Off Grid Living

Living off the land, living off the grid and living without a mortgage are all things that spark my interest. As some people know, I have done this and I have a cabin on a piece of land without power from the grid. I use solar panels, wind turbines and that is how I power my little home. I believe that this is going to be the new “vogue” thing to do and from what I have been reading and seeing, it has already taken on a life of its own.

I am writing this article for those who may be thinking about this life changing idea. First thing to know is this is not something that you cannot do. Anyone who is willing to do a little work can make this lifestyle a reality. The key to success is knowing where to buy land, what time of year to look for land, and most important, who to buy land from.

The starting point for the “off grid” lifestyle is having a place to build a home. You obviously need land and that land need not be expansive but it is always nicer to have more land than less land. But the point is you can even do this where you are living right now. But since most people that I know want a place in the “hills” far away from the rat race, we will just go in that direction for this article.

Buying land from a realtor is the biggest mistake people make. This is a great way to pay extremely high prices and all you are doing is paying someone else to do what you should be doing anyway. I cannot stress this enough, do not buy land or a home from a realtor ever! In fact, if you feel that a realtor is a good idea, you are not going to make it as an off grid living type person. You need to begin doing things for yourself and that begins with finding property on your own. This saves money and you will get a much better deal. Newspapers, online classifieds and so on are the best places to look. As an example, I found my land on a popular classified ad site which you have all heard of before. I got a great deal, a land contract, and now I have a huge piece of land with a great home and no mortgage, no bills from the power company and I still have all of the things I had in my old house that the bank owned.

Once you have your land, you need to do some thinking. Go camping on your land, take the family, ask them all questions about what they like, dislike and where a home might look good on the property. Watch where the property gets a lot of sun and figure out which way the wind seems to blow most and how hard it is blowing. Is there water on the property? If so can you use that for power, drinking water or plumbing? These things are important and you should know them before you even think about building anything.

Of course the building is important. Depending on the size of your family and the activities you do, you will have to come up with a size and floor plan that suits your needs and you should always keep in mind that you may want to expand your home. Leaving room for this will cost you less in the future.

So why do people decide to live this way? Why would anyone want to leave their power company behind and move away from the conveniences of modern society? Well for me it was for a better life. In my job I see the worst of people each day and having a place far away from the city and far away from the high crime areas was a big plus in my book. The power company where I used to live was expensive and the power would go out if the wind blew just a little. They were not that reliable and I did not like having to rely on a 100 year old power grid. Now when the power goes out in your town, my lights are still on. People also do it for the reason that they are now in control of their lives. They do not have to rely on others to produce the things that they need. They produce their own energy, food from their gardens, wood for their fires and it also improves your health. One thing that you will notice is that you do have more chores to do but that is called being healthy and living the way that your body was meant to live. Think about it, no more processed food from a can, now you grow good food that is healthy and has not traveled across the country in a truck before it hits your table. You will have more quality time with your kids because in many cases, kids excel in this environment. Remember when you were a kid? When I was a kid I spent all day outside until my mother screamed at me to get inside. I feel like a kid again. I get to play outside and do my chores and luckily, my mom doesn’t yell at me anymore because she thinks it is a great thing! She is even thinking about doing this at her house.

Peace and tranquility are also byproducts of this lifestyle. A sense of what life should be is sensed every day because you are living by your rules not by some corporation’s rules. You build your sanctuary and you feel good knowing that you had the power to create a wonderful place and no bank owns you.

This may not be for everyone but for those of you on the fence about it, you can live just as comfortably as you do now. Trust me, I do it and I still have all of the fun things such as this computer, my playstation, and television and so on. One more thing…. Life is short my friends. Go after a dream and do not hesitate because you are worried about it. Jump in and if you make mistakes along the way, so what! Know that those mistakes mean that you are living! I once hesitated on this dream so I know what that feels like. I will tell you that it felt worse hesitating than it did doing it. So stop thinking about it and begin living a new life!

Good luck!