off grid/self sufficient lifestyle?

Stressica

Really want to escape the rat race and "work to live" lifestyle everyone seems to follow at the moment.

Do any of you here live off grid/completely self sufficient?

I'm thinking for the future really, atm I'm working full time but this year I am focusing on canning/drying + preserving all my produce from the garden as well as homebaking as much as possibile.

Chickens for eggs + broilers.

and considering getting a milking goat just researching at the moment.. would love a dairy cow but all the red tape involved is a but much at the moment.

cambasque

I hope to be off grid soon, i have been pretty self sufficient as well on and off over the years ...you sound like you are starting off well !

miggs

I live part self sufficient. Brew all my own alcohol, grow/forage/fish and hunt a large amount of food, harvest rain water and all heating is from a stove that uses free timber.
This year I'm working on my house, it's going to be pretty much off grid by the time I'm finished.
Also started growing tobacco this year to see how it goes.
Work wise, I work for myself and only do about 15 hours a week which gives me time to enjoy life.
Work is expensive, living this way means my living expenses are less than 70 euro a week. I couldn't live on that if I had a real job that took up all of my time.
I would seriously recommend living as self sufficient as you can, it's worth it.

Stressica

wow Miggs Im a tad jealous of your situation

How's the tobacco growing going for you?

Without seeming very nosy can I ask did you have a lot of money saved up before you started.
I agree though work is very expensive, and takes up all your time, and for what? (apart from money for necessities)
No point earning money if you dont have time for anything else or are too tired to do so.

miggs

I worked very hard for a few years and saved a lot. It helped that I worked some contracts in countries where I could live for only a few euro a day while earning good Irish wages. I bought a small bit of land and built on it. The house is tiny, but it's paid for.

Tobacco is very very slow growing. Also I think it got too hot for it in the poly tunnel the other day so some of the plants got damaged (They are still really young)

Recondite49

miggs wrote: »

I worked very hard for a few years and saved a lot. It helped that I worked some contracts in countries where I could live for only a few euro a day while earning good Irish wages. I bought a small bit of land and built on it. The house is tiny, but it's paid for.

Tobacco is very very slow growing. Also I think it got too hot for it in the poly tunnel the other day so some of the plants got damaged (They are still really young)

Hi miggs,

Really pleased to hear you're living the dream. I'm hoping for financial independence too but we'll see how we go.

Do you intend to sell the tobacco or are you keeping it for trading purposes/personal consumption?

I take it you were working for Irish based companies abroad? I've heard truck drivers make good money hauling freight, is that the sort of thing you mean?

Watch Ryder

miggs wrote: »

I live part self sufficient. Brew all my own alcohol, grow/forage/fish and hunt a large amount of food, harvest rain water and all heating is from a stove that uses free timber.
This year I'm working on my house, it's going to be pretty much off grid by the time I'm finished.
Also started growing tobacco this year to see how it goes.
Work wise, I work for myself and only do about 15 hours a week which gives me time to enjoy life.
Work is expensive, living this way means my living expenses are less than 70 euro a week. I couldn't live on that if I had a real job that took up all of my time.
I would seriously recommend living as self sufficient as you can, it's worth it.

I didn't know you could grow tobacco in Eire?!

CamperMan

Hi,

we are off-grid and have been for two years, no mortgage or rent to pay, like the OP, we were tired of the "work to live", and decided enough is enough, go back to basics and try to live the way people did a 100 years ago, OK, we still have a car, but it costs very little to run, most of the time we cycle, if anything is broken we fix it ourselves, we grow what we can..

brownian

Surely it is "live to work" that you object to, not "work to live" ?

cambasque

how much land do you live on camperman ?

CamperMan

we have 1300 sq metres of land, also, the local forestry guy owns the forest around us, he gave us permission to hunt if we want to... also, in Sweden, they have the "everyman law", basically, you can walk where you want (not through peoples gardens) and you can wild camp wherever you want so long as you cannot see a house...