5 awesome podcasts to listen to while you fold laundry.

shirt. (on sale!) jeans. (on sale, can’t stop wearing them.) shoes. (on sale.) glasses. necklace.

shop the room: similar rolling laundry cart. brass watering can. stools.

I love being a mom more than anything, but all the menial tasks that go along with motherhood?  Not so much.  It’s not that I mind laundry, dishes, vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, running errands, etc. etc.  It’s that they make me impatient, because they require the use of your hands (so you can’t do anything else at the same time) but not your mind (boring).  And the older my kids have gotten, and the busier my life is with their stuff, and my business, and our house, the more I resent that constant pile of laundry, and the more impatient I get folding it.

One of the things that has made those little household chores so much more enjoyable for me, is listening to podcasts.  I started doing this 3 or so years ago, and now, I pretty much never start folding laundry or loading the dishwasher without first putting in my headphones and opening up one of my favorite podcasts.  I love it because it makes a mundane task more interesting, and I feel like I’m being more productive cause I’m not just folding laundry, I’m also learning something or bettering myself… I’ll even put on a podcast on my morning run.

So today, I thought I would share with you 5 awesome podcasts I love that are great to listen to while you fold laundry (or do any other mindless chore.)

1. The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe.   This is probably my favorite podcast out of all of them.  (And I love them all.)  First of all, I love Mike Rowe, he’s awesome and he has the best voice to listen to.  If you remember “The rest of the story” radio show with Paul Harvey, this is really similar.  In fact, I think he references it in the first podcast.  Anyway, the episodes are short, usually around 10 minutes and they are super entertaining.  My kids even love to listen to it.  So sometimes I’ll put it on when we have a long drive and it keeps everyone interested.  This is such a great podcast, really fun and well produced.  Mike is an amazing writer and storyteller.

2. Happier with Gretchen Rubin.  If you want a cheerful little boost to your day, I cannot more highly recommend this happy little podcast.  Gretchen and her sister Elizabeth host it, and it’s just charming and full of lots of good ideas for living a happier life.  What I love about the ideas they give is how much they don’t make me feel more stressed out or guilty.  You know how everywhere you go you hear, “If you want to be healthy and happy you should be eating clean all the time, and lifting weights and using all organic beauty products, and essential oils etc. etc.”  Those things always stress me out, because really??  This podcast is like the opposite of that.  Just cheerful little very manageable ideas to make your life, you guessed it, a little happier.

3. Marriage is Funny.  Gerard and Jessie Pepper (not their real last name) host this one, and it’s just a fun charming podcast about Marriage.  It’s funny and sweet and you can tell how much they both love and respect each other.  Their tagline is “honest conversations from a married couple trying to figure it out, just like everyone else.”  That pretty much sums it up.  They hash out issues they’ve had, talk about funning experiences, work through things, and just talk about being married in general.  It’s made me think more intentionally about my relationship with my husband.  And since I’ve been listening to it for a few years, I feel like I’m friends with the Peppers because they’re so warm and open.  (Even though I don’t actually know them.;-)

4. The Tony Robbins Podcast. I know Tony needs no introduction from me, but I swear this podcast has made me a better person.  There are a variety of interesting topics and they’re all basically geared towards helping you be your best self and live a successful life.  Some episodes are better than others, but I loved listening to the ones with the founders of Warby Parker, AirBNB and Soul Cycle.  I’ve listened to the “3 steps to a breakthrough” episode at least 7 times (basically, every time I need to get out of a bad behavior pattern, or just a swift kick in the pants.)

 5. Serial. Disclaimer, this is not a kid friendly podcast, there is some stronger language in several of the episodes so if you are a mom, headphones are in order while you listen.  But Serial is so addictive!  Sarah Koenig is so captivating to listen to and you won’t be able to put it down.  She basically kind of unravels mysteries, interviewing people who were involved, and talking about different theories, and it’s all very interesting to listen to and addictive.   She somehow simultaneously has a very dry but also captivating voice.  Something in the way she times it all, you’re like hanging on her every word.  Season 1 was better than season 2, but they were both so interesting.   Listen and then we can talk about the last episode of season 1.  Cause, seriously?  What even was that??

So there you have it!  It was hard for me to narrow it down to these 5, because there are so many good ones.  Do you listen to podcasts?  Share your favorites in the comments!  I’m always looking for good new ones!

Also, this dog.  Literally sits or lays at my feet no matter what I’m doing.

Dying.