Do you listen to podcasts?  I am hooked on them and listen to them in the car, while exercising, or when I’m working around the house.  A long car trip, walk alone, or cleaning session in the house is much more enjoyable when I have a good podcast to listen to.  Today I’m sharing My Favorite Podcasts.  If you like podcasts, I hope you get some ideas to add to your list.

I used to listen to podcasts with the earbuds that came with my phone.  My father-in-law gave me AfterShokz Trekz Air Open Ear Wireless Bone Conduction Headphones (affiliate link) for Christmas and I love having no wires to deal with when I’m listening to a podcast on a walk or while working around the house.  These wireless headphones are much safer than earbuds for exercise outdoors because your ear is not covered by the headphone.  If you are walking or running, you can still hear cars and voices around you while you exercise.  

Podcast 101

If you already listen to podcasts, skip this part.  If you are new to podcasts, this section will give you an overview into the world of podcast listening.

What is a Podcast?

A podcast is the modern version of a radio show.  You can listen to a podcast on any mobile device or by using your computer.  On your phone or tablet, use a podcast app to listen.  Your phone probably has a podcast app already loaded on it.  I have an iphone and the app that I use came on my phone. If you have another brand of phone, check to see if you have an app installed.  If you don’t, a quick Google search will give you many podcasts apps that you can use.

A podcast is typically divided into episodes that range from 15 minutes to an hour or more.  If you stop in the middle of an episode, your app will automatically come back to where you left off the next time that you want to listen.  Episodes are released on a schedule depending on the podcast.  Most of the ones that I listen to have a new episode each week.  

What Does Subscribe Mean?

Once you’ve found the app on your phone or tablet, you can subscribe to podcasts that you want to listen to.  When you subscribe, all available episodes of the podcast will become available to you and new episodes will be added as they come out.   If you don’t like a podcast, you can easily unsubscribe.  

How Much Does it Cost?

The podcasts that I listen to are free.  I’m sure that there are some that you have to pay for, but I haven’t encountered one yet. 

Finding Podcasts

A podcast app has a search feature that you can use to find podcasts that interest you.  You also can find podcasts by scrolling to the bottom of a podcast that you like and you’ll see “You May Also Like”.  Scrolling through these suggestions is a good way to find similar podcasts that you may enjoy.  When I chat with a fellow podcast lover, I always ask which podcasts they like in hopes of finding a few new-to-me to add to my list.

My Favorite Podcasts

My favorite podcasts are typically about decorating and true crime.  

Decorating/Lifestyle Podcasts

Young House Love Has a Podcast

Deep (and not-so-deep) conversations about home improvement, design, and life at home. Tune in for weekly episodes filled with casual decorating advice, DIY stories, interviews with experts, and a smattering of tips and ideas that can help you simplify, organize, and update your home.

Source

I’ve read John and Sherry’s Young House Love blog from its beginning and now enjoy their podcast.  Each week their podcast is entertaining and I particularly like hearing about the duplex that they are renovating to use as a vacation rental in Cape Charles, VA.  I also like the weekly, “What I’m Digging” feature where they each share a favorite thing for the week.

Decorating Tips and Tricks

We’re here to share our best decorating tips and tricks. Get our advice, secrets and have some laughs along the way.

Source

This podcast started out being hosted by three bloggers: Kelley from My Soulful Home; Anita from Cedar Hills Farmhouse; and Yvonne from Stone Gable.  The three together were so entertaining and offered great advice.  This was my very favorite podcast until Yvonne left.  I still enjoy the podcast and have listened to every single episode, but I miss Yvonne’s ideas and humor.  If you like decorating, you’ll enjoy this podcast!

Awesome Etiquette

Hosts Lizzie Post and Daniel Post Senning answer audience questions about modern etiquette with advice based on consideration, respect, and honesty. Like their great-great-grandmother, Emily Post, Lizzie and Dan look for the reasons behinds the traditional rules to guide their search for the correct behavior in all kinds of contemporary situations.

Source

I recently discovered this podcast and I love it!  Lizzie and Daniel answer etiquette questions that listeners send to them.  The great thing about this podcast is since I just started listening to it, there are years of old podcasts to enjoy while I wait for the next new one to come out.

The North South Makers Podcast

Join the North South Makers, friends and DIY bloggers Charlotte Smith (from the North) and Erin Spain (from the South), as they discuss all things making and momming. Whether sharing their favorite furniture hacks or discussing the best power tools for a rookie builder, Erin and Charlotte approach making with humor, practicality and a design eye. With 8 kids and ten years of decorating, building, and blogging between them, Erin and Charlotte are experts in the fields of breakfast cereals and power tools, not to mention features in magazines like Better Homes and Gardens and Parents Magazine, and television appearances on Rachael Ray, Flea Market Flip, and local news outlets. Grab a cup of coffee (or a glass of wine … no judgment) and welcome to the conversation.

Source

This podcast is hosted by two bloggers that I’ve also followed for a long time.  They are so entertaining and I especially enjoy the part of their podcast when they share the current projects that they are working on.  

The Millenial Homemakers

Join Jackie Alexander & Jaclyn Humble as they discuss homemaking for millennials. Millennial Homemakers is your resource for all things home, hostessing, DIYs & more. Tips & takeaways to achieve your Pinterest perfect home on a entry-level budget!

Source

I’m not a millenial, but it doesn’t stop me from enjoying this podcast.  This pair of millenial gals talks about all things home.  My favorite episodes are when they give recipe ideas.

Big Design Small Budget

Homeowners and renters of all means dream of having a beautiful home. Big Design, Small Budget makes luxury an affordable reality. During her podcast, Betsy Helmuth reveals insider tips and her tried-and-tested methods for designing on a budget. 

Source

This is another decorating podcast that I just started listening to and enjoy very much.  

True Crime Podcasts

S-Town

John despises his Alabama town and decides to do something about it.  He asks a reporter to investigate the son of a wealthy family who’s allegedly been bragging that he got away with murder. But then someone else ends up dead, sparking a nasty feud, a hunt for hidden treasure, and an unearthing of the mysteries of one man’s life.

Source

This was one of the first podcasts that my husband and I listened to together.  It’s a great story but be warned, it isn’t rated G.

Dirty John

Debra Newell is a successful interior designer. She meets John Meehan, a handsome man who seems to check all the boxes: attentive, available, just back from a year in Iraq with Doctors Without Borders. But her family doesn’t like John, and they get entangled in an increasingly complex web of love, deception, forgiveness, denial, and ultimately, survival. Reported and hosted by Christopher Goffard from the L.A. Times.

Source

Did you watch the Bravo show based on this podcast?  My husband and I also listened to this podcast together and loved every minute of it.  The tv show is every bit as good as the podcast and I highly recommend enjoying both.

Southern Nightmare

Thirty years ago, a serial killer terrorized the city of Richmond, Virginia, brutally raping and murdering women in their homes. Then he struck again in Arlington, Virginia, 100 miles to the north. The media called him The South Side Strangler. And he would become the first capital murder defendant in U.S. history to be caught using DNA evidence – almost a decade before the O.J. Simpson trial and long before TV shows like CSI popularized forensic science in the public consciousness.

Source

I discovered this podcast thanks to John on Young House Love Has a Podcast.  This was his “What We’re Digging” feature one week and after hearing his rave review of this podcast, I started listening.  I remember when the South Side Strangler murders were taking place when I was a teenager.  I hadn’t thought about those murders in years and this podcast explains his crimes in detail and shares how DNA evidence was used for the first time in US history to convict a man of a crime.  Another thing that I learned from this podcast was that one of the strangler’s victims was from Lynchburg.  This podcast was great and I highly recommend it.

Happy Face

For Melissa Moore, 1995 was a nightmare. That’s the year the teenager learned her father, Keith Hunter Jesperson, was a serial killer. It’s also the year Melissa Moore’s doubt spiral began: When you look like your father, and you share his intelligence and charisma, how do you know you’re not a psychopath, too? Happy Face is the story of Keith Hunter Jesperson, his brutal crimes, and the cat and mouse game he played with detectives and the media. But it’s also the story of the horrific legacy he gifted his children. Join Melissa Moore as she investigates her father’s crimes, reckons with the past, and wades through her darkest fears as she hunts for a better future.

Source

Can you imagine finding out that your father is a serial killer?  This podcast goes into detail about the Happy Face killer.  I really enjoyed this podcast.

My Favorite Murder

Lifelong fans of true crime stories Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark tell each other their favorite tales of murder and hear hometown crime stories from friends and fans.

Source

My sister-in-law told me about this podcast.  Karen and Georgia tell creepy tales of murders that took place in the past.  My favorite part of their podcast is when they share scary or creepy stories sent in my listeners.  This show is great but be warned that their language is rated R.

Gladiator

Football star Aaron Hernandez went from the bright lights of the Super Bowl to a convicted murderer in a few years. The Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team, best known for its investigation of the sexual abuse scandal inside the Catholic Church, takes a hard look at the crisis facing football through the lens of Aaron Hernandez’s life and terrible crimes. Did a brain badly damaged by football contribute to Hernandez’s violent behavior? Did he keep secrets about his sexuality that collided with a hyper-masculine football culture? Did elite coaches and teams look the other way as Hernandez was spiraling out of control? Spotlight uncovered new documents, audio, and interviews to go deep into the story of what happened to Aaron Hernandez, and what it means for those of us who cheer on a violent game.

Source

I am not a sports fan and only listened to this after Karen and Georgia from My Favorite Murder discussed it on their podcast and raved over it.  I had no idea who Aaron Hernandez was before listening to this podcast and I enjoyed listening to his story. 

Dr. Death

We’re at our most vulnerable when we go to our doctors. We trust the person at the other end of that scalpel. We trust the hospital. We trust the system. Dr. Christopher Duntsch was a neurosurgeon who radiated confidence. He claimed he was the best in Dallas. If you had back pain, and had tried everything else, Dr. Duntsch could give you the spine surgery that would take your pain away. But soon his patients started to experience complications. And all they had to protect them was a system ill equipped to stop the madness. From Wondery, the network behind the hit podcast Dirty John, DR. DEATH is about a medical system that failed to protect these patients at every possible turn. Reported and hosted by Laura Beil.

Source

I found this podcast after listening to Dirty John.  I didn’t enjoy it as much as Dirty John, but found it very interesting.

The Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood

An A-List Hollywood actress vanishes from a yacht and her body washes ashore the following morning. Her leading man husband — and a legendary actor who accompanied them on a pleasure cruise — claim she accidentally fell overboard. But questions — terrible ones — linger. A brutal argument. A skipper who overheard violence. A coroner who’s ruling of “accidental drowning” is overturned — and Los Angeles homicide detectives who are still running the case to ground almost four decades later. 

Source

After listening to this podcast, you’ll definitely think that Natalie Wood didn’t accidentally drown.

Family Ghosts

Every house is haunted. In each episode of “Family Ghosts,” we’ll investigate the true story behind a mysterious figure whose legend has followed a family for generations. Grandmothers who were secretly jewel smugglers, uncles who led double lives, siblings who vanished without a trace…these specters cast shadows over our lives in ways that might not be immediately obvious.

Source

I thought that this would be a podcast about ghosts but it’s not.  Each episode is an interesting tale of a family member with a past.  I’ve got a lot more of these left to hear and I’m glad!

More Podcasts

This Podcast Will Kill You

This podcast might not actually kill you, but it covers so many things that can. Each episode tackles a different disease, from its history, to its biology, and finally, how scared you need to be. Ecologists and epidemiologists Erin Welsh and Erin Allmann Updyke make infectious diseases acceptable fodder for dinner party conversation and provide the perfect cocktail recipe to match.

Source

I’ve only listened to a few episodes of this podcast and I liked learning more about diseases discussed.  

Little Did They Know…Voices from Lynchburg’s Past

Little did they know they were shaping the face of Lynchburg’s history. Little did they know they were rewriting our nation’s history. The lives of Lynchburg’s quiet revolutionaries are shared in the Little Did They Know podcast, a series dedicated to stories of these relegated heroes from our community.

Source

This is a brand-new podcast that will tell stories about people in Lynchburg’s history.  My very good friend is a local history lover and wrote the first podcast episode about Maria Wilson and the Court Street Baptist Church Panic.  I couldn’t find this podcast using my app, so I had to listen to it on my computer.  I’m hoping that as more episodes are added that it will soon be available on itunes.

The Way I Heard It

All good stories have a twist, and all great storytellers are just a little twisted. Join Mike Rowe for a different take on the people and events that you thought you knew — from pop-culture to politics from Hollywood to History… The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe — short mysteries for the curious mind with a short attention span.

Source

This is my husband’s favorite podcast and we often listen to it in the car.  The episodes are short, about 10 minutes long, and you’ll learn something from every single one of them.

What are Your Favorite Podcasts?

I am always looking for a new podcast to enjoy.  Please leave a comment with your favorite podcasts so that I can add them to my list.

Pin It!

I would love for you to pin this post for others to discover!