Living off-grid offers several benefits beyond just saving money. For starters, it gives you privacy and protection from common urban threats like burglary and air pollution. It offers restful landscapes that are perfect for homesteads. With lush forests around, you can hunt game, plant your own food and do practice shooting without much worry about making too much noise.
But achieving your dream off-grid homestead does not come easy. Building it can be expensive while planning it is quite exhausting and stressful. Take a look at the following tips to get you closer to your dream off-grid homestead: (h/t to Survivopedia.com)
1. Research first
As with anything, planning your off-grid homestead requires research. You can visit online portals where homesteaders share their experiences about living off-grid. Engage in casual conversations and drop some of the questions that might have been swimming in your mind, like the cost of starting a homestead and the permits needed to build one.
2. Be realistic about the location
Take note that some locations are simply off-limits for various reasons. An area might be owned already, zoned for a particular purpose or has unrealistic building requirements. Also, you should consider taxes, the climate, local laws and several other minutia that might seem unimportant at first glance but turn out to have a great bearing on the kind of homestead you have in mind. If you're keeping your job while living off-grid, then consider commute options and travel time.
3. Plan your ideal off-grid home
Once you have settled on a location, it’s now time to plan your ideal off-grid home. Go over all your options and decide which is the most feasible, economical and satisfying to you. Then consider whether you're building your off-grid home yourself or buying one that's designed and built by somebody else. If you're building your own home, study the kind of materials you need and whether or not planning permits are necessary.
4. Review your energy and water options
To be self-sufficient, you need to have your own power generator and come up with your own way of purifying water. Review all available options and decide which ones are the best. Some options may work better than others depending on the location of your home. For example, if you're going off-grid someplace sunny and windless, then using solar panels will be a good idea but using wind turbines probably won't work.
5. Consider home maintenance
Because you will be generating your own energy, ongoing work and maintenance to ensure that your homestead would be running safely and smoothly is more important than ever. Make sure that you'd get regular HVAC maintenance for your off-grid home so that your heating and cooling systems wouldn't eat through the energy that you produce from your generator.
6. Consider where you'll get food
Take note that going to the supermarket for food supplies is still a viable option even if you're living off-grid. In fact, this might be a very good option if you're holding a nine to five job and have little time to put together a decent meal three times a day. If you plan to produce your own food, then now is the time to start learning the skills necessary to do this effectively. Don't forget to look up licensing requirements and hunting restrictions in your area.
Living off-grid offers an idyllic life away from the hustle and bustle of city dwelling. But before you achieve your dream off-grid homestead, first you have a tedious bunch of things to get out of the way, like looking for the right location and planning the home itself.
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