Are you wondering how to go off-grid partly or completely?
We’ve spent 24 hours researching the best way to transition to an off-grid living and interviewing people who actually made it.
We’ve compiled everything we’ve discovered about off-grid living into this article for you.
If you want to live an off-the-grid lifestyle, here are some pointers on how to make it work.
Going completely off the grid is a fantasy for many people.
Not only that, but by doing so, you may save money while also providing yourself with a feeling of accomplishment by contributing as much as possible to the environment.
If you’ve ever wanted to move to off-grid living but weren’t sure where to begin, we’ve put up a step-by-step guide for making the transition.
Related post:
How to Get Started Living Off Grid
Living Off The Grid
Isn’t it true that the most difficult aspect is always getting started?
And, let’s be honest…going off grid may seem intimidating.
There are so many things to consider.
First and foremost, you might be wondering whether or not it is possible for an individual to live completely disconnected from the modern world.
Is it legal to go off the grid?
How much does it cost to go off the grid?
How do you live comfortably off the grid?
Then, you might be wondering…
How do I start?
Do you start by learning carpentry?
Or how about learning how to grow and preserve your own food with mylar bags?
This list should help you respond to these concerns and, more significantly,…
Help you get started!
Ready?
Let’s dive in!
Push for time? Want to have a printable copy of this checklist? Enter your info below to download your copy.
How to Go Off-Grid Step-by-Step
1. Initial Planning
First thing first. You need a plan.
If you don’t know how much money you have or where you’ll be living, it’s impossible to live off-grid. The way you acquire this living area is determined by your resources and preferences.
Here are some tips to help you plan your transition:
- .Get financials in order
- Increase your income
- Create a budget
- Reduce unnecessary living expenses (new clothes, cable TV, eating out, etc.)
- Start saving
- Pay off debts
- Research off-grid lifestyles (mobile home, prefab home, affordable lands, etc)
- Research local laws about off-grid living
- Decide how far you want to go off-grid (electricity, water, sewage, etc.)
- Decide how remote you want to live
- Think about your health and how it will factor into off-grid living
- Define WHY you want to go off-grid
- Think about what skills you already have (carpentry, gardening, first aid, etc.)
- Consider ways to make money while living off-grid
Related post: How To Live Off-Grid And Reduce Your Carbon Foot Print
Want to learn the lost ways from a better, far more self-sufficient country filled with rugged individuals who knew how to survive anything life threw at them. Watch this short video.
2. Start Producing Your Own Food
It’s time to look at how you’ll feed your family now that you’ve completed your first strategy.
While many individuals are acquainted with traditional gardening, developing a garden that can sustain you and your family requires certain skill.
Here are some helpful resources to get you started in the right direction:
- Learn about gardening
- Start a garden at your current home – choose just a few plants for starters
- Learn about other gardening methods, such as permaculture, greenhouses, hydroponics, and aquaponics
- Learn how to hunt
- Get a hunting license
- Get a gun
- Set up practice area or go to the range
- Learn about animal behavior and tracking
- Learn how to butcher animals
- Learn about raising animals for food
- Take a tour of a small farm
- Volunteer/apprentice on a farm
Garening Tip: If you have a limited space for the moment, here’s how you can grow up to 50 plants and vegetables in 4 sq.feet.
3. Learn How to Preserve Food
How are you going to preserve your food for the long term now that you know how to produce it yourself?
You don’t want to make any (very costly) beginner’s errors when it comes time to store the food your family will eat.
Here’s how you can avoid them:
- Learn how to pickle produce (Lacto-fermentation and vinegar method)
- Learn how to preserve food for the long term
- Learn how to dry and smoke meat
- Learn how to make a root cellar
If you’re serious about learning how to preserve your food longer, then this is the ideal next step.
Not only will you learn how to make lard the correct way, but you’ll also discover how to store meat in mason jars for more than two years without refrigeration.
Now, I’m not telling you to go out and get this book or that it will save your life.
Rather, I’m merely suggesting that if you personally utilize this approach on a regular basis, and I bet you 50 dollars that unlike most survival foods available on the market…
Food Storage Tip: See our in-depth guide to food preservation here
Here’s a lost super-food will bulletproof you against any food shortage or famine.
4. Buy Your Own Property
You can’t live off the grid if you don’t already have a home, is it not true?
Your options and style will determine how you obtain this living area.
Basically, you need:
- Choose an area to live (Is Living Off Grid Illegal? Off Grid Variation Within States)
- Prioritize your needs, such as accessibility and access to water, whether there are neighbors, soil quality, and natural resources on the property.
Ever wanted to have your own wood cabin?
If you wan to learn the lost method of building log houses that was used by the pioneers who settled in the West, here’s how (it simpler and way cheaper than you think).
Using this simple method, you can build your own log cabin where you can take shelter in a crisis or spend your holidays and enjoy the happiness that comes with a simple life.
5. Plan Your Off-Grid Home
You can’t live off the grid if you don’t already have a home, is it not true?
Your options and style will determine how you obtain this living area.
Basically, you need:
- Choose an area to live (Is Living Off Grid Illegal? Off Grid Variation Within States)
- Prioritize your needs, such as accessibility and access to water, whether there are neighbors, soil quality, and natural resources on the property.
Are you looking to build a shed at home but don’t know what goes into it?
Here are 5 Free shed plans to help you get started!
6. Moving Into Your Off-Grid Home
As you know, living off the grid means living without connections to sewer, water, and electrical lines.
It also often entails living a minimalist lifestyle, reducing waste, and spending only on necessities.
Here’s how you can reach this goal:
- Construct your home
- Decide at what point you will move in
- Consider living there on weekends in an RV or tent if you can’t completely move in right away
- Water and plumbing
- Install toilet system
- Drill well
- Set up rainwater harvesting system
- Set up greywater harvesting system
- Set up a solar shower
- Heating
- Install heating system
- Start stockpiling fuel for the winter
- Electric
- Install solar system
- Get generator
- Practice reducing energy use
- Waste
- Start a compost pile
- Learn to reuse and reduce waste
- Start your garden
- Calculate how much food you need to plant to survive the winter
- Decide what types of foods you want to grow
- Design your garden
- Budget for and buy any tools you need
- Plan crops by season
- Plant an orchard for fruits and nuts
- Start sprouting seeds for your first crop
- Learn to maintain and repair tools
- Get chickens
- Build a chicken coop
- Buy heat lamps for chicks
- Buy chicks and raise them indoors
- Move chicks to their coop when the weather is warm
- Get livestock
- Build pens, fences, and pastures
- Build a barn if necessary
- Go to livestock fairs to start learning about breeds
- Consider how you will transport livestock
- Buy your livestock
- Learn veterinary care
- Build greenhouse
- Build aquaponics system
- Stay healthy
- Learn first aid
- Learn natural remedies (Great book for you here)
- Set up a medicinal garden
- Stay active and eat healthy to prevent disease
For many, going 100% off the grid is a dream come true.
Not only that it could save you money, but it also can bring you that incredible feeling of satisfaction, knowing that you are doing everything you can for the environment.
If you’ve ever wanted to make the leap to off-grid living but weren’t sure where to start, this compiled step-by-step guide will help you transitioning to a simpler, more sustainable lifestyle.
And last tip…Be happy because you are living off the grid now!
See also: The Fastest-Growing Vegetables and Crops for Your Garden, Greenhouse, and Homestead
Are you planning to go off grid? What are your plans? Share your thoughts below in the comment sections!
“Always Be Ready” Max