Mom Hacks

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March 3, 2020 - Episode #8 - Mom Hacks, Time Saving Tips and Family Routines with Mix and Match Mama, Shay Shull​
Kids, crazy schedules, running a business, cooking, coordinating family activities, volunteer work and allowing time for some self-care, fun and relaxation. How is a woman supposed to fit it all in? For years, readers have been inspired by popular blogger and cookbook author, Shay Shull.  This busy mama and business woman seems to do it all and in this podcast she reveals HOW she gets it all done!  The secret lies in prioritizing self care, having some great routines and other mom hacks.  If you are a busy mom, then this is a podcast you don't want to miss!

You can connect with Shay Shull at www.mixandmatchmama.com or on social media @mixandmatchmama.  And friend, if you are feeling like your health is spinning out of control and you are looking for a health coach for that personalized plan of action; I would be honored to support you.  Book a 1 hour virtual coaching session at https://www.inspirehealthyharmony.com/coaching.html#/
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Today's Guest:  Shay Shull 
Shay is a popular lifestyle blogger and travel agency owner who, when not having fun with her four kids, can be found in the kitchen.  For over thirteen years, Shay has been bringing recipes and lifestyle segments to her website mixandmatchmama.com.  As the author of six cookbooks, Shay has been featured on Today, QVC, Home and Family and Fox and Friends.

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March 3, 2020 - Episode #8 - Mom Hacks, Time Saving Tips and Family Routines with Mix and Match Mama, Shay Shull​
 
Speaker 1:
Kids crazy schedules, running a business, cooking, coordinating family activities, volunteer work, and allowing time for some self care, fun and relaxation. How is a woman supposed to fit it all in? That is a discussion today on healthy harmony. Welcome to healthy harmony, where we help you clarify and discuss health tactics to harmonize your life. I'm your host and health coach, Jennifer picket. And today my guest is Shay Shull. Shay is a popular lifestyle blogger and a travel agency owner who when not having fun with her four kids can be found in the kitchen for over 13 years. Shay you've been bringing recipes and lifestyle segments to her website mix and that mama.com as the author of six cookbooks. Yes, as I set six, Shay has been featured on the today show here, VC home and family and Fox and friends, Shay, and her husband, Andrew have traveled the world with their kids and have a heart for international adoption readers tune in every day for her recipes, her travel posts, fashion tips, family tradition, adoption updates, and daily fine. When she's not traveling, Shay is often found drinking coffee, cheering on her Boston red Sox and enjoying daily life in McKinney, Texas with her family. Please welcome my sweet friend, Shay Shull.
 
Speaker 2:
Hey girl. How are you? Great. I'm so excited to be here with you today.
 
Speaker 1:
I just love that we get to do this together, so let's just, let's just get right into it. We're going to have a lot of fun today and talk about something that is just kinda on all of our minds as women. We really want to do it all. And girl, you're busy. Like you are so busy. So like tell me how you stay organized with a really large family and running a successful.
 
Speaker 2:
How do you do it? Well, the key is I'm very organized. So that, that is my key. I think I'm naturally organized. I think some people have to work being organized. I do think if you're not naturally, it's definitely something you can, um, over the years you can work to be. But for me, I do think I'm naturally organized. I think it's probably one of my best qualities and also one of my worst qualities at the same time.
 
Speaker 1:
Okay. So what do you mean by that? It's also your worst quality? What do you mean?
 
Speaker 2:
I guess, because I get a lot done and very efficient. It's one of my worst qualities because I don't allow for lots of spontaneity. I am kind of the stick in the mud sometimes because I don't want to deviate from what I have to do and I have to accomplish today. And I'm sure I miss out on, um, some blessings and some joyous moments because I'm so focused on a tasks and sometimes I forget to actually like enjoy life. So I do think being organized is a great thing, but I also think that it can sometimes be not so great too. I struggle with both. Yeah.
 
Speaker 1:
As I, I see that, I see that. Um, and it's interesting that you see it as, as both. I mean, clearly it helps you get a whole lot done and, um, organization is just key at, I think sometimes I'm more of a wannabe, like when I'm organized, I just feel so good. And then sometimes when things are out, like they're very disorganized. It just, it, yeah, it affects me, but yeah, I see how it can affect other aspects too, because you kind of have your, your structure and your rhythm and your routine. So yeah, it's, it's good. And that right. So speaking of routine, how important is routine?
 
Speaker 2:
It is everything to me, which again, lends itself to most of the time. It's a great thing, but I'm such a routine person, but sometimes I know that it can be my downfall to my whole, um, I hate to say my whole life, but kind of my whole life is a routine. And I think that that is how I'm able to, you know, do so much, have so many kids have so many businesses and hobbies and read so many books is because I am really structured and I do have routines that I just do everyday. You know, that's why it's a routine. Um, but it really does allow me to fit everything in that I want to fit in to my routine. And so I've also learned over the years, I've gotten a lot better at saying no to things that if I were to add them into my daily routine, they wouldn't, I would dread them. I wouldn't be excited about them and they would drain me. So, um, it's a practice I've been practicing and I'm going to continue to practice it, but it really is how I'm able to do so much is that I do the same thing over, over and over again.
 
Speaker 1:
Okay. And those routines and you brought up something that I think is so important for us to discuss. And you said something about saying no. And I know as I know, I struggle with saying no, because I'm thinking I can, I can do it all. I can do this, but there's a lot of freedom and saying no. So why do you think as women, we have a hard time
 
Speaker 2:
For me, it's because I'm a pleaser. So I am definitely, I want you to be happy with me, whether you are my mom or you are my girlfriend or you are my son. I am, I'm a pleaser by nature. And so I hate to say no because I don't want anybody to be disappointed in me or I don't want to let anybody down. And so I, there was a season where I struggled more with this. I think I'm in a good place. Now. I think aging has helped me tremendously. I am almost 40. And I'm kind of to the point I had girlfriends that are older than me. Tell me, you're kind of getting to the point where it's like, I mean the heck with it. This is what I'm doing. I'm almost 40. I am done making everybody else happy. And this is, um, it's kind, it's so freeing, um, to be in this place.

And so now as much as I do want to make people happy, I've got to realize that if I'm not happy, if I'm stressed out or over committed, then really nobody in my family is happy. It does trickle down and affect my husband and kids. It really does. And I don't, I don't want to be responsible for that. So for me, I think age has played a big part in it. I'm getting wiser and I am getting my priorities definitely more in line. And it's less about making other people happy and more about focusing on what's best for my family.
 
Speaker 1:
Oh, I just love that. And I think I can fill our listeners, just kind of, you know, breathe a sigh of relief, uh, in, in that we're really talking about just giving them permission to say, no, we can, we really can't do it all. And I think you hit the nail on the head when you said there's a trickle down effect, you know, as women we're really the heartbeat of the home. So if we're as stressed out wreck, because we've over committed and we're running around like chickens with our head cut off, then, I mean, it just affects the stress level of our family. So I'm really glad you brought that up. So I'm shifting back to routines. I'm curious. What are some of the most important routines that keep your family running efficiently?
 
Speaker 2:
Okay. I have several, um, one making time for me to work out has been, always been a routine that has positively affected me and therefore my kids, because I feel better about myself. I feel better, just more energetic. I also have learned for me working out in the morning, like early in the morning and it comes at the price that happened to wake up early. But then when my kids wake up, I've already worked out. So it's not hanging over my head. I don't get maybe frustrated cause I'm trying to get a workout in, but I also need to get you ready for school. And something comes up and now I can't now I'm a little stressed or disappointed. So for me, carving out that time, actually my whole morning routine, I think helps me be a better mom and a better wife, which is waking up early.

And first the very first thing I do is get my coffee and open my Bible and spending my time in my quiet time, reading the word in prayer. And then from there I immediately work out and then I can wake up my kids and we can start our day and just me prioritizing and focusing on the Lord and then taking that time to work out for myself. Really, for me, makes me happier, more energetic and just a more focused mom. So when I wake them up, it's like, we're ready to conquer the day together. I already have that stuff behind me.
 
Speaker 1:
I love that. And I love the fact that part of your morning routine is self care and making your health a priority. I know I have, um, I've seen this with myself if I, if I put it off in and I think, okay, I'm going to work out later today. Cause you know, whatever happened this morning, I'm going to work out later today. It never really happens. And so I love how you have a very specific structure and routine, um, for every single morning. And it is at, I love how you have your own time. You're able to wake up by having your quiet time by exercising, then you're getting your kids up. So I think that is, is such a powerful strategy. Um, so what about your kids? Are there any particular routines with your kids that you've implemented that you're like, Hey, this is working. We're going to keep it.
 
Speaker 2:
One of the, um, strategies I implemented this year, which has been really effective for us. And I don't know why it took me so long to do it, but it's to get as much done the night before for the next morning as possible on the school days. So I don't know why it took me so long to do that, but you know, now before we go to bed, everybody knows what they're wearing the next day. Everybody has decided what they're going to have for breakfast the next morning. Um, everybody has their lunch, packed their homework, done, zipped up in their backpack, ready to go. And that is tremendously helped our morning flow better. So we, but we had to get into the routine of before you go to bed, you need to make sure all of these things are done and it might be a little annoying to do it some days, but it's always so rewarding the next morning when you wake up and that stuff is already handled for you.
 
Speaker 1:
And it's a more peaceful morning. Right. And I think it's something that is so simple and it's easier said than done. Um, but I think with our kids, if we can implement some, some, uh, practices like this and then literally just do it over and over. So that they're used to that. Um, uh, it does. You're exactly right. It just, it goes so much better in the morning if you're prepared the night before. So the morning isn't a surprise. Um, so I think that's a powerful, a really powerful strategy. And I think again, setting the tone for the first part of the day, I've heard it said that what happens in the first 20 minutes of the day really sets the tone for the rest of the day. So I think when we are in a frantic state, we're stressed out, um, when our kids are stressed out because they didn't take that time the night before, they don't know what they're going wear.
 
Speaker 1:
There's, you know, lunches, aren't packed again, everybody is starting their day stressful and it really can impact the rest of the day. I know we had seen that in our house and, uh, I can, I can feel our non, our listeners just kinda nodding in agreement. Like it's, it just gets a little bit, uh, crazy. So, um, what about, so the evening routine you guys are, uh, you're, you're getting everything ready for the next day. Um, you great about fixing dinner. So are, do you have any like rhythms and routines in place to help you make sure you have dinner?
 
Speaker 2:
Yeah. I really do try to make an effort to meal plan. I think for me, um, that is the key. Now. I always give my mom a hard time because I grew up with a mom who never once ever in her life meal plans. I have more memories than I could count of my mom, Browning, ground beef. And me saying, what are we having for dinner and her saying, I don't know yet, as she's Browning the ground beef, she still doesn't know what we're having for dinner. I’m like the opposite of that, where I can't live as go with the flow as my mom, I need a plan. And so for me, what I like to do is I actually, some people think this is crazy, but I look at the whole month and I look at my calendar and if I look at the whole month at one time, I can write down, okay, we've got a lot of sports on this night that needs to be a slow cooker meal.

We have, um, you know, this, you know, school thing on this night, that might be a night. We either need to have leftovers or maybe we go out and eat and celebrate. After the school thing, these nights were open. I can make a 30 minute meal on these nights. If I look at the whole month and get like a game plan, I find that I don't repeat the same recipes all the time, which my family appreciates. I also find I can buy some ingredients like taco shells and maybe we have a, you know, pulled pork tacos one night and then the leftover shells, the next week, we can have your traditional ground beef taco and I can shop more efficiently, especially when you go to places like Costco and Sam's and you buy in bulk. If I look at the whole month and meal plan and then pop into the grocery store once, maybe twice a week to pick up fresh ingredients, um, to compliment those other things that I've already purchased to me looking at the month is just very helpful because if I have the food, I'll make the food in my pantry.
 
Speaker 1:
I love it. Okay. So for the mom who just got overwhelmed, when you said the entire month, what would you recommend for that mom who has not been meal planning? Who's been kind of flying by the seat of her pants. Where should she start? What's a good starting point.
 
Speaker 2:
First. I would start with February. I wouldn't try to conquer January. If it were me, I would start with the following month if it were me, but I would look at your calendar. I always have my actual calendar next to my meal calendar because I can plan meals. But if it doesn't match up with what I'm actually going to be doing that day, it really doesn't work. You know, it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. You won't do it. Um, so I need it to make sense. I love my slow cooker. I rely on it all the time. Not, not only to make the complete meal in my cooker, but to assist me in making other meals. It's great for poaching chicken. It's great for keeping things warm. It's great for a lot of other things. So I definitely look at where it's more crazy on my calendar and I will put an SC for slow cooker or that way I make sure and go back and plug in a slow cooker recipe. I think starting with your real calendar next to your meal calendar will really help you understand what your parameters are for your meal planning. So you may not have time to roast that whole chicken and make homemade mashed potatoes. It might need to be something simpler, like sloppy Joe's or a chicken tortilla soup in the slow cooker, something a little faster.
 
Speaker 1:
Yes. So maybe another good starting point for someone who isn't really used to meal planning, who seems maybe overwhelmed about a whole month, maybe starting off with just meal planning, like the next week earlier and starting there. And I agree, we have to look at our activity, calendar, our family calendar and see what's going on or it doesn't make sense. So do you have any other tips for like food prep? Um, any other time saving tips for grocery store or meal planning or food prep or cooking? What are your other time saving tips?
 
Speaker 2:
Well, one is most grocery stores and your bigger stores and target and Walmart. You can online grocery shop. So I love to do that for all of those things that you buy every week, right? Paper towels, your kids' favorite yogurt, lucky charms, whatever you're always buying. It's great because you can save on their website, your favorite things. So it's really easy for me to pull up every week. My favorite things list and add it all to cart. Cause I'm always gonna need milk. I'm always gonna need bread. Those things always need to end up in my cart and then I can swing by or tell my husband to swing by and grab those groceries. Cause that's not even meal planning. That's just making sure you have those necessities in your house. So I love that that's so available nowadays. I also love again, using your slow cookers and people think I'm only gonna put my slow cooker out to make that one spoke of a recipe I have, but it really can help you make a lot of recipes. Sometimes I'll make chili or sloppy Joe's or a soup. And I want to feed it to my family that night, but I really the best time for me to make it is like two in the afternoon. So I'll make it two in the afternoon and just keep it warm in my slow cooker. So that's not a slow cooker meal per se, but the slow cooker is helping me keep my food warm so that when we're ready to eat at six 30, we just take the lid off and we're ready to eat it. So I think you have to look at your slow cooker as more of a kitchen assistant as, and not quite so much as it's a one, one pot meal every time
 
Speaker 1:
That's. Yeah, very, very smart. Okay. So are you saying that we happen, that we get distracted when we go into target sometimes? What are you trying to say there?
 
Speaker 2:
I, um, you know, go in to get three things and I come out with 300. Yeah. Again, I have definitely
 
Speaker 1:
Been guilty of that, um, everywhere. And then it just takes, it ends up taking a lot of times. So I think that's an excellent time saving tip. And, um, especially when there's grocery delivery services, since we live a little bit further out, I've recently discovered a couple that will deliver here, uh, both whole foods and sprouts and I'm like, Oh wow, that is such, that's just huge, you know, for those weeks where, Hey, it's just not possible for me to get there. Um, so just saves a lot of time. So you have got four kids. Um, now how do you handle picky?
 
Speaker 2:
Okay. Um, I get this question a lot from my readers. I have my way of doing it. I always like to preface it by saying it's not everybody's way, but this way has been effective for us. Um, until you're five at my house, I am okay with, you can eat what I made for dinner, or you can have something plain and boring, like a boring bowl of cereal or a boring sandwich. I'm not willing to make another meal for you. I'm not going to heat up chicken nuggets for you. You can make what you can eat. What I made, or you can have something boring because I always want dinner time to be happy at my house. I want it to be a time of reflection. I want it to be a time of peace. I don't want it to be a time of like arguing and stress and getting frustrated and getting mad and me trying to, um, be controlling of you and you trying to be controlling with your food.

And I don't want that. So I kind of, we felt like until five, I always will give you a little bit of what we made. If you choose not to eat it, you can have. And I say boring, because I'm not offering you cinnamon toast crunch. That's not boring. That's fun if you're a kid. So I always offer like something simple, boring, but it's not something I had to prepare because I only make one meal a night after five. I feel like, Hey, you are in kindergarten about to be in kindergarten. You understand? Mommy makes food. You have to eat it. It's healthy. It's good for you. Like I feel like at five, that was like a shift in my kids being a little bit mature enough to where I could say you need to eat this cause I made it and it's good for you and they will eat it.
So for me being, I just always want it to be like a happy time at the table. So I don't want it to be the battle of wills. And I think sometimes it can turn into that between parents and I kinda think five at our house at least five has been a good age of, okay, now we really need to like, this is what you're eating. I also really try to only make food. My family's gonna like, which might sound silly. But if I know my family is not a big fish family, just, I know they're not then like I wouldn't make a bunch of fish. Right. I really try to make food. My family likes, I sneak a lot of in to food. My family loves pasta dishes, for instance. So I put peas and pasta onions and pasta, broccoli and pasta. Right. Because if you give a kid something that has like cheese and pasta, they're more likely in my opinion, to try the peas than if you were just to hand them peas.
 
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So I'm always trying to again, make dinner time fun, but I also don't want to make more than one meal, but I think there comes a point when you just say, you know, your kids have to understand mommy dinner, mom knows best. Mom has your best interest at heart, so you need to eat. And my kids have been great. I love how you brought up. So just so good and so important for us to remember to just the importance of family mealtimes. I know James stops and is just huge talking about that, the importance of family meal times and sitting down together, and it does, it needs to be a positive experience. So I like how you've avoided the conflict and the really difficult situations there. Now another aspect of your business, we're talking about kids. Another aspect of your business is your travel agency.
 
Speaker 2:
So give me some ideas. Let's talk about like, what are the travel parents that it was a priority for us to travel. And so that's always just been who I've been. And no matter what stage in life, when I was at college kid with no money, I saved all my pennies to go to Europe with a girlfriend. I've always just made that a priority in my life. And so now it's priority for my family. I just think unplugging is so beneficial. And so whether you are in plugging on the other side of the world, or whether you are in unplugging and spending time with your family at a staycation in your town, I just think true unplugging is just really important, but I also just cannot stress enough how important it is for you and especially for your kids to see outside their bubble, whatever their bubble might be.  And, um, I just, I really think it's good for everybody. It's good for adults to see how other people live and not necessarily third world, which I do think that's important, but just how it's done differently in Germany, how it's done differently in China, it's done differently, not better, not worse, just it's okay to see how it's done differently and how different cultures, um, celebrate holidays, how they eat different foods, how they dress differently, how the weather is different, whatever it is. I just think it's so important to have that understanding and that experience because nobody can ever take that away from me. So it's a really a priority for our family. I love that. Just exposing them to some different things. And I think the most important thing is just creating family memories. Those are memories like it's 10 to us. It's one of the most worthwhile investments. And,
 
Speaker 1:
Um, just to make those family memories and take that time. And it's nice to be outside of your typical routine and just be able to laugh and relax. And it's just, there's so many health benefits that to that as well. So what are some tips to ensure that the vacations are very enjoyable and relaxing? Cause I know sometimes they can get a little bit sketchy there and a little bit stressful just to make sure that it is very effective.
 
Speaker 2:
Well use a professional. I mean all joking aside, if you are not a well-versed traveler or you don't have the time, you could be super well traveled, but you don't have the time or the want to have somebody help you. I think there's a misconception that you pay service fees and extra charges for travel professionals. It's not true. You don't, you just get this other person to come in and take care of all the details because if you are frazzled and stressed about your vacation going into your vacation, it's going to be hard to unwind if you are ever even able to. So I think that if, if you know, you want to go somewhere and do something that you don't have the time or the clue where to start asking for help is fantastic.
 
Speaker 1:
And I love how you, it is a misconception. You hit the nail on the head when you said that a lot of folks think that there's just a lot of like costs involved with using a travel agent. So do you think that's a big barrier that keeps people searching?
 
Speaker 2:
There's just maybe in the conception of, um, what we do and how we're able to do what we do. We, um, it's a whole industry that supports us that makes it affordable and easy and gives you the upper hand. If you do choose a travel professional, because also what people don't understand is, uh, huge vendors like, um, American airlines or Norwegian cruise line or Walt Disney world. They want you to use the travel professional because they want your trip to be as seamless as possible. Because guess what if it's not, who are you calling? You're calling American airlines, Norwegian cruise line or Walt Disney, right? They want it to be just the most seamless, wonderful, fulfilling experience. So they know that a, um, somebody that is an expert in that field should help you with it. So they are gonna keep the rates the same for all of us, because they want us to be able to help you, like they can help you.

So I do think it's great to have some assistance, but be that as it may. I think, um, one problem I run into with customers is trying to do too much in a short amount of time. I would say setting expectation is probably the first part of what I do when I speak to new clients. Um, just for an example, sometimes people say I have a week's vacation. I to go to Europe, I want to see 12 countries while I'm there. And that's might sound like I'm making a joke, but no, I get that every day of my life. And so sometimes you have, and I get it. You're thinking one, spending the money to fly over there. Now I want to see everything, but sometimes you can see too much and not see anything as a result, right? All you're doing is running from one thing to the next.
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You're really not seeing what you're there to see sometimes too. You could spend your whole vacation in a cab, on a train and a bus at an airport where you're also missing your vacation. If you're going from place to place, to place, to place to place instead of just going someplace and seeing what's there. So I do think sometimes people need to step back and look at their itinerary and think, okay, am I doing too much? Am I going to be too stressed? Am I going to be spending too much time packing and repacking versus really enjoying where I am and being in the moment. So I do think that no matter if you're going to New York city or Scottsdale Arizona or Thailand, you should probably think about that when you're planning your next vacation
 
Speaker 1:
And just not try to shove, just not try to shove too much in right. I mean, which I think we've been guilty of before. And I think our favorite vacations are those where it's almost kind of limited. There's only so much you can do and you're in that one spot. And I think that's where you truly get a chance to relax and enjoy. And again, making those family memories, having those conversations. So Shay, I have to ask you as we kind of get to the end of our podcast, which I'm so sad. Cause I think you and I could go on and on forever. Um, so much to talk about, but I can almost feel listeners like through the airways saying, ask her, ask her, ask her, you have a famous brother, Sean Lowe from the Bachelor. So I think everybody wants to know, give us the latest update on Sean and Catherine.
 
Speaker 2:
Oh, well, I mean, they were just at my house a few days ago. They're doing fantastic. They have two little boys and then a brand new little girl and they're in heaven. They're absolutely smitten with her. And so they are just, you know, learning how to navigate when you no longer have that one on one. But now it's like three to two there. I'm learning how to do that with their sweet little family, but they're doing great. 
 
Speaker 1:
It's just the cutest family. They are. Yes. He just family, um, sweet family, just all of you guys and sweet family. Um, thank you so, so much for spending time with us today. I appreciate it. Um, uh, tell everyone where they can find out more about you. I want to make sure they know. Yes.
 
Speaker 2:
Well you can find me the best place to find me is Mix and Match mama, mixandmatchmama.com. Or you can find on all forms of social media, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter @mixandmatchmama. There are links on my website to take you to all of my cookbooks. All of my recipes, I have over 3000. Um, I have blog content for the last almost 14 years on there. Everything from adoption to organization books, I’m a huge reader. All of the books I read are on there. Plus you can link directly to my travel agency mix and match travel agency.com. Um, or you can find us on social media. You can find me anywhere and we would, uh, I would love to take care of you or the girls that helped me with my travel agency would love to take care of you as well.
 
Speaker 1:
That is fantastic. Thank you so much. I'm just, it's so easy to find you in your it's just like a breath of fresh air and such practical advice that you give. That's why one of the reasons I love following your stories and following you is just the simple suggestions about rhythms and routines. And I think we've had just a really good discussion today. So I appreciate it. Um, Hey guys, also remember to subscribe to us on your favorite platform of choice like this on Facebook, on Instagram at inspire your healthy harmony. You can also join in the discussion on our Facebook group. How do you do, how do you cope with a busy life? Do you have certain rhythms and routines that you follow and you can always check us out @inspirehealthyharmony.com. So until next time I hope you have a very healthy and happy day. Bye y'all.

If that resonates with you and you are thinking, hey I need some help.  And I need someone to be kind.  I don’t want someone to make me feel guilty or ashamed for the health choices that I’ve made before.  If that’s you, I figure you might have some questions about Health Coaching.  I invite you to private message me your questions.  We can connect over DM on FB or Instagram @inspirehealthyharmony.  If you would rather email, you can find me at [email protected].  I look forward to connecting with you.