When you decide to take the plunge to live off grid, there are several systems you will need to set up in order to live comfortably, yet away from municipal utilities.
There are some systems that you can live without, such as comfort systems like air conditioning. But others are pretty much required to live, so you will want to explore these off grid systems before taking the plunge.
The five systems you will want to consider before going off grid are:
- Land
- Water
- Shelter
- Energy
- Waste Management
Another system I would like to mention is growing food and raising livestock. This is the pinnacle of off grid living and is necessary for survival, but these systems take a while to develop and while you can still buy food from the local market, it is not something you really need to have in place before going off grid.
How To Get Started Living Off The Grid
Proper planning is a very important step before setting up on your property. Just purchasing the property itself takes much thought and consideration. Some folks don't take the steps necessary to properly plan their off grid journey, and that is totally fine too. But if you do that, you will probably be a bit more uncomfortable and have a steeper learning curve.
This is our property during the monsoon season, some beautiful daisies blooming!
I do recommend at least having an idea of where your water will be coming from before going off grid. I have known quite a few homesteaders that purchased a parcel of land, set up a tent, and lived there, building their systems all along the way. And they are successful off-gridders now, but the beginning was very uncomfortable.
I also know several homesteaders that planned and planned and planned for years before stepping foot on their property. They were wanting everything to be just perfect before they took the plunge, which I think did them a disservice.
Living Off The Grid is Very Front Loaded
When you start homesteading, the beginning is the hardest.
It feels like a mad dash to get everything setup and becomes very overwhelming and expensive too. Some structures you may need in the beginning are:
- Fences, gates, posts
- Shelter, such as a tent, shed, tiny home
- Water tanks, plumbing parts, pumps
- Energy systems like solar panels, wind turbines
- Composting toilet, burn barrel, compost bins
A composting system is the backbone of off grid waste management
I do want to make a very important note before you decide to live off grid. You will need to be very handy, very strong, and build most everything yourself, or you will need to have lots of money to hire others to build the systems for you.
Even if you do all the work yourself, you will have to consider the cost of the materials. The prices of building materials has skyrocketed this past year.
Some ideas for lower costs are having your friends and family help you build stuff, or doing a workaway program. You can also salvage building materials, but that takes time.
I hope you found this post helpful! You can read my full article about this topic at https://www.maximumoffgrid.com, which is a treasure trove of off grid information that I have written.
I will be making each system into a post here in the upcoming days, so stay tuned and follow me!
Sincerely, Regina Cal.
