Right in the middle of our month-long shopping ban, we welcomed the chance to have a deep conversation with the author who inspired it all: Cait Flanders. She shared thoughtful insights, honest regrets, and explained how her experiment, The Year of Less, permanently changed her relationship with stuff. Cait also cleared up common misconceptions about her ban—including why shopping itself isn’t the enemy—and described how the challenge affected her relationships and her finances. We also talk about some landscaping work in our backyard that we had done last fall and that is finally starting to pay off, plus why we’re very glad to be well past high school.
You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify—or listen to it below. Use this page to find the links, notes, and photos we mention. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may need to click through to the post to see the player.
What’s New
- Our backyard is finally greening up. Everything will continue to fill in and we need fresh mulch, but we’re relieved that almost all the new plantings survived their first harsh winter.
- In the photo below you can see some of the ornamental trees we planted—a ginkgo in the foreground (the non-stinky variety) and a weeping cherry in the background. If you look closely you can spot where deer nibbled the bottoms of some branches; happily, new growth is already coming back.
- We discussed the decision and process behind having this area landscaped on Episode #86 (which includes our two-year plant warranty). That episode’s notes include additional photos showing progress over the years, including a dramatic “before” shot.
- Here’s a similar angle photographed recently. Next on our list is a stone patio where you can see pea gravel and an old path in the lower right of the image.
Cait Flanders, The Year of Less
- Below is Cait, author of The Year of Less and creator of the blog CaitFlanders.com.
- You can hear previous discussions about her book in Episode #89, and our announcement of our own month-long shopping ban in Episode #93.
- If you’re curious about Cait’s second year of a shopping ban and want to read the inventory of everything she bought that year, check out her detailed blog post summarizing that experience.
- That post concludes with an interesting infographic summarizing feedback from hundreds of people who took on shopping bans—insights that many listeners found useful.
We’re Digging
- Sherry has been especially fond of an eyebrow pencil she’s been using throughout our shopping-free experiment—an old favorite that’s stood the test of time. She’s shared what else lives in her little makeup case in a past post, including a long-running coconut oil obsession.
- If you’re interested in the show Undercover High, full episodes are available on the A&E website with a sign-in from a cable provider. We currently use Sling for more channel options. There’s also a brief trailer embedded below for a quick look.
If you’re trying to remember which episode covered a particular topic we’ve talked about, we maintain a master list of everything we’ve been digging from past episodes.
Finally, a big thank-you to Annie Selke for sponsoring this episode. Check out Annie’s indoor/outdoor rugs and summer collection, and use code YHL15 for 15% off at checkout.
Thanks for listening, everyone!
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