An Honest Glimpse at Off-Grid Living

Many people envision off-grid living as a slice of paradise. With no bills left to pay and a wealth of healthy food in the garden, life seemingly gets a lot easier. Of course, the start-up cost feels prohibitive, and there’s the whole debacle of finding a place to do this. Who has the funding and time?

Honestly, financing a sensible off-grid home and finding a place to put it is often far cheaper and simpler than trying to locate and pay for a reasonable apartment in the big city. Land in remote locations is a fraction of the cost, and building a small home with an effort to repurpose materials when possible is surprisingly economical, though time-consuming.

The rub with off-grid living is that paying for a place to do it, in reality, is the easiest part. It’s what follows that is an ongoing challenge. While it can certainly be worth the effort, it’s important to not go into the situation with too romantic a view of what you are signing up for. So, what does off-grid living look like, honestly?

Solar Power

There is a lot of upfront cost to setting up an off-grid solar power system. Solar panels aren’t the expensive part. Rather, it’s the components, like the inverter, and especially the batteries that drive up the cost. Plus, building codes are set to make off-grid power for a home much more difficult than grid-tied.

Furthermore, off-grid power requires a completely new view of power. It’s a privilege. Off-grid living means having fewer appliances and electrical devices because power isn’t limitless. It’s very finite.

Plus, electricity is guaranteed. Solar power is subject to weather. Wind power is subject to wind. Sometimes, it isn’t available and you have to have backup plans.

Water

Like electricity, water is something we are accustomed to having on demand with just a bill to pay. Water works differently off-grid.

It’s either sourced via a well, which requires a pump, and that requires a lot of power. So, water then becomes reliant on having our off-grid power source in order, and that’s likely subject to weather conditions.

The other option is harvesting rainwater. This requires tanks and places to store the water, as well as regulating it to make sure it’s safe to use. And, it requires weather as well.

Heating & Cooling

Before we leave the utilities that we are accustomed to, there is heating and cooling to think about. HVAC units use up far too much power for an affordable off-grid power system to run. So, most off-grid folks simply don’t have that.

Heating often comes from careful passive-solar home design and fire. That means sourcing, cutting, and chopping firewood.

Cooling is again partially reliant on efficient home design. It’s also simply becoming accustomed to dealing with summer heat, often relegated to what a fan can accomplish.

Garden Demands

Growing a garden is great, and there are loads of ways to make less work than the conventional tilling and toiling version many of us know. However, it’s still work, particularly growing enough food to really adjust the grocery bill. While it may mean less working for money to pay for food, it will mean working more directly for the food itself.

Animals

Loving animals is great, but that’s not to say they are never a problem. In a rural setting, we are constantly encountering wild animals, everything from a squirrel in the attic to a raccoon in the strawberry patch to deer devouring the garden. Then, there are insects. A big part of living off-grid is learning to live with animals, particularly for us vegans.

Money

It’s true that, once an off-grid home/homestead is in place and paid for, financial obligations become much less demanding. However, there are still costs: car maintenance, internet, gasoline, repairs, etc. Having a steady income is huge.

The beauty of the off-grid working life is that it doesn’t need to be a long-hours, life-sucking career. That’s true. The reality of that life, however, is that money is a bit tighter and requires some old-school budgeting that doesn’t involve credit cards, car notes, and so on.

Rural Life

Rural life is full of peace and quiet with plenty of nature. It is also largely composed of that. Coffee shops, take-out, and other modern conveniences though are not part of the mix. Even socializing can require a newfound effort that urban and suburban life doesn’t require.

Living out in the middle of nowhere means that it often takes considerable time to drive somewhere, and that takes considerable fuel which takes considerable money. It’s important to understand that getting away from it all includes getting away from some of the good stuff, too.

In short, the off-grid homestead is an amazing adventure, an undertaking that is full of achievement and independence. It’s also one that has serious challenges, involves sacrifice, and can feel frustrating at times. That’s an honest look at it.

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