The Family Lab: Experiments in Parenting and Home Management

Latest Episodes:

Mini-Lab: To-Do-Lists Sep 30, 2026

Show notes

Five experiments to help you organize your to-do list, focus on the task at hand, and get things done! To follow along in the Family Lab app, try it free for a month at familylab.lovable.app.

Archibald and Smiley Experiments: Summer 2026 Sep 23, 2026

Show notes

A quarterly update on the experiments we've been trying in the Archibald home, with guest Andi Smiley to share her own summer experiments with her kids (5,7, and 9). We talk about experiments - and the lack thereof—eating in while on vacation, road tripping, chores, finding each kid's currency, audiobooks, and pushing ourselves to try scary new things.

Andi hosts her own podcast, The Friendy Podcast Guide, to help women create, launch, and grow their podcasts.

Bonus Episode: Ring That Barbershop Chord (podcast competition entry) Sep 23, 2026

Show notes

I did a scary thing and entered a podcast competition for a show I love, Twenty Thousand Hertz. I didn't win, but I wanted to put this out into the world anyway! Do something that scares you (at least a little bit) today!

How We Run the Archibald Home: Now with an App! Sep 15, 2026

Show notes

I made an app! This summer I organized all of our family systems and organization into one app to help teach my kids skills, manage our home, distribute labor, and keep track of fun things like traditions, favorite things, and bucket lists. In this episode I talk about how we run our home and how this app reflects our evolving systems and routines.

You can sign up for a free month at https://familylab.lovable.app. After that month, it's $3 a month.

Patchwork Parenting: Learning from Motherhood Mentors May 18, 2026

Show notes

Motherhood is a team sport. We need coaches, heroes, teammates, both in the game and on the bench, ready to come in. In this episode, I share lessons from some of my earliest motherhood mentors, from how to pursue your passions to how to keep kids from making such a mess.

Motherhood: A Hero's Journey May 06, 2026

Show notes

Everyone always says moms are true heroes, but is it true? Big surprise, I think motherhood is the quintessential hero's journey. This episode explores the idea of the adventure of motherhood, dragon-slaying and all.

Top 20 Cleaning Games Apr 13, 2026

Show notes

Everything is more fun with a game—even household chores. I've always invented cleaning games, with my siblings, for myself, and with my own kids. So I thought I'd share my Top 20.

How Whitney and Molly Teach Kids About Money Mar 30, 2026

Show notes

My friend Molly Liggett and I talk about the many experiments we've tried over the last decade or so to help our kids learn how to manage money. We talk about allowance vs. paying per chore, and we get into the nitty gritty details about how much we pay our kids, what we expect them to do around the house, what they pay for themselves and what we buy for them, plus what we do when they owe us money and how we encourage them to save.

Financial Education with Lauren Santagate Mar 16, 2026

Show notes

This month at the Family Lab, we're teaching kids how to manage money. This week, we talked to Lauren Santagate of The Anti-Chore Moms about her family's financial system: how her kids earn, spend, save, and invest using the Greenlight card. Lauren explains her system of paying her kids when they add value to their family, their community, or to their own brains!

You can find more information about The Anti-Chore Moms Family Exchange System at womenswealthsociety.com and follow them on Instagram @the_anti_chore_moms

The Family Economy with Richard Eyre Mar 09, 2026

Show notes

It's Money Management month at the Family Lab, and we're kicking it off with author Richard Eyre to talk about the family economy he and his wife Linda set up decades ago. In this episode, we talk about how to avoid raising entitled children and about why teaching kids to manage money is such a great way to teach them self reliance and responsibility. He'll share how their kids earned money, how they learned to manage it, and how the system evolved as they grew up. And Richard even helps me figure out how to handle the next stage of financial education for my own kids—as they start going to college!

You can learn more details about the Eyre's family economy in their book, The Entitlement Trap.

And listeners can get 40% off Richard Eyre's new book, The Grandparenting Blueprint. Just use the code EYREFRIEND at checkout.

https://familius.com/book/the-grandparenting-blueprint/

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