How to earn a living off grid?

[chipmunk]

How about beekeeping?

 

[Beekissed]

Great thoughts so let me rephrase my question.......

How does one unplug from their current lifestyle and move out of the area where you know no one and are in the boonies and still make a living?

I guess I do not mean completely off grid, but I do mean a radical change from suburbia where everything is only 3-10 minutes away to a life where everything is 40 minutes away. A life that does not include waking up putting on a suit and driving to work.

So Cal is so expensive it requires a high income. If we were to go else where I do not know that Hubby can find work that he is suited for. But we are very entrepreneurial so we would need/want to come up with something self sustaining. The question is .......what?

Is that a better question?

Yes, that is a better question, Dace! Far as I know, folks who live off grid still have gainful employment for the most part.

But, if you mean, how does one scale down and try to make a living in a rural area with little job opportunities and many miles to travel to have a good job?

I can maybe give you an insight but you have been participating in discussions like this all the while you've been on here. When it all comes down to it, there are trade offs for nearly everything you enjoy.

I took an automatic $3-$4 per hour pay cut when I moved here, I knew no one, no one wanted to rent to me because I was an "outsider". The only reason I could get any employment whatsoever was because I am a nurse and it's called Warm Body Syndrome~they don't care who you are, you are a warm body that fills a certain need.

You know what? I used to make more and live right in a little town, 15 min. from a larger town with all the necessary stores, theatres, airports, etc. Due to one reason or another, I was always behind in my bills and seriously struggling to make it.

I came here, started renting instead of owning my home(moved 6 times in one year to find the place I have now), took this low paying job and dug in my heels. This area is so stunningly beautiful and peaceful that I knew I would have to make some adjustments if I wanted to stay. I've lived here almost 5 years now and I have only been late on a bill two times....and not even that late. And not because I didn't have the money...just overlooked the due date.

Before I came, I sold my house and only made $2000 profit, sold almost everything I owned and made about $300, was driving a used but paid for vehicle and dragging a 4X8 ancient utility trailer, 2 kids, 2 dogs and a resolve to stick it out and stay awhile....a long while.

Just gotta decide what you want and do whatever it takes to make it happen. I'm still doing whatever it takes......

 

[justusnak]

Well Dace...I guess it all depends on you and your situation. Are you buying the home you are in now!? Do you have enough in it to make anything on a sale? How far are you willing to comute, every day for a job? Does your job leave you enough time to care for farm animals, gardens, fruit trees( if thats what you want) ? Do you have things in your home, that you could do without, and sell to make more money for the move?
We just decided we would bite the bullett, and bought this place 5 years ago. Hubby was AirForce for 20 years...and then we retired in a small town. Everything was literally minutes away from our grasp. We got tired of neighbors borrowing sugar, milk, eggs, and whatever else they thought we had for them....so we found this place...and just moved out here. Did we know what we were getting into? Heck no! Did we have a plan? Nope. We just knew we wanted to get out of town! Its taking us 5 years to get things almost in order...I think the plan was 7 years. We have 2 years to finish our projects...so we can "make profit" Will it be enough to live on?? I doubt it...but we will survive...growing our food, preserving it, and raiseing a few extra animals to sell. ie: chickens, turkeys, dUcks, and sheep. We wont get rich...but our lives are richer for it!

 

[Beekissed]

Yay for Justusnak!!!! Just livin' the dream.....

I think that is what it really takes....just jump in and paddle like mad until you can lay back and float.

 

[Dace]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the feedback.

The truth is I am having my own little pity party today and I am in a pissy mood. Hearing all of your ideas on how to make things work give me a glimmer of hope that at some point we can make that leap.

If it was just me we would be having a different conversation, shoot I woudl bus tables if that is what would work. But I have a whole family and a wonderful husband who has different ideas. I think I am slowly having an impact on his thinking though.

I am tired of the rat race we live in!

 

[delia_peterson]

 

[old fashioned]

Dace, it sounds like you and I are alot alike. Similar current situations and wanting to do a 180. Hubby holds us back because he's afraid of not having the safety net of regular income (and no tv to snooze thru ) I have probably more (over?) confidence in our joint abilities to make it and I know he'd do great even if he won't admit it.
Why do I know this? He is what you might call a modern day prospector and the best place to go around here is in the north central Washington area that is atleast 20 miles out of any town, in a desert type area at the bottom of a canyon. We camp in a tent, cook, wash dishes & laundry in the river, pee behind a bush, etc for 2 weeks at a time. Only going into town every couple of days for more ice for the coolers. I usually pack more than enough supplies just in case we are ever "stuck" there, not able to get back home. There are no "facilities" available at "our spot", but a few miles away. I can't begin to describe what it's done for our family-there is no stress, kids don't fight & bicker, no worries about being ruled by the clock, job, school, bills, etc. There is such a joyful and rest filled freedom we can't get anywhere else. One down side is the river is reported to have high mercury levels so that limits us to it's use and no eating of the fish. I'd also like to figure out a way to keep foods cold-fridge & freeze ability during 6 months of warm/hot (110+) weather. Winter is easy with lots of snow & ice-but not in a tent mind you.
Also DH's reactions to when we finally got chickens a few months ago. He's usually a procrastinator about "honeydoo" projects, but he had a pen/coop built in less than a week. Then started talking about raising a calf for butcher out back. Since we only have a back yard and a 50lb calf can grow into a 1500lb monster that it's poop could bury the dog, I had to say no to that one.
Income possibilities are only limited by your own imagination and market for it. Anyway, I'd say the only way to know for sure is to just do it and make the jump. You may be surprised to find out just how little it takes to make it and what skills/knowledge/instincts you really have. As they say, you never really know until you're put to the test. And if I/we were going to make that jump, I'd sell off everything BUT absolute essentials. Keeping any $ to buy what we don't already have that is SS based and to get us thru until we could make enough of our own income. Though I've also wondered if a safety net fund might not come in handy just in case SS really isn't for us-if you know what I mean. Like a "come back home to the city cause wow I coulda had a v8-what was I thinkin?" fund.
Good luck, I'm sure you'll figure it out for yourselves.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Is your hubby's job transferrable?, as in could he do it somewhere else? either for the same company or with another one? Would he be up to moving out of SoCal? Is he self employed? ( I can't remember, but I think you mentioned that he was, if so, would he be willing to start somewhere else?)

I have lived where i am for over two years now, coming from suburbia surrounded by Joneses where ever you looked. convenience store at the end of the street and 10 minutes away from grocery stores, 20 minutes away from all types of shopping.

To move out here, all we did was pack up and leave. Then get animals. Hubby still works at the same job,and his commute is an hour one way. Our mortgage is higher than it was, and his commuting costs are definitely up, (although he now is carpooling- yay!) but our basic cost of living is down. As you probably have gathered from my posts, I raise almost all of my own meat. better for us, since we know what we are eating, and better for our wallet, b/c really it is cheaper IME to raise them yourself.

now, where I am living now, I have a general store 5 minutes away, whose prices are extremely inflated, but it is there for emergencies. The rest of the time, we are 1/2 hour away from the nearest city. So trips are planned out with great care, and trips into town are only when needed. So you need to get organized.

Now, lets backtrack on how we got here. Hubby liked the Joneses. He wanted to be like the Joneses. I hated them and all they stood for. My disdain for them was never as bad as it was in the last place we lived, (city 5 years, as opposed to 7 years in a small northern community)

I never let my hubby forget how much I hated the Joneses. Finally I started looking at places on the internet out in the country. that took a year. accompanied with my comments on how our life would be better out in the country, and that I hated the city. Then he said in a loud sigh, You can go look at some of thoses farms if you want. so I did. If any were worth noting, i took him along with me, but seeing how he wasn't really into it, it took us two years to fnd this place. Now we've been here for 2 and he loves every minute of it. he wants me to get more animals too (notice I said he wants ME to get more animals? ) he wants raw milk too. And now, here's the kicker. It probably took us two years for us to find this place, b/c it had to be a prestigious home for him with land for me. he had to have it all. Now, we are seriously starting to consider looking for another place with more than 20 acres, what the house looks like or how big it is is not important to him anymore.

If my hubby can come around, yours can too. Your kids ages are going to be more of a challenge, but in the end, you (with your hubby ) are the parent, and you get to make the final decision.

Just keep talking health and nutrition to him and the kids. Talk about factory farming vs natural raising of livestock. Talk growing your own organic veggies as opposed to buying expensive ones or buying non organic produce. talk about the values that your kids will learn from living on a farm. The key for my dh was to just keep talking. I guess he finally just wanted to shut me up, so he bought me a place in the country--see, happy endings!

 

[old fashioned]

ps.....if your dh is like mine, blissfully thinking life is great in Rivercity and nothing is going to bust my bubble? My solution to deal with this is to "prepare" for all of us. And I've already told him if he lost his job and had to pull out whatever he has in 401 to survive, I don't want to waste it on trying to save this sinking ship (house with too many years left to pay) and would be better utilized by moving to lower cost area and would last longer too.

eta-now I'm just waiting for everything to fall into place and him to wake up or loose his job, whichever comes first.

 

[PamsPride]

I would say that mostly depends on whether you are willing to move or not. I live a couple hours from Aly and there is no 'keeping up with the Jones' syndrome going on here.

Friends from our church lived in Maryland for a couple years...bought low sold high sort of thing. They were able to move here and buy a $250K NICE house and have a morgage the size the rest of us have.
Having a $40-$50K income around here is making GOOD money. You can find a decent house in the $80-100K range. Of course the less debt you have the less income you need.
Property taxes on a $100K place in my area are about $1300 a year. I get phone, internet and cable for $106 a month. My electric runs about $200 a month...which seems average for nearly all the families around here even though they are smaller in size. We use only wood for heat so no gas expense.
My DH commutes an hour and a half each way for work...didn't used to.

Do you have a house now? Are you able to sell it for a profit? Use that money to buy a modest debt free place somewhere else? Are you able to not eat out as much?
I think if you decide how you want to make extra or living money then decide from there an area to move to that can accomidate that income...near a thriving flea/ farmers market or quant tourist town. Location does make a difference...or at least I think so!

If you are interested in moving have people send you Realtor magazines for the area you are interested in to see what you can get for the money.

Just throwing some ideas out there for ya...