We Moved Off the Grid 10 Years In the past: Huge Advantages, Shocking Drawbacks

My now-husband Scott and I fell in love whereas climbing the Appalachian Trail in faculty — after which spent the following few years fantasizing a few rural, nature-filled, off-grid life-style.

When we completed faculty in 2015, we lastly had a possibility to make that dream come true.

I’d lived within the Northeast my entire life and met Scott in Vermont, however he grew up in rural West Virginia. When he inherited land there, we determined to make the transfer.

Once in West Virginia, we might construct a cabin, undertake just a few rescue pets, increase chickens and bees, and stay off-grid. We figured this life-style can be sustainable and budget-friendly, and after the Appalachian Trail, how arduous may or not it’s?

We did not anticipate how remoted we might really feel at instances, and the way difficult it might be to look after our dwelling — nonetheless, we might make the selection once more in a heartbeat.

Moving 800 miles from dwelling proper after faculty was tougher than I anticipated

I had many wonderful associates in highschool and faculty, however I’ve by no means been a very outgoing particular person. Historically, I’d simply meet individuals via courses and sports activities — I by no means actually needed to put myself on the market.

Moving to a rural space, 800 miles from the place I grew up, was lonelier than I assumed it might be. I may now not textual content a childhood pal or cousin to go on a fast hike or swim.

We have neighbors who’ve turn into our associates, however they stay anyplace from one to a couple miles up or down our street.

Our rural location additionally made distant work the plain selection for me, so I have not actually been capable of kind friendships with coworkers, both.

We discovered that proudly owning an off-grid cabin is like having a high-maintenance pet

Over the years, we have skipped some journeys and late nights out due to the care our dwelling wants. People usually assume we go up alternatives due to our animals, however the home itself requires almost-daily repairs.

We shortly realized that staying out late at a restaurant on a Friday night time in January would imply that, every time we bought dwelling, we might find yourself sitting round in our jackets whereas rebuilding the hearth within the wooden range.

Taking off for a summer season tenting journey can be a problem. We often have to rent a home sitter to watch our system, which incorporates photo voltaic panels, batteries, a cost controller that forestalls overcharging, and an inverter to transform our electrical energy.

Unlike an everyday home, ours would not have “infinite” electrical energy — we (or a home sitter) should repeatedly examine on our battery ranges to keep away from draining them.

There are different concerns we’ve got to bear in mind on a day-to-day foundation, too.

For occasion, we rely totally on a rainwater assortment system for all of our each day water wants. When West Virginia skilled a horrible drought in 2024, we needed to fastidiously handle our water utilization.

Of course, issues have gotten simpler as we have adjusted to off-grid life and began incomes more cash, which has in flip helped us spend money on higher gear like a bigger photo voltaic battery financial institution, extra environment friendly water pump, and bigger wooden range.

Still, we all know that these are issues we in all probability would not have if we lived in a metropolis residence.

Parts of our life-style are difficult, however we have constructed a phenomenal neighborhood right here — and we’ve got a lot monetary freedom

Despite feeling remoted at first, I quickly realized that West Virginians are an extremely pleasant bunch.

Neighbors stopped by with vegetation after they noticed me within the backyard and invited us over for cocktails. Just a few have even made the journey as much as go to our home on four-wheelers.

It additionally helped that Scott’s family and friends, who stay on our street (however on the grid), have been fast to supply me a seat on the desk, too.

Over the years, I slowly gained confidence and began making a concerted effort to interact with the neighborhood. Now, I assist to prepare neighborhood plant swaps, attend guide membership conferences, and community with different native writers.

Though it may be troublesome to handle our dwelling, we’ve got plenty of monetary freedom — one other spotlight of residing right here. Our solely home-related prices are $120 a month for web and $20 for propane. We don’t have any mortgage, electrical, water, sewer, or fuel payments.

This signifies that our earnings stretches a lot, a lot additional. Living off-grid, I used to be even capable of pursue my writing full-time whereas we lived totally on my self-employed husband’s earnings for the primary few months.

The better part about our low value of residing, although, has been our skill to spend time with family members

Most importantly, I used to be not too long ago capable of take day off to look after my mom whereas she was in hospice. There’s no manner I might commerce an enormous, fancy home and an “easier” life-style for that point with my mother.

Our off-grid life on the cabin is not good, however I really feel fortunate to have monetary freedom and a close-knit neighborhood.

It would not harm that Scott and I get to spend every morning collectively similar to we did on the Appalachian Trail: consuming espresso at dwelling, listening to the birds sing, and having fun with the mountain air.