Why Would Anyone Want to Go Off-Grid?

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​​So recently I was having an interesting discussion with one of my sons. Somehow the topic of living off-grid was brought up and I soon realized that he thought it was a little bizarre.

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Why would anyone want to live back in time when you can live with the conveniences of today? 

So for my first explanation of why someone would want to live off-grid I told them that most of these people believe there’s going to be an economic meltdown due to the fact that America is in such great debt.  

I went on to say that they believe there’s no way that America could possibly go on the way it has and continue to increase the debt amount.

So they prepare. For the worst.
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I gave him some examples and said that if you had told me ten or so years ago that the economy, healthcare, price of food, et cetera, would be in the bad situation it is, I don’t know that I would have believed you. 

I would have thought it might happen down the road in the far off future, but not in my lifetime.

We discussed that when a hurricane, tornado, or blizzard comes and knocks out electricity for a week that most families do not have enough food for that week to sustain them. Grocery stores across the country only have enough food supply for three days.










                                                  ~ 1992 Blizzard ~

I remember years ago not long after my husband and I were married when we got hit hard with a blizzard, and I mean a real one.

In. the. south!

Yep it made history. It knocked out electricity for a week. There was no way anyone could drive on the roads since we didn’t have snow plows like the northern states. Several people died. Some starved.

I’m not sure what would have happened to us if we hadn’t lived about five miles from my husband’s grandparents. They had a fireplace, firewood, a grill, and food. We lived in an apartment, with no fireplace, no wood, not near enough food, and only electric heat that was out for the whole week. We managed to walk, WHEW!, to their house and spend the week with them and we helped each other.

While we have not made the decision to live without plumbing or electricity, we have decided it would be wise to be self-sufficient as much as possible.

I’m not a pessimist, I’m an optimist, so I don’t like to think of a negative, bad future, but I do like to be prepared for even a week without electricity. That blizzard of 1992 taught me something I’ll never forget:

Become self-sufficient and learn the wisdom of our forefathers.

That’s one reason why I want to write this blog. To help others have a desire for self-sufficiency and move forward in that direction.

Here is a short list of ideas to become more self-sufficient and less reliable on others:

1. Get out of debt  and stay out of debt
2. Grow your own food including fruit trees
3. Save your own seeds
4. Learn basic carpentry
5. Have your own animals for meat, eggs, and milk
6. Preserve food: canning, smoking, dehydrating, root cellars, and much more
7. Save rain water for your garden and animals
8. Prepare a place to cook food without electricity/gas
9. Cook from scratch, which also saves money $$
10. Have honey bees
11. Bake your own bread (I've found a local bakery that I'm buying our bread from for now that is very inexpensive, has no preservatives, no sugar, and is whole wheat.)
12. Use a clothes line

I remember my granny talking about canning. She said, “My family canned all day, every day until very late at night. My siblings and I hated the hard work, but we grew up during the Great Depression and we didn’t starve.”

Think about it. Before the Great Depression no one knew they’d be growing up during the Great Depression. Hum...

Are you interested in becoming more self-sufficient? Do you live off-grid?

Or have you already moved in that direction?
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 I’d love to hear from you!

All the best!
~ Julie

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