Is it possible to live completely off the grid

Heating water is one of the most intensive uses of energy in our homes. Reduce energy used by lighting. There are big gains to be made by changing the way you wash and dry your clothes. Capture the heat you use and create. Dealing with draughts and fitting loft insulation can prevent up to a quarter of the heat in your home escaping through the loft.

Better still, insulate yourself. We heat our homes to more than four degrees warmer than we did 50 years ago. Reaching for an extra clothing layer instead. So, living off-grid is possible but not as affordable as you might think. We can use solar, wind, biomass and even biogas technologies. But cutting down what energy you do use and on waste will allow you to go further. Festival of Social Science — Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire.

Edition: Available editions United Kingdom. Become an author Sign up as a reader Sign in. I knew I had previous back issues, and I should have worked more diligently on strengthening my core and upper arms sooner. Don't wait to get in shape. Work on building your upper body and core strength now. This will reduce the chances of a back injury or muscle strain resulting from the daily chores of homesteading off the grid.

Don't waste money joining a gym though. Download a free fitness app on your smartphone, or check out the free workout videos YouTube. Think ahead to the physical activities you'll do for fun as well. Are you strong enough to enjoy them without injury? What about if things don't go as planned? For example, can you lift the back end of a snow machine out of slush? I still can't, but my husband can. And think about the realities of what you may have to do to keep things humming along at your off grid home or homestead.

Can you lift or carry a small portable generator? What about chopping wood for kindling? Or hand-digging a garden? Living off the grid and homesteading means you'll probably be more active than ever before. Avoid the mistake of thinking you'll get whipped into shape when you move off grid.

Reduce your chance of injury by getting fitter now. One of the biggest off grid living mistakes I made that I didn't even realize was not having a support network.

When I moved here, I didn't know a single person, let alone someone who knew about the ins and outs of living off grid in a cold climate. Thank goodness Dan became acquainted with our closest neighbor, who has since become one of our dearest friends. An experienced Northerner who built his own off grid cabin from the ground up, Morris is a unique combination of Yoda, Santa Claus, and David Crosby.

His extensive mechanical and survival knowledge has been such a blessing to us. It's pretty remote out here, and that first winter when I was spending long days on my own with a preschooler and a newborn it would have been nice to have had some other homesteading, off grid mamas to connect with.

Find or create your own support network , whether it's online or in "real" life. Join online communities and forums where like-minded people share their challenges, successes, and knowledge. Check out the off grid and homesteading Facebook groups like:.

And try to at least introduce yourself to your closest neighbors, if you have any. Now I know not everyone is socially inclined. And many of us who choose to live in remote, rough areas like our privacy. But when you're far from emergency services, getting help from your neighbors can be a matter of survival. Being independent, living simply, and being self-reliant are three common reasons people want to live off the grid.

But you can't be self-reliant if you don't know what to do, or even where to begin. Become more self-sufficient by learning, then applying what you've learned. The practical hands-on experience is gold. You'll have a better chance of minimizing costly and dangerous off grid living mistakes. This post is part of the Homestead Blog Hop I live in Maine and live off grid. I am very ",handy" and have built a two story conventional house with city building codes by myself years ago.

I also grew up on a tree farm and use a woodstove with "free" wood for cooking, heating, drying cloths in winter etc. I had an off grid trailer set up once on a wood lot I was cutting on. There was a snow storm coming so I went to my on grid city home. We got 13" of slushy snow and it did the worst damage to trees, power lines etc I have ever experienced. I spent a week of misery with candles, a tiny wood stove and other meager supplies until electricity was back on.

The irony is I would not have even noticed a difference in my living style if I had stayed at the wood lot off grid trailer,! I am off grid now and breeze through the blizzards we get in Maine and do not have to worry about my furnace breaking down in sub zero temps or electricity going out.

No surprise electric bills like the one a female made that lived with me in my city house My husband and I built our entire off grid farm ourselves. From having the sugarbush sustainaly logged to having some logs for building. We were middle aged. I daid animal rescue and we raised purebred cattle and made maple surup. Totally off grid with solar and wind.

We heated with wood. We never felt deprived of anything. Miss that life terribly. Only had to sell because of ill health This is a very practical article, and I like that it hits many areas where a woman may be needing more knowledge.

I like that you are encouraging your readers to begin now, where they are. I can relate to just about every area you mentioned. We are slowly getting some things figured out. Just found your blog sarita, I fell really blessed being partially off grid I do produce all my own electricity and most of my water up grades are just so slow, I have a propane heater and a wood heater but live in hot and dry central texas with lots of good oak free to me the one thing people will find strange about off grid is the peace of disconnecting from society and all its problems, this life truly is solving one problem at a time and working daylight to dark every day.

Great advice! Yet, it just seems like such an expense to start with. All I know is to keep researching.

Maybe I need to start with just buying a piece of property? Admirable way of life and no doubt a remarkable experience. Stay healthy, safe and warm! Thank you for keeping this blog, Sarita, and for all the tips! The house has a septic system, but I've also started reading about home biogas systems that have me interested. You can also add food scraps and animal manure. Plus, the remaining solids make great soil! I saw similar systems in rural China and Nepal years ago and it was life changing for farming families there, and very low maintenance Hope the technology can take off here for homesteaders!

My fiance and I are making plans to live off the grid in the near future. We're not young by no means however we do have a wealth of knowledge but certain things I didn't take into consideration the big one physical yes I'm fit but the lifting thing I need to work on.

Hi Jackie -thank you for your comment and for stopping by. What a blessing to have had a son with such a talent. Counties should add allowances for off grid living and update their ordinances to reflect current technology. Originally, all ordinances were put in place for two main reasons: health and safety. The other reason could be to generate revenue for the county through permitting and taxes.

However, it would be nice to update the ordinances to the 21st century based on technological standards and ability that was not available when most of these restrictive ordinances were voted into existence. We have the technology now to live off grid and still be healthy and safe. We can generate our own power. Allow Long Term Camping with a stipulation you must be actively building a dwelling for the duration of the time you are camping : Being able to camp out on your own land while building a tiny house or cabin should be a right and there should be no ordinances which prohibit or restrict the size of dwellings except for maybe when children are present.

For example, if you have 4 people in your family you will need a minimum of square feet per person. Make it easier to parcel larger pieces of land into smaller more manageable parcels. It would automatically produce more revenue in property taxes for the county. It just makes sense to update all these outdated and unfairly overly restrictive ordinance which hinder progress and slows down advancement. It brings them into the 21st century and beyond into a brighter future for all.

If you can think of any other things that might make off grid living easier, let us know in the comments below. Like this article? Subscribe to our newsletter to get more great content and updates sent to your inbox! Living in a motel room for 6 years is not a good living it is definitely a direction towards decay I have lived on outside area's for awhile in my time and if you can commit to survival it is a very decent way to feel free but the problem is that there is an intrapment life we have and no room to supply and demand what we really need is our freedom to be!

It will help the economy tramidously as well improve nature because the intent to surround yourself with natural earth is a foretold storey of great pertisapation in good environmental production we tend to build what we like even if it doesn't look like it those who get tired of a place is respectively understood because that is what we do so if going to another place is what it is then do it!

But please let us have freedom to privacy. So if you're generating and storing enough power for your home The problem is in new builds and the cost of attaching to that grid I live in Scotland and always wanted to just up and leave all government and rules , providing for myself, relying on no one.

Maybe one day! After the kids are older and self sufficient. It must be amazing to live free as you do. I found this article largely focusing on people who are city dwellers at heart. These people and I have seen a bunch of them tend to live 'off grid' raising some goats or chickens and having solar tied into the grid for about 10 years, then they move.

I am actually a bit offended by this type of off gridder, they just build to sell. Then it does not sell, again just saying what I have personally seen , now this type of off grid home starts at about sq ft and grows, badly to about sq ft. It is ugly and generally looks like a homeless encampment, your pictures are not showing the reality, show one of these monstrosities and people will understand why 'restrictive laws' are passed!

That being said, I have been off grid for 25 years in a yr old farmhouse and I love it. No issues, except from at which time banks stopped lending to build off grid dwellings. I was informed that I needed to pay off my home immediately I was able to, no problem I found the bank's attitude to be quite off putting. Your article did not touch on how the federal government, under the Obama administration, attempted to discourage off grid living.