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huge part of being crunchy is

2:12

being intentional. Nothing that

2:14

you do as a

2:16

crunchy mom is on accident.

2:19

You are making choices and

2:21

by choosing cleaner products, choosing

2:24

whole foods for your family,

2:26

that's intentional. And by doing

2:29

that, you will simplify. You

2:31

will pare down. Hello

2:33

and welcome to the Minimalist Moms Podcast. I'm

2:36

not the crunchiest person, but I aspire

2:38

to add more of a crunchy touch

2:40

to my life, so I was thrilled

2:43

to speak with Emily Morrow, creator of

2:45

the hilarious Instagram account, Really Very Crunchy.

2:48

Emily has garnered over 2 billion

2:50

billion views and over 2

2:52

million followers in two years

2:54

with comedy sketches about the

2:56

stereotypical crunchy moms. What's

2:59

her mission, you ask? It's to relieve pressure

3:01

from being the perfect mom and bring

3:03

lightheartedness to the serious issue of

3:06

toxic products and, well, people. In

3:09

today's conversation, we discuss simple

3:11

swaps for a crunchier lifestyle,

3:13

financial considerations, balancing crunchy choices

3:15

with non-crunchy ones, navigating

3:18

family relationships as crunchy moms, and

3:20

more. But before we

3:22

get there, I quickly want to share a minimalist

3:24

moment of the week. This is actually

3:26

more of a mantra that I try

3:28

to lip-buy, and it's need then buy.

3:32

A lot of us have collected so much more than you

3:34

could ever use or need. Shopping

3:37

has become a leisure activity. We

3:40

have programmed ourselves into thinking that you need

3:42

to run to the store whenever you think

3:44

that you need something. But

3:46

how often do you stop to evaluate

3:48

whether you actually needed that thing? I

3:51

think one easy way to combat this would be to

3:53

ask yourself, do I really need this now?

3:56

Not only does this question help get perspective, but it

3:58

can help you clarify. if you actually

4:00

need to replace that item, whether you can

4:03

do without it, buy it later, or come

4:05

up with a creative solution to satisfy the

4:07

problem. It really does take

4:09

a reprogramming of sorts after being in the

4:11

habit of overconsumption. And of

4:13

course, we are still going to buy

4:15

those things that are not needed, but

4:18

continue to assess and thankfully, most stores

4:20

do have generous return policies and you can

4:22

correct your mistake if need be. So

4:24

the minimalist moment or reflection of the

4:27

week is to implement this mantra of

4:29

need then buy. Again, taking the

4:31

time to consider, do I really need this now? Find

4:34

out what you actually need and then buy. And

4:39

with that, let's get into this conversation

4:41

with Emily Morrow. Well,

4:45

Emily, thanks so much for joining me today on the

4:47

minimalist moms podcast. Thanks for

4:49

having me. I'm super excited about this one. I'm

4:52

excited too. I've been following along with you

4:54

on my personal page. Your little videos would

4:56

pop up on my discover feed. So when

4:58

I heard that you were writing a book,

5:00

I was very excited to get my hands on it.

5:03

So I can't wait to dive into how to be

5:05

really very crunchy. But before we get there, why don't

5:07

you go ahead and introduce yourself and then we'll jump

5:09

in. Yeah, I'm Emily Morrow,

5:11

creator of really very crunchy. Well

5:14

co-creator, I like to make sure I say

5:16

that co-creator because my husband plays a huge

5:18

role in making those videos happen. I

5:21

have two boys at homeschool

5:23

and we, you

5:26

know, it's kind of funny. Whenever my publicist was

5:29

like, do you want to be on the minimalist

5:31

moms podcast? I was like, I don't really know

5:33

if that is who I am,

5:35

but I do strive to

5:37

simplify my life and I have been a

5:39

minimalist in many different times of my life.

5:42

So I definitely feel like this conversation

5:45

will be interesting and I think I'll

5:47

walk away with some wisdom from you

5:49

as well. But

5:52

yeah, I started really very crunchy

5:54

sort of as a means of

5:56

self-deprecating humor. My husband was like,

5:59

you're crazy. and funny. So

6:02

we should make these videos about you being this

6:04

crazy crunchy mom. So that's what

6:06

we started doing and really

6:08

it wasn't meant to be

6:10

something educational but

6:12

throughout the course of making these

6:14

videos so many people have like

6:18

their eyes have been opened to different issues

6:20

or different ideas that they never thought about

6:22

before and so I've gotten so many messages

6:24

about like what what does it mean to

6:27

be crunchy how do I start my crunchy

6:29

journey I don't even know what to do

6:31

I don't even know how to get informed

6:34

and so through that I thought well writing a

6:36

book would be a really great opportunity to kind

6:39

of share what I know I'm not an

6:41

expert I'm not a scientist or a doctor

6:43

I'm just a mom a crunchy mom who's

6:46

done my own research tried my

6:48

best to inform myself and so

6:50

this book is sort of I like to

6:52

think of it like I'm just an old

6:54

friend and we're sitting down to pop open

6:56

a bottle of kombucha and talk about ways

6:59

to make our lives a little more healthy

7:01

yeah absolutely and I think the thing

7:03

that I don't regret

7:05

about the name minimalist moms

7:07

but as there has been

7:10

an evolution of the show

7:12

I think minimalism is this umbrella

7:14

of simplicity intentionality just trying

7:16

to I always say think more and

7:18

do its less and I do think

7:20

that that's what you're doing you're trying

7:22

to you're just trying to cultivate an

7:24

intentional life and so I think that

7:26

our brands wholeheartedly align yes

7:28

for sure definitely a huge part

7:30

of being crunchy is being

7:33

intentional nothing that you do

7:35

as a crunchy

7:37

mom is on accident you

7:40

are making choices and by

7:42

choosing cleaner products choosing whole

7:45

foods for your family that's intentional

7:48

and by doing that you will

7:51

simplify you will pare down so I

7:53

think you're totally right yeah

7:55

I think with this topic in

7:58

particular it can seem overwhelming It

8:00

can seem really expensive and

8:03

so people just ignore it. They don't want

8:05

to think about it and they immediately just

8:07

are like Oh, that's not a thing radiation

8:09

from such-and-such is not a thing So

8:11

one of the reasons that I like you

8:14

and what you're putting out is because it's

8:16

less judgmental You're not saying you have to

8:19

do this You're saying these are some simple

8:21

steps or some ways to be curious and

8:23

then you go do your own research You

8:25

wrote your book from the perspective of this

8:27

is the research I've done but also this

8:29

is a Stepping stone

8:31

for you to open up your mind and

8:33

dig deeper into these things for your own

8:35

family And here are some ways to do

8:37

it So I guess you have any other

8:40

encouragement before we dive into your recommendations So

8:42

my book is called really very crunchy a

8:44

beginner's guide to removing toxins from your life

8:46

without adding them to your personality Because

8:49

it does seem that when people start

8:51

learning more. There's this whole I'm sure

8:55

Most people have heard this know better do

8:57

better and at first

8:59

that was sort of a positive thing

9:01

like an encouragement Yeah, when you know

9:04

better you can make better choices, but

9:06

then it's sort of like shifted into

9:08

this Condemning statement like come

9:10

on know better do better Like

9:13

I can feel it when

9:15

people even comment that jokingly

9:17

on my videos It's

9:20

like a stabbing pain

9:23

because Nobody wants to

9:25

be wrong Nobody wants to feel inadequate

9:27

and I have totally felt that coming

9:29

from that friend who was telling me

9:31

about the toxic hand soap She

9:34

was a sweet sweet friend and I

9:36

still I still am in contact with

9:38

her but Just

9:41

that feeling of the little

9:43

meant and being wrong when I'm trying

9:46

honestly trying to do my best You

9:48

don't know what you don't know so

9:51

you can't blame someone for not

9:53

knowing or for not caring. Honestly

9:56

I talk about my book Where

9:59

you come from? matters. My

10:01

family, we didn't have a lot

10:03

of extra funds. And so

10:06

to me, the idea of making choices

10:09

rather than just trying to

10:11

survive is kind of a

10:13

strange one because, and I

10:15

feel like so many, especially

10:17

in this economy, are just

10:19

trying to survive. And they

10:22

can't invest in all these

10:24

fancy products or systems.

10:27

And I think crunchiness

10:32

is about simplifying, about

10:34

looking back at how

10:37

did our great grandmother do this?

10:39

How did they survive the depression?

10:41

One thing my mom always told

10:43

me every Christmas was, your

10:45

grandmother wouldn't rip the paper on Christmas

10:48

packages because we had to fold it

10:50

up and use it again. So there

10:52

are so many little things like that

10:54

in our lives. If we would just

10:57

look back at how our ancestors and

11:00

people who came before us in harder times

11:02

did things, it would really simplify our

11:04

lives. And it doesn't require investing a

11:06

ton of money or buying more

11:10

things, making things more

11:12

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11:20

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11:23

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11:25

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11:27

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11:29

I've accessed water out of my cap.

11:31

Long ago, before I became more sustainable,

11:33

I would use plastic water bottles. I've

11:36

heard a lot of information about microplastics,

11:38

lead in the water, and PFAS. A

11:40

lot of it seemed to be noise

11:42

until I actually started deep diving and

11:44

researching for myself. Especially now that I

11:46

have 3Ks, my desire is to give

11:48

them a foundation of health. And being

11:50

that our bodies are over 60% water,

11:52

I figured that would be the easiest,

11:54

most sustainable place to start. That's why

11:56

I'm thrilled to partner with LifeStraw. Yeah,

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12:03

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Homethreads Love where you live. I

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want to go back to. You

14:24

Have a platform. You've written this

14:26

book but what? Start eighty your

14:28

pursuit of learning about what it

14:30

meant to be crunchy or I

14:32

guess what prompted by and yeah,

14:35

I. Think there are a few different aspects

14:37

of my like like. Just

14:39

like minimalism, Crunchy a sort of

14:42

this umbrella term that encompasses anyone

14:44

seeking to live a more natural

14:46

holistic lies and so that can

14:48

be through sued or that can

14:51

be through spending time outside. And

14:53

And so like my friend, she

14:55

journey kind of came from several

14:57

different areas, asserting now it was

15:00

probably food. My husband and I

15:02

used to live in an Rv

15:04

and so that was one time

15:06

in my life I truly was

15:09

a minimalist. Because we just could

15:11

not have a bunch of sucks.

15:13

We lived in a class A

15:15

said didn't have any slides so

15:17

he basically just lived in a

15:20

hallway and our closets were about

15:22

like one foot by. To.

15:24

See, see, see if it only I'm

15:26

seventy globe. As and when

15:28

we were in the Rv, we

15:31

were living off of my husband's

15:33

royalties. He had self published some

15:35

science as. Science. Fiction

15:37

novels and it was all

15:39

so unpredictable like let his

15:42

royalties would be. And

15:44

one month we found out he was

15:47

only going to make six hundred dollars.

15:49

And so we're like, okay, how

15:51

can we sustain ourselves on six

15:53

hundred dollars we have to eat

15:56

ah what are ways that i

15:58

can save money on food without

16:00

having to be like this crazy

16:02

coupon lady. And so I started

16:04

just researching that like what cheap

16:06

ways to eat healthy. And one

16:09

thing I read said, only

16:11

buy foods, if they're processed only

16:13

buy them if they have five

16:15

ingredients or less. And so

16:18

that cut out so many foods for

16:20

me. And that was

16:22

probably like 13 years

16:24

ago, 12 years ago. And so

16:28

I hadn't really like

16:30

Instagram wasn't a huge thing yet

16:32

or anything. So I was kind

16:34

of just on my own finding

16:36

information about healthy eating and eating

16:38

whole foods. That wasn't how I

16:40

was raised. So yeah, just

16:43

cutting out all these extra ingredients made

16:45

me more aware of what's in our

16:47

food. And we

16:50

started eating less processed food because we started feeling

16:52

better when we were eating whole foods.

16:55

And so that was kind of like

16:58

my food journey. But I didn't even

17:00

think about all the products like Windex

17:02

that was in my cabinet, or shampoo.

17:05

And that journey sort of

17:07

started, I was pregnant with my

17:09

first son. And I was invited to

17:12

this essential oils party. That was

17:14

probably, I guess, about seven years

17:16

ago. And I didn't

17:18

know the lady hosting it

17:21

very well, but I knew it was her birthday.

17:23

And so I showed up with a little gift

17:25

of some Miss Myers, woman for being a hand

17:27

soap and linen tea towel thinking

17:29

that's just like a cute little gesture

17:31

of happy birthday. And

17:33

she is honestly one of

17:36

the sweetest people I know. But when

17:38

she pulled that hand soap out,

17:41

she said, this is actually

17:43

so toxic. Like in a,

17:46

it just caught me off guard. Like, what?

17:48

What? It's soap. Soap is

17:51

at its very nature supposed to be clean.

17:53

What do you mean? This is toxic. I'd

17:55

never heard that terminology before. So, Um,

18:00

Like. I said i don't think she's

18:02

trying to be mean That was probably

18:04

not the best way to go about

18:06

educating me by. ah, she's only about

18:08

this app that I could download that

18:10

I cared. Search different products that I

18:13

was using to see how toxic they

18:15

were on a scale of one to

18:17

ten and when I got in the

18:19

car I searched that the and so

18:21

and it wasn't eight. And. Habits

18:23

like. Or. What in

18:25

east and ten ten being the

18:28

most toxic the this was it

18:30

eight so that is really surprised

18:32

me and i went home and

18:34

of like all about this is

18:36

what about that whatever whatever you

18:38

for your my phone and i

18:40

tend to be a little frantic

18:43

says most. Oh

18:45

that's it. I was shocked by everything

18:47

that I had been using. But.

18:49

I decided to just like slowly start

18:52

making swaps, slowly make changes when I

18:54

could. When I ran out of a

18:56

product, I would try to find something

18:58

cleaner. and then my son was born.

19:01

And. Like all the sudden, I was

19:03

responsible for making choices. For.

19:06

Someone else that would impact

19:08

their health and longevity and

19:10

I wanted to do everything

19:12

right. like most moms are

19:14

trying to do the best

19:17

they can am. So. Definitely.

19:20

Like all these different aspects

19:22

spend intervened in to what.

19:25

I would just called crunchiness you know so

19:27

that. Sort of how the journey stuff is It.

19:30

Okay, if you said so many things that

19:32

I want to. Make. Sure that

19:34

we address before the show ends you

19:36

talked about. Feeling. overwhelm

19:38

at all the changes that you possibly

19:41

needed to make so i think that's

19:43

one thing i want to head on

19:45

you talked about mrs myers hand soap

19:47

and i'm thinking about the price point

19:49

of that we're probably pitting for branding

19:52

to be honest with ya but i

19:54

want to talk about budgeting in the

19:56

cost of being crunchy and maybe some

19:58

misconceptions we have either said I'd

20:00

rather invest up front versus long term when

20:02

I have all these medical bills because I'm

20:05

so ill. So let's talk about those three

20:07

things for sure, but I want to talk

20:09

first and foremost about just simple ways that

20:11

we can start to implement crunchiness in our

20:14

own life, especially if we're not someone that

20:16

identifies in that way. What are the quick

20:18

swaps that we can make to become more

20:20

crunchy? Sure, so

20:23

I actually heard it in

20:25

your podcast. You've talked about

20:27

one of your advertisers is

20:29

an air purifier and you

20:31

said you noticed such a change whenever you put

20:34

that air purifier in your home. So we

20:36

all know that air quality is super important

20:38

and I don't want to say that you

20:40

shouldn't get an air purifier because I think

20:42

that I have totally invested in one. I

20:44

think it's a great idea, but

20:46

one way that you can clean your air

20:49

is by opening your windows for 15 minutes

20:51

a day. That's a huge, makes

20:53

a huge impact on your indoor

20:55

air quality. So that's one super

20:58

easy swap that everyone should be able to

21:00

do and if you're like me growing up,

21:03

the windows had been painted shut so we

21:05

couldn't actually open our windows. Open your

21:07

door! Surely you have some

21:10

spot in your house you can open to let fresh

21:12

air in and the stale

21:14

polluted air out. Another

21:17

swap is to get rid

21:19

of, and this goes along with air

21:22

quality but also products

21:24

that you're using on your

21:26

body, fragrances. The word fragrance

21:30

is, it sounds so

21:33

simple like oh well there's just one little

21:36

thing in that. It's just a fragrance,

21:38

you know, but that word can actually

21:40

mean dozens, sometimes

21:43

hundreds of chemicals in

21:46

that one word fragrance. So if

21:48

you could just get rid of

21:50

fragrances in all of your

21:53

products and all the things you're adding to your

21:55

home, which is overwhelming.

21:57

I mean at this point people are

21:59

using fragrance fragrance, toilet paper, fragrance,

22:01

trash bags, fragrance, hand soap fragrance,

22:03

shampoo, you know, like every little

22:05

thing has to have a smell

22:08

or we don't feel like it

22:10

feels fresh. Getting

22:14

away or getting away from using those

22:16

is a huge step in the crunchy

22:19

dirty. I feel like that might be

22:21

one of the hardest first steps because

22:23

you're just so used to things smelling

22:25

good. Another

22:28

thing would be cutting

22:30

down on as

22:32

many single use products that

22:34

you can. So look

22:37

around your home. What are you using

22:39

only once? Paper

22:42

towels, Ziploc

22:45

baggies. There are

22:47

plenty of options for you to

22:49

use something more than

22:51

once. And I mean, just a very

22:54

term single use is

22:57

so anti minimalist,

22:59

right? So yeah,

23:01

getting rid of single use plastics

23:03

and papers. Yeah.

23:06

Yeah. What's the use for sure? I

23:08

want to talk about people's perception

23:11

of finances when it comes to being

23:13

crunchy because I do think that when

23:15

we go to the grocery store and

23:17

we see things that are organic, non

23:19

GMO, which there's a rabbit

23:21

hole we could take on the

23:23

mislabeling of things in grocery stores,

23:25

but even just getting seamless steel,

23:27

water bottles or containers for children's

23:29

food, all this stuff does add

23:32

up organic sheets. They're more expensive,

23:34

but they are very comfy. Air

23:37

purifiers. Yes, you have this initial investment that

23:39

might be a little bit more. So what

23:41

is your encouragement there with what it looks

23:43

like financially to add crunchiness into your lifestyle?

23:47

Be willing to have

23:49

less. So

23:52

for example, if you want to

23:55

shift your closet to crunch your

23:57

closet, Crunch your clothes. Buying

24:00

them new are often more expensive.

24:02

So instead of buying a new

24:05

dress for whenever you are getting

24:07

family photos, are you going on

24:09

vacation? see you want to buy

24:12

a new this? neither like invest

24:14

in things that. Are

24:16

high quality and be okay with wearing

24:18

the same thing over and over like

24:21

that's a choice you're making for your

24:23

health. You're gonna have to make this

24:25

little sacrifice of maybe you don't have

24:28

tons of different options by at least

24:30

you know what you have is good.

24:32

Ah, same thing with like water bottles

24:35

like you were saying or food containers.

24:38

Instead. Of spending. I mean how

24:40

much money to people spend on zip

24:42

lock bags? I bet it

24:44

adds up over time. It doesn't look

24:47

like it because you're just making these

24:49

micro purchases, but if he saved that

24:51

money and then invested it in quality

24:53

says container for your children, it probably

24:56

would either. Now, even. And.

24:59

Yeah. And things like.

25:03

Sheets so. I.

25:05

Think is yours flee being

25:07

on in. Polyester, Seats.

25:09

and he can't afford organic cotton sheets?

25:12

Well at least just by cotton sheets.

25:14

Or go to the thrift store and

25:16

look for cotton sheets. So what is?

25:18

Your seats don't match like There have

25:20

been times where my pillow cases think

25:23

match my fitted sheet doesn't match because

25:25

I just kind of cobbled together what

25:27

I could during the best that I

25:29

can't just look for opportunities. To.

25:32

Make changes in the my pro.

25:34

You don't have to go all

25:36

out. Certainly don't go into debt

25:38

over it. Just looked for a

25:40

little opportunities to make healthier choices

25:43

and there's always. A little

25:45

bit better. How can he do a

25:47

little bit better without? Radically

25:49

changing everything. Absolutely

25:52

And. what you're saying aligns

25:54

with again minimalism and just what i

25:56

try to teach people here with this

25:59

show and now what is

26:01

your motivation for why you make the choices

26:03

that you do? So if you're someone that's

26:05

like, no my bed can't be snatched, I

26:07

can't have those sheets not match the pillowcases

26:10

because that would be aesthetically pleasing. It's like,

26:12

to who? Who's in your bedroom? Are you

26:14

photographing it for social media? Because then maybe

26:16

you do care, but then what's your underlying

26:18

motivation there? And I think if

26:20

we were actually really honest with ourselves and kind

26:23

of dug deeper through some of these things, we

26:25

may not like what we find in

26:28

ourselves, but also there is a compromise

26:30

that we make because there are things that I do that

26:33

are not very crunchy and in other ways I

26:35

try to be as crunchy as I can and

26:37

I get kind of crazy about it. So there

26:39

is that healthy balance and I want to know

26:42

how you have found balance in your own life.

26:44

Do you do non-crunchy things

26:46

still is what I should

26:49

say. Definitely sometimes do

26:51

non-crunchy things, though whenever

26:53

I say those things to my husband,

26:56

like for example drinking

26:58

a LaCroix or something,

27:00

we don't buy those regularly, but

27:02

if I'm offered one out I

27:04

definitely will like jump on that.

27:06

I love that, but it has

27:09

flavors added, even natural

27:11

flavors aren't totally natural, they're lab

27:13

derived, so I avoid that

27:15

in my life. But then my husband

27:17

would be like, Emily if you told

27:19

someone that that's not a crunchy choice,

27:22

they're gonna roll their eyes at you.

27:24

But it just can be like as

27:26

extreme as you want it to be,

27:28

so something to me that's not very

27:30

crunchy might be extra crunchy to

27:32

somebody else, but something

27:35

we can all agree on that

27:37

isn't crunchy is my family occasionally,

27:41

like our guilty

27:43

pleasure is going to Culver's

27:46

and I feel like I've said this over and over in

27:48

podcasts, like here's the

27:51

scoop Culver's custard

27:53

is delicious. So Culver's, this

27:55

is not paid for by Culver's, I

27:57

probably should try to get some sort of

27:59

collection. collaboration with them, though

28:01

I wouldn't recommend because they use corn

28:03

syrup in their custard and I am

28:05

aware of this and I still will

28:08

occasionally treat myself and consume it.

28:11

I know that that exposure is

28:13

not going to harm me. It's not going

28:15

to hurt me. I'm not doing it

28:18

all the time. It's a special treat and I

28:21

will say I've been like any

28:23

time I go I get recognized

28:26

and I'm always like, oh crunchy

28:28

mom should not be here, but And

28:32

it's fine like life is not

28:34

about achieving perfection. That's not possible

28:37

You will drive yourself insane. I've tried

28:39

and you can't do it. So Definitely

28:44

know that when you can make

28:46

the best choice do it

28:49

and it's okay If you choose not

28:51

to one thing I like to think about is what

28:53

is the rule in my family? The

28:55

rule of my family is that we pretty

28:57

much eat homemade

29:01

made from scratch meals So

29:03

the exception to the rule is sometimes

29:06

we go to Culver's and that's totally fine

29:08

because that's not what we're doing every day

29:11

It's all about the choices that

29:13

you make regularly that really matter

29:16

Definitely and I think when we you

29:18

have the label of crunchy I have the

29:20

label of minimalist and so there are definitely

29:23

areas in which I am a maximalist in

29:25

and I don't want

29:27

judgment there. Especially I love books

29:29

We have a giant bookshelf downstairs and my

29:31

husband is always like we need to go

29:34

through and declutter and I'm like, oh that

29:36

it is I did it is minimal but

29:38

to others it wouldn't be but I don't

29:40

want to be discredited

29:43

because For the majority of

29:45

my life I do try and apply simplicity and

29:47

minimalism But I also I was just doing one

29:49

more thing. Oh when I I

29:51

was pretty radical about food Nine

29:54

years ago. It was debilitating to where

29:57

even if I went to a restaurant with the

29:59

seed oils and I don't know what

30:01

you're putting in my food to where I wouldn't

30:03

go. And to me, I was missing out on

30:05

experiences with friends and

30:07

family because I was so in my own

30:09

head, which was honestly a big dose of

30:12

cortisol that I didn't need. Again, we have

30:14

to look holistically at what

30:17

crunchy means or what it means to have these labels.

30:19

So I just, I don't have anything else to say.

30:21

I just agree with you. Now, and I

30:23

want to, well, I want to add to that. I

30:26

found myself feeling

30:29

actual fear over

30:32

non-organic strawberries. And

30:35

it's ridiculous when you step back and

30:38

you think like, I

30:40

feel actual true anxiety over

30:43

my children eating these non-organic

30:45

strawberries. That's

30:48

not healthy. Stress

30:50

is far more damaging

30:52

than whatever trace amounts

30:54

of pesticide my kids

30:56

are getting from those

30:58

strawberries. When I can

31:01

choose organic, of course I'm going

31:03

to, but it is not worth

31:05

worrying over or stressing over. And

31:08

that's actually an eating disorder whenever you

31:10

become afraid of food. And

31:12

so whenever I learned about that eating disorder,

31:15

I was like, okay, yeah, this has gone

31:18

to an unhealthy degree and I'm

31:20

not going to allow that.

31:22

And thankfully I wasn't like so far in

31:24

that I wasn't able to back out just

31:26

on my own, but

31:29

I could definitely see that being

31:31

a trap, just people going

31:34

so extreme that they're

31:36

scared. And you're right.

31:38

The cortisol is so much

31:40

more damaging than whatever

31:42

they're scared of, probably. Yeah, absolutely.

31:45

And I also, I love that you said you were,

31:48

well, I don't love that you were

31:50

missing out on time with family and

31:52

friends, but that is definitely something I

31:55

have prioritized in my life. I

31:57

Want my kids to have a really good relationship with

31:59

my parents. There and I did not

32:01

have a relationship with my grandparents

32:03

and so my parents really do

32:05

try their best. But

32:08

they don't even think about everything

32:10

I think about they couldn't because

32:12

it's to the they're not passionate

32:14

about it and so they do

32:16

try to respect the boundaries that

32:18

I've set for say they don't

32:21

understand at all and sometimes they

32:23

slip ups and I've just decided

32:25

that relationship is so much more

32:27

important to me then them making

32:29

all the. Little choices that I want

32:31

them to make and so I don't

32:33

sweat it. It's like I said, it's

32:35

not the rule, it's an exception to

32:37

the role. My kids aren't at my

32:39

good at my parents' house every single

32:41

day and. And. So. Yeah.

32:44

I like. it's good to be

32:46

flexible. Be. Loose whole

32:49

the or convictions a little

32:51

bit loosely, you know, And.

32:54

Prioritize relationships and so that he said back

32:56

as I was one of the last things

32:58

I wondered touch on was what is that.

33:00

Some. Illegal relationship look like when you

33:02

are choosing to do things drastically different

33:05

than your family members because I think

33:07

even with something like minimalism, it's been

33:09

a struggle with certain family members to

33:11

get them to understand the way that

33:13

were trained to live life and I

33:16

the only thing I can compare it

33:18

to right now in regards to crunchiness

33:20

my parents give. Way. More

33:22

screen time at their house than we do

33:24

here and there probably doesn't mean to be

33:26

a conversation. The also I'm like okay, this

33:28

isn't happening on the side. when they go

33:31

over ice a month is okay that they

33:33

have a little bit more screen time. Yeah,

33:35

I think it is hard to be doing

33:37

things differently from your parents because you feel

33:39

your oh your parents, something because they raise

33:41

your that uses point in a certain way.

33:43

But then you have to evolve as human

33:45

so it's just it's a lot heavier than

33:47

it seems. I think that's why it's overwhelming.

33:50

So sometimes when our parents don't Ah, obliged.

33:52

By in our preferences Yeah, and

33:54

I think any one his in

33:56

a healthy relationship with their pants

33:58

whom. then your parent

34:01

is going to be open to

34:03

listening to what you have to

34:05

say and hopefully willing to respect

34:07

that. But something I talk about

34:09

in my book is maybe that

34:11

takes a little more work from

34:13

you. So

34:15

you don't want your kids to eat what

34:17

the grandparents are serving them when they go

34:19

over there. Well, prepare a meal before you

34:21

take them. If that is frustrating to you,

34:24

make it happen. If you don't like the

34:26

treats they're giving your kids, but you feel

34:28

like grandparents should be able to treat

34:31

your kids, provide the treats that you're

34:33

okay with. Surely anyone in their right

34:35

mind would be willing to do

34:37

that. And if you sit down and have a heart

34:40

to heart and use

34:42

language that you would use with your

34:44

spouse in a disagreement where you're not

34:46

like, why do you always do this?

34:49

Why do you, you know, like that's

34:51

not how you have healthy conflict. You

34:54

sit down and you say, this is

34:56

really important to me. And I know you

34:58

may not understand it, but this

35:00

is how I want to raise my children

35:03

for this reason, this reason,

35:05

this reason. And surely

35:07

they'll be willing to

35:09

have an open mind about it, especially

35:11

if you're willing to come alongside them

35:14

and help them accomplish the

35:16

goals that you're hoping. Maybe

35:18

even like say with screen

35:20

time, you

35:22

say like, Hey, how about

35:24

we only do one

35:27

episode while they're over there? Or, you know,

35:29

like just try to set boundaries, but also

35:31

be willing to give a little instead of

35:33

we just don't do screen time. We're just

35:36

not going to do that. I don't feel

35:38

like that's fair because my dad,

35:41

I know my dad uses screen time with my boys.

35:43

He is tired when

35:45

he sees them. He's

35:48

worked all day. He's

35:50

in his sixties, you know? So it's like,

35:52

it's not fair for him to ask him to

35:54

get on the floor and wrestle with my boys

35:56

and engage with them how I want him to

35:58

engage with them. So I say like,

36:00

okay, well, how about we only watch educational

36:04

videos on YouTube

36:06

together and then

36:08

talk about them together instead

36:10

of just be like, no screen time. You

36:13

know, like just being, be flexible, be willing to

36:15

give a little and then set the boundaries

36:17

that you're okay with. Absolutely.

36:20

Well, if we didn't answer your questions there,

36:23

you have a chapter in your book called When

36:25

Your Family Isn't Crunchy. So I definitely direct people

36:27

to your book. But is there any

36:29

other word of encouragement that you want to leave with listeners

36:31

before we wrap up? In anything

36:33

that you're pursuing, know that

36:36

nothing happens on

36:38

accident. I was, this

36:41

is just something that I realized

36:43

very recently. There are

36:45

these women in my life from earlier

36:48

in my childhood that were like so

36:50

active looking, beautiful

36:52

fit, like just the ideal

36:55

aging body. I guess I'm

36:58

not trying to say that there

37:01

is a perfect type, but these

37:03

women just looked healthy.

37:06

And I recently joined this exercise

37:08

class and it meets at

37:10

five 30 in the morning. And

37:13

when I went in there, it was so weird.

37:15

These two women who like stood out in my

37:17

mind were in that class. And

37:20

through my childhood, I think

37:22

I would have thought that's just their

37:24

genetics. That's just how they are. But

37:28

really, they made a

37:30

choice to stay active

37:32

and make healthy choices

37:35

so that they can be like that. And

37:37

I think that applies to anything. If there's

37:39

someone you see that has a strength, it's

37:42

probably because they're being intentional.

37:44

They're making whatever it is that they're

37:48

shining in a priority.

37:51

I think intentionality breeds

37:53

opportunity. Like with

37:55

my platform, people look at

37:57

me and they're like, how did your Instagram just explore?

38:00

It was like it just happened overnight. But

38:03

I decided to post a video

38:06

every single day. And through that,

38:08

opportunities have come up. And it's

38:10

been such an amazing blessing

38:12

for my family. But

38:15

it didn't happen on accident. So whatever you

38:17

want to focus on, whatever's important to you,

38:20

prioritize it. Make it happen. Make

38:23

the choices. Make the sacrifices. And

38:25

I think you'll be pleased with the outcome. Absolutely.

38:29

I feel like I want a deeper

38:31

dive because just thinking about you and

38:33

your RV with your husband's royalties to

38:35

now with 2.5 million followers. I just

38:37

would love to talk to you again

38:39

at some point, just going deeper and

38:41

richer into your story because it's so

38:44

fascinating to me. But until then, where

38:46

can listeners connect with you online? Sure.

38:49

I'm on all the

38:51

social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram,

38:54

YouTube, Snapchat. Is that all

38:56

of them? TikTok. Really very crunchy. That's all you

38:58

have to search is really very crunchy. And then

39:00

my book comes out March 12th. The

39:02

title is really very crunchy. So

39:05

it's not hard to remember.

39:08

So you can search me if you're interested in

39:10

reading my book. Any online

39:12

retailer, your favorite retailer to buy

39:14

books from. And then also

39:16

on Audible. Perfect. Well, quickly before

39:18

we end, I always ask my guests two questions.

39:20

And the first one is, what's been a beneficial

39:22

resource in your life that you want to share

39:25

with the listeners? There's a book

39:27

by Julia Watkins. It's called Simply

39:29

Living Well. And I think if

39:31

your podcast listeners are mostly interested

39:34

in the minimalist life, they will

39:36

really love that. And like we

39:38

were talking about how minimalism and

39:40

crunchiness pair really well

39:42

together. That's sort of what this book

39:45

is. It's like the ultimate minimalist meets

39:47

crunchy mom. So definitely check out that

39:49

book. It's a great resource. Okay,

39:52

cool. Maybe I'll have to reach out to her

39:54

because it sounds like we're very like minded. All

39:56

right, and then my last question is, what's something

39:58

you can't stop talking about? Yeah. Something

40:00

I've really been focused

40:02

on lately is adopting

40:04

nourishing habits and

40:07

hobbies. Instead of

40:09

being passive with my time, it's so

40:12

easy to be passive and not create.

40:16

And so something I

40:18

decided, and everyone and their mother

40:20

has also decided this, but I want to

40:22

grow more flowers. Flowers bring

40:24

me so much joy. And

40:26

I think in the past I felt

40:28

like this pressure to grow produce, grow

40:31

food so I can can it and

40:33

be able to provide food for my

40:35

family, be more self-sufficient. But

40:37

I'm just really not good at that. I've

40:40

tried and it doesn't bring me that much joy.

40:43

And I've never been able to grow enough to

40:45

even can my own pasta sauce

40:47

or anything like that. So I've

40:49

decided this year to focus

40:52

on flowers, growing more

40:54

flowers. And so I'm really excited about

40:56

it. I didn't even know that

40:58

daffodils had different varieties. And so

41:01

I've been pumped about my daffodils

41:03

are coming up and just,

41:05

yeah, pretty flowers, pretty things.

41:08

Yeah, I love that. We recently moved, we

41:10

moved back in October and we were getting

41:12

the end of the flower season and the

41:14

lady that lived here before her garden was

41:16

just meticulous. It was amazing. It

41:18

was so beautiful. And I'm like, I hope

41:20

I can do half of what she had

41:22

going on here. So maybe I should call

41:24

her and have her come help me. But

41:26

I agree. I think flowers are amazing and

41:29

so joy-filled. So Emily, thank you so much

41:31

for joining me today. Thank you for writing

41:33

this book. Thank you for being so silly

41:35

and fun on the internet. I love to

41:37

see your Instagram reels pop up. Thanks for

41:39

joining me today. Yeah, thanks for having

41:41

me, Diane. This was so much fun. What

41:44

did you think of the episode? I hope you enjoyed

41:46

the conversation. To learn more

41:49

about today's guest, including links, resources

41:51

related to everything discussed, visit

41:53

the episode page at minimalistmomspodcast.com where

41:55

you can find the entire podcast

41:57

archives as well as my book.

42:00

minimalist moms living and parenting with

42:02

simplicity or other ways to connect

42:04

or work with me online. If

42:07

you'd like to support the podcast the easiest

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and most impactful thing you can do is

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subscribe to the show on iTunes Spotify or

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YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts and

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leave a rating or review of your favorite

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episode. Lastly, sharing the show

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or your favorite episodes with friends and

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social media is very helpful and will

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encourage others on their journey to think

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more and do less often.