Off the grid and loving it without the agony

Decided you really do want to get off the grid ?

Getting started and having fun preparing for living off the grid and loving it can be fun, innovative and exhilarating or it could be a nightmare straight from hell if you don't think it all through and get some kind of a handle on where you are headed. 

• Research off the grid living to find out the skills you need and how to get them. 
• Get your head around it all 
• Know that it will be a complete lifestyle change and you may need to rethink quite a few things in your life. 
• Plan ahead so you don't get bogged down in the technicalities and toss it all away as being too hard before you even get started. 
• Decide where you will begin - will you  crack on ahead, buy your plans, get your materials, set up your  new "escape" whilst still living on the grid or will you commute to and fro and try to set it all up.
• Have some funds in reserve - some "freedom money" to tide you over until you can get yourself sorted otherwise you are going to feel pressured     and make snap decisions and maybe leap into something you don't want.
• Know  there is always another and alternative way to do things and you don’t have to spend a fortune getting everything top of the range 
• There is a multitude of things that you can recycle for practically free to make useful things to help you get off the grid and quite often people will be only too happy to get rid of items that you will find valuable in your new life. 

Don't complicate your new life off the grid by finding the most complicated  and difficult  ways to do things, start small and test out the waters. Try out something like a solar fruit dryer or some planter boxes and expand on these.
Think about experimenting with a bit of solar cooking, making a solar oven or buy one while you are still in the city and see how you go with it.  


    

Consider taking some courses on basic carpentry, read up on alternative lifestyles to see how others have managed to get off the grid to expand and  increase your own level of skills.

Build on the first steps while you are still in employment, still living in the city, on the grid, even if you are champing at the bit to crack on and get off the grid

Are there any collectives where you want to move to, or communities with similar ideals to yourself in the area you are thinking of ? 

Are there any swap meets, any exchanges of skills co-operatives ?
Maybe there is a friendly farmer who might want to graze his livestock on your newly acquired land in exchange for keeping an eye on your land or even livestock while you come and go. 

Once you have made the decision you want to do something its never as  difficult as you might think and others have all gone through the same doubts and dramas.  

Getting off the grid and loving it will not be easy in fact, some times you will feel like you are living off the grid and hating it ! 

But always it will be completely satisfying to know you are in control of your own destiny, following your own path and saving money on energy and being able to live wherever you choose.  Off the grid and loving it ?  Will you ? 

If you never ever go, you will never ever know and life is too short to procrastinate.   If that's what you want, then go for it.