The Year of Less went viral again
On the low/no buy trend in 2025, and my plans to use Amazon less too 🛍️
Welcome to The Lighthouse! A newsletter written by a Canadian author (Cait Flanders, that’s me!) who found herself living in the middle of nowhere in the UK. It’s deeply reflective and also intentionally lighthearted. There’s enough darkness online and in real life. Let’s hangout in the light. 🕯️
Hi friend,
THE YEAR OF LESS went viral again, over the holidays. I didn’t know it was going to happen (part of the definition of a viral moment), but have been through this experience a couple times before, and I started to see the signs in mid-December. An increase in followers on Instagram (1,000+ in a month) and here on Substack (the same). More contact form submissions than usual from my website. Emails from Google saying things like: Your page clicks increased by more than 1,000% over the usual daily average. Texts from my sister telling me she kept seeing posts about it in various Facebook groups. Then a DM on Instagram from someone congratulating me on TYOL being in the top 100 bestsellers on Audible (US). After confirming they were right, I checked Amazon in various countries around the world and discovered this:
Paying down debt and saving more money are common New Year’s resolutions, and versions of shopping bans have become more popular over the years. So there’s been an uptick in sales and online followers in December and January every year since the book came out. But this was different. I haven’t seen numbers like this since 2018, when it was first released (7 years ago this week!). And with the help of friends on Instagram, it didn’t take long to figure out why it had gone viral again…
TikTok. Or social media, more broadly. It seems that low buy/no buy years are trending in 2025, and TYOL keeps coming up in conversations about it. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised more people are thinking about doing their own version of an experiment like this right now. It was just funny timing, because I had also been thinking about doing a shopping-related experiment in 2025…
The first thing I bought when I moved to the UK was a French press (or cafetière). I lived in Airbnbs for the first five months I was here, all of which were well-equipped for people who drink black tea, but not coffee. I enjoy a cup of tea with my dad, but am personally a coffee drinker. So while I was in Edinburgh, I popped into John Lewis and bought my first stainless steel (always had glass before) French press. I love it and have been using it ever since.
After my month in Edinburgh, I moved four hours south into an Airbnb in the middle of North Yorkshire. Being 40+ mins away from any city centre, I had limited options for where I could shop locally. A couple grocery stores. Some thrift stores (charity shops). That was about all I could get to within a 10-15 minute drive. So when I realized the next thing I wanted to get was a blender to make smoothies, I decided to go online. Being new to the UK, though, I didn’t really know where to shop yet, and the one store I knew of (John Lewis) didn’t sell it. This is when I decided to start using Amazon again.
I say “again” because I didn’t use Amazon much back in Canada. My relationship with the site changed dramatically after the shopping ban (outlined in TYOL), and even before that, I was mostly using it to buy books. I wasn’t trying to boycott it. I just wasn’t a big consumer! In fact, while reflecting on my history with using the company, I logged into my old Amazon.ca account and reviewed my orders from the few years before I moved to the UK (January 2022):
In 2021, I bought 8 things from Amazon (1 was a gift).
In 2020, I bought 5 things (1 was a gift).
In 2019, I bought NOTHING.
It’s also true that I lived in larger cities during those years, and was travelling for half of 2019. So I either didn’t need to shop because I was away, or I was home and had access to a lot more stores. (I guess this also shows I wasn’t someone who did a lot of shopping during the pandemic, though no shame if you did! We all had our own coping mechanisms.) I don’t remember necessarily feeling anti-Amazon, I just wasn’t in the habit of using it. But that changed, when I moved to a new country and began setting up my first home here.
It started small. The blender. A hair dryer with a UK plug. A yoga mat. I bought that stuff while I was staying at the Airbnb. Then I started looking at homes to rent and found The Lighthouse. After signing my lease, I used Amazon to buy almost everything. A kettle, toaster, and microwave. Many of the small things you need in a kitchen. I even bought my fridge and washing machine off the site. Could I have bought some of it elsewhere? Probably. But there was enough to think about! Like setting up financial stuff, building credit, learning about taxes (and doing them in two countries), buying a car, renting a place, getting utilities setup, having to furnish an entire home, buying appliances for the first time, etc. The list went on and on. It was a lot to learn about and navigate, on top of trying to work and start a relationship and build community. Amazon (and IKEA) made life a little easier. It also, undoubtedly, saved me a lot of money.
I didn’t start feeling unsure about using the site until the day I thought about getting my first annual Prime membership. Before that, I would just sign up for a month or two when I needed a bunch of things for the house. Then Tall Man and I figured out we could share an annual membership, and we made the decision to do that… but I definitely hesitated. I’d never had an annual membership before, and I’d never been the kind of shopper who had needed one. Was I that kind of shopper now!? I wasn’t sure… and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be. I also didn’t know if my shopping habits would actually make the cost worth it (even if I was only paying half the fee). But I decided to do it for a year and see how I felt after.
That was in September 2023. Over the next year, I slowly changed from being someone who used Amazon occasionally to having it become my go-to. The first place I would check for prices and availability, before looking anywhere else. It was gradual, and didn’t come without moments of pause. Like when I was reminded that I could purchase food/grocery items from the site. Friend, I kid you not, this somehow had not occurred to me. I know lots of people embrace new technology all the time, and are always learning new ways to use what they have. I am someone who develops a system for how to use an app/site and then never considers that I could use it differently. (Case in point: the story about the first time I paid for something with my phone!) I didn’t even browse the site (and I still think the best habit that changed during my original shopping ban was that I stopped browsing, period). In my mind, Amazon was just for books, small electronics/appliances, and random bits you might not find elsewhere. Did I want to buy grocery items from Amazon? I wasn’t sure. But in 2024, I did.
As the end of our annual membership was getting closer, Tall Man and I agreed we would renew and split the cost for another year. And that actually felt fine. Neutral, even. But then something really bizarre happened. We woke up one morning and discovered his account had been deleted. Entirely. The whole thing, poof, gone. There was no explanation, and customer service still hasn’t given him an answer for what happened. But it was gone… he wasn’t in a rush to create a new account, until this situation had been sorted out… and I wasn’t going to sign up for another year by myself. So, I let our membership lapse in September. I’ve only bought a handful of things from the site since.
What happened to Tall Man’s account created a new friction with Amazon. And sometimes, friction is really good. It can create a pause. A reason to stop and question your automatic thought/reaction, and think strategically about how you want to move forward instead. Do you want to do things the same way as you have been? Or would you like to try doing things differently? What would feel most intentional? These are some of the questions I’ve been asking myself over the last few months—and my answers have taken me back to the beginning.
I intentionally decided to start using Amazon again when I moved to the UK. It made setting up my life and my first home so much easier (and cheaper)—and I’m extremely grateful for that. I also used it because I didn’t know much about UK stores, didn’t know where to buy things, and lived 40+ mins away from a city—and that part isn’t as true anymore. I don’t have a lot of experience shopping over here… but I know more about what’s available to me than I used to. And, I have the time and capacity to figure this stuff out now! I’m not immigrating anymore. I’ve immigrated. The Lighthouse is setup. I’m about to do my taxes for the third time. As my friend Sasha often says, I live here! And have a partner and friends (including online friends!) who can help answer questions I might have too.
What feels most intentional, then, is to go back to being the type of Amazon user I was before: where I only bought a few things from it throughout the year. I’m not currently of the mind that I need to boycott it at all costs (though I can understand why many people are), mostly because I know that’s not the right approach for me or my chosen family. But it feels really important to me that I do things with intention. And what feels most intentional right now is to spend time learning where to shop for things more locally or across the UK. To understand more about what’s available to me in this new region of the world I now live in. As part of that, I simply want to use Amazon less. Here’s how I’m planning to do that this year…
My shopping experiment for 2025
Use Amazon less / find more UK alternatives
Some of the things I’ll be doing:
Not paying for a Prime membership.
Instead of buying new audiobooks on Audible, I’ll look into: BorrowBox (library app), maybe BookBeat, maybe Libro. I don’t use Spotify (and it still feels unclear how authors are paid for their audiobooks being on Spotify). What are your favourite alternatives to Audible?
Instead of buying home/garden/car things on Amazon, I’ll buy more things locally and/or online via UK stores. This is the one that will take the most time to research and understand and fully embrace, but I have the capacity to do that now! And I want to know my UK stores!
And if Amazon is the best/only option for certain things me or my family needs, I’ll still use it from time-to-time. No shame! As Dana Miranda wrote this week, Amazon is terrible, but you’re not a terrible person for shopping there. My goal is simply to use it less (the way I used to), and buy things from UK stores more.
Before signing off, I want to be clear about a few things. First: this is an extremely personal experiment. I’m sure you understand that, after reading through it. But it feels important to say: this is something I’m doing for myself, and is not something I’m suggesting anyone else needs to try or do. I’m not interested in telling anyone how to live or spend their money, and have instead always tried to create a space where it’s safe for us to do what’s right for us and our families.
When I was thinking about sharing this experiment with you over the holidays, it felt like a light topic. But with what’s been reported in the news recently, ditching Amazon has become a HOT topic. Not so light. I’m here for conversations about that too! I believe in voting with our dollars, and trying to align our spending with our values (though I don’t believe we can achieve “perfection” with this goal). That’s on my mind too. It just wasn’t the original reason behind this post. (I really enjoyed Dana’s post about this, and her inclusive lists for why you might boycott it, as well as why you might not. An A++ post!)
If I can take us back to the beginning of today’s dispatch then, it’s clear that many people are thinking about doing low/no buy years in 2025… and there are many reasons you might do one. Considering there are 1,000+ new people reading this now (hi new friends!), many of whom have recently read TYOL, I’d just like to leave you with some words I shared this time last year:
If I could only give one piece of advice to readers who are thinking of doing a ban of some kind, I would now say: before you begin, make sure you’re not starting from a place of punishing yourself. You’re not a bad person for shopping, and you’re not a bad person for wanting things. You’re also not a bad person if your spending habits have left you with little savings or gotten you into debt. (And debt is morally neutral!)
Whatever experiment helps you pay attention or change a habit or simply become a more mindful consumer… I’m here for it! I love personal experiments and I love setting goals—especially ones that help me start to take notice and learn about myself. Just try to go in gently and be kind to yourself along the way. And try not to take yourself too seriously. Focus on how you feel and what you’re learning.
Personally, I’m going to try to have fun learning about new places to shop! Because in case it’s not clear, I’m not doing a shopping ban (and can’t imagine I’d ever need to again) and I do actually want to shop more this year, friend! For clothes and shoes.
But more on that another day.
xx Cait
Libby app is my fav for audiobooks from the library (ebooks too). Not sure if it works with UK libraries however.
One of my favorites has been the Libby app and how nicely it syncs with the Kindle.