How to Curate a Life With Less Stuff And More Intention with Christine Platt – EP 281

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Liberate your life by living less and being authentic. This episode is one of our most watched and anticipated interviews from our first Frugal Living Summit in 2021. Christine Platt also known as the ‘Afrominimalist’ shares with us how choosing authenticity and living less isn’t just liberating but how less IS liberation. 

Anytime you feed into those societal expectations, you will find yourself in spaces and places and with things that aren’t really an authentic representation of yourself.

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Christine Platt is an author and advocate also known as the Afrominimalist. After struggling with the austerity and whiteness of mainstream minimalism, she realized why minimalism often seems unattainable for so many: the emphasis on all-white, barren aesthetics distracts from the practice of living with intention. So, she decided to do things her way by curating a life of less influenced by the African diaspora. And what she discovered is that living with less isn’t just liberating — less is liberation. 

Authenticity Over Aesthetic

Christine’s minimalist lifestyle for which she calls, “Afrominimalist” is influenced by the African diaspora which is the breadth of her life’s work. It’s not the same as the traditional minimalism that usually displays bright colors, mud cloth, playful patterns & prints.  People get so caught up with the aesthetics of minimalism but authenticity is where the real you is. Once you focus authenticity over aesthetics, it becomes a beautiful practice. 

Finding What Serves You

You first need to understand why you have more than what you need; and understand why it’s hard to let go. For Christine, it was the thrill of the hunt. She had to understand what her attachments to things were and it was rooted in either actual value or perceived value. Once you go through the process of self-discovery, it helps the process of letting go and more importantly not bringing more back in. 

Societal Expectations Around Minimalism

Every culture and group has their own thing. It’s more of a societal expectation—so what you will face are questions, challenges and commentaries from friends and family (that’s where most of our expectations or pressure come from). Some people may realize they’re in certain situations that they’re in because of societal or cultural expectations. Why would you structure and build your life around someone else’s expectations of you? 

The Future of Minimalism

Christine wants minimalism to include more diverse voices in terms of perspective, not just racially. Diversity in minimalism also meant showing the many different ways that people live with less. People think a huge transformation has to happen when you start the minimalist lifestyle but if your house works for you, keep your house and work on the things that are in your house. If it doesn’t, find a space that does work better for your family. 

Bill of The Week

Thank you Christine for your bill of the week that is your daughter’s tuition to Penn State! 

Thanks so Much for Listening!

Thanks so much for listening! Last month we did a Spending Makeover and it was HIT. We want to congratulate and share some participants’ big mindset changes:

Congrats! Thanks for listening. We’ve just made the Makeover videos and workbook available to anyone at any time. if you want to check it out and make some of your own revelations head to frugalfriendspodcast.com/makeover to check it out. See ya next time!

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