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hallamore
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# Posted: 10 Jul 2012 12:14am
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I'm in my early forties and have a very good paying job. I want something more out of live and I love the outdoors. My wife and I both agree that we don't want to have to work in the system as many of our do for much longer. We have saved and paid off a 22 acre slice of heaven off. I built a cabin that is solar powered, have propane for water heater and can simply breathe life in and relax. I want to fully quit the corporate life in the next few years and am prepping for that day. What drives you to do the same?
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Khakov43
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# Posted: 10 Jul 2012 06:16am
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Wife and I are in our mid 40s, no debt, self employed, cabin paid for, house be paid for this January and we would love to leave this rat race and by the Grace of God we wouldn't look back. Sometimes things aren't as simple as we would have them to be. The Bible says: Without a vision we will perish.
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cabingal3
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# Posted: 10 Jul 2012 07:09am
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Quoting: Khakov43 The Bible says: Without a vision we will perish.
love this.
i want to cause it will be cheaper.
Honestly,sometimes i get so tired of electronics on in our home.the tv blaring all the time.and i am the worst offender on it being on all the time.
i think one reason too is-when we go out to our property.The ones to finally have a home-are all inside watching tv and they are never outside and it is a nature filled land.i think this is so sad.i never want to be this way.
if we went to our cabin right now and we had electricity.i am sure we would be wooed into watching the tv and not get as much done as we would like.
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flyrdr
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# Posted: 10 Jul 2012 01:07pm
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This has been a long time dream of mine but as I've said before life has a way of getting in the way of how you would like things to be. I find myself 63 years old and trapped on corperate HELL every day thinking that "this just ain't the right way to live" Doesn't matter how I got here, the past is the past but every day I go through the "of only's" dreaming about the self sufficient lyfestyle. It might be too late for me now but I still dream of a cabin that I can at least escape to for periods of time. Hallamore you're young and from the sound of it are treading toward "happy destiny". Good luck, get out while you can 
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OwenChristensen
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# Posted: 10 Jul 2012 01:13pm
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Why? Because I'm one independent bugger. It's a game with me. Can I fix the car, furnace, lawnmower, etc. Can I live without power, or conections to the outside? Can I live without a life long monthly bill? I'd like to think so.
Owen
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rayyy
Member
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# Posted: 10 Jul 2012 05:00pm
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Grant you I will have to buy a new truck in the near future but right now most of my paycheck is going into this cabin and barns and my land.Gas for my truck,money for my insurance and groceries,cell phone and internet is all of my bills.No morgage or rent (just taxes).No heating bills,no electric bills,no paying board for the horses.I use to spend about a grand a month for this stuff but now It is 100% invested back in the cabin.Im even thinking maybe I can save up the money to pay cash for that new truck after the cabin is all finished.No more paycheck in one hand out the other to bills.
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OwenChristensen
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# Posted: 10 Jul 2012 05:12pm
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Good for you. Now get by on a three thousand dollar truck and you'll realy have it made. Some people drive the ones you trade in , ya know.
I just sold my Excursion for six grand. It had 280,000 miles on it. I'd still be driving it, except something had to go. I kept my one ton flatbed. It makes me money.
Owen
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Khakov43
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# Posted: 10 Jul 2012 05:53pm
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My wife was decorating the cabin and we discussed putting a clock over the kitchen sink the more we talked about it the less we wanted one so no clock at the cabin , but to be honest I would like to have the weather report every day.
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rugercpl
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# Posted: 27 Jul 2012 11:57am
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I think I would have preffered if given a choice to have lived during simpler times.....when people were more self-reliant, and being a part of nature was daily routine. Cabin life is calling to me and I want to try my hand at small subsistence farming, raising chickens, cutting wood, canning and preserving food, hunting, living off the land. Don't get me wrong, I love technology and modern convenience too, but to me the practice of living in an older-fashioned sense and style just feels good.
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cabingal3
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# Posted: 27 Jul 2012 02:09pm
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Quoting: rugercpl I think I would have preffered if given a choice to have lived during simpler times
man! my exact thoughts!
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rayyy
Member
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# Posted: 27 Jul 2012 04:30pm
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That's just it,I didn't want to get into my retirement years and look back and say,why didn't you go for it?You only live once.And have that regreatfull feeling.I couldn't live with my self.I'd alway's have that nagging feeling eating away at me.Even if this didn't work out,I'd be glade I gave it my best.
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COTTON PICKER
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2012 03:02pm
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I was born & raised on a cotton farm in Southern Mississippi.
At the age of 18 (1954) I enlisted in the Military for what turned out to be a 20 year tour.
Prior to enlisting in the Military we had no TV, telephone, electricity or indoor plumbing.
We cooked & heated entirely by wood we cut from our own land.
We built our own house, barn, boat, etc.
We had a large garden & orchard.
We did much hunting & fishing on our land.
We gathered wild pecans from trees on our land & adjacent woods.
The River which flowed through our land was used for boating, fishing, swimming & bathing.
We "borrowed" honey from wild bees.
We had chickens, cows & hogs.
We grew corn which we shelled & had a local grist mill grind it into corn meal from which we made corn bread & crackling bread.
I estimate that 90% of the food we consumed was gathered by us from the River, land & woods.
We were definitely living "off grid".
We were happy, healthy, well educated & pretty much self sufficient.
Lookig back I realize I was very happy with that life style & would like to return to it.
Unable to do so I just enjoy reading all the articles posted here.
You folks enjoy!
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rayyy
Member
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2012 07:23pm
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God Bless Yah,Cottenpicker.I know I had a great child hood,growing up,too.Wished the whole world could have experience life as we knew it.Things would be so much easier!
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stranjbrew
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# Posted: 4 Sep 2012 10:27pm
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I want to be free.
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creeky
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# Posted: 12 Sep 2012 11:36am
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I love the great outdoors. This morning I spooked the local wild turkey population as I went to the outhouse. I sit here watching the groundhog browsing in the grass. The bluejay is squawking about something ... and it's time to put the backhoe on the tractor and have some fun diggin'.
Just don't ask me this question in February.
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aktundra
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# Posted: 12 Sep 2012 09:02pm - Edited by: aktundra
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I love all the responses.
I want it because I don't want to work to live.
I watch people around me work to live. Everytime I go to my cabin I wonder when life got so complicated. At the cabin, we are on "river time." We work alot at the cabin, but it's not like my day job. When I want to take I break I do. I take the time to enjoy what's around me. Family means so much. We spend all day together instead of a few hours after work. Simple things are so entertaining at the cabin. We enough it so much, we go to the cabin to get away from the world. We go to sit back and enjoy life. There are no stresses, no commute, no worries. The dog is even happier at the cabin. So I ask myself why can't life in town be this simple? And that is my goal, to make day to day life simple.
There is so much more to life than working a day job. This Mark Twain quote sums up everything I've wordily written above!
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
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silverwaterlady
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# Posted: 12 Sep 2012 09:23pm
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The power lines are 2 miles away. $100,000 to run the lines and a electric bill every month even when were not there? No way.We are only there 3 weeks while we are working and it is a seasonal cabin May-Sept. when we retire.
Living off grid is not cheap either because the CSA approved propane lights,refrigerator and stove, solar system,battries,generator and propane are expensive.Having a dug well with pump is expensive. If your not handy(I'm not) than getting help in a remote place is expensive. I guess you can forgo a lot of this stuff but...
One thing to consider is this:if you plan on being off grid in your retirement than you need to make sure that you will be able to live like that when you are old and not as mobile. Having to sell your beloved cabin because you can't haul water anymore is heartbreaking.
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 13 Sep 2012 02:55am
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If you don't want a tv on 24/7 than why have one at the cabin? That pretty much defeats the purpose of being there. Even at home there is a off button.
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 13 Sep 2012 03:04am
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I am wondering about those of you that want to retire young and go"live of the land". What are you doing about health insurance? Are you just going to do without? No preventive health care because you just can't afford it? Curious.
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aktundra
Member
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# Posted: 13 Sep 2012 09:14am
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Definitely know the reality of life and that living off the land is extremely difficult. I know plenty of folks that live off the land but they have worked years to get there.
I don't plan on living entirely off the land. I understand that health insurance is a necessity. I will still have a part time job that offers health insurance for purchase.
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creeky
Member
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# Posted: 13 Sep 2012 05:14pm
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silverwaterlady. csa is not expensive. having a well dug can be cheap. and one thing about remote locations. help is usually 1/2 the cost of in town. there are no "real" jobs out here. hence no competition.
there is a tremendous wealth to living off grid. it's not for everyone. but for those of us who enjoy solitude and self-reliance it is a blessing.
some of us will be challenged with health issues. but living an active life means you are far less likely to be that person. and why would you have to carry water? that's what pumps and tractors are for!
living off grid is not difficult. not that it's easy. if you live in a big city you have to work at a job. water, sewage, hospitals, schools: they require little effort to access. Still, you have to commute, shop, cook, clean and brush your teeth. if you live off grid, you may work fewer hours at your job, with a commute measured in seconds, but you still need to cook, clean and brush your teeth. and you'll need to check your batteries on the solar system, dump your "compost", and mow the back 40. It's really about trading one set of tasks (perceived as restrictive, ie. city life) for another (rural life).
For me, that's the key to off grid life. You do tasks when the weather allows/enables. Really, I plow after a rain. The soil is softer and it's easier on the tractor. I mow/harvest in July, after the bobolinks (a cute field nesting bird) have fledged. I watch movies and stay up all night with the lights on, after a sunny day with another in the forecast, because I know my solar/battery system is not going to suffer.
That's what is so wonderful about being off grid. It gives you a reality that acknowledges nature, is responsive to a changing environment (weather, seasons), and yes, a slower, less stressful life.
On the other hand I personally love going into town for the excitement of the latest movie, for good food (oh how I love good food and the dense urban environment breeds competition among restaurants and the specialization of skills!!!), and hot showers!!!
I haven't set up a good shower system yet. In town I get a shower that lasts indefinitely.
I guess the key advantage of off grid is that you are in charge. You decide when chores will be done. With prompts from mother nature of course. the crops go in in the spring and come out in the fall.
But by being more in charge of your life. Less beholding to the rigid schedule of city life. Yah. You are more in control of your life.
Come join us. You like!!!
***I live in Canada. We have universal health care. Maybe not as good as in Europe, but you need too***
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silverwaterlady
Member
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# Posted: 13 Sep 2012 05:48pm
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The propane refrigerator I want is small it costs 14cu ft $3,200.00 before taxes and shipping. I can't bring one at half the cost from the states because it is not csa approved. A electric one the same size at Best Buy is $400.00.
It is not cheaper to get experenced help where we are on a remote island in Canada. I don't live in Canada so I must continue working if I want medical insurance.
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TheWildMan
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# Posted: 14 Sep 2012 11:59am
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ethical standards, I am a Pagan (nature worshipper), and feel that living off the grid on a self reliant farm with sustainable green energy and low carbon footprint is the best lifestyle for a nature worshipper, its also really cheap, i cut my own firewood with an ax and buck saw, a small cabin is easy to heat and i only needed 4 face cords last winter. I generate power with solar and wind, grow a lot of my own food. i substitue hard work in place of cash, its also a good way to stay in shape, walking everywhere my friends say i got watermelons for leg muscles. also being in an out of the way and out of sight cabin/farm no one bothers me about my religion, unlike the city i used to live in where neighbors threw rocks at me
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groingo
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# Posted: 14 Sep 2012 04:02pm
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For me it was the challenge, to live comfortably as cheaply as possible....I did it for a season using solar (when there was enough light to make it work) and re-inventing myself the rest of the way.
Well, this past spring I sold the solar and went back to the grid to try something different, seeing just how low I could go and still live comfortably but with a twist, to eliminate the need for electricity all together in every way possible, lasty 2 month bill was $17.34 of that $3.00 was for the actual 2 months power while the rest was for all the other invisible charges!
Re-inventing yourself has proven far and away the best way to go, for example I don't have a fridge I use a water filled cooler, I now can my own food portioned to my eating habits so there is little if any need to store half eaten food for later, heat/wood requirement has been reduced by modifying the stove which now heats the cabin faster and with less wood (50% less), last season I used 3/4 of a cord this will be much much less.
Light electricity requirement has been reduced by 70% , only lighting with an electric 5 watt CFL' in a primary use area and by reflective candle light in occasional use area.
It is all about refining the process which also means that soon I will be able to disconnect from the grid once again once and for all and that will be a day of days!
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