Living in an off-grid tiny house in the winter is unlike most things you will encounter in modern life. It’s raw, untamed and wholesome. It can be glorious, being so close to the land God created during these months. But winter can also be a thief, always lurking about waiting for you to stumble. And you have to protect yourself every second to stay ahead of it before it steals from you.
I don’t say this to fill you with fear, but winter MUST be taken seriously in so many aspects. Especially when you live off grid in a tiny house, have a working homestead, and live in a harsh climate.
I share with you dear reader, a real and raw outlook from my perspective as my family of six who lives off grid in the Canadian wilderness. And my hope is that it teaches you something, and paints a picture of not just survival, but of beauty and blessings that this life can bring you.
I like to focus on winter in two ways: the survival aspect, and the thriving aspect. Both are so important when you live the type of life we do. And even if you don’t live in a tiny house, the topics below are still applicable to many people!
How We Survive Living In An Off-Grid Tiny House In The Winter
Surviving in a tiny house as a family of six with three indoor dogs, and two cats, all while homeschooling, homesteading, running businesses AND prepping is not an easy task. And I am by no means an expert on this! But I have learned over the past several years what it takes to survive in such a small space and I’d love to share it with you!
Prepare
In order to survive winter in a tiny house throughout winter you need to prepare for it! The main things I highly suggest to do in preparation are:
- purge and organize
- deep clean everything
- figure out a system for anything you feel isn’t working well in your home
Purging your stuff is just a regular part of life when you live tiny. But in the fall, it’s good practise to really commit and dive deep into your “stuff”, getting rid of any and all things that you possibly can! It will be hard sometimes, but remember; winter means more time indoors. Clutter creates stress. Clutter is “stuff”. So get rid of the “stuff”! I write about this here if you want to take a look.
Deep cleaning in the fall will give your home the reset it needs to step into winter. Some of the cleaning I do during my purging times, but most of the deep cleaning happens after all of the stuff is gone and reorganized. It makes it so much easier and faster!
Systems that help your family function in your home are critical. And although some things will always be harder in a tiny home (like our tiny entryway for instance), it doesn’t have to cause stress. Add shelving or wall mounted baskets for more storage, change up the laundry routine so you don’t end up swimming in dirty clothes, or maybe something as simple as putting your phone on ‘do not disturb’ at an earlier time is all you need to fix that hectic evening you keep having.
Keep a well kept Home
Being a professional cleaner by trade for over 10 years, you’d think I would have the whole “kept” home thing down. In reality though, my home is never fully clean. But it is functioning, cozy, and a safe place for our family to be everyday.
Some good tidying habits I have adopted throughout my homemaking years are; keeping an all purpose cleaner readily accessible at all times, cleaning the bathroom while the kids bathe, folding laundry straight out of the drier/clothesline, and sorting/cleaning up the pantry and fridge every time I put new groceries away. These easy habits save time and make cleaning a part of your life instead of adding more things to do your to-do list later on.
I wrote an eBook from my perspective as a professional cleaner on how you can bring these skills into your daily cleaning routine! Click here or click the picture to read it for FREE.
Cleaning on a daily basis is a must do thing when you live tiny. That’s just the facts of life! So implementing some type of cleaning routine or system will benefit your family tremendously. It doesn’t need to be the way a youtuber you like does it or how your best friend does it. Find a system that works for you and your family and go with it!
Eat high quality food
Winter is the perfect time to do TONS of cooking and baking! Not only because it will keep the house warm and inviting, but because healthy home cooked meals will feed your body and your soul.
Keeping things like sourdough starter for breads, fermented drinks bubbling on the counter, and bone broth simmering on the stove are just a few of the delicious and healthy foods that we invite into our home! Being intentional about food and providing our family with quality meals carries us through the winter season!
My favourite thing to do is get creative with my cooking on a extra chilly winter day. I’ll fill the stove with cast irons and have things sizzling and baking all day long! We spend a lot of time enjoying good food, slowing down to appreciate the flavours, and filling our tiny space with nutritient dense meals that give us the strength to survive everyday.
Intentional eating is so important for a healthy life! (want to know what intentional eating looks like? I wrote about it here.)
How We Thrive Living In An Off-grid Tiny House In The Winter
Surviving winter is the number one priority for those of us who live tiny. It takes so much intentionality and hard work to function and maintain the basic tasks of life in a healthy manner. But after that, after the basic necessities of life are met, there’s a whole other side to winter that some people seem to overlook if they aren’t purposely incorporating it into their daily lives. And that my friends, is how to thrive during winter.
From our experience living tiny for so many years, you can (without realizing it) go into survival mode during the long days of winter. You may forget about the other things in life that you should be enjoying! Winter for us at least, means living with intention so that we not only survive, but we thrive together as a family.
Slow down
The slowness of the winter season can be a wonderful time if you accept it and let it into your life. Embracing the halt winter can put on you is not only healthy, but it provides so many benefits to ones mental and physical health.
Instead of working against the late sunrises and early afternoon darkness, we try to tailor our days around them with a happy heart. Sleeping in a little more than we do during summer. Starting dinner a bit earlier so that our family can be finished eating and ready to rest for the evening. And keeping the main lights off once the house is dark and instead light candles and twinkle lights helps us embrace the darkness of the evening and calm our bodies down for bedtime.
I know this can be hard if you have chores such as a dairy cow that needs milked or an outdoor woodstove that has to be filled before bed. So for chores like that, we try to have everything in place and ready so that those chores run as quick and easy as possible.
Connect as a family
Family togetherness during the long dark winter season is a job all on its own if you have children in your tiny home!
If your kids are anything like mine, they bounce around, make constant messes, and create chaos when they have to be cooped up inside all day. I find this especially intense in a tiny house!
So making sure to create time where we are doing something together is so important for our family. It not only cuts down on the mess and chaos, but it brings us together in a way that just hanging out doesnt.
Some of our favourite things to do together as a family are;
- Around the table games or puzzles
- Reading a good novel aloud
- Outside activities like tobogganing, skating, snowshoeing or putting around the property our the vintage sleigh attached to the snowmobile
- Building things together
Making the time to do things together on a regular basis is crucial for your family to thrive!
Delve into hobbies and skill building
Living in an off-grid tiny house in the winter creates the perfect avenue for family members to hone in on hobbies and skills! Not only does this give you something to do during the day/evening, but it gives your brain that boost it needs during the dark months.
Having something to keep your mind active and your hands busy in the winter is important in preventing the winter blues. Us humans love to create, and make, and take risks. Whether big or small, trying something new or working on your craft is a wonderful way to feed your soul.
Someone I love learning from is Lisa from farmhouseonboone, she always has so many inspirational ideas that I love to try in the winter months!
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