32 going on 33 with bad credit and I have a bad job. I hate it takes money to go off grid and live off less. Even worse I'm in California.
Just venting guys.
Anyone else annoyed by their situation.
Question,if you feel like maybe going off grid is too g to takes years what other alternative have you thought of life style wise.

https://wwoofusa.org/

Takes very little money to go off grid and live a minimalist lifestyle. The barrier is not money but our perceptions of reality. Why do we consider a particular situation good or bad? Why do we value what we value? Why do some things seem 'off the table' while others are 'must have'? The lens through which we see the world is the most powerful driver of our disposition and yet it is malleable.

Justin Durango wrote:https://wwoofusa.org/

Takes very little money to go off grid and live a minimalist lifestyle. The barrier is not money but our perceptions of reality. Why do we consider a particular situation good or bad? Why do we value what we value? Why do some things seem 'off the table' while others are 'must have'? The lens through which we see the world is the most powerful driver of our disposition and yet it is malleable.

X2 for what Justin said!

My wife and I LOVED our six month WOOFing experience. We had to give it up in order to actually start a homestead. I WISH we had had the time to take a full year off and do a full season on a coffee plantation in Hawaii... all room and board, a year in HI, learning about farming, up to your eyeballs in delicious coffee... WOOFing can be amazing. And you're young :) I didn't start homesteading until I was 40. Before that I was a corporate slave. It was crushing my soul and I realized life was just plain too short for that BS... I'd rather struggle to make a living on my own terms than remain plugged into that system of "golden handcuffs."

You can WOOF for a week, two weeks, a month... months... a year. Whatever sounds good to you! Whatever you're curious about... look to see if you can find a host doing something that interests you in a place you'd like to visit. It can be an excuse to explore potential places to call home when you're ready to take that step.

You can always plug yourself back into the ratrace if that's what you have to do to survive. But that is just one way to survive :)

Chase your dreams! You're the only one who knows what's right for you. Trust yourself! You'll make a pile of mistakes, we all do. But the way I look at one should always TRY.  You can only succeed or have learning opportunities. What have you got to lose? ;)

Even all those options require someone is debt-free, increasingly a mark of wealth in today's world.

Money is not my limiting factor, but I'm limited all the same. I'm the only child of 4 older parents (divorced & remarried) separated by 300 miles, one of whom has severe arthritis and is the primary caregiver for another who has a severe degenerative neurological disorder, and oh also the caregiver for my ancient grandpa. That means I spend a lot of time helping out my parents, often on a moment's notice. It means a lot of driving and a lot of living with baby boomers who produce incredible quantities of trash, smoke cigarettes, and generally live a lifestyle very different from my goals.

All that is to say I don't think aiming for a specific lifestyle/endpoint is all that it's made up to be. Just try and make the smaller decisions that you can with your current means. Maybe that means is money, maybe it's time, maybe it's freedom from responsibilities.  It's easy to watch a YouTube video of someone living a way you imagine would be great and be frustrated at everything in your way. But in my experience each of us have to find our own path.

Kyle Neath wrote:Even all those options require someone is debt-free, increasingly a mark of wealth in today's world. ...

Ah debt... Indeed! Unless one wants to build a career in finance/investing (not likely many Permies are) or you're an entrepreneur trying to do a startup with a great business plan, avoiding debt is likely a great idea :)

And I second the idea of consciously avoiding falling into the trap of "The grass is always greener..."

Kyle Neath wrote:... But in my experience each of us have to find our own path.

Beautifully said!

A wise old man once told me: "You WILL have one chief asshole in your life. If you don't chose to fill that role yourself, someone else will."

I remember sitting at a hearing, looking at my ex-wife on May 4th 2011 and telling her lawyer, through my lawyer that there was no way I could afford what they wanted me to pay. It was dire times and I saw no way out of the debt.

I never realized how many things would turn around. This is not pie in the sky kind of stuff, but I managed to pay her off in every way, and every time it was required. I also managed to get 161 more acres out of the deal as I did so, am now out of debt, retired 2 years ago and farm my farm full time. Not everything is rosy, I have cancer, and property taxes are killing us, but my new wife and i are very content at age 43 and 38 respectively.

There is always hope. Always. I have lived it...