Laundry is is a constant: it’s truly with us every day, week, and month of the year. In this first episode of 2023, Meagan and Sarah focus in on the laundry systems and strategies that are working (or not) in our homes, plus our favorite products, the grossest things we deal with, what’s great (and weird) about our laundry rooms, and how seasons of life change the challenges of keeping up with the laundry. If you wear clothes – or live with people who do – this episode is for you. About Our SponsorsThe Essential CalendarSee a whole season at a glance in a stylish poster that hangs on your wall – AND help support a mom-owned business and our podcast at the same time! Save 10% with code THEMOMHOUR or use this link: theessentialcalendar.com/themomhour. When you do, we’ll earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.REINVENTThe new name for Meagan’s community for midlife moms is: REINVENT – and it also ties in with the name of her new bimonthly magazine! Go to meaganfrancis.com/bonus to get both a 20% discount on an annual membership to the REINVENT Community AND a free issue of REINVENT magazine.Stitch FixStitch Fix makes shopping for clothes so easy. Take a style quiz, then Stitch Fix’s expert stylists will find items exclusively for you. Keep what you love and send back what you don’t. Go to stitchfix.com/themomhour to get $20 off your first purchase.FutureThe Future app is a new way to do one-on-one personal training that’s all about custom workouts and unlimited support — whenever, wherever, and however you need it. Visit tryfuture.com/momhour to start your 30-day, risk-free trial of Future today.Links We Mentioned (Or Should Have) In This EpisodeMeagan recommends the book Laundry Love: Finding Joy In A Common Chore for a great reference for changing up your laundry game in the new year. (This is an affiliate link.)Sarah gives her laundry product MVP award to this flexible laundry basket.Meagan’s MVP award goes to this square laundry basket.If you loved this episode, check out episode 167 from the archives “Loads And Loads (And Loads) Of Laundry!The holidays tend to make our minds go on overdrive. Our contributor Joanne Ruellos Diaz has a great blog post about how to declutter your brain in 2023!Next week’s episode will be all about goal planning for 2023. We hope you’ll join us!Continue the conversation:Instagram | Private Facebook Community (be sure to answer the membership questions!)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Laundry Awards! Episode 398

As work-from-home moms, we’re perpetually seeking comfort and warmth during the winter months – stopping JUST SHY of living in pajamas 24/7. If your cozy winter wardrobe needs an update or you’re itching to do some post-Christmas shopping, listen to Episode 397 for Meagan’s and Sarah’s cold-weather fashion faves. Join us!About Our SponsorsHiya HealthHiya is a daily children’s vitamin that’s stronger, cleaner, and tastier — made from a blend of 12 farm-fresh fruits and vegetables and 15 essential vitamins. For 50% OFF your first order go to hiyahealth.com/MOMHOUR or enter code MOMHOUR at checkout.Athletic GreensAG1 by Athletic Greens is the category-leading superfood product, bringing comprehensive and convenient daily nutrition to every body. The AG1 powder from Athletic Greens is lifestyle-friendly whether you eat keto, paleo, vegan, dairy-free or gluten-free, and contains less than 1 gram of sugar, no GMOs, no nasty chemicals or artificial anything. Go to athleticgreens.com/momhour for a year’s supply of Vitamin D and five free travel packs with your first purchase of AG1.MOR CommunityMeagan’s Mother of Reinvention Community is a private, members-only space designed to support and encourage midlife moms as they answer the question: What’s next? Get a 20% discount on an annual membership to the MOR Community at meaganfrancis.com/bonusThe Essential CalendarSee a whole season at a glance in a stylish poster that hangs on your wall – AND help support a mom-owned business and our podcast at the same time! Save 10% with code THEMOMHOUR or use this link: theessentialcalendar.com/themomhour. When you do, we’ll earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.Links We Mentioned (Or Should Have) In This EpisodeMeagan’s Cozy MentionsMeagan’s loving her Vuori pants in a wide-legged drawstring style, a jogger, and a harem pant.Sweater favs? This alpaca wool sweater and cashmere batwing sweaters from Quince!Meagan added this green sweater dress and this date-night dress to her wardrobe paired with Sheertex tights.The Gwen tall boot from Vionic has been Meagan’s ride-or-die this winter (Vionic is a sponsor – get free shipping with code THEMOMHOUR)Meagan got some new Land’s End jammies on recommendation from a friend.Harper Wilde Bliss BrasSarah’s Cozy MentionsFavorite pants right now are from Lululemon Like New and she manages to exit the home Old Navy jogger-style PJ pants and style them as if they are NOT pajamas.When in the house, she’s 100% in these J Crew Factory Slippers!Current shoe faves are the Breilin Sneaker in Vapor from Vionic (Vionic is a sponsor – get free shipping with code THEMOMHOUR), and the Ecco Women’s Soft 7 SneakerOne of her fav sweaters is close to this one from Lunya.Sarah also has the Cassie Knit Cardi from Jane (affiliate link)For layering purposes, Sarah has had good luck with Target’s Merona line or this Madewell Tank – but

Cozy Winter Style Inspiration: Episode 397

Running a full-time independent podcast company keeps us busy – so busy that we don’t often pause to let listeners in to how it all works! As we approach the end of 2022, Meagan and Sarah share what’s up behind the scenes at The Mom Hour. We start with a lightning round of frequently asked questions (how’d we meet? do we fight? how does the podcast make money?) and move into bigger thoughts about our industry as a whole and the current economic landscape. We also take a look back at how we’ve grown over the years (particularly the past two), profess our love for fellow women podcasters whose names you’ll definitely recognize, and share what’s next for The Mom Hour. Enjoy!Links We Mentioned (Or Should Have) In This EpisodeSarah referenced this episode of Pantsuit Politics which provides some behind-the-scenes information about the state of the podcast industry.Meagan wrote a guide for supporting content creators during a recession that’s PACKED with ideasWe couldn’t do this without the support of our podcast people! We encourage you to check out their podcasts to support them!The Lazy GeniusSorta Awesome10 Things To Tell YouThe PopcastWhat Should I Read NextPantsuit PoliticsWhat Fresh Hell: Laughing In The Face Of MotherhoodThe Girl Next DoorEdit Your LifeDidn’t I Just Feed YouContinue the conversation:Instagram | Private Facebook Community (be sure to answer the membership questions!)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Business Behind-The-Scenes & State Of The Podcast Chat: Episode 396

You've got holiday parenting questions, and Meagan and Sarah have answers. In this very merry Listener Questions episode, we tackle things like how to make the magic happen for your littles while traveling and spending Christmas at grandparents, how to coordinate and facilitate sibling gift giving, how to keep a curious kitten (or two) out of the tree (this is our reality this year!) and suggestions for how to handle the post-holiday blues of packing away Christmas.

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Listener Questions, Holiday Edition (Vol.4): Episode 395

Got resentment? Managing anxiety? Filled with hope? You're not alone. The holidays provide a colorful snack platter of emotions - many of which we experience within a single day (or even moment!). Today it's our honor to bring you the voices of eight moms, each of whom explores a different holiday feeling: anticipation, overwhelm, nostalgia, grief, anxiety, wonder, resentment and hope. In addition to our contributing voices, Meagan and Sarah also chat about our own hopes and feelings about Holiday Season 2022. Grab a cozy warm beverage and settle in!

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A Charcuterie Of Holiday Emotions

Planning a festive, event-filled holiday season but worried about having the budget to make it all come together? Meagan and regular contributor Lisa Payne join forces in today's episode to share how we stretch our budgets in order to create all the behind-the-scenes magic that takes place in our divorced households with large broods. Join us for all our best tricks (and our Mom Hour Facebook Community's tips) for hitting your food, travel, decor, entertainment and gift budgets this year.

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Our Best Holiday Budgeting Tips: Episode 394

"Mom, is Santa Jesus's grandpa?" If you've found yourself in the (somehow surprising?) position of Adult In Charge Of The Holidays, you too might be on the receiving end of kids' questions about what's going on, exactly, with all these rituals and traditions. The answers don't always come easy, because even as adults it's not always obvious how (or whether) to carry our own family of origin's traditions into a new generation, how to merge faiths and cultures with our partners, and how to explain it all meaningfully to our kids. In today's Voices episode, Sarah chats with three members of The Mom Hour team about bringing  traditions forward from the past, creating new ones that feel right for right now, and navigating interfaith and intercultural dynamics. It's a vulnerable, nuanced, and sometimes funny topic, and while we don’t pretend to have every aspect represented or covered today, we invite you to join us as we learn a little from one another!

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Honoring Cultural & Faith Traditions At The Holidays: Voices 82

Planning, shopping, wrapping...Oh My! Today we're featuring YOUR genius House Rules for gifting and giving this holiday season. We chat creative ways for extending the fun on the big day (without more buying), self care for mom after a wrapping marathon, what Santa brings (and doesn't), how to handle extended family gift giving, AND gifts from the cat (yep, you read that correctly).

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House Rules For Gifting & Giving: Episode 393

Can't we all just get along? (Or maybe, more accurately: Can ANYONE, EVER, just get along?) From playground drama to cousin power dynamics, sibling bickering to neighborly awkwardness, there's no avoiding relationship challenges as families grow, change, and evolve. Today's episode brings together some of the common questions we've gotten from listeners over the years about helping kids learn to play well and fight fair.

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Getting Along (Siblings, Cousins, Friends & More): Episode 392

The toy catalogs have arrived and the lists are being made! It's normal for kids to wish and want all season long, and it's ALSO normal for all those "gimmes" to get on parents' nerves (or make us worry that we're raising entitled kids!). In today's episode, Meagan and Sarah talk about what it looks like to help kids cultivate gratitude (it's a long game, trust us), how to allow them to hope and wish while providing reasonable expectations, and how to model accepting gifts with gratitude and grace. Most of all we're here to normalize this tension between greed and gratitude in kids: It's not you. It's not them. It's just not YET.

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Greed, Gratitude & The Gimmies: Episode 391

Trader Joe’s. Yoga. Book Club. Cute boots and crunchy leaves. Today Meagan and Sarah just want to know: “Are we basic?” Join us for a fun More Than Mom episode with deep thoughts on this totally fluffy topic, including a look back at different eras in our lives when we’ve been trend-averse and other times when we’ve embraced mainstream culture. We talk about how it’s not as easy as it sounds to “like what we like” and leave it at that, why Midlife Lady Basic is different from youth culture (duh), and how, at the end of the day, we’re all just humans who like and dislike certain things, right?

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More Than Mom: Are We Basic?

Being sandwiched between the littles and the grandparents who love them isn't always easy - and there's no one right way to do it! Today we're tapping into the tips, advice and wisdom of our community on a topic we've had a lot of request for: facilitating and nurturing grandparent-grandkid relationships. In this Episode, Meagan and Sarah share practical things moms can do to facilitate the relationships we want our kids to have with their long-distance and in-person grandparents. We talk through your ideas for using modern technology to help kids connect with grandparents, making time with grandparents extra special, and how to encourage the one-on-one bonding with less of a presence from mom and dad.

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Nurturing Grandparent-Grandkid Relationships: Episode 390

If you’ve been listening to this podcast for any length of time you know that Meagan’s harbored some serious homesteader fantasies since her early 20s. Nearly 25 years after Meagan’s oldest was born, she’s finally living outside the city limits, and slowly making her “Little House on the Prairie homestead dreams” from long ago come true (well, sort of!). In this episode, Meagan interviews Kendra Martin from the Homesteady Podcast about how she lives off of 100 acres of land with her husband and six children. Kendra shares how she manages to homestead AND homeschool and what their family has in store for their future.

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Mom-Life On A Homestead: Voices 81 With Kendra Martin

Million dollar sick-kid question: "are they going to school today, or not?"! After two fall seasons impacted by pandemic schooling in all kinds of ways, Fall 2022 appears to be The One Where The Children Are Sick ALL THE TIME. In today's episode Sarah and regular contributor Jayme validate (and commiserate) about the plight of kids picking up every possible virus this fall, and offer practical tips for managing kids home with common childhood illnesses. (In addition to having a toddler and a preschooler, Jayme is also a nurse by training and a physician-spouse, so she comes with some legit background...and lots of real talk.) Hang in there, mamas! You are not alone in your wellness struggles, and hopefully next fall will be a little less hard!

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OMG We’re Sick AGAIN?!: Episode 389

It's no secret that Meagan and Sarah can both get pretty into personality tests, particularly the Enneagram. In this fun More Than Mom we have an in-depth conversation about personalities in general (not just the types and tests!), especially as they relates to our significant others (and how they do or do not mesh with ours at times). We discuss how our different personalities play out in our relationships, the ways we reframe our differences, and reflect on our own challenging personality traits.

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More Than Mom: Partners & Personalities

From Halloween through New Year's we're given opportunities to create new traditions and fulfill holiday wishes - sometimes of our own design and, increasingly as kids get older, sometimes at our kids' behest. This week Meagan and Sarah talk about the bell curve of holiday parenting: the early influence we have over just how things look and what fun is had, the middle dip as we learn to let go and kid-life dominates, and then the later years when we get to reclaim some control and design a season for our own desires. None of it is all-good or all-hard; but it changes over time and we're here for your pre-holidays 2022 motherhood pep talk - wherever you find yourself on that curve.

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Holiday Hills To Die On (And How To Let Go A Little): Episode 388

From bedtime fears to big kid bed transitions, nightwaking big kids and second thoughts about co-sleeping, we've covered a lot of sleep challenges over the years. Today we're bringing together some of the most common pain points our listeners have brought to us about SLEEP, complete with updated commentary and a fresh take on what sleep challenges are like with tweens and teens.

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Sleep Challenges, (Mostly) SOLVED: Episode 387

While there's a lot of value in setting goals and intentions at the start of a new year (and in revisiting and tracking progress throughout the year), sometimes the intentions we set months ago aren't serving us the way we had hoped. In this More Than Mom episode, Meagan and Sarah revisit what we said we wanted to do and ways we hoped to grow in 2022, reflect on how we've done so far, and share how some intentions shifted over time. We also realize that sometimes life surprises us with growth we hoped for...just not in the way we thought it might happen. And that is OKAY.

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More Than Mom: 2022 Goals & Intentions (What We Said, How It Went & Where Life Surprised Us)

When an article or study claims that a certain parenting approach is "best" or is "matters most," how does that make you feel as a mom? Meagan and Sarah have thoughts, starting with this: assuming that every family defines "parenting success" the same way is a tricky proposition. In Episode 386 we dive deep into research-based parenting advice and, specifically, how parenting data as published in articles and studies impacts our day to day decision-making as well as our mom-confidence.

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What REALLY Matters In Parenting? Episode 386

Whether you love everything about Halloween or mildly dread some of the excess (sugar, stuff, events, oh my!), today's episode is meant to give you permission to find the traditions and celebrations that work for your family. Regular contributor Joanna Martin is back on the show to interview Sarah about how the Powers family has done Halloween over the years. Later in the episode Sarah chats with Diane Boden, host of the Minimalist Moms podcast about how a scaled-back approach to harvest season works in her family. Happy October, friends!

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