Living Offgrid Affordably: Before Getting Started

Reader Contribution by Jeff Chaney
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Photo by Jeff and Kathy Chaney  

This series of articles will chronicle our journey into living off grid at the least cost, and as comfortably as possible. As with all things in life, the comfort level you enjoy will be directly proportionate to your available budget. This level can be raised massively using your knowledge and abilities. Our desire was to create a sustainable lifestyle using a minimum of investment. The wish now is to convey some of what we have learned along the way, and identify some of the mistakes that were made. I am not an expert in any field, nor do I hold a list of degrees. My sole qualification to write this is the fact that I am living it daily.

This story is not a how to guide. Off grid living is much more complex, as you will discover, and unique to each individual family. Every detail of one’s daily life, both current and future, must be given utmost consideration. I cannot stress enough that last statement. Actual cash outlay will also depend heavily on the exact amount of work you can do. Ninety percent of the work was performed by my two hands. We will not go into every detail, with the hope that you will come away with a clear understanding of what was done and why, what was successful and what was not. Our approach was far from common, but a lot of this information is quite adaptable.

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