Monthly Archives: April 2020

All Cooped Up

By Claire Posted in Personal, Small-House Living Tagged ,

Have you noticed that it’s easy to lose track of time when you’re in self-isolation? Even though I have a calendar right on the fridge, and my computer and tablet and phone also make the date very evident, I’m having trouble remembering what day it is. In fact, that’s why there was no post last week: I forgot!

Now it’s Monday again and I continue to try to keep my bearings in a world where everything has changed. It seems silly because others are having a much harder time than I am. Some are working from home while keeping track of their kids and making sure they do their schoolwork, which is now online. Others are trying to survive without their weekly pay; worse, still others have the virus. I feel sorry for everyone right now.

Meanwhile I just keep busy in my little house. I’ve wondered if I would feel more cramped isolating in a small house, but then I see celebrity posts online where they’re complaining about feeling cooped up in their mansions, and I realize that it doesn’t matter how small or big your house is; it’s that inability to go out when you want to, the loss of knowing that you can go places even when you don’t need to, that makes you feel cooped up.

Let’s all hope that the stay-at-home policy is lifted in every state very soon.

What Does a Minimalist Do in Self-Isolation?

By Claire Posted in Clutter Tagged , , ,

I recently saw this comment on a forum: “Being stuck inside for weeks like this makes me so glad I have such a huge yarn stash.”

And it got me thinking: if you’ve achieved a full minimalist state, with no excess clutter lying around anywhere, what are you doing to pass the time in self-isolation?

At first, I decided that someone with no clutter lying around is probably regretting their decision to pare down to almost nothing. But then I realized that just because your yarn stash is gone, doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do:

  • You can read ebooks.
  • You can listen to music you’ve stored on your device.
  • You can exercise.
  • You can cook.
  • You can stay in contact with family and friends online.
  • You can watch movies (streamed, not DVDs).
  • And, of course, you can buy yarn online if you simply must knit or crochet to keep your sanity.

So all is not lost! On the other hand, if you’re awash in clutter, and have supplies for every craft project you ever wanted to make, you’d better dig that stuff out of your piles, dust it off and get cracking, because you’re never going to have this much free time again.

Learning from Living at Home 24/7

By Claire Posted in Simpler Living, Small-House Living Tagged , , ,

Now that most of us have been in isolation at home for a while, we may find that we are developing definite opinions about our abodes.

Most people are used to coming and going, spending more waking hours out than in. So staying in the same place for days on end can make that place’s deficits more noticeable than before.

For instance, now that spring is arriving, you may wish you had a porch or balcony if you don’t already have one. If you have multiple people in your household, you may wish your home had one more bathroom. If your place is large, you may be tired of cleaning it. If it’s small, the isolation may make you wish you had a larger place.

Once this pandemic calms down, and self-isolation becomes just another memory, it would do us good to remember what we thought about our homes while we lived in them for more hours a day than we ever have. Then we can make changes so that our home becomes our haven, more than ever.