for the very best videos on The Year of Less, from high-quality videos summaries to interviews or commentary by Cait Flanders.

1-Page Summary of The Year of Less

Introduction

Two days before Cait Flanders’ 29th birthday, she and her friends were hiking in Garibaldi Provincial Park. They were talking about what was next for them when Flanders had a realization: She was being left behind by her friends who seemed to be moving on with their lives. When they asked what the next step would be for her, she announced that she wanted to stop shopping entirely for an entire year.

Flanders had made drastic changes in her life before. She’d battled alcoholism, obesity, and a large amount of debt. When she was younger, she hid the fact that she was an alcoholic from her family. However, after getting rid of $30,000 in debt and stopping drinking alcohol completely for good—her accomplishments were public triumphs. But Flanders feared the shopping experiment would end up failing miserably because it was something so different than what people expected from her. After talking to her sister about how much money they spent on clothes every month though, Flanders realized that this change needed to happen no matter how hard it might be if she wanted to succeed at living within her means.

Flanders set up some rules for herself to make this challenge more manageable: she was not allowed to buy new clothes, electronics, shoes, accessories, books or home goods. She could buy food and gas; and replace things that were broken if she threw away the original item. She couldn’t get takeout coffee either. Flanders knew that she might fail at her goal of a year without buying anything new but still published it on her blog anyway. Throughout the following year, Flanders faced many challenges in life but by holding herself accountable for a full year succeeded in making huge positive changes to her life.

The author of the book The Year of Less details each month in her year-long journey. This provides insight into how she was able to live a life of less, which you can apply to your own life.

July: Taking Inventory

Flanders was always a neat freak, but she had a shopping problem. She started losing things in 2014, and it wasn’t until then that she noticed how much stuff she owned that wasn’t necessary to her life. Like before with her debt and alcoholism, Flanders tried ignoring the clutter for as long as possible before addressing it.

But instead of a sudden epiphany, the author had to come to terms with her hoarding habits after she couldn’t find a can opener. She decided that it was time for action and started small by getting rid of 15% of her clothes. From there, she realized that she owned more books than she could ever read and in her bathroom, half of what was there wasn’t necessary.

By the time Flanders finished clearing out her apartment, she had gotten rid of almost half her belongings. She felt lighter and happier. Now that she was done with the first step of getting rid of things, it would be easier for her to continue doing so.

August: Changing Daily Habits

Flanders’ first time getting drunk was with her biological father. He asked if he could take her out for ice cream, but they ended up drinking alcohol instead. She saw this as a rite of passage and a way to make friends. But later on in life, she realized that partying and getting drunk all the time wasn’t good for her because it caused problems at work and school.

Flanders tried to quit drinking multiple times. She first attempted to stop after a blackout that led her friends’ parents picking her up off the street. The thought of strangers kidnapping her scared Flanders enough to stay sober for several weeks. But it didn’t last long and Flanders kept returning back to alcohol again and again until she finally stopped at age 27 when she had an epiphany.