Cait Flanders' Year of Less

The Year of Less / Cait Flanders 
Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, c2018.
189 p.

These kind of minimalist books always appeal to me in a weird way -- since I am not a minimalist, and I dislike the obsession for getting rid of All The Things.

Still. Thought I'd give this one a go as everyone was talking about it in my library. There's a long holds list for it as well, so I guess others are also compelled to read these stories of decluttering in hopes of catching the bug.

The summary for this book reads:

The author decides that for twelve months she will only buy consumables, consume less of many other things, declutter her apartment, get rid of 70 percent of her belongings and learn to repair things as opposed to tossing them away.

I can get behind some of this. I'm all for buying less, and repairing instead of throwing away. Most of my own buying happens at thrift stores these days, either that or fabric stores! There are frequent "shopping bans" in the sewing world, with people pledging to buy no Ready To Wear clothing for a year, or going on fabric or pattern fasts, etc. So I see people wanting to buy less, even while consumerism rages all around us and tempts even the best of us to overspend & overbuy.

But both this book and Marie Kondo's book left me cold. Both authors seem obsessive to me, using decluttering as just another extreme lifestyle choice. Flanders notes down what percentage of her belongings she's removed at the start of each chapter. After a year it's 80%. Either she had hoarder level stuff in the beginning, or she now lives like a Zen monk.

I don't feel that the advice for extreme clearing out will really help that many people. Maybe a few with the same personality type. But I'm never going to have a wardrobe of 23 items -- I love clothes and sewing. And I'm never getting rid of 80% of my books. The whole point of having books is that you haven't yet read them. 

That said, I could do with a general clearing out. Some of the ideas are useful. Consuming less to begin with is a fine idea. I am also reading through some books on sustainable fashion right now, and many of those have the same direction -- buy less & take care of your belongings. 

This book also delves into Canadian author Flanders' own life and personality, though. Her struggles with family dissolution, addictions and other troubles explain a lot about her need to place limits on herself in the area of spending, which may not be the same for other readers. The book thus has a little more complexity than simply a decluttering story. If you are interested in a memoir of better living through drastic decluttering, this one will be for you. 

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Further Reading:

The obvious readalike is Marie Kondo's Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up -- but for some reason the memoir part of this book also reminded me of the tone of Clara Hughes' Open Heart, Open Mind, a story of her journey through a difficult life and her successes in the sports world.