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In the French countryside, people manage to get by on a daily basis on low incomes by salvaging, repairing or gardening. Based on seventeen telephone interviews conducted during the spring 2020 lockdown, this article presents the domestic space as the main scene of existence of these sober and rural lifestyles. A lively place in its own right, highly invested by its inhabitants, it is subject to multiple uses. It extends to the surrounding nature and to a local mutual support network, where subsistence work is extended. However, domestic space remains an unequal kind of support according to each person’s social characteristics and material conditions.