How to earn a living off grid?

[Dace]

You guys are great, do you know that? You have seriously lifted my spirits 9well a good nights sleep did not hut either)

Ahhh......so many questions....

We do not own this house. We have been thinking about buying it but that is looking less and less likely, which frankly is a good thing. We will be looking for a lower priced rental in the spring.

DH is a keeper he is a great guy and I love him to pieces.....I would give up my SS dreams and spend the rest of my days in an apartment if that is what was needed. But, luckily he is open to other options as soon as we get financially on track.

Kids are cool with moving. Surprisingly. As we were driving thru Cuyamaca, Julian and Santa Ysabel this weekend they all said Let's Move Here!

DH spent years being self employed and then the economy crushed us. Crushed his business, we lost the house and we kind of got back on our feet but the company he WAS working for just went under due to ridiculous mismanagement. Now he is working on a project with some investors. It would bring more stability....so we'll see.

We talked about it last night, and he is becoming more open to rural. Not really off grid.....while that sounds like an incredible adventure, it is not really where we are headed. He will want a nice 'Jonesy' home and I want some land. So now the goal is to make money where we are then think about where we want to go. As usual I put the cart ahead of the horse.

Gina, I am thinking we eventually may be headed more in your direction. Can you tell me what communities I should keep my eye on? Fallbrook seems quite expensive. Santa Ysabel is gorgeous, but probably too far. DH may be based in Escondido area.

I love hearing all of your stories. You are a great bunch of people

 

[modern_pioneer]

With all of Bee's Off Grid talk and me being completely fed up with our So Cal life.....how on earth does one venture into off grid and earn a living?

I would love to just go rural, but again, don't know how we would make a living. It seems to me that you have to be independently wealthy. I know that our expenses would radically drop if we made a move, but our income is dependent on Hubby working......which seems to be city related :/

Someone tell me how to break this cycle.... earning to living and living to earn

Paid in full, made a choice of keeping up with the Jones or living my life. I looked to have a trade and was lucky enough to run into a follow Master Craftsman, and I was more interested in learning my trade further as the did back in the centuries past. So I have left the Jones behind, and generate my own income.

In doing it, I am not 100% SS as I depend on power as well as machines and employees, but I am not answering to the man and I have the type of freedom some folks dream about. (not rubbing any bodys nose in it or bragging up, mentioning it as it is on topic here).

But sometimes working for yourself can be a mess, especially when you add other people to the mix. So I am a nice boss but my attitude is I pay you to do a job, I expect you to do it, and I will give you a pay check at the end of the week.

Because here in PA you have to pay taxes on bartering, PA has some very stupid tax laws, I often make things to use for trading. I try to think of using my skills to make money as well as use to get things that I need. I bring in money from all over the world and do my best to spend it locally as possible.

If I were 100% off grid, I could still make things from copper and steel for a living to trade to get the things I need.

 

[Wildsky]

Kids are cool with moving. Surprisingly. As we were driving thru Cuyamaca, Julian and Santa Ysabel this weekend they all said Let's Move Here!

We so nearly bought a house in Santa Ysabel in 2006/07 - it was on 10 acres, but the house was really really tiny, they were asking $360 I think, and we offered around 20K less, they turned us down, and we moved on .... I'm pretty sure they lost out eventually with the property prices dropping like a rock after that.

Its a lovely area up there, very pretty!

 

[murphysranch]

A different perspective here from CA, and perhaps Dace and Gina and Wildsky can appreciate the comments. Its so expensive here in CA. It takes two incomes to make it work, whether you rent or own, in LA or Silicon Valley. My daughter is renting a two bedroom, two bath duplex in San Jose for $1550/month. It doesn't include utilities. And this is the third place they have moved to within the past 12 months, trying to reduce costs while upgrading the home. They have three children under 6 between her and her husband. They barely make ends meet and will be moving to WA state in the summer to reduce expenses and try to go to college up there. They are on Food stamps and WIC and the children have Medi-Cal. He works full time at a high school as an aid for an autistic teenager. She is on unemployment, after being a property manager for a few years.

I bought my first home for $117,000 in 1981 in a neighborhood where we joked that they only let us in cus we were white. Boat ppl and hispanics were the majority. Both of us had to work to pay the mortgage cus we only had $5K to put down. We sold it in 1986 for $123K.

Hubby left us, so I was on my own. Moved in with Mother. Got another full time job, and 1 yr later bought a WW2 home that was designed for returning vets, in San Jose nicer section for $240K. Mortgage was $1500 so I took in a renter. My father and I slowly fixed it up, remodeling the kitchen and replacing single pane windows. Sold it to sister for $300K in 1992. And so the story goes.

My point? We were in and are still in the same spot as Dace et al, trying to stay afloat. I am the aggressive investor and impetus behind the various moves, since DH is a painting contractor and cannot support the family with his income. He contributes by using his skills of building, remodeling, etc. He has been building our home here on our 7.5 acres for over two years, and yes we have a loan. An interest only loan which terrifies me cus I'm now unemployed. (lost my hi paying tech job in July). When we sold off our home in San Jose, for a figure that is unimaginable to most except perhaps Ohiofarmgirl, we were able to pay off our mortgage, first and second lines of credit, and a huge credit card bill (building supplies, not vacations or clothes or stuff).

By the way: in CA the property tax is now 1.22 percent of the purchase price of the home, but does not include the bonds, assessments, school stuff, and other things they tack on to the yearly bill. Our tax bill here is about $9K. This is why when the market crashed and the dot com bust came, ppl were escaping CA as fast as they could. Even today, there continues an exodus from CA because normal everyday people cannot afford to live here. We moved 3 hrs away from the rest of my family, to everyones chagrin. But its what we had to do to try to ESCAPE Silicon Valley.

So, long story about me, but this is why I've joined your forum. I read every comment, every suggestion, and then talk to DH about what I've learned. He's not "hurting" yet financially; that is my burden to bear. I'm looking for a home based internet job now.

I'm slowly, carefully, implementing some of the things you have taught me so far. I'm considering raising two pigs. I have 4 hens and 3 roosters of Jersey Giants, which are not easy to find out here. I'll get rid of two of the roosters, and keep the conforming one (to breed standards as I've read on BYC). Maybe I could sell chicks. I'm baking my own bread with miserable results. I bought a grow light at Home Depot yesterday and will start my own seeds in the dining room. I'm gonna look into cheap small solar for running the computer and a couple of other things. I bought a used Honda generator on Friday for emergencies. I'm gonna have a huge garage sale in the spring for the stuff and more stuff that I don't need or want. I have a canner, water and pressure, and dozens of jars - just need to get going on learning how to do that again.

So, in CA its gonna be hard to live inexpensively, much less off grid, based upon the state's huge costs for property and taxes.

 

[Dace]

Thanks Murphy.....living in CA is like being addicted to drugs. Once you are on the drug, no matter how hard you try you can't shake it without outside assistance.

I am not sure if I can wean Hubby off the CA drug cycle, but I do know that he is on board with raising our own meat and growing as much of our own food as possible. Just need to make the leap to a more rural location.

Those of you living outside CA really have no idea how stunning it is to hear that some of you can pay as little as $700 a month for a house with acreage or a $1000 property tax bill. Blows me away!

 

[miss_thenorth]

Those of you living outside CA really have no idea how stunning it is to hear that some of you can pay as little as $700 a month for a house with acreage or a $1000 property tax bill. Blows me away!

Keep mentioning that to hubby, eventually it will click.

 

[Dace]

hee hee hee....I do ALL the time!

 

[old fashioned]

I'm in Washington state, Tacoma area of Puget Sound and I'm sure it's probably cheaper than CA, but not by much.
As for property taxes, our house was built in 1962, 968sqft, 3 bed, 1 bath, single story with "attached garage". HA! the garage was once a single car carport that someone enclosed and put up a roll door and is only big enough for a VW. This sits on about 1/4 acre. I think Zillow estimate value is maybe 175,000 and our taxes paid last year were $1891.90. We've been struggling to pay $1321 mortgage and are in the process of "loan modification" to get it down to $1188 per month (includes tax&ins). Other counties are even higher.

Dace-after I posted here about wanting to move to where we vacation off grid, I took a long hard look at what that would really mean and about scared myself silly and realized that would really be too much. Hubby & I aren't spring chickens anymore-too old, too tired, too arthritic, blind as bats (atleast to read) and have gotten too used to conveniences
And I'm not too sure if I'd be able to eat any animal that I've had to look in the eye on a daily basis and hand raised, especially if I had to nurse them back to health. I know I couldn't with the 4 chickens we have and I know the kids wouldn't either. They are just too much fun entertainment. So I guess my SS contributions will remain citified with gardening, canning, chickens for eggs & poop. Although if I had the chance for a few acres, I would raise other types for the by-products and to sell. Who knows, maybe someday I'd get mad and fill the freezer.
Outter Mongolia (off grid) is a nice place to visit but I'm no so sure if I'd really want to live there. But I'm sure we'd manage if we had to.

 

[Dace]

Old Fashioned....I have those same thoughts in the back of my head...only not just about how difficult off grid would be but even buying some acreage and going much more SS. I wonder how would I manage with chopping would keeping a fire going all winter (Not here in So Cal hee hee) keeping up with animals, hay bales etc......I m no spring chicken. BUT it has been my dream for so long I have to give it a go at some point in my life.

I could raise my own meat animals, but I am not sure about the killing part. Processing, sure (as long as I had some guidance) but the actual killing would be tough. Maybe thats why OFG keeps a bottle on hand on Piggie Day.

For now we need to hang tight where we are but I hope that some luck will come our way this spring/ summer and give us an opportunity to explore some more rural options.

 

[FarmerChick]

You have to know what income you want to pull to support your life style.


If you have a high property tax amt.....like alot of people do, then you need to make money to cover that cost first. Without paying that bill....you can't go very far.


Then you have to know exactly what you can live with in that income range.



So before I pick a profession to live off grid.....I would do my monthly budget and see if I could truly generate the type of cash required to do it.

When you know that income level required-----then you can look for interests in what might generate that amt. of money for you.



It is very hard to give up things as we all know...like home loss, car repossession, etc. etc.


So I would work backwards. find the income you absolutely require to survive and live decent as you need----then see what your interests can generate income.