A home that works with less effort — change one thing well, not forty things badly.
The Grounded Home System is a set of free, room-by-room guides to making a home work with less effort. Each volume takes one job you do every week, shows you sixteen small changes that make it shorter, and asks you to try one at a time. Volume One covers laundry. More volumes follow, one room at a time.
Last updated: September 2026
What a home system actually is
A home system is just the path a job takes through your house. The laundry system is the route dirty clothes travel from the floor to the drawer. The kitchen system is the route a meal takes from the shelf to the plate to the cupboard.
Nobody designs these. They accumulate. The machine went where the plumbing was, the basket went where there was space, and twenty years later you are carrying a pile down a hallway because of a decision nobody made.
A system you have actually looked at is shorter than one you have not. That is the whole idea.
How the volumes work
Every volume is built the same way, so once you have read one you know how to read the rest.
- A set of small changes. Each one small enough to do today, described on a single page.
- What it removes. Every change says what it takes out, not just what it adds.
- One at a time. You are not meant to do all sixteen. You are meant to do one.
- A change log. A page at the back to write down what you tried and whether it stayed.
- Recipe cards. Where a volume needs something made, the recipe is on a card at the back you can print.
- Room for your photos. The guides are Word documents on purpose. Your house, not a stock photo of someone else’s.
The method: one change, then see if it stays
Every volume runs on the same four steps. It is not a project and there is no plan.
- Notice it. Find the moment in the job where you sigh. That is the change.
- Change one thing. Small, and today. Not a renovation.
- Live with it. A week or two. Long enough to stop being novel.
- Did it stay? If you slipped back, the change was too big — try a smaller one. If it stayed and it feels better, it is locked in. Leave it alone and pick the next thing.
That is the loop. You run it sixteen times, or four times, or once. There is no finish line and nothing to fall behind on.
The Volumes
Volume One
Laundry
Sixteen changes that cut the laundry from fifteen stops to three
Out now · Free
The complete Grounded Home
Every volume in one book, once there are enough of them to be worth binding.
Who these are for
- People in small homes, rentals, caravans and anywhere you cannot knock out a wall.
- People who have tried an organising system, kept it for three weeks, and quietly stopped.
- People who would rather change one thing well than forty things badly.
They are not for you if you want a plan with a start date and a finish date. That is a different kind of book and there are plenty of them.
Start Here
If you only read one, read Volume One. Laundry is the job most people do most often, the changes are the cheapest to try, and a week is enough to know whether the method suits you.
FAQ
Which volume should I start with?
Volume One, laundry, whatever room bothers you most. Laundry is the job most people do most often, the changes cost the least to try, and a week is enough to know whether the method suits you. It is also the only one finished, which settles it for now.
Are the Grounded Home System guides free?
Volume One is free. Later volumes may be paid, and if they are, there will be a bundle for anyone who wants the whole set. Nothing is behind an upsell wall inside a volume — every guide is complete on its own.
Do I need to buy anything to use them?
No. The changes are built around what is already in the house. Where a volume includes a recipe — laundry liquid, for instance — the ingredients are supermarket ones, and the recipe card tells you what it replaces and what it costs.
How long does a volume take to work through?
As long as you like. One change takes a week or two to settle. Sixteen changes at that pace is most of a year, and that is fine — the point is that each one is finished before the next one starts. Most people do four or five and stop, because the job is already short enough.
What format are the guides in?
Word documents, A4. Deliberately editable, so you can drop in photos of your own house, cross out what does not apply and print the recipe cards for the cupboard door.
Why one room at a time?
Because whole-house systems fail together. If you overhaul the kitchen, the laundry and the linen cupboard in one weekend, you have three new habits to hold at once and one bad week undoes all of it. One room at a time means a bad week only costs you one change.