Owing to the global Coronavirus pandemic, governments around the world have advised people to work from home as much as possible. In some cities that are most affected, mandatory stay-home orders have been issued.
In this era of endless shows on Netflix, YouTube and other streaming platforms, staying at home for extended periods does not sound like a very hard thing to do. But human beings are social creatures and being confined in small spaces alone does not work very well.
Having a big or normal sized house at such a time may be thought to be advantageous. After all, you’ll need all the space you can get to maintain your sanity.
But how are people who live in tiny houses coping?
UK newspaper Metro asked a few tiny house residents how they are dealing with the quarantine.
Laura Snellgrove and her partner Christian moved into their unfinished tiny house in Hampshire, in July 2019, and have been working on it on weekends. Due to the free time on their hands now, they have finally directed all the attention to completing it.
“We have lived with it in a 90% finished state for a long time, but, since being quarantined, have now been able to give it some more attention and finish off the few remaining cosmetic jobs. “Although, I don’t think we’ll ever really stop tweaking and adding to our space, there is so much scope to be creative and fun within a tiny house.’
Despite their house being 6.6 meters long by 2.4 meters, she believes they don’t need more space during this pandemic.
“We really don’t need any more space, we have everything we need. We live fairly simple lives anyway, if we weren’t quarantined we’d be paddle-boarding or going on country walks, but a good board game and spending time in the garden is all we need for now.
“Quarantine has been pretty much the same for us, aside from the obvious lack of freedom and missing hugging our family and friends – we’re already used to living in a small space together.”
Laura does have one regret though. She says one thing they should have done differently is set themselves up for a completely off-grid living.
“One thing we do wish we had put into place before the coronavirus happened would have been to set ourselves up to be completely off-grid. ‘This is something we are wanting to achieve in the future but it would have definitely benefited us at the moment to not have to pay electricity bills.”
Despite all the benefits of living in a tiny space, Laura acknowledges that a bigger house would sure have its own advantages especially during such a period.
“Being in a bigger house during this lockdown has its advantages for sure, we would get more exercise by just walking around the house or up the stairs to bed, or just going from room to room, but we don’t feel like we are missing out,” she says.
Another tiny house resident, Florence Hamer said that there is nowhere else she would rather quarantine.
“To be honest, I am happiest when living in my tiny house. I can’t think of anywhere I would rather be living during this time, and I feel incredibly lucky to have a place where I feel comfortable and safe.
“I have space outside to walk and I can concentrate on my various woodworking projects, so that helps immensely. ‘Even with two of us, I don’t think we need or want any more space – although my boyfriend might disagree.”
