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Off the grid living is something we all dream about, but only a few of us have the courage to actually do it. We love our convenient lifestyles and we cherish our electrical appliances that make life easier. Living off the grid means living off the public utilities and becoming self-sufficient. The tricky part is that nobody will tell you what it all implies in the end.
Living off the grid is not a primitive living as most people imagine and it certainly doesn’t mean you have to lower your living standards. In fact, to go off the grid has many advantages and if you managed to stay strong in the beginning, you will benefit from living off the grid in the long run.
Here are just a few benefits of going off the grid:
Going off the grid means you have to make your own energy and there are many ways to do so. Here are the most popular ones:
Using Photovoltaic solar panels is the most common method to produce energy for your house. All you need are the panels and the sun. The market is flooded with solar panels and the technology improves every year. These targeted products for people living off the grid are increasing at a high rate and you won’t have problems finding something suited for your needs.
Related article: This solar power generator is something new. Will it conquer the market?
Using a wind turbine to produce energy is another method preferred by those who live off the grid and it’s not as complicated as it sounds. You will need to install a wind turbine about 50 to 120 feet high from the ground and the wind will do the entire job for you. Of course that this off the grid method has to be used in an area with a reliable supply of wind in order to be efficient. However, with the climate changing, it seems that most of the regions will have a good supply of wind.
Related article: A new wind power generator that changes the game. Goodbye blades!
For an off the grid living you can also use a hydro power plant to produce electricity. However, this requires a lot more work as you have to build dams and utilize the kinetic energy from the water current to create electricity. All the work will pay off since water power can produce between 10 and 100 times more power than solar panels. Building a dam on your land for your off the grid setup can involve a substantial cost that you need to take into account.
Related article: Man builds hydro power plant and uses local stream to power his entire home
You can also make your own gas for a comfortable off the grid living. All you have to do is to build a biogas generator that uses household, organic waste to produce your own gas for cooking or lighting. Living off the grid means having easy access to a lot of organic material that can be turned into gas and it would be a shame not to profit from it. It is much easier to build a gas generator than one would think, it’s not rocket science. This method is preferred by those who live off the grid because it’s much easier than cutting wood to produce gas.
Those who can afford it can use more than one of the methods listed above in order to make energy and have the comfort they desire. It’s just a matter of location, budget and the will to do it.
Another critical part of a decent off the grid living is how to arranged for your own food. Making your own food is possible and everyone can do it. We buy food or groceries from the stores because of the hectic work life we have and because we lack the time and will to do it otherwise. Growing your own fruits, vegetables and meat is a skill that goes under constant development for those who live off the grid.
You can have a vegetable garden at your off the grid home to produce what you need. You will have to get the proper seeds and gain good knowledge in order for your garden to become efficient. In addition to a vegetables garden, you can always run a home-based farm consisting of chickens, rabbits, goats, pigs and cows if you like dairy products.
Things may look great if you read all of the above and it would seem that living off the grid is not that difficult and you can make it too. With the right will, you might and I really hope you do make it. If you consider an off the grid living you should also be aware of the limitations an off the grid life brings.
It would be unfair to discuss about an off the grid living without exerting on the limitations that this choice comes with. Everything in this life has its limitations and so does an off the grid living.
Every off the grid adventure requires money and most of these adventures requires a lot of money to start with. If you find it hard to make both the ends meet and you are struggling with soaring bills to be paid, then this system will not work for you. You need to be debt free before you build your off the grid home and you need to have a little extra on the side. You shouldn’t go for it, unless you own land in the suburbs or you have a big savings account. Sure, there are many who struggle with nothing at the beginning and end up building their off the grid dream home, but those success stories should not be a role-model for you. Those people struggled hard enough and they had an advantage, they had the skills you probably don’t have. Even so, most of them wish they had something extra when they started in order to make their life easier. Renewable energy sources have high initial costs and you need to keep that in mind.
Recommended reading: How to get rid of debt
You need to understand that growing your own food requires a lot of work and success is not a promise. Growing your own food requires diligence, consistency and a recuperative ability. It will take time until you get used with all of it and you need patience. Not to mention that growing food means you need to get down and dirty. You can’t do it from the keyboard and you it will be harder for you if you’re not used with physical labor. It will pay off in the end, but you will have to get to that point and that means you have to practice and have patience. There are a few good solutions for producing your own food, some quite innovative and you just need to find the right one for you.
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The pre-industrial way of doing things requires constant effort and worry, and is much more like staving off death than making a living.
You will understand why people used to be so much shorter, and will be overjoyed for very-meager things, which you never would have considered, as a comfortably-sedentary person.
I enjoyed your article, and have been telling people for over 50 years that what you describe is what God almighty had in mind for us all. The one thing I found in the article not to be absolute, is the remark that many make and have for centuries is money is the root of all evil. I disagree, as there was plenty of evil not as much as today, long before there was money. The root of all evil is of Satan is my opinion. But again if people that read your article would not only think about all you say, but also think about all the time and energy and aggravation they allow themselves to be put through daily, it far more then that if living off the grid, and they would seek true happiness.
The Bible quote was the love of money.
quote
1 Timothy 6:10King James Version (KJV)
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
unquote