In light of the pandemic sweeping the globe, and the overwhelming stress it has caused, many people are considering going off the grid.
The thought of cutting ties with the city, being your own boss, and living off the land is appealing. Imagine building a simple home powered (or not) by the sun, and heating it with wood chopped by you. A lot of us have thought about it recently for sure, but make certain you know what you are getting into.
5 Things To Consider Before Going Off-Grid
Here are five considerations you should contemplate before buying that piece of land and living a self-reliant lifestyle.
1. Money – Many think living off the grid is free, and honestly, it should be! But you will need to buy a piece of land to build a little house on and that will require some funding. Make sure you prepare for the financial costs of going off-grid.
2. Power – You will need to research ways to heat and power your home without electricity. Wood burning stoves are great for heat, but what about when it’s really hot, and how are you going to get water? Solar and wind are great ways to power your home and having a generator is almost a necessity.
3. Water – Speaking of water, it’s something to consider for sure! Without access to water, an off-grid dream will soon become a nightmare. When you survey your land, one of the top priorities is to confirm you can access water. In fact, if you plan on keeping any kind of vegetable garden then you’ll want to consider giving it a steady supply of water to feed them and/or any animals. That means you will need a creek or something like it running through your neck of the woods. You also need to ensure that water is fresh, clean, and potable. You will likely need to run it through a filtration system of some kind. Even clean-looking water can have parasites in it.
4. First Aid – Living off-grid often means you are far from help if something goes horribly wrong, and an accident happens where someone is injured. Having first aid skills for immediate care would be an essential skill to have if you are not close to a hospital. Perhaps you can take a class offered in your area. Learn the most common ways to treat an ailment and grab a few reference books since the internet won’t likely be readily available if you are off-grid.
5. Food – When food is running low, the good news is that you have the entire forest to forage around in. But you will need to know what plants are safe to eat. Grab a couple of hard copies of different books and compare them. This knowledge will be invaluable. It’s important to not just guess which mushrooms you can eat. If you are going to hunt for meat, you will need to consider the storage of the meat, processing, and replenishing of ammunition or damaged arrows from getting an animal. These things will likely require money or barter of some kind, but this needs to be figured out in advance.
These are only five of the things you should take into consideration before going off the grid. Here are some other thoughts to think about. It could be the adventure of a lifetime, but if you are not prepared for what it could entail, you could end up struggling instead of enjoying your newfound freedom. Obviously, these aren’t the only things to think about if you want to live off-grid, but they may be the biggest ones.
Research every aspect of an off-grid lifestyle and be sure it’s the right thing for you and your family before jumping in with both feet.
After living completely off-grid for the past 3 years, here are a few more things that need to be considered in regards to electrical power and water supply; 1 – You’ll need a storage system for electricity, i.e. Batteries. 2 – You’ll need a way to distill water to replenish the battery levels. The average life span of a 6 volt solar battery is 5 -7 years at a cost of $300.00 to $400.00. 3 – Well pumps don’t last forever. Learn how to replace the pump that gets water to the dwelling. They break at the most inconvenient time.