Checklist for off grid planning free pdf
Off Grid Mindset

Checklist for Living off the grid

The following is an outline formatted checklist of the things you need to think about when you’re planning to make the move to an off-grid lifestyle. This checklist isn’t a guide. It’s meant to simply stimulate thought and help you avoid forgetting important considerations.

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. This means offgridmaker.com could earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you, on the things you purchase.

Download the PDF file at the end of this post.

Finances

Many of the decisions you make will be heavily influenced by your finances so it’s important to have a realistic picture of what they are.

planning to budget for off-grid living
Get a handle on the money to make your off-grid journey easier

How much money do you have to start your journey?

The length of your journey to move off-grid can be shortened with money. This money can be used for land purchase, equipment purchases, supplies, books for learning new skills, courses you can take to learn skills, the purchase of a temporary structure to live in while you build your off-grid home and much more.

Set a monthly savings goal to build up an Off-Grid Fund

A nice little cushion of cash will be nice to have when you finally make the move to your off-grid property. No matter how much effort you put into planning your move it is inevitable that you will forget something. This little stash of cash will give you a little security when you need to make a quick purchase. Just twenty dollars every week will be over a thousand dollars in a year.

How much debt do you have?

Ideally, you want to be debt-free when you go off the grid. Get an accurate accounting of all your debt so you can start eliminating it.

How much debt can you eliminate before you go off-grid?

This is the area to get really serious about your planning. Debt is an anchor and it will make your progress to living off-grid harder and harder. Unpredictable hurdles will feel impossible to get over with the weight of debt on your shoulders. Attack your debt with ferocity.

How much income will you have when you move off-grid?

When you have finally made the move, will your income be the same? Will you keep the same job or will you have to find a new one. Now is a good time to consider different types of income that fit well with an off-grid lifestyle.

Self-employment

Being self-employed is far more conducive to living off-grid than being an employee. Time freedom makes off-grid homesteading more enjoyable. If you’re interested in starting your own business You should download this FREE PDF. It contains 131 different business ideas you can start using agorism and counter-economics and it’s perfect for the off-gridder ooking for more freedom.

free pdf - 131 ways to make money by utilizing counter-economics

Online income

I would argue that online income is by far the most suitable for people living off-grid. There are so many different ways to earn a living online nowadays that there is something out there for anyone. As an example, this simple blog earns an income for my wife and me.

Make a budget for finances you will have when you move off-grid.

Try to have an idea of what your income will look like when you make the move to your new off-grid lifestyle. Most people won’t be able to get it exactly right but at this stage close is good enough.

Decide what expenses you have which are unnecessary that you can eliminate when you go off the grid.

Living off-grid and becoming self-sufficient requires an honest assessment of the things in your life that aren’t necessary. We’ve all had things in our lives that we argued where things we needed, but we knew inside where just things we didn’t want to do without.

Where will you live off the grid?

Do you already own the land you’re going to move onto?

What type of climate do you prefer?

Thinking about this now will help eliminate unnecessary work later. There’s no reason to look for land in North Dakoda if you want to live in a warm climate. You won’t have to waste time looking up laws regarding off-grid living in areas that you don’t even want to live in because of climate.

living off grid in remote areas
where do you want to live out your dream

How remote do you want to live?

Do you want to start with raw land and build your off-grid homestead or do you want to find land that has already been improved to some degree or another?

Choose 3 areas you would like to live and rank by preference.

This needs to be done in case there ends up being some reason why you can’t move there. Maybe the land prices are outside your budget or the area has restrictions that make living off-grid in the way you want to live unattainable.

Research local laws for compatibility with off-grid living.

There are no outright prohibitions on living off-grid by state, but there many local governments, especially city ordinances, that make living off-grid either difficult or impossible. Unincorporated county areas are usually the most off-grid friendly.

Check land prices to determine the affordability of the area for your budget.

Choose an area to focus on.

Now that you’ve prioritized 3 areas, researched local laws in those areas and research land costs in those areas it’s time to choose one and start looking for a piece of property.

Begin to visualize, dream about and research what kind of off-grid lifestyle you want.

How far do you want to go off-grid?

It’s important to define what living off-grid means to you. Living off the grid can mean different things to different people, but what it means to you is the only definition that matters.

Do you just want to live without public utilities?

for most off-gridders living off the grid just means that your home isn’t connected to any public utilities.

Use this Solar System Calculator to find out what size solar system you will need.

What about Financial institutions?

Some people say Financial institutions are part of “the grid” This could include banking accounts, the use of credit cards, and even using checks.

What about the Government

There are even some that remove themselves from the system of government. This would mean getting rid of government identification. refusing to pay certain taxes and refusing government benefits like SSI checks and any sort of government handout.

Is your goal to grow or raise all your food or just a portion?

Answering this question will influence how deep you’ll have to go in your self-education and how much land you’ll have to buy. It will also affect the level of income you’ll need.

Will you produce your own electricity or live without it?

My wife and I started our off-grid journey living completely without electricity. We added solar as we could. It isn’t that hard to live without electricity, in fact, we made some unforgettable memories in our tiny little wooden tent with no electricity.

cheap 600 watt solar system
You gotta read this article about how to do solar on the cheap.

How will you have water?

This is a very important question and it will influence many other decisions. I highly recommend reading this article specifically about the many different off-grid water options.

  • Live stream
  • Hand-dug well
  • Drilled well
  • Artisan well
  • Rainwater harvesting
  • Water hauling

How will you deal with human waste?

Without a public sewage system, you will be responsible for human waste treatment/disposal. There are a number of solutions and some will influence land purchase decisions.

How will you heat and/or cool your house?

Some climates won’t need household heat, some climates won’t need household cooling and some will need both.

Is there cell/internet service available where you plan to live?

Most people won’t want to give up cell service or internet service so this will need to be considered when you’re looking for land. It is possible to get internet service with a satellite internet service provider in some of the most remote areas, but this will alter the monthly budget because it is quite expensive.

Check out this article about 8 things you can do right now to prepare to move off-grid.

Start researching the things you need to actualize your vision of the off-grid life you want.

What type of structure are you going to live in?

  • Log cabin
  • Camper/RV
  • Shed to cabin conversion
  • Earthship
  • Sandbag structure
  • Rammed Earth
  • Yurt
  • School bus conversion
  • Cordwood

What skills do you possess, what skills do you need to learn and what skills will you pay for?

Building skills

  • Carpentry
  • Plumbing
  • Electrical

Alternative energy skills

  • Solar
  • Wind
  • Hydro

Gardening

  • Traditional gardening
  • Permaculture
  • Straw bale gardening
  • Greenhouses
  • Cold frames
  • Raised beds
  • Food forests

Food preservation

  • Canning
  • Pickling
  • Dehydrating
  • Smoking meat
  • Root cellars

Hunting/fishing

Here’s an article I wrote about hunting with a slingshot.

  • Tracking
  • Trapping
  • Stalking

Animal husbandry

  • Animal health
  • Animal breeding
  • Dispatching, Processing, and Butchering

First aid

Survival skills

Bushcraft

Foraging

Household

  • Soap making
  • Home remedies
  • Candle making
  • Homemade detergent
  • Homemade whiskey
  • Medicinal herb skills

Check out my Recommended Books page for a list of some great books about off-grid skills.

Now that you’ve researched and learned about new skills it’s time to start practicing them.

There is a big difference between learning a skill and being proficient at it. Practice makes perfect and many of these homestead skills can be practiced where you are now. Check out this article about 4 of the most important skills to learn if you want to live off-grid.

Click here to download the pdf version of this post

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gardening and learning new skills during coronavirus lockdown
Off Grid Mindset

Tips for making the most of the Coronavirus lockdown

Most of us are now under some version of a lock-down or quarantine, whether forced or self-imposed. As homesteaders, off-gridders or preppers we should take this opportunity to hone our skills or learn new ones.

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. This means offgridmaker.com could earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you, on the things you purchase.

Contents

  • mindset matters
  • decide and do
  • learn new skills
  • practice existing skills

Mindset Matters

In times like these when things are uncertain, there can be a lot of anxiety around what could happen. It can be hard not to worry about the what if’s.

There is a good way to combat these feelings. It just takes two steps

First, identify the things you can’t do anything about. Most of the anxiety we feel is based around things we have absolutely no control over. Giving our energy to these emotions has no effect on the outcomes of things we can’t control.

It’s impossible to not have thoughts about these things that worry us which are outside our control, but when we have them it is critical to acknowledge them as something we can’t control and move on to step two.

Step two is simply making a plan of action to do something we can control. Consciously making a plan of action helps to relieve stress around the uncontrollable things by giving us a sense of control and by occupying our mind with actionable exercise.

Decide and Do

Now that we’ve decided not to borrow worry from the future, it’s time to decide what to do and do it. Deciding what to do is obviously up to you but I’m writing this article to make a couple of suggestions. I think this is a great opportunity to either learn new skills or hone the ones we have.

I’m an off-grid homesteader and there are always things I want to learn or things I want to get better at but there never seems to be enough time to get around to those things. Well now most of us are stuck in a situation where we have more time than we’ve had in a long time.

We can use this time to focus on these new skills and as a bonus set aside, at least somewhat, those worries we’re all having about this pandemic.

Learn new skills

If you’ve been planning on going off the grid this is the perfect time to start learning and practicing those skills that are going to get you there. Who knows how long we have before we have to get back to the daily grind that takes so much of our time. Today is the time to choose something to learn and do it.

Read a book about the skills you want. There are books out there about anything you want to learn. The great thing is you can start reading a digital book today. You don’t have to go to the library or the bookstore and you don’t even have to wait for it to be delivered. Pick a subject and download a book today.

You can also get an audiobook to listen to while you do other things like clean out that attic. I know you’ve been looking forward to that.

The best part about this plan is Amazon is offering a free trial with there Kindle membership. It gives you unlimited access to millions of e-books you can read on any device and audiobooks you can listen to. All at no cost for a limited time. Here are some links that describe the program. https://amzn.to/2RgXvLo

31358 ku associate ads 300x250

Also, you can check out my recommended books page where I list some really great books about survival first aid, foraging, bushcraft, DIY solar, rainwater harvesting, the off-grid lifestyle and more.. https://offgridmaker.com/recommended-books/

Learn a new skill by watching YouTube videos or listening to podcasts. These approaches are safe in this time of social distancing and don’t require any money. So let’s get to it and learn something new while we have the time to do it.

Practice our skills

We all know that we can’t just read about skills or listen to someone teaching us skills and expect to know how to do the skill. We have to get out there and practice.

This reminds me of when I was in Boy Scouts as a kid. We earned merit badges and these were basically awards we earned when we learned a new skill and demonstrated to our Scout Master that we had learned the skill and were proficient at the skill. This took practice. We didn’t just read about it and get the merit badge. It required practice to learn it.

Learning new skills has value we can’t even quantify because we have no idea how many times that new skill is going to come in handy throughout our lives.

One of the greatest points to learning a new skill or perfecting an existing one at this particular time is that the process of doing it has taken our mind off these worrisome times, even if only for a little while.

I hope you have found value in this post and I would love to hear your comments and suggestions, so don’t be shy. Let’s see how many great ideas we can all come up with together.

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Cooperation and support with in the offgrid and homestead community
Off Grid Mindset

The importance of the off-grid/homestead community

The off-grid/homesteader community is one of the most helpful, giving, friendly, and least divided communities I’ve ever been a part of. If you’re an off-gridder, homesteader, or aspiring to be one you should definitely get involved in this community. You’ll find many people willing to help, share, teach, and encourage you along your journey.

Some of my articles contain affiliate links. Click here to learn more.

Contents

Where to go to get involved?

  • Online
    • Social media
    • Forums
    • Blogs
  • Local groups
    • craigslist
    • Libraries
    • Facebook

Get involved?

  • Join groups
  • Get involved

Summary

The Online Community

The easiest way to get started is to start joining online communities. They’re easy to find nowadays.

As we all know there are a lot of online social networks designed to build communities. We’re all familiar with the big ones like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TicToc, and who knows what else by the time I’m finished writing this article.

There are multitudes of forums and blogs out there in the digital world. . Get online and start searching for a community you feel at home in. I’ll be sharing my favorites in this article to help get you started.

Social Sites

Pinterest

I think the easiest way to get started is Pinterest. Pinterest isn’t really a social network site. It is a visual search engine. In the same way that YouTube isn’t a social site.

Pinterest is a good place to get your toes wet because it doesn’t require any interaction to get going.

Pinterest is a great place to find inspiration for the things you like. It’s also a place where many great websites in the off-grid life and homestead space are publishing pins to get your attention by showing you all the things they’re doing.

Thousands of how-to pins about off-grid projects, skill development, philosophies, and lots of other useful information can be found on Pinterest.

Creating your own account is super easy and free. I suggest you sign up and start searching for Pinterest accounts focused around off-grid living and start following them.

Then create your own boards and start saving pins that catch your eye. You’ll find that it’s a lot of fun.

Click my Pinterest link to take a look at my account and follow me on Pinterest

YouTube

There are so many great channels on YouTube that center around living off-grid I couldn’t begin to list my favorites, but I am a little partial to The Off-Grid Maker. For real though, YouTube is a great place to find other people who are living off-grid and showing everyone what they’re doing and how they’re doing it.

Go to YouTube and search off-grid channels and check them out. While you’re there subscribe to The Off-Grid Maker YouTube Channel. I put out new videos every week.

Facebook

Of course, Facebook can’t be left out of this list of places to find a good community. Personally I don’t use Facebook for philosophical reasons, but that’s not to say there aren’t some great groups to be found there.

MeWe

If you’re like me and you prefer a social site that doesn’t track and sell your information to advertisers, protects your privacy, and doesn’t continuously show you ads then you’ll love MeWe. This site has basically the same features as Facebook without all the personal intrusion and advertising. I’m involved with several great groups there. Here’s a link to my MeWe profile.

http://mewe.com/i/offgridmaker

Check it out, message me and I’ll share all the awesome groups I’m engaged with so you can get started there.

Forums

Although forums aren’t as popular as they use to be since social media sites came on the scene, they’re still a great source of information. Forums are also a great place to find other people who are on similar journeys to yours.

There are a lot of great forums out there. Here are a few of my favorites for you to check out.

https://www.survivalmonkey.com/forums/off-grid-living.59/

https://permies.com/forums

https://diysolarforum.com/forums/off-grid-living-advice.13/

Blogs

What is a blog? A blog is just a website that focuses on posting articles about a specific topic. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of blogs focused on off-grid living and/or homesteading.

Of course, there is this blog www.offgridmaker.com that this article is posted to, and I’m so glad you’re here. As a side note if you’d like to sign up for notifications anytime I post a new article you can do it at the bottom of this page.

The reason I like blogs so much is they’re usually a personal website. Typically they’re published by an individual who is living the lifestyle they’re writing about. The posts are written from personal experience and point of view. Many of these blogs post about very similar topics, but the experiences, opinions, and information can be vastly different.

Here are some of my favorites you can check out.

www.maximumoffgrid.com

www.purelivingforlife.com

www.anoffgridlife.com

Local Groups

Finding local groups to be a part of can be helpful in ways that online groups can’t. Local groups can have meetups and get together for socializing, skill-sharing and training. This allows you to meet like-minded people face to face and form personal relationships.

community that will encourage and inspire

Unlike online groups, you won’t be able to join dozens of groups. You might be lucky to find just a handful close enough to you to be able to be active in the groups.

Here are some ideas for places to look to find some near you. Craigslist will have some local groups in their personals section. You may be able to find local groups on Facebook simply by doing a local search. Your local library might even be able to point you to some local groups.

If you can’t find any local groups don’t be afraid to start one on your own. Chances are there are people in your community that would love to be a part of such a group.

Get Involved

Now that you’ve found some groups and joined them it’s time to get involved. Get active in your online groups by commenting on posts, asking questions, sharing ideas and experiences. Re-post other people’s comments and content to spread the ideas of off-griding and homesteading and help to grow your community.

Attend events hosted by your local groups. Get out there and meet other people like you and form relationships built around common interests. Lend a hand to help others in your group and they will do the same for you.

Summary

You’ll find that joining this community of helpful, genuine, sharing, knowledgeable and all-around great people will give you great inspiration, and encouragement. You might even form some lasting and meaningful friendships. So get out there and find some groups to join in this great community. But, don’t stop there, get active and have fun doing it.

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off grid cabin in the woods
Off Grid Mindset

What does it mean to live off the grid and what are the advantages and disadvantages.

What does it mean to Live off the grid?

Merriam-Webster defines Off grid as \ ˈȯf-ˈgrid  \: not connected to or served by publicly or privately managed utilities (such as electricity, gas, or water), but this isn’t the whole answer. What it means to live off grid can have many different meanings.

Contents

  • What are some reasons to live off the grid?
  • Is living off-grid worth it?
  • What are the advantages of living off the grid?
  • What are some disadvantages of living off grid?
  • Is it legal to live off the grid?

The dictionary definition of off-grid seems to be the basic minimum of what it means to live off-grid. If a person doesn’t buy electricity or gas from a power company or water from a water company, then they live off-grid.

Some off-gridders would also include the banking system as part of the grid and others might say you’re not off the grid if you have a cell phone or an internet connection.

Some might even say if you buy food at the grocery store you’re not off-grid.

A person’s definition of “off-grid” will have a lot to do with the person’s reason for living off-grid. Most people who live off-grid do so because of some view they have about the world they live in.

Reasons for living off the grid

There are many reasons to live off the grid ranging from religious to criminal, but I will discuss what I believe to be the main three reasons people choose to live off-grid.

Living off-grid can be a political statement

government corruption protester

You may want to live off-grid to excuse yourself from a system of government you feel is oppressive, corrupt, and materialistic.

This could include trying to live without a regular tax-paying job or trying to keep your personal information as private as possible by not using the internet or banks. It might mean living as primitively as possible to minimize the influence of the outside society.

Living off-grid can be a preparation

Maybe you have a world view that foreshadows an impending doomsday scenario and you want to be prepared for a coming apocalyptic dystopia brought on by war, natural disaster, economic collapse, electric grid failure, or a complete meltdown of the political system.

Living off-grid can be a philosophy

one world save the earth sign

It might be that you feel it is better for humanity as a whole if we all live more simplistic and sustainable lives, using minimal resources and not abusing earths natural resources. Trying to produce more than we consume might look like a viable solution to many world problems.

For me, it’s easiest to use the dictionary definition for off-grid and everything else is a spot on the off-grid spectrum.

All that to say, what it means to live off grid is subjective.

Start with the dictionary definition and expand on it from there if you want.

If you’re thinking about living off-grid here are some other questions you might be having.

Is living off-grid worth it?

I think living off the grid is worth it for 3 main reasons.

  • Living off-grid if done frugally allows for more disposable income.
  • The off-grid lifestyle will simplify your life.
  • You can’t help but become more self-reliant when living off the grid.

Gain more disposable income by living off the grid

Pile of money

When you live off the grid you will have fewer bills. This has a benefit other than the obvious of just not having to pay out so much every month in bills. It means the money you would have normally spent on bills is now available to upgrade your off-grid homestead with tools, equipment, materials, etc.. You also could use that money to buy courses to learn new skills. Maybe you would like to use the extra disposable money to invest. Whatever your reason for wanting to go off-grid a little extra cash every month will help.

A simple life from living off the grid

Living off grid will inevitably lead to a more simplistic life. Your path to living off the grid will lead you to self-sufficiency and self-reliance. These qualities are difficult to achieve without cutting loose excessive baggage in your life. The more you cull out these inessentials the simpler life will become, and I don’t recall anyone ever saying. “Man, my life is so much simpler now. I really wish it was more complicated.”

Self-reliance is a byproduct of off grid living.

Moving off the grid will require a person to learn new skills; gardening, animal husbandry, food preservation, land management, energy conservation, energy production, construction basics, and many more.

I can’t really think of a situation where knowing how to be self-reliant is a bad thing. Click the link below to check out my list of recommended books for learning all kinds of off-grid skills.

Recommended Books

Where do you place your value to determine whether something is worth it or not?

I think it should be said here that you need to know yourself and where you place value in your life. For most off-gridders, it seems they prefer to trade in the 9 to 5 grind where you rent your time to someone else for money that can then be used to purchase conveniences, for a more demanding life where the fruits of their hard work build a life with more freedom and simplicity. In this way of life, more value is placed on liberty, self-reliance, and simplicity than on convenience, consumption and cool stuff.

Keep in mind there’s no judgment here about putting convenience and cool stuff high on your list, but if you do then living off-grid is probably going feel like a waste of time to you.

What are the advantages of living off the grid?

The advantages of living off the grid are many and will be different for every individual, but some of the most common advantages can be put into these categories; economic, health, and spiritual.

Economic advantages of living off the grid.

First, I will say that living off-grid can be just as expensive as living any other way, but if your decisions are made with economics in mind then it’s pretty easy to do it in such a way that it is much cheaper than living on the grid. For starters, there are no utility bills.

You can calculate how much cheaper that will be for you by adding up your current monthly utilities.

Now consider how much you will save monthly if you grow all your own vegetables. There is a cost involved with getting started growing your own food, but if done wisely it is a one time cost. And, if you get really good at gardening you can grow an excess that can be sold at a farmers market.

If you’re not a vegetarian you can now consider livestock for meat production. There are ancillary benefits of raising livestock also like fertilizer for your garden, a source of income for your off-grid homestead by selling animals.

Health advantages of living off the grid.

Listing the health benefits of growing your own vegetables and raising your own meats would be a small book in and of its self, but just knowing where your food comes from and knowing everything that went into it is a very gratifying feeling.

The off-grid lifestyle is inherently less stressful and we all know how unhealthy stress is.

Living off-grid often involves living in rural or even remote areas far away from the pollution of the cities.

Spiritual advantages of living off the grid.

girl enjoying a spiritual view

You may define your spirituality as religious, non-religious, theistic, atheistic, humanist, cosmic or whatever. It really doesn’t matter because living off-grid and being more removed from all the hubbub of society will allow you more peace and time to contemplate this aspect of your life and add more clarity to your spirituality. Of course, a spiritual existence can be pursued in the connected city life of society but it is easier in the tranquil and often stress-free setting of an off-grid life.

Disadvantages of living off-grid

The list of disadvantages of living off-grid is much shorter in my opinion.

I think most off-gridders would agree that the biggest disadvantage of living off-grid is the inconvenience of living in rural or remote areas and not having a limitless supply of electricity.

Living miles away from town makes it difficult to just run to town for this or that. Trips to town for supplies need to be well planned so errands are efficient. You can’t just run out to the local ice cream parlor just because you have a hankering for something sweet.

home wind generator

Producing your own electricity means you have a limit to the energy that is available to be used. For most off-gridders, this is the largest inconvenience in the beginning of their journey. The production of electricity can get very expensive and so it’s usually done in a progressive process. You install a system that you can afford and add to it as you can, so in the beginning, you aren’t producing enough electricity to run certain household appliances most people take for granted. Central air conditioning uses the most electricity and so it’s usually one of the last modern conveniences added to an off-grid homestead. Other things some off-gridders do without in the beginning are clothes dryers, washing machines, dishwashers, microwaves, and even refrigerators. Most off-gridders don’t have televisions either.

Is it legal to live off the grid?

The short answer is yes.

I’m not aware of any municipality or county in the US that specifically prohibits off-grid living. That being said, there are areas where certain aspects of the off-grid life are illegal. These prohibitions are usually local ordinances.

In some areas, it’s illegal to harvest rainwater which is a large part of many off-grid homestead plans.

Some areas don’t allow alternative energy systems that aren’t connected to the grid(also known as grid-tied systems). Some areas will have stringent building codes making it almost impossible to build structures with alternative building practices.

I’m sure there are many more types of restrictions on the off-grid lifestyle.

For this reason, it’s very important that you do diligent research in the area you plan to go off-grid in.

Summery

Living off-grid has different meanings for different people based on how they see the world. The reasons for living off-grid will have more to do with your own world view than how someone else defines living off-grid. Knowing yourself and how you place values on life will help you to decide if living off-grid is a worthy endeavor for you.

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