What is off-grid living?

Off-grid living is a fairly basic premise. Off-grid indicates that your home is self sufficient. vs. dependent, as in you’ve set your home up to be energy producing vs. paying the energy company for power or having your own well vs. paying the water company. Sometimes an off-grid home is referred to as a homestead, although homestead doesn’t exactly mean you’re not dependent on other sources of energy or water.

If you’re living in an off-grid home (or living an off-grid life) you may be doing all or some of the following…

• Gardening vs. buying produce at the store.
• Living in a green, or sustainably built home.
• Composting.
• Producing energy via alternative methods.
• Making your own bio-fuel.
• Cutting out extras (four TVs for example).
• Making homemade cleaners.
• Collecting water via a rain barrel.
• Raising your own food – i.e. chickens.

The list above is super short. To gain more off-grid living ideas and tips visit Off-Grid.

Off-grid living comes in different shades. While most shades of off-grid life are greener than conventional living, not all off-grid homes are 100% self sufficient. Following is great example of an urban off-grid home and their owners. This family is almost entirely self-sufficient, but does rely on public companies for some things (like water). What this video will help you realize is that even more off-grid than not holds both money saving perks and eco-perks.

Bonus link: If you’re interested in off-grid living you’ll love the book Off the Grid.