Are you trying to relocate ‘off the grid’ – to a tiny home or maybe a ranch in a remote part of the Midwest? There are realities of life we all have to accept even if we want to unplug.
A few days ago we heard your feedback and the reality is that – even living off the grid life keeps going. Family, work, school and even some hobbies don’t stop just because you disconnected.
connected remotely
Maybe you are homeschooling your children or you want your grandchildren to visit without missing out on the resources they need. It’s possible you just don’t want to miss the next time Bama is in the college football playoffs. Or it could be as simple as you just need a reliable connection to keep up with work.
We shared with you the 6 essential aspects of transitioning to living off the land. But there is more to living off the grid, then what is essential. How can you thrive and facilitate your entire family into this new way of life?
Well, of course it all starts with the family. Your partner, wife or husband and maybe even your children – perhaps the people you are trying to convince so you can make this dream a reality.
What is the most important part of this to your family? Well if you are in a long term relationship of any kind, you can help make this easier for everyone. How? By talking through the biggest questions facing you, your partner and maybe your children.
- Even though expenses will be low, how do we keep earning money?
- How will we keep up with our children’s homeschooling?
- What options do we have to stay connected with the entire family?
No matter how much some of us would like to completely unplug, there will be real world situations we can’t ignore. But what’s great is we don’t have to do this like it’s the ‘Oregon Trail’.
Hearing back from so many families that are making this transition or that have made it – here are some helpful tips that will make the transition less painful.
Talk It Through (Having the right mindset)
Take the time you and your family needs to talk it through. Do your homework and ask the right questions. If you truly want to make this long term, you will need a lot of planning and education especially related to potable clean water sources and generating power.
Don’t skip steps as you educate yourself and put yourself or your family in danger. Make sure you take the time to ask experts for feedback.
Plan, Plan and then Plan Some More (Backup power options)
One of the most common headaches for living off the grid is generating power – especially if you don’t have an electrical background or some understanding of solar panels and turbines (which are the two most common methods to generate power when living off the land).
We have heard from many seasoned veterans that living off the grid starts with generating power, but it always requires a backup source. Don’t miss this step.
on location and budget
Solar only works when the sun is out and turbines only work when the wind is blowing. So you can’t just rely on this especially if you hit several days of overcast cloudy weather or if the winds die down for a week.
Battery technology is getting better and better and can hold more electricity for longer periods of time. Keep in mind it’s not cheap and an entire battery bank, storage system, controller and inverter could be as expensive as all of your solar panels and wind turbines combined. But it sure is worth it in case of an emergency.
Test and Experiment (You don’t have to do it all in one step)
Living Off the Grid
After you have consulted experts and educated yourself then you plan. But the nice thing about this process is there are so many ways to stage your transition in phases.
You can learn quite a bit about solar panels and wind turbines – you can even test some of these power generating options before you go 100% off the grid. This is most true especially with growing food or preserving food. While you can’t test a solar panel just anywhere or without significant prep work, you can start a small farm even in an urban community.
Even when it comes to shelter there are so many options now to see what you want to buy or build before you invest the money. You don’t have to start from scratch. Tiny homes have now become so popular they have been a common starting point to live off the land.
Now staying connected off the grid, as little or as much as you want, is very easy with data connections or satellite internet. Both of these options are easily testable and would probably come in handy if you are brand new to living off the land and could benefit from online resources to help you in the transition.
We’d love to hear back from you at admin@survivaldispatch.net if you are living off the grid and what experiences or challenges you might be facing that we can help you with.