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I am curious how many of you work a traditional job and whether it's part time or full time?
And how that works into being self sufficient?
Maybe some real stories if anyone is comfortable sharing them of how a traditional job works in with their lifestyle
Our situation:
I just completed a job interview and got hired so will elaborate in the next post Seems to fit well into the offgrid theme so I'll talk about it in the next post.
We have a home business. Our main contract is with a school district. My husband and I supply labor at $34 an hour a piece. so $68 per hr in painting the schools. It works out to a little over $12,500 for 10 weeks work of work Mon-Friday 8 hrs a day. This has always covered our house payment all year. We have chickens which most lay eggs and a vegetable garden for vegetables. No fruit trees but we can pick blackberries in August by the river and freeze them for the whole year. Fireplace for heat BUT we are connected to the grid in every way at the moment. We are looking into buying a rocket stove, one we can cook on the top
I just got hired to help support a developmentally disabled adult live independently. They pay for sleep time. We share the same interests- gardening, canning, picking blackberries, making jam and spaghetti sauce. Except I don't pay for the utiltiies while we do this, only for my portion of the garden we grow. As we hike, we will pick up wood to burn in her fireplace she loves to have a fire even though her utilities are paid. And I'll bring enough wood home for us for a few days also in our van. Shower a few times at her house as our water bill connected to the grid is $80 a month
She wants to see our chickens and take some eggs home, great because we have plenty!
Every other weekend-
Friday 5pm through Sunday 5pm
48 hrs straight at $10 per hr/$960 a mo.
Paid to sleep when Client is sleeping
When we move offgrid, and do the offgrid things, these two jobs will sustain us just fine. Though we also take jobs during the week outside of working for the school, they just don't pay as well
Since this is a new trend that developmentally disabled adults are living independently in their own Apartments with support, it might be the perfect job for some off griders who are almost 100% self sustaining but need extra money still (car insurance, health, repairs etc)
And again, you can save even more by showering at their house, gardening and canning. Maybe even shopping thrift stores if you sell online. I do but haven't done so well lately, but it's still nice to sell a hundred or more each month. Kinda like being paid to shop and you have some $ hopefully to give them to buy something for themselves.
Step by step, you can get more self sufficent as you have time and money. Jumping off the deep end and going whole hog isn't an option for most folks, so doing what you can when you can is a good way to start.
Lots of public land out there west of the Mississippi, so the opportunity exists for wild meat, birds, fish as well as wild fruits and other vegetable matter if you just put forth the effort to learn and actually get out there and get it.
Hunter gatherer is the oldest form of human survival.
Having a garden, planting some quick growing fruit bushes such as raspberries and blackberries if you have the space is a good idea.
Small animals like chickens can have a real impact on your food budget for both meat and eggs as well as fertilizer for the garden. They'll also eat any bad vegetables or discarded leaves etc. from the garden.
Rabbits are another great producer in a small area. A pair of rabbits can produce an amazing amount of meat in a year, as well as leather for clothing.
They also produce great fertilizer and will also eat garden scraps.
Super insulating your home, using passive solar heating, installing skylights in dark areas of the house so you don't have to turn on the lights are all options to cut your heating and electrical costs.
The first thing you need to do is determine how much you want to produce yourself which also includes how much space and time you have as well as what you know how to do.
Learning how to do your own repairs on your home and vehicle, learning new skills such as stone masonry, carpentry, plumbing, all are valuable skills to have and help you become more self sufficent.
It all depends on the individual and their resources.
I work a full time job, and have a second corporation a friend of mine runs, as well as I blacksmith and to cabinetry work as a part time job for pocket money besides being pretty self sufficent.
I don't take a lot of vacations to other states or whatever, I stay home and work for myself. I don't watch a lot of TV, I work in the shop or garden or with my livestock.
Weekends I will usually invest at least a day in fishing/hunting/trapping or foraging for wild edibles in season, or cutting timber and bucking it into firewood.
That's just the way my parents did it, and how I was raised so I really don't see it as a hardship as it's all I've ever done.
To others, it would be a real shock to miss that football game in order to change the oil in the car or rototill a garden instead of going out to supper.
It all depends on you and what you're willing to do.
Step by step, you can get more self sufficent as you have time and money. Jumping off the deep end and going whole hog isn't an option for most folks, so doing what you can when you can is a good way to start.
Lots of public land out there west of the Mississippi, so the opportunity exists for wild meat, birds, fish as well as wild fruits and other vegetable matter if you just put forth the effort to learn and actually get out there and get it.
Hunter gatherer is the oldest form of human survival.
Having a garden, planting some quick growing fruit bushes such as raspberries and blackberries if you have the space is a good idea.
Small animals like chickens can have a real impact on your food budget for both meat and eggs as well as fertilizer for the garden. They'll also eat any bad vegetables or discarded leaves etc. from the garden.
Rabbits are another great producer in a small area. A pair of rabbits can produce an amazing amount of meat in a year, as well as leather for clothing.
They also produce great fertilizer and will also eat garden scraps.
Super insulating your home, using passive solar heating, installing skylights in dark areas of the house so you don't have to turn on the lights are all options to cut your heating and electrical costs.
The first thing you need to do is determine how much you want to produce yourself which also includes how much space and time you have as well as what you know how to do.
Learning how to do your own repairs on your home and vehicle, learning new skills such as stone masonry, carpentry, plumbing, all are valuable skills to have and help you become more self sufficent.
It all depends on the individual and their resources.
I work a full time job, and have a second corporation a friend of mine runs, as well as I blacksmith and to cabinetry work as a part time job for pocket money besides being pretty self sufficent.
I don't take a lot of vacations to other states or whatever, I stay home and work for myself. I don't watch a lot of TV, I work in the shop or garden or with my livestock.
Weekends I will usually invest at least a day in fishing/hunting/trapping or foraging for wild edibles in season, or cutting timber and bucking it into firewood.
That's just the way my parents did it, and how I was raised so I really don't see it as a hardship as it's all I've ever done.
To others, it would be a real shock to miss that football game in order to change the oil in the car or rototill a garden instead of going out to supper.
It all depends on you and what you're willing to do.
Thank you. That is an abundance of useful information. We have already grew our own food, made compost and grew potatoes in that, had chickens with eggs and done a few other self sustaining things. We actually automatically do it, fix things that others throw out, re-purpose. My husband is a Contractor so he tinkers with alot of stuff. But you're right, it is so tempting to go hog wild and try to do it all at first. Our next task is buying a rocket stove though I'd love to build one, he just isn't interested in that. Says it doesn't sound like fun which surprises me. Then we'll do the flower pot candles heating, to see how much heat they produce and if it's worth making lamps out of them. People toss out old clay firepots alot around here
Our next task is buying a rocket stove though I'd love to build one, he just isn't interested in that.
So why don't you build it?
Nothing would ever get done around here if I waited for my better half to take an interest. lol. Unless he can run it through his forge, it's not going to interest him...
(Which, of course, is why Im the house builder and he just holds the occasional board )
So why don't you build it?
Nothing would ever get done around here if I waited for my better half to take an interest. lol. Unless he can run it through his forge, it's not going to interest him...
(Which, of course, is why Im the house builder and he just holds the occasional board )
Me? What are you saying? lol
Honestly, it never occurred to me I might posses the ability to do it.
My parents' families - largely self-sufficient folks in the 1930s-1950s - worked an average of six hours per day, six days per week, forty-five to fifty weeks per year. Sometimes they worked twelve to fourteen hours per day for week after week after week. They were using many "grid" services -- electricity, gasoline, diesel, fertilizers, insecticides, etc. My paternal grandfather used a pair of mules instead of a tractor, but that only substituted feed (and shoveling sh*t) for gasoline...
My sister and her husband -- "gentle-person farmers" in the Deep South (in other words, fairly well-to-do) -- work about five hours per day from March through October to meet their needs for fresh vegetables in warmer weather, and personally-canned vegetables in colder weather. They purchase their meat and poultry, and they also depend on the "grid" for support.
"Living off the grid" is nothing more, or less, than constant work for most of the year. In temperate climes this work is distributed over more months -- in colder climes it is concentrated into fewer months.
No reasonable person can paint much of a smiley face on this. "Free time?" Nope, other than for the deepest of Winter, when merely going outside can represent a significant challenge.
My ex-BIL is a tobacco-farmer. Even though he purchases all his family's food, his only "free-time" is in December (approximately). His "year" begins in January with the construction and planting of his "seed-beds" and the 'final preparation' of the fields to receive the young plants a bit later. His year ends in November with the plowing-under of what's left of the tobacco plants, and the 'preliminary preparation' of the fields for the next year's crop. (Yes, he practices crop-rotation; this was only a simplified example.)
Last edited by Nighteyes; 02-18-2015 at 06:02 PM..
"Living off the grid" is nothing more, or less, than constant work for most of the year.
This I dispute, but I may define it differently than you do. In its strictest definition, "off grid" means not being connected to utility electric, natural gas, or municipal water/sewer. In remote areas (where I live), there are no natural gas lines, or municipal water/sewer. Instead, we use propane, and have a well and septic system. These are common in the country, and represent no hardship.
You might have a point when it comes to electrical power, as we do not have that, either (too far from poles to connect). But nowadays, there are solar, wind, and hydro powered home systems, and ours is solar. We have lights, refrigerator, freezer, ceiling fans, hot and cold running water, flush toilets, cell phones, laptop, and most other things modern families enjoy. We use a generator to power things like laundry machines and air-conditioner, which we rarely need. So that is not really a hardship, either.
We heat with wood, and have propane back-up. We cook with propane, but have many back-up methods.
To the OP: Living without a mortgage, or as small a mortgage as possible, is what makes this work. I realize that such is not always possible for younger folks today, but it seems that so many of them go out of their way to buy the biggest, most luxurious McMansion that they can get financing for. Our goal was always to live well below our means, and to save as much as possible.
I am a retired business owner, and live on 33 acres, in a small ranch house that I and two relatives built in the summer of 2013. I could have afforded more luxury...but why waste the money? It doesn't grow on trees!
We do not live like the Amish...no horses, mules, or oxen. We do have a rototiller, and a big garden. I also raise poultry, and market it to metro restaurants. I am up at 4:30 am out of habit; that's when I do many chores until 6 am when the wife gets up, and I usually make the breakfast. We pretty much do as we please the rest of the day. I am happiest outdoors no matter the weather, and greatly enjoy building projects: woodshed, outdoor brick oven, etc. My life is not "constant work", and we do not live like the Amish.
And yes, you can built a rocket stove with large cans...just look it up online!
This I dispute, but I may define it differently than you do.
Yup, we have different definitions. Mine is a bit more strict than yours.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah
Instead, we use propane...
That, in my definition, is a "grid" service because it is delivered to you through an extensive distribution network, probably by truck.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah
We do have a rototiller...
Your rototiller is also dependent on a "grid" service because its fuel (gasoline?) is delivered to your area by another large distribution network.
Nor-Eastah, my intent here is not to start a debate, but to provide a word of caution to those who may not know. Living off the grid isn't laid-back or idyllic. It is a distinctive way of life that involves a good bit of personal planning & work, and its a good bit more chancey than it may first appear.
To the OP: Living without a mortgage, or as small a mortgage as possible, is what makes this work. I realize that such is not always possible for younger folks today, but it seems that so many of them go out of their way to buy the biggest, most luxurious McMansion that they can get financing for. Our goal was always to live well below our means, and to save as much as possible.
You just provided the solution and the problem in the same paragraph. It is a bit of a catch-22. In order to pay cash for your land and home and have enough in the bank to secure a decent existence (definition of decent: have some money saved if things break, have some kind of health-insurance without a $12K deductible, not be freezing in the winter because you have no money for heat etc.) - in order to have all the aforementioned - you need to have had a career in a city (unless all this or some of this was given to you by your parents). By having a career in the city - you would have been a member of the crowd many folks in this forum despise even though many have been in the same crowd, until they haven't. Yes, some folks were able to do well even in rural areas but mostly cities. A few folks have also been in the army and draw pensions - something that helps immensely since it is a guaranteed check. Same folks also enjoyed years of free this and free that while in the army - allowing for a small nest-egg to use when they got out...
Anyways, it is what it is. To live simply and with no bills, you have to have the dough...
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