Take a deep breath and check your bank account balance.
Money sucks. We get it.
There's something about how money interjects itself into your life (thanks a lot, capitalism) that makes the worry and anxiety that comes with it hard to ignore. The episodes listed here might not make you millions of bucks, but we hope that they'll help you take a step back and think a little differently about the money-related stress in your life. At best, you can escape your own money ~feelings~ for a few minutes; at worst, you'll have a new podcast in your feed that will make you smile.
1. When changing your habits feels impossible:
Jesse Vs. Cancer, "Episode 1"
2. When you're cursing the recession, your student loans and the entire concept of money, but are glad you still share your family's data plan:
Millennial, "The NYC Fairy Tale"
Megan Tan is looking for a lot of the usual things: stability, creative freedom, a paycheck, the approval of the people she respects and admires. In this episode, Megan hops on a Megabus and heads to NYC to ask her friends and acquaintances in public radio for a job. To anyone who has watched their friends succeed and wondered when they would too, this episode is a perfect example of how universal that feeling actually is.
3. When you're tryna Sheryl Sandberg but still skeptical of what she's talking about:
The Broad Experience, "Leaning In"
4. When one podcast about leaning in is not enough:
First Day Back, "Getting Back Out There"
5. When you're ready to take one tiny step in the right direction:
Happier with Gretchen Rubin, "#23 Nothing Stays in Vegas"
There's something really soothing about hearing detailed specifics of how people put their lives together. Gretchen Rubin and her sister Elizabeth Craft have a lot of ideas about how to live a better life, often by taking small, specific steps in one direction or another. Their non-judgmental support of one another makes it easy to forgive yourself for your latest drunken Amazon spree.
6. When your friends don't want to hear you yell about the capitalist bureaucracy anymore:
On Being with Krista Tippett, "Money and Moral Balance with Nathan Dungan"
7. When you're drunk-shopping on Amazon:
8. When you block the student loan people on your phone:
Planet Money, "The Real Price of College"
9. When you realize the eco-friendly products are way more expensive than the regular ones:
Ask a Clean Person, "Stop Swiffering!"
You guys, swiffers are really bad. They waste your money and they make trees cry because they're so wasteful — or so say Jolie Kerr and her guest Adam Clarke Estes on this show. But you know what? You do you, swiffer afficionado. We're just here to tell you this podcast is good and you should listen to it, we don't make any moral judgments on what cleaning implement you use while listening.
10. When you want to know how other people feel about money:
Open Account with SuChin Pak, "Who Among Them Are Happy"
SuChin Pak interviews Baratunde Thurston, author of How To Be Black and supervising producer for The Daily Show, about his approach to money and how to get paid for doing what you're passionate about. If talking about money makes you uncomfortable, this podcast might make your palms sweat. But Pak's direct questions and Thurston's openness will put you at ease. Because talking about money is really easy and not at all stressful and I love it ha ha see how much fun we're having?
11. When you have feelings about money that you don't understand:
Death, Sex & Money, "Where is Lisa Fischer's Backup?"
