These Moms Started The “Hot Mess Express” To Help Serve Other Moms In Need & Now It’s Taking Off Nationwide

The stress and overwhelming nature of being a new mom (or even an experienced mom) can feel defeating at times. Household responsibilities and chores just tend to take a back seat when we’re all wrapped up in taking care of our kids, working a full-time job, and trying to just stay afloat in life.

Moms can barely find the time to eat and shower, let alone tackle the growing mountain of laundry or dishes in the sink. Moms need help, but we suck at asking for it, and let’s be real, the “You got this, mama!” mentality that so many of us are inundated with is somehow code for “You’re totally good on your own! Please don’t admit to us that you’re actually not doing okay!”

But wait, we’re drowning!

One woman wanted to change this narrative. Of course, leave it to the moms to be the ones to help THE MOMS!

Popular TikTok creator, Jen Hamilton, shared the touching origin story of how she and a group of local moms decided to do some good on her account, and the story soon went viral with over 1 million views.

“So a couple years ago, there was a post on Facebook in a local moms group. It was written anonymously, and it was by a girl who was a couple months postpartum with her second baby. She was asking for recommendations for a cleaning company to come in and help her clean her house because she was so overwhelmed,” Hamilton explained.

“She said, ‘I don't even have the money to do this but I can't keep living like this.’ So people commented and were like, ‘Oh, reach out to this person or this company.’ But I was like, ‘We are missing something big here.’”

Hamilton then took matters into her own hands, reached out to the right people, and made a call out to other moms to get the OP the help she needed – for free.

“This is a community. Let's go save that girl. We've all been there. Let's go rescue her,” she said.

A few days later, Hamilton and some other moms showed up at the house ready to work.

“There were like eight or ten of us there, and we sent her away, her and her family. We had taken up a collection and we sent her and her family out for a fun day, and we spent the whole day cleaning, organizing, doing laundry. We went to Walmart and got things that they needed. We made sure that there was food in the house. We made crock-pot meals. We went all out. And that was the first ever Hot Mess Express mission,” she recalled.

After the Hot Mess Express took off, Hamilton, who couldn’t take on a majority roll in the group anymore, passed the torch to another member who was ready to change women’s lives with no judgement or shame — just pure support and kindness.

“I'm so grateful to my friend Brittinie Tran, who is the host of Girl, Same, the podcast, who has taken it on as her baby,” Hamilton said before showing the now-president of the organization’s TikTok videos.

Since its inception, the Hot Mess Express has grown into a cross-country non profit organization with room to grow, according to Tran.

“Hot Mess Express has grown nationwide with over 50 chapters since we started a little over two years ago. I am surprised at how fast it took off but I am not surprised at the need. I think this is something that has been needed for a very long time,” Tran tells Scary Mommy.

When asked about what she saw for the future of Hot Mess Express, Tran hopes for more chapters all over the country because she knows how much moms really need something like this even if they won’t admit it.

She says, “I would love to see enough Hot Mess Express chapters that we are accessible to as many women as possible. There are so many women who don't know our group exists, suffering in silence thinking they are alone. That's why we work so hard to normalize the struggles of motherhood and normalize asking for help.”

And she’s right! Not enough people know about the Hot Mess Express, and women wished there was a Hot Mess Express chapter near them.

"This is the village that our grandmothers told us about but our current society doesn't have space for. Such a blessing," one user wrote on Hamilton’s video.

"Ugh this literally made me cry. This is the 'village' they talk about that's needed to raise kids. I wish this was more common," another said.

Another chimed in and said, “Jen this is the greatest thing I've ever heard of, completely serious. This needs to be everywhere.”

“This may sound dramatic, but this mission is probably saving lives. Thank you for starting this,” another said.

That statement is really not dramatic at all. In fact, a 2022 poll found that 42% of working mothers surveyed were diagnosed with anxiety and/or depression last year, compared to 28% of the general population and 25% of child-free coworkers.

One study from 2022 found women in the U.S. spend about four-and-a-half hours per day caring for their families and homes, while men spend about 2.8 hours a day on the same or similar tasks. This also includes family mental health care. The mental burden becomes even greater for working moms.

Another survey conducted by Calm found women “take less care of their own mental health after becoming a caregiver, while men take better care of themselves.”

The poll also revealed that in addition to higher rates of anxiety and depression, working moms are also the group least likely report that their mental health has worsened or to seek help for their mental health, and 40% of working mothers don’t think their mental health will ever return to its pre-pandemic state.

Moms are not okay, and when the house is a mess with clutter and piles of crap in every corner because we just cannot keep up with the speed of life, it all becomes just too much.

Every single town, city, and neighborhood needs a Hot Mess Express.

As explained on their website, "Hot Mess Express is a group of moms and caregivers who come together to rescue moms in need by doing the housework that can seem impossible. Whether these moms are dealing with postpartum depression, medical problems, social issues, or life burdens, Hot Mess Express is here to alleviate as much stress as possible by doing dishes, laundry, sweeping, mopping, and organization. Our goal is to leave these ladies with a more peaceful existence and give them a fresh start."

If you're looking to find a chapter near you, you can find one on the website.

If there's not a HME near you yet, the site also offers extensive tips for starting up your own, including figuring out if you have the "bandwidth" to be an HME group coordinator, finding your team, looking for community sponsors, and planning and preparing missions.

There are also suggestions for what kind of supplies you'll need and how to create an Amazon wishlist for needed items that can be shared with family, friends, and community members.