Book Review | Part 2 | The Year Of Less by Cait Flanders

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~MINDFUL CONSUMER~

"When you want less, you consume less and you also need less money." ⁣
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Three years before the shopping ban, Cait had already started her transformation journey and got herself out of debt, quit drugs and alcohol, and improved her eating habits to stay healthy. But when she realised she was still stuck in the cycle of consumerism, she finally decided to address the real problem - her impulsive spendings. The idea of a year-long shopping ban was thus born to push her into becoming a mindful consumer. She took inventory and decluttered all the things that wasn't adding value to her life. She also started a blog to keep accountability.⁣
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Easier said than done. Such big challenge comes with even bigger struggles. Changing her daily habits and routines was tougher than she thought as she was emotionally connected to them. The hardest of this was confronting the triggers and urges because our bad habits are never completely gone. They're "lurking beneath our good intentions" ready to jump right back on the surface during our weak moments.  How many times have you given up on a bad habit only to last for a short time?⁣
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One of her big struggles during the ban was confronting her circle of influence. The habits that you share with your friends say binge shopping together, dining out, partying, drinking etc and how breaking away from these habits would also mean being ostracized from such friendships. This is hard as you might lose friends but what are friends if they are not adding value to your life. As you declutter things you will also declutter toxic people and relationships, and in the process find those that are valuable. ⁣
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Bringing a change is not possible without understanding your values. Cait suggests keeping a list of such values - principles or standards of behaviour and your judgement of what is important in life - and keep it close (perhaps even in your wallet) 😀👌⁣
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Thoughout the year, she lived on an average 51% of her income, saved 31% and spent the other 18% on travel. "I proved that I could live on less, save more, and do more of what I loved." ⁣
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Question: What have you banned from your life?🤔 I've banned TV 😀

Comments

  1. saraanshauthor (Isha Mittal)29 September 2020 at 15:35

    This piece of writing is good and definitely an eye-opener.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. booksmusiclovelife13 December 2020 at 21:35

      Hey thanks for dropping in. Sorry I was away for a while. It's such a wonderful book. I highly recommend it 😀

      Delete

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