the housewholed experiment

200 households. One year. Starting October 1, 2026.

It's not a knowledge problem. It's a feelings and practice problem. Feel the feels, and practice hard things in community.

About a six minute read

+1 (215) 598-2888 Call and tell me three things: what you want for your household, what's getting in the way, and what's going great. That message is your application, and nobody pays anything before I've listened.

Rather not call? Send a voice note to matthew@housewholed.org.

The question

What do I want for my household?

Four things.

I believe a lot of other people want these too. Here's my rub:

It isn't for lack of wanting. It's inaction instead of action. Consuming instead of producing. Hiding instead of putting myself out there. Underneath all of it: fear of rejection, fear of getting it right, fear of unworthiness. Which are all kind of the same fear.

And here's the thing. The voice in my head tells me that list far more often than it tells me this one:

Both lists are true on the same day. Getting good at holding both, out loud, with other people, is most of the work.

The one idea

It's not a knowledge problem

We have every bit of knowledge that ever existed at our fingertips. It isn't that we don't know what to do. It's that an uncomfortable feeling gets there first. An uncertain one. And we want to feel those feelings and still act, empowered and imperfectly, right inside them.

So much of what's sold to us points outward: the answer is over there, and here's the clear pathway to the thing that will make you whole. This is the opposite. Feel the thing. Say it out loud. Run an experiment. Report back.

Yes, this is another screen. I don't want to do this on social media, and I believe real connection can happen virtually, in the right container, with the right agreements. The difference: not a screen you use to avoid a feeling, but one you come to in order to welcome it.

My hope is that what we practice here shows up in how we are at home, and in the physical communities we're already part of.

The rhythm

A week in the life

You wake up
Excited, or funky, and you say it out loud

Celebrate it or just name it on the Line, or post it to the community if today needs support.

Monday morning
The pep talk

Some hope, some encouragement, and an experiment for the week.

When you need to be heard
A listening partnership

Fifteen or thirty minutes each. One shares, one listens. No fixing, no advising. You both leave lighter.

When the work is hard
Coworking

Say what you're working on, dig in for an hour with company, report back at the end.

When it's pressing
A workshop on the thing

A member or a practitioner walks a group through real exercises, so you leave with a better relationship to it.

When you need an answer
The Commons

One good resource, not a thousand. If it isn't there, ask, and what comes back becomes part of it.

End of the week
The celebration post

What went well, what you're proud of, and what still needs attention.

The spaces

What's here for you

Who this is for

A household is whoever you share a home and a life with. One person, a couple, roommates, a family of any shape.

Households where at least one of the four is straining: person, partner, parent, provider.

Especially family businesses, solopreneurs and the self-employed, where work and home share a roof and a bank account.

People willing to own their part. We're all a victim of something, and the work is the boundaries and actions that empower us inside it.

Who this is not for

If you want a curriculum, or the five steps, I'd rather you kept your money.

If you're in crisis right now, you need more than a community. Please get real support first and come find us after. In the US, call or text 988.

And if talking honestly about your household makes you want to close this page, that's worth listening to. This asks something of you.

Why me

At 50, I've lived multiple lives

My clients have worked for Google, Goldman Sachs and the White House, and advised the Vatican and European parliaments. What we talked about was never the state of the business. It was what they wanted and what was in the way. Many of their parents know my name, because of how things changed at home.

And I've convened people my whole life: pick-up games, a two-hundred-person happy hour in South Philly, a coworking crew, a kindergarten family meetup, a tech meetup, porch coffee for my neighbors.

What I'm after

The household of origin you'd design for yourself

I want to prove there's a way to face life together, in community, aligned to the life we want, without sacrificing ourselves or carrying burdens we were given and no longer want to hold.

For our current selves and communities, and for our future ones.

The rules of the room

How we are with each other

What I can and cannot promise

I can't promise I'll get it right. Trying to get it right is most of what got me here.

I can promise caring spaces, real agreements so people feel safe, and room to be vulnerable without being tidy about it.

Do 10 to 20 percent of this year and you'll find meaningful progress in your household.

Come and ask me anything

Open house sessions, starting this week

Sixty minutes on Zoom: what this is, your questions, and space for anyone who wants to say a want out loud. Curious counts. Skeptical counts. Dates and links to follow this week.

To be told when: email matthew@housewholed.org or call the line.

How to join

It starts with your voice, not a credit card

  1. Record your application. Call +1 (215) 598-2888 or send a voice note to matthew@housewholed.org: what you want, what's in the way, what's going great. Leave your name and email.

  2. I listen to every one and reply within two days.

  3. If it's a fit, I send the link to invest. No money changes hands before that.

What it costs

$1,500 per household, for the year
One payment, only after your application is accepted

No subscription, no auto-renew. October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027. When the year ends, it ends.

Where it goes: a modest salary, taxes, the cost of running it, retiring household debt, and the reserve that means my family stops deciding out of fear.

The floor: 50 households by October 15

The investment is final once made, with one exception. Fewer than 50 households by October 15 and the year doesn't run: everyone gets a full refund.

Community seats

Up to 25 households can join by investing what they're able. If $1,500 isn't possible, say so in your application.

The questions you're already asking

Fair enough

I don't have an hour a week

You do, and you already know where it is. The first experiment is to find it and hold it for yourself. What would you love to say no to, so you can say yes to this?

My partner would never do this

The front door is for the first person in the household brave enough to walk through it. Bring home what you learn and share the invitation. A mandate is just you trying to fix someone else, which I learned the hard way, so don't push.

This sounds a little woo-woo

Part of what makes hard things hard is feeling the hard feelings. We're going to do that here, together, so nobody does it alone. Most of it is experiments, reports, and people keeping each other company while they do hard things.

What if I join and don't use it?

That's what the application is for. If you can't picture yourself showing up, or what's possible for you by being here, maybe this isn't your place.

What if not enough people sign up?

This year needs at least 50 households. If fewer than 50 have joined by October 15, everyone gets a full refund, and I'll share what I learned.

What do I actually get on day one?

A welcome session, a virtual community and a place to introduce yourself, and a calendar of events to join.

A year from now

Why don't you come along with us?

I don't know where your household will be at the end of this, any more than I know where mine will be. But I'd bet money that if we do it together, and we're as vulnerable with our wants as we are with our struggles, we'll be happier and more peaceful a year from now, with a harmony we can share with everyone around us.

+1 (215) 598-2888 What you want, what's in the way, what's going great. Or, if you think this is wrong, call and tell me why. Sixty seconds. The people who tell me what's broken are more useful right now than the people who say it sounds nice.

LFTI(ILC). Let's f'ing try it in loving community.
Matthew A. Grande ยท matthew@housewholed.org