Gabs and Mel are back this week with deep questions, an Iris stolen wee red purse update, a grocery blunder, gym photo embarassment and the audacity of tagged pictures. As always, please feel free to get in touch with us about any life or food dilemmas, issues or questions you have and we will offer our best advice & thoughts in future episodes. Re…

Today we are joined by a super special guest - Mel's big brother, Tim! Tim is a teacher, performer and choir conductor and along with his love of the Bravo franchises, has so generously shared his story of coming out as gay in his thirties with us. Tim reflects on his journey to owning his sexuality and the impact that has had on his relationships,…

Sorry guys, we need to offer a trigger warning here for a couple of poo related stories, right out of the gate on this episode. We're telling quite a few tales today including a poo intruder, the shocking price of fast food, our feelings about replacing underwear and some readers shooting their shot and asking a very deep question. As always, pleas…

In this weeks episodes we put each other in the hot seat and answer your burning questions! As always, please feel free to get in touch with us about any life or food dilemmas, issues or questions you have and we will offer our best advice & thoughts in future episodes. Reach us on hello@makinganeffortpodcast.com! And you'd be so welcome to support…

A catch up, a Bridgerton review, and most importantly a Iris storytime. As always, please feel free to get in touch with us about any life or food dilemmas, issues or questions you have and we will offer our best advice & thoughts in future episodes. Reach us on hello@makinganeffortpodcast.com! And you'd be so welcome to support the podcast by join…

Enjoy this delirious conversation (which was our second take of the day after some technical difficulties). We discuss Taylor Swifts re-records, Gabby needing to watch Girls, and how everyone is a rat or a pig. It's ridiculous. But it also works. As always, please feel free to get in touch with us about any life or food dilemmas, issues or question…

Today we talk about couples therapy in real life and on TV and Mel bangs on about the embodied leadership work she is doing with Michelle. You can find out more about their work and the workshops coming up here: https://www.embodiedleadership.org.uk/ As always, please feel free to get in touch with us about any life or food dilemmas, issues or ques…

What will our kids say about us in therapy? Mel is taking exams by proxy and not loving it. Gabs shares real mindset shift around fitness and we talk about narcissists. As always, please feel free to get in touch with us about any life or food dilemmas, issues or questions you have and we will offer our best advice & thoughts in future episodes. Re…

Gabby is worried that we don't have enough of a bedrock for our episodes but Mel is embracing of the whimsy. Very mixed messages/role reversal for us. This episode brings a middle of the night house emergency, why we love listening to regular people podcasts, our fav true crime shows or docs and Mel's deep connection to Paul Mescal via working at t…

This week we are comparing and contrasting bread quality and cereal brands between the UK and the US, unused baby names, our favourite old school bloggers, and The Idea of You. As always, please feel free to get in touch with us about any life or food dilemmas, issues or questions you have and we will offer our best advice & thoughts in future epis…

This week Mel brings a small host of things to discuss on the podcast: toxic traits, the female gaze, grocery store ettiquette, and Andrew Garfield. Enjoy! As always, please feel free to get in touch with us about any life or food dilemmas, issues or questions you have and we will offer our best advice & thoughts in future episodes. Reach us on hel…

Welcome to the MAE pretend music critic episode. There's loads of great female artists with new music out so we're doing a little overview of our favourites and least favourites. Yes, we cover TTPD and Mel shares a funny story of body shaming. As always, please feel free to get in touch with us about any life or food dilemmas, issues or questions y…

Comin' in hot with some solid recommendations from Gabs that are countered by some conversation about the ways that motherhood is depicted. We also share some of the things that you told us make you feel like a grown ass adult. Hard relating. As always, please feel free to get in touch with us about any life or food dilemmas, issues or questions yo…

Gabby is in a self-enforced shopping and sugar embargo so today she tortures herself by talking about things we would like to spend our money on! We also discuss body dysmorphia during your cycle, the Quiet on Set Documentary and the personality of Dakota Johnson. Enjoy! As always, please feel free to get in touch with us about any life or food dil…

Mel shares another embarrassing work-related story. We talk about if making Easter baskets for your kids is mostly an American phenomena. A listener let us in on planning their very low key wedding. Thanks for tuning in for another episode of cozy listening!By Mel Wiggins and Gabby Llewellyn

Today's episode is a catch up. We're talking Mel's visit to London, the John Mayer experience, Gabby's annoyances over the random crap that accumulates around her house, Spring intentions and some new ideas for our Patreon crew! As always, please feel free to get in touch with us about any life or food dilemmas, issues or questions you have and we …

Grab your tissues, the second part of our friendship breakup stories had us tearing up big time! In this episode we hear more from you guys about the messy, complex world of friendship. Huge love to all who sent us their stories - we are so grateful for you. As always, please feel free to get in touch with us about any life or food dilemmas, issues…

We're back with an episode where we get to hear from you - our favourite! We asked you to tell us your stories of friendships lost or broken - something that we have all experienced the pain of but don't really talk about as much. Thank you to everyone who shared with us, it means a lot that you'd trust us with your stories. We had so many response…

In this episode, we're helping a listener make a dreamy wedding soundtrack, talking about highs and lows from the week (Gabby is now a non-consenting gym model) and Mel still has a freaking cough. Boooo. As always, please feel free to get in touch with us about any life or food dilemmas, issues or questions you have INCLUDING our latest call in epi…

Catch up with us this week as we talk about the full gamut of life lately; from needing the approval of women to annoying nail techs to patronising church signs, we are sounding off a bit! Enjoy! As always, please feel free to get in touch with us about any life or food dilemmas, issues or questions you have INCLUDING our latest call in episode abo…

This week we are discussing our former cringe #girlboss ambitions, why we cannot recommend spicy books, Gabby's witchy tincture era and the resurgence of Mel's Paul Mescal crush. As always, please feel free to get in touch with us about any life or food dilemmas, issues or questions you have INCLUDING our latest call in episode about friendship bre…

Honest to God, this episode is delirium. Neither of us were in good states of minds to have any business recording a podcast, but nevertheless, we ended up talking about noisy cars, listeners having questions about getting over exes and we had a ridiculous discussion about nuts. I'm sorry or you're welcome. I'm not sure how this will go for you. As…

You are in for a TREAT this week. Not only are we discussing the true markers of mid-life, we're also discussing couples who share a social media profile, clickbait titles of our fav movies and we have a guest cameo from none other than Mel's mother in law, Iris - who took her opportunity to give a bible lesson and share her elder wisdom. As always…

Back behind the mic this week discussing what we got up to during the break, the beauty of the Dan Levy movie 'Good Grief' (Mel sings the wrong song in a reference to the movie which she is agonising about now), things we want to do more of in 2024 and some winter skincare product reccos. As always, please feel free to get in touch with us about an…

It's the MAE Live Episode! Just in time for everyone to be out of holiday/festive mode - we have our live Christmas Special! This was SUCH a fun night - I hope you can sense the energy that was fizzing through the room in this recording. We loved getting to sit down and chat with so many of you. Expect fun stories, unpopular opinions, and a little …

This week Gabby brings some of her unfounded, unexplainable gripes and Mel tries to counter them with some unexplainable lovely things. We read a listener letter and get hyped about our live event coming up! Please feel free to get in touch with us about any life or food dilemmas, issues or questions you have and will offer our best advice & though…

Ok, this episode is pure chaos. Gabby is stalking her neighbours. Mel tells a mortifying NSFW story. There's aging dilemmas, bitching about period drama's and a little gossip at the end. We packed in a lot. Anyway, please feel free to get in touch with us about any life or food dilemmas, issues or questions you have and will offer our best advice &…

You guys, we are having our first ever LIVE RECORDING! It's our Christmas special, if you will, and you are invited! This episode we worry if anyone will actually come and it turns out between recording and releasing this episode - many of you are - YAY! There are a teeny handful of tickets left if you haven't got yours already! Here's the link: ht…

Hello and welcome back for more nonsense chatter with Gabby and Mel! This week we are lamenting how dark it is so early and coming up with foolproof ways for Gabs to keep her three little ones entertained in NI over the longest darkest days in December. We're also getting stuck into a listener food dilemma that is super niche but super fun to troub…

Welcome! In this weeks episode we're recapping Gabby's trip to Dollywood, got into it about a cooking dilemma involving mushrooms. There was a lot of other nonsense thrown in there too. YOU are invited to write to us about any life or food dilemmas, issues or questions you have about how to use ingredients or about life issues in general and will o…

The episode name sounds worse than it is, but this week we're off on one about which TV shows were sexy sexy in their day. We also dive into your foodie dilemmas so keep em coming! YOU are invited to write to us about any life or food dilemmas, issues or questions you have about how to use ingredients or about life issues in general and will offer …

It's a 40th Birthday recap extravaganza with a side of your mispronounced words kinda episode! So many fun stories - we love hearing from you! So... We wanna hear more about your food dilemmas and your real life dilemmas! YOU are invited to write to us about any dilemmas, issues or questions you have about how to use ingredients or about life issue…

So much food chat in this episode, and not really on purpose. Restaurant vibes, food glow ups and what we're cookin up lately. We wanna hear from you about your food dilemmas and your real life dilemmas! YOU are invited to write to us about any dilemmas, issues or questions you have about how to use ingredients or about life issues in general and w…

Back this week sharing a bunch of ways that we are adulting less than well. Please send us your life-hacks, your organisation tips, your routines and rhythms that make sense because we NEED THEM. Get in touch immediately 😂 Don't forget, we want to hear from you! Just like the old school advice columns of magazines gone by, we want to invite YOU to …

The episode in which we discuss at LENGTH the trailer for the new Meg Ryan rom com, called What Happens Later. Additionally, Gabby shares a bit about her post-partum mental health journey and what's been helping lately. Want to submit your thoughts about this episode or share your questions, queries or dilemmas? Always feel free to email us hello@m…

This week Gabby brings a mystery to the hive mind...why is everyone obsessed with Lana Del Ray? Have we missed something? Mel cannot help because she confuses Lana Del Ray with Florence and The Machine. Mel has a rant about the incessant admin of having to charge devices and discovers a new niche business idea involving apple sauce. Enjoy! Don't fo…

It's Autumn, it's Fall and we are swinging into the season with an episode all about that cozy autumn feeling. We're talking about new routines, an idea we've got for hanging out with you all IRL at Christmas (let us know what you think!) and we respond to a listeners quest to find non-consumery things to do to celebrate the Autumn season. Enjoy! D…

Welcome back to MAE! This week Mel shares about her new Mormon girlfriends, Gabby enlightens us on the whole alien situation, the girl math that happens when we need to justify a purchase and Mel shares a little about a new exciting thing she's working on with our mutual fav person Michelle Leeder. We're round the houses on this one, folks! Thanks …

For our 100th episode we are joined by the brilliant, eloquent, brave and funny Ruth Corden! Ruth courageously shares with us her journey with infertility and how it has impacted so many aspects of her life and relationships. This is such an important conversation and is packed with vulnerability and epic humour. Ruth also has an amazing podcast (a…

Welcome back! Annoyingly the first 6 mins of our recording didn't record - wah! So we jump in a little ways into our convo this episode. You missed a lengthy chat about if it's patronising to say "love that for you!" - jury's still out, but I think it depends on your accent... Also in this episode we're discussing unproblematic celebrities. Is it p…

We're back on the airwaves with a Summer update from Gabby & Mel! Holidays, girls trips, yummy food, juggling all the things - we're catching up and it's so good to be recording again! Don't forget, we want to hear from you! Just like the old school advice columns of magazines gone by, we want to invite YOU to write to us about any dilemmas, issues…

Today we're talking nostalgia of summer jobs, the fact that Mel will never pass an opportunity to compliment a bride and we get stuck into another of your Auntie Mae dilemmas around friendship and loneliness and being an introvert. Just like the old school advice columns of magazines gone by, we want to invite YOU to write to us about any dilemmas,…

Hello again! The time for Summer travel is upon us so today we're chatting about the best things that we do or bring on any trips, with a few side tracks down the road of the right kind of bras and the allure of a boob reduction as well as getting stuck into an Auntie MAE question from one of our listeners about how to know when you're ready to get…

It's as simple as the episode name. This week we're talking through all the things we are enjoying right now; TV, food, products etc. and it's safe to say, our Gabby is a sucker for a product. We also get into our latest Auntie MAE reader dilemma, featuring a bit of workplace drama and awkward co-workers. Just like the old school advice columns of …

Welcome back to MAE! Today we chat about the agony of swimsuit shopping, the type of domesticity we can get on board with and feeling triggered by certain homesteading models. We also have our first edition of Auntie MAE featuring a dilemma about extended family dynamics and being the default organiser. Super juicy. Just like the old school advice …

Today we get into the realms of considering what we'd do if we had more time; hobbies we'd try, courses we'd be interested in, new paths we are curious to forge, gear switches and the like. Don't forget out new segment: Agony Auntie MAE! Just like the old school advice columns of magazines gone by, we want to invite you to write to us about any dil…

Welcome back! Gabby joins us today from So-Cal and we catch up about handling flight anxiety, having non-disparaging break ups and the inevitability of AI taking over the world, including Tik Tok conspiracies about Britney Spears. Wahhh! It's a good one. AND we are launching a brand new segment for you: Agony Auntie MAE! Just like the old school ad…

Ok not really, but we spend a bit of time considering what kind of wedding we'd have if we did and it would be AMAZING. We've got a fun little episode for you today - plenty of tangents and a few moments setting the stage for this summer and all the things we'd love to do; trips we're taking, memories we want to set unrealistic expectations for. Yo…

In today's episode, Gabby and Mel catch up and find out some brand new information about each other (a rare thing this many years into a friendship)! From morning routines to new work opportunities, we dive into four big questions for each other to get to the heart of what is happening in each of us in our lives in this season. If you'd like to sup…

A bit niche, but we have things to say about Love Is Blind Season Four and we know lots of you do too. So this episode is our full review, hot takes and gripes about all the drama of this time around. You know we love our patrons and it means so much to us to have your support, so if you fancy joining our Patreon community to receive more BTS stuff…