How did you succeed at going off grid?

There seem to be a lot of people who fail at going off grid. I am feeling humble about moving on to my property and living a very different lifestyle. I have been very unhappy with my convient lifestyle so I started searching for what I really wanted and what would make me happy. I studied other countries lifestyles where they live happy and healthy, thats a start. The stress, diet and wasted energy in the US is screaming for change. They have said that our children have a shorter life expectancy than us. I believe money can't buy happiness, less is more, simple is better etc.

My #1 reason for going off grid - Quality of life

I think you hit the nail on the head"

I have been very unhappy with my convient lifestyle

To me, the first step of getting away from the grid, is to look at all of those conveniences, and deciding which ones to eliminate, or phase out.

Don't try to do it all at once...I think that is where many fail...it's too much of a shock. Plus, many of those conveniences can be utilized this year to make you less reliant in the future.

I think it is also wise to maintain a healthy tie to the grid. One should strengthen ties to neighbors and community, especially those who are trying to divorce themselves from the rat race. We're all in this together, and sticking closer with those who feel likewise leads us further and further from that rat race.

If it is not a challenge, it is easy to lose sight of the goal, but if you make it too much of a challenge, it becomes easier to just step away from it. Start with baby steps, and you would be surprised how quickly you start jogging.

Theresa Whited wrote:There seem to be a lot of people who fail at going off grid.

It could be that their expectations are not realistic.

As I said on the other thread, I've been doing this for 19 years. My (our) reasons are complex. When my daughter was little - 3 or 4 she wondered why we couldn't have a "normal" house with a lawn. I think the kids like it now.

I will say you probably need some outlet not related to your house. So, even though I have 5 cows, 8 sheep, chickens, turkeys, 4 dogs, and... a husband and kids ... I still spend a fair amount of time...
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wait for it...
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er, playing tennis! USTA rated 4.0!

I'd be especially interested in details about what people do for a living off the grid.

I don't think there is any correlation between occupation and being off grid. Physical location may be more important.
We are Plumber/Book keeper though in the past it was Production manager/Paralegal.

i agree with john, slowly replace things or eliminate them. say to yourself can i make this myself? if not do i need it? im not 100% off grid but somewhere in the 50-60% range.

I have been eliminating anything that is not useful to me. The magazines with country cottages full of little trinkets, baskets, etc with something in every corner does not appeal to me and seems like wasted space. If your hang your pots in the kitchen now that is efficient. The thing I liked the most about cob as oppose to straw bale is cob is easily formed for thermal properties and space. You can create nooks and shelves in the walls to keep more organized and have no clutter. Time is money and everything you spend time on should be valuable. So point taken, eliminate everything that is not a necessity. I have moved too many times from on conventional home to another and we all know the truck loads of furniture etc. I will gladly not do that again.

I am right now trying to decide if I want to hook up to the grid or start with a battery and inverter. Its $400 dollars to connect to the grid starting with a temporary then hook to the electrical panel. Its probably at least $700 just for the battery and inverter and 1 solar panel that produces 100w is about $200. I was thinking of hooking to the grid and buying the inverter and batter while I have the excess funds and buy panels as I can. This way I have the electric to finish building and as soon as the building is done I can focus on just the panels.

Things I know will be new to me that I am kind of nervous thinking "how much will this affect getting ready for work, cooking dinner, etc"

A compost toilet: From what I have read the toilet dehydrates better if it is in the sun. I think you start a compost for the dried matter and so I guess you simply empty the chamber as needed. Is anyone using one of there's and is it convenient?
Cooking: I didn't make room for a typical stove in the cob house because I can always use a small electric top or the top of the heat source. I am installing a clay oven, grill and fireplace right outside the house. I don't think this will change much in cooking time and convenience?
Water: I am still working on this one but the end product like washing cloths and bathing I think I will get an electric washer and hot water heater that I can hook to the grid for now.

As for careers, I have been laid off (like a lot of people) from the automotive field and so I decided to work for my self and insure my shelter. I am looking for jobs close to my property, what ever it is so I can have income while I work on going off grid and hopefully self sufficient. So, I have to be able to move there and work the property while being able to work.

Theresa Whited wrote:
I am right now trying to decide if I want to hook up to the grid or start with a battery and inverter. Its $400 dollars to connect to the grid starting with a temporary then hook to the electrical panel. Its probably at least $700 just for the battery and inverter and 1 solar panel that produces 100w is about $200. I was thinking of hooking to the grid and buying the inverter and batter while I have the excess funds and buy panels as I can. This way I have the electric to finish building and as soon as the building is done I can focus on just the panels.

If it only costs $400 to connect to the grid then you should. I think it would've cost us $5000 if we buried the cable ourselves. $50k if we put poles up.

Perhaps your goal should be to power a few small loads during a blackout (your modem, laptop, and small light?). In that case, you'd need a smallish battery, a small charger and inverter which I bet you could do for less than $300. Put $50 in a jar a month and reassess after a year.

Just to present the other side... There is the cost of the temporary grid hook up, then the panel and all the wiring which is going to have to be inspected, and that might open up a whole new can of worms if you are doing an unusual construction like cob. Then there is the monthly fee, the cost of all the appliances you are going to get, and all of the inertia you will have built into your system that will make it harder all the time to wean yourself off.

You could also get a couple of batteries, a 200 watt panel, and an oversized charge controller. The oversized controller is important because it would let you add panels and capacity to your set up as time went on and you saved up. This is what I have. At my lattitude I can run a cfl light bulb all evening, a stereo, my laptop and internet connection, cell phone charger and a bunch of electric fencing for livestock. Down south you might need less panel or you could run more stuff.

Now you are free and you aren't tangled up too much in grid infrastructure and investments, and the money you save you can put towards adding more capacity to your system. I feel like I live quite comfortably and enjoy my lifestyle very much. I have built several buildings with a handsaw, it's not a big deal and if you keep it sharp it's just marginally slower than a noisy circular saw. I sometimes charge a drill off my system, and often use a hand drill. I have an old generator (a few hundred bucks) that I can start if I ever really need a lot of electricity for something...I've only used it once in a year and a half.

If you use a DIY compost toilet it will use no electricity and it works fine.
Washing dishes in the sink is no big deal.

Your water system is a wild card...are you on a well? Municipal water? Hand pump and / or a gravity tank or blue jug and you are in business.

This year I am going to add another panel to run a twin tub clothes washer and spinner (one where you can control the timing of everything.)

'Flamineta' makes a very compact two burner and small oven propane stove..they are common in mexico, but you can buy them if you look around. Or an old RV stove. That takes care of my cooking when it's warm and i'm not running the woodstove. I go through a 20 pound bottle every three months or so, it's not a big deal.

Nobody had refrigeration even a hundred years ago...there are lots of tricks to doing without.

A set up like this could be had for less than two grand. I would vote for trying it, you might find you like it. I don't often feel like i'm missing out.

For full disclosure, I am frustrated at not being able to power a deep freeze or a heat light for starting poultry, but I am getting closer to workable alternatives for both of these.

If your starting from scratch, once you head down the grid tie road it will get increasingly difficult to opt out of it. My two cents...

Jay Green wrote:... Off grid simply means one isn't using public utilities any longer...as in connected to the electrical grid/gas/public water and sewage.

It also doesn't mean you can't have employment off your land or have a social life with the community.

Stop the presses! Jay Green and I agree!

In fact, based on info from the "Should I get I gun" thread I can't help but wonder if {c}J {verde}Green is my doppelganger!

Woman, (formerly) off-grid
Owns a .22
Livestock dog guarding livestock

Sheesh.

To clarify.


I work at a home business. That is how I make my living. I'm interested in what other people who work at home and are off-grid do for a living.

"Woman, (formerly) off-grid
Owns a .22
Livestock dog guarding livestock

Sheesh".

I don't own a gun or a dog.

The gun and dogs aren't directly related to being off grid. They are due to the fact that I have livestock.

How did we succeed?

Well, my girlfriend and I have been ramblers for years. I spent my late teens and early twenties living in foreign countries and working where ever the wind took me and she did about the same, hitchhiking across Canada, picking fruit and living off the land. I remember living in a cabin on a mountain side one winter... I paid $12.50 a month in rent and frankly, it was worth just that. No running water, no insulation, my roommate and I would wake up and find everything liquid in the cabin frozen on some of those cold winter mornings.

These days, I'm a long haul truck driver and she is a Plumber. When we met, she was concerned that I wouldn't be able to hack it... frankly, when you've been living out of a bag for the past 5 years, a home is a novelty. She cleared out 6 drawers for me 2 months ago when I officially moved in. I still haven't filled them up.

I guess the point of my ramble is this. What do you NEED vs. what you THINK you need. It is a mindset change that we, in this consumer culture, need to take to succeed in off grid living. We finally have hot water, our power system is pitifully small, we spend many nights curled up by the wood stove reading by lantern light... and we are happy.

Frankly, I spend a lot of time shopping at antique stores while on my travels. I found a few great kerosene lamps, a hand crank coffee grinder that we use every day and a few other nicknacks that are all hand crank, old time off grid stuff that our great grandparents used in every day life. My favorite find is an old stove top waffle iron Waking up, grinding coffee and making my lady a few waffles is one of the few joys in life that every man should have.

we lived off grid for 2 years with 2 small children and we had some of the best times ever. Enjoyed winters most because of the free refrigeration, wood heat, gravity fed water. Whole family outside everyday getting lots of fresh air. Oil lamps and candles for lights fresh food from the garden almost daily except for winter time. Now we live in a big dirty city and dream of moving back to the country, only reason we left is because a third child came along and the older kids needed to get to school so we had to move to the city for the "convenience". Now the kids are grown up and we are thinking about heading back to the country, should be interesting.

Living off the Grid ?
I have not worked for anyone in 5 years. Sell things that I make to other people who have play money. Have a house right on the very Edge of town. But use No Electric, use no town Water. Wood Heat only,
Although it costs me 10.00 per month to keep power available, Just in case. Keep two Propane tanks just in case of an emergency.
Water is from a Hand pump and Sand point I put on the property. Also a Rainwater Recovery system, Solar charging of batteries. use all 12 volt lights.
Television over the air and 12 volt, Internet over the air and inverter a few times a day.
So it costs me Taxes, Food and some Misc stuff to survive. Oh I do use some gas in the chainsaw sometimes. Ride a bike a LOT.
The Grid is there but I dont uee it. I keep it just in case and If my Daughter lives here later. She can use the Power if she wants when I pass on.

Hi,

Not sure how many people are following this particular thread any longer, but it came up on search, which means it is still active, so others may still be finding it.  I thought perhaps a small update may be of some value.  What I discovered in the process of 'bugging out' is to be realistic.  I found that a lot of my expectations were definitely out of whack with reality, in terms of what I could achieve, and it what time frame.  That said, necessity really is the 'mother of invention', so did manage to get a lot of things accomplished, though it was with a lot of hard work and effort, much like anything in life.  I ran across an article recently with laid out the expectations fairly clearly for living off grid, and perhaps I should have taken the time to read more, and do more research before taking the leap.

In all cases, realism and practical expectations definitely will help in the beginning of your process to going off grid, and will ensure you don't find yourself loosing faith in yourself, and in your abilities to succeed.

I think off grid is perfectly doable, but you have to study a lot before taking the plunge.
- learn soil management
- learn how to pregrow plants, plant, weed, harvest, fight disease and bugs, rotate planting, save seeds
- learn orchard management
- learn beekeeping
- learn mushroom cultivation for shady spots
- learn how to cook from scratch, preserve, dry, can, ferment
- accept doing many things by hand such as dishes, laundry, sweeping, mending, firewood
- learn to entertain yourself
...
I find it has taken me years to amass enough knowledge to be confident I know enough

But now I live without electricity quite happily.

I'm not off grid, and really that may never be a goal for me being urban.   But it IS a goal for me to reduce dependency.  

I've unplugged and discarded a lot of things, and downsized others.  

One thing I saw in a video that inspired me was someone that was only using ONE electrical outlet.   I'm always contemplating how I might actually manage to DO that.   I'd probably modify that a bit (like not counting the refrigerator with it's own outlet.    But,  if you can get down to one or two...  you could probably live off solar I think?  

Things I could run one at a time that don't need to be plugged in all the time:   apartment size washer,  coffee maker, teakettle, tracphone charger, induction cooktop...  

Doing multiple electricity requiring things at once is a convenience but not a necessity.   I may try a 30 day challenge.   Even if I don't adopt the "lifestyle" of it,  it's a way to experiment and develop the skills and practice if I HAD to.  

I like Heather's suggestion.

One year we spent a month or two at our off-grid cabin in West Texas.

What I found out is Dear Hubby is too dependent on the things that keep him entertained, like TV and the internet.

While he ran the generator to watch TV, I took long walks with the dog.  This gave me the opportunity to discover some of the real features of our land.

Then when he used up all the gasoline running the generator we had to drive 60 miles or more to buy more gasoline.

I gave up on my dream to live on that beautiful piece of land.

At least our daughter has fallen in love with that place so it is getting used quite often.

The moral of my story could be that it is easier to go off-grid if you are a single person.

A solar system that can power a TV shouldn't be that difficult or expensive to install.

To design any off-grid system, the first step is to determine what the power requirements are. If the TV is a must-have, it goes in the power budget.

Then scale the system to provide the power you need.

If you can agree to only watch TV in daylight, you need less battery storage. Batteries are the expensive part, so this matters.

If you will be watching TV every evening, budget for it in the battery design.

A gas or diesel generator is for emergencies, or for occasional short term use when you need more power for a specific reason. It's not a good choice for day-in, day-out use of routine appliances.

Finally, I disagree that it's easier to go off-grid or homestead alone. There is a lot of work involved. I can't imagine going it alone.

Cathy James wrote:A solar system that can power a TV shouldn't be that difficult or expensive to install.

To design any off-grid system, the first step is to determine what the power requirements are. If the TV is a must-have, it goes in the power budget.

Then scale the system to provide the power you need.

If you can agree to only watch TV in daylight, you need less battery storage. Batteries are the expensive part, so this matters.

If you will be watching TV every evening, budget for it in the battery design.

A gas or diesel generator is for emergencies, or for occasional short term use when you need more power for a specific reason. It's not a good choice for day-in, day-out use of routine appliances.

Finally, I disagree that it's easier to go off-grid or homestead alone. There is a lot of work involved. I can't imagine going it alone.

New to the conversation but Cathy is correct. Im offgrid but 50 meters from services andt o me its not neccesary to connect.  a supplemental generator is fine. Being offgrid is like having solar in the 60s why need so much electronics. Most things can be accomplished manually or gas powered tools or now battery. I keep double batteries charge the day before real easy just need a plan or patience i am still working on both.
But yes go offgrid. When i did people asked what i wanted to get out of it.....well it was when i was at a cafe and heard a conversation about high utilty prices that i couldnt relate...welcome to now. .... It feels good,glad i have done it. Forest for fuel and a 100 euros a month wifi and Natgas for the stove, food for thedogs incedentals, no mortgage, living off the land. Thats freedom, well closer anyways

I personally do not like off-grid concept. Is going to a battery dealer every 3 years really "off-grid"? Humans are social beings and can not really be separated from the grid of civilization. For me it's better to focus on self sustainability in different areas: food and heat.

I need power to pump water for myself and to irrigate my orchard and water my garden. Not using electricity from the grid means that I have to go 10 miles to buy gas and spend 20 times more for the electricity produced compared to the grid.
I need power for my laptops so I can work online. The Chinese small generators last only 6 months and I have to buy another one every half a year.
I had a solar system in the past and constantly had problems with the batteries. It was expensive and producing way too little power for anything - ether not enough storage for low wattage computer or not enough for any tool. The price for kWh I produced from this system was ridiculously high: $40 of electricity from a $3000 system.
I have a fridge powered by one panel with no batteries and I like it, but it is really only useful for cold drinks during warm season and some 2 day storage (after that meat or dairy will start to spoil during night). If I had a freezer I could butcher my animals for food or hunt a deer, but I don't have it and it's forcing me to buy food in stores 20 miles away.
I'm going to drill another well and install a pump that can be directly driven by solar and also regular 110V.
I need power for my power tools that I use to save my time and my back so I can spend more time with my family or on other projects.
I don't have and don't want AC - people spend $400 a month on AC bills here. I don't need a dryer - it would be a sin to have such a nonsense in a place that gets 3500 hours of sun per year, but if I had electricity I would buy washing machine for my wife the very next day.

I hope next year I will connect to the grid - I just need to finish cutting some more eucalyptus trees and dig their roots. I want to run the cable underground - I hate ugly, hanging power cables.

For me, living off-grid is about making a choice, and living with the consequences.

When I live off-grid, I don't try to maintain cell phone service. I don't use refrigeration. I cook and heat with wood. I go to bed when it gets dark.

The i need is for the on grid crowd and go for it no problem. No more to say until grid power is down, ive seen it 3 days my town was out of power and i never knew until my neighbour said they heard us watching movies when they were trying to save food from the freezer.

Any generator has a lifespan use it when needed. Joeseph is correct if you live offgrid you learn to adapt and understand why you are doing it. For me its because years ago pockets full of money was like a glass with a crack. Now my glass does not leak. 7 years no batreries failing , car batteries well maintained. 3 250 watts panels , fridge freezer, computers, tv, stereo, nintendo wii etc all low watts my pumps for water 400 watts x2 moves during the day both ways further than the specs. Heat and hot water by wood. For a newcomer its difficult but with a little practice rewards are huge. I offset everything wanna use the computer at night turn off the fridge for an hour not hard just takes practice.

I cant say how much ive saved since i went offgrid getting close to 200k for 2 in a short 5 years.before that i can add another 100k by myself. Rent, utilities, urban taxes take them out of your budget its amazing the result.

And ya ive bought a few generators for a few hundred euros over almost 10 years. My monthly utilities before that were 300 min winters worse. Wood house helps but most important was not relying on all the tech and electric. 20 bucks for a heater that costs 150+ per month is the worst and very common nowadays. Not interested in being on grid ever again. If that means losing being a digital whatever so be it.

Going off grid was a simple economic decision for us. We purchased land with the intent of building a home.  We hadn’t planned to go solar, but connecting to the grid would have cost us $30,000, or install a solar set up for $20,000.  Timeliness was also a factor. Go on the grid and wait over a year for our permit to be approved,  Or do it yourself solar and have power in a week. Solar won.

So we are off-grid. It was a significant learning curve, but we are happy with our choice. It took a year for us to truly succeed. As I said, there was a significant learning curve. We needed to learn how the system worked and needed to be maintained. We needed to learn to live within the parameters of the system.

We are well settled into our lifestyle. No regrets. We are on solar power, so we are not powerless. We have refrigeration and freezer. Some kitchen appliances. Washer & dryer. Electric tools. Laptops, tablets, and cellphones. We have learned when to use something and when not to. We have learned to live in conjunction with the sun. We have learned to live happily on far less power than ever before. We have learned to use non-powered items.

Out of academic interest:
Of all things we deem indispensable - TV???
I have one in my city home, but every time I try to find something worth watching I am disappointed.Just full of idiotic serials and commercials.

I gave up tv 21 years ago. I’ve watched tv at friends homes less than a half dozen times since then. TV is too addictive for me. Give me a nature channel and I’d be glued to the set for hours, I simply don’t want to get into that kind of obsession anymore. There are too many other things I enjoy far much more……like farming!

The point I am trying to make is not about whether TV is good, much less indispensable.

Rather it's about finding compromise with other members of your household so that you, the one wanting a homestead, can achieve your dreams.

You can't force a partner to change, but you can find ways to compromise so that you are both happy.

There is no contradiction between living off-grid far from the nearest power lines, and having access to enough power to let your spouse watch TV.

Sometimes I see an element of puritanical thinking in these discussions that demands everyone conform to your ideas of how to live. That's not a good basis for success in your personal relationships.

If going off grid, the first question I would ask myself is why do I want to go off grid?
If you want to go off grid to simplify your life, then going with solar may not accomplish that, as you will still have to maintain all of the electrical components in your house, all of the wiring, all of the plumbing and all of the appliances that run on electricity.
Then there's the question of does off-grid mean with electricity or without electricity?
Several people have previously stated that they have lived without electricity for quite some time and that they are quite satisfied with the situation. This is our current situation and has been for over 40 years, and no, we are not Amish and yes we have found this to be a simple and very satisfying way of life, wouldn't change a thing!
If you're going off grid to lessen your impact on the environment then non-electric is probably the most effective way of accomplishing that.
Off-grid and non-electric does not mean that you can't have generator power for things such as television or running certain electrical equipment.
We still have a television that we use to play recorded videos for entertainment education  and charging our phones.
This can be accomplished with the smallest generator made a 1,000 watt Honda.
Like some others have mentioned we have many appliances that are hand cranked and most of our tools are hand powered as they were mostly up until about 80 years ago.
I think the most important thing to do no matter which way you go would be to do a lot of research on the skills and equipment you would need for your particular chosen style of life.
Also I would add that it is of the utmost importance that both parts of a couple agree on any transition.
Well I guess that's my two cents worth.

One way to succeed is to build the skills you need to succeed.

Paul Wheaton has a cool framework for building those skills.  And it might even get you free land, if you don't already have some:

You should put a link, just saw this in another thread
Paul Weaton SKIP develop documentd skills to inherit land

Being new its hard to see everything butthisis a great concept, should be in a curriculum in schools

Larry Miranda wrote:You should put a link, just saw this in another thread
Paul Weaton SKIP develop documentd skills to inherit land

Being new its hard to see everything butthisis a great concept, should be in a curriculum in schools

Thanks for dropping that link!  

We plan to implement SkIP in our son's homeschooling