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Worst Mistakes To Avoid When Going Off Grid: “We Wish We’d Known”
SHTF Plan ^ | 1/8/16 | Mac Slavo

Posted on 01/08/2016 7:26:53 PM PST by Kartographer

Want to build your own life back on the land, instead of keeping pace in this insane society headed for implosion?

There are lots of things that you’ll have to learn the hard way in order to go off grid.

The path is not easy, but that’s no reason not to get started, and move forward on your ultimate plan to live more independently.

This off-grid couple, at Fouch-o-matic Off Grid, had to relearn some of the basics to figure out how to live an alternative lifestyle without losing their minds, or facing impossible, labor intensive tasks.

(Excerpt) Read more at shtfplan.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Outdoors
KEYWORDS:
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For people who think that they will just boil their water:

7) Splitting firewood requires lots of tedious work.

Boiling also doesn't not remove a a whole host of contaminants. Save yourself time, labor and possible death look into any number of filters and gravity filtering systems, such as Berkey.
1 posted on 01/08/2016 7:26:53 PM PST by Kartographer
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To: appalachian_dweller; OldPossum; DuncanWaring; VirginiaMom; CodeToad; goosie; kalee; ...

Preppers’ PING!!


2 posted on 01/08/2016 7:27:28 PM PST by Kartographer ("We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.")
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To: Kartographer
unless one is totally antisocial, living way out in the "wilderness" or far away from towns or cities is quite unrealistic...

if you have to poop and pee in an outhouse in the middle of winter, why live?....

seriously, I think a more reasonable "off the grid" to me is being out of the rat race...

living simply so you don't have tons of monthly bills.

learn to have fun doing simple things like cards, or puzzles, or reading or playing musical instruments, etc...

learn to grow a garden, maybe raise a few chickens or a beef cow....

get you bills under control....better to cancel cable, and the newspaper and have just one car then to be swimming in bills...

be happy....that'll get to the elites more than anything...

3 posted on 01/08/2016 7:33:44 PM PST by cherry
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To: Kartographer

Living off the grid is possible but you have to be a hardy and self-reliant soul to do it.

Few people can or want to live without modern conveniences.

Hoofing it will be a vocation for a minority.


4 posted on 01/08/2016 7:33:55 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: cherry

Most people are better off buying a tiny house and living car free.

If you want to eliminate stress and a debt its a manageable way to live without going off the grid.

The middle ground works well for most people who want a simpler lifestyle.


5 posted on 01/08/2016 7:36:21 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: goldstategop

If you can pay for everything you do with cash, congratulations, you live off the grid.


6 posted on 01/08/2016 7:37:20 PM PST by EQAndyBuzz (Jews for Cruz)
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To: Kartographer

Splitting firewood is great exercise! I love doing it!


7 posted on 01/08/2016 7:37:53 PM PST by vpintheak (Death before disarmament!)
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To: vpintheak
Splitting firewood is great exercise! I love doing it!

My dad always said you get two heats out of cutting and splitting wood. One cutting and splitting it, and two burning it.

8 posted on 01/08/2016 7:44:33 PM PST by ReformedBeckite (1 of 3 I'm only allowing my self each day)
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To: goldstategop

yep....the beauty of living “off the grid” in town is you pay the greedy federales less and less in taxes....now that’s what I call living off the grid....of course, it requires that you a more simple, and probably better, life.


9 posted on 01/08/2016 7:52:51 PM PST by cherry
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To: ReformedBeckite

My dad used to quote Henry Ford who once said,
‘Firewood keeps you warm twice. Once when you split it, once when you burn it.’ Very similar to what your dad said.


10 posted on 01/08/2016 7:58:16 PM PST by july4thfreedomfoundation (Trump or Cruz in 2016. No others need apply.)
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To: Kartographer
Property taxes are unavoidable. You'll never be truly invisible. Unless you can squat somewhere without being discovered.

This little place is totally off-grid ...but even modest property taxes must be paid annually. The *man* knows where you live.


11 posted on 01/08/2016 8:02:59 PM PST by Daffynition (*Security, confiscate their coats. Get them out of here. It's 10 below zero out there ~DJT)
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To: ReformedBeckite
My dad always said you get two heats out of cutting and splitting wood. One cutting and splitting it, and two burning it.

Just reminded me of one of Patrick McManus' hilarious early writings. He told the story of he and his friend, as young boys, chopping down an old snag for firewood and dropping it across his father's new fence. He said that particular tree provided three heatings, one considerably hotter than the others.

12 posted on 01/08/2016 8:03:37 PM PST by CommerceComet (Ignore the GOP-e. Cruz to victory in 2016.)
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To: goldstategop
Most people are better off buying a tiny house and living car free.

That might work if you live in NYC but most people cannot walk to where they need to go.

13 posted on 01/08/2016 8:08:19 PM PST by SVTCobra03 (You can never have enough friends, horsepower or ammunition.)
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To: Daffynition

Great point - taxman always knows where you are living and how many sq ft to assess....tough to beat aerial photography. Agree with living simply, reducing costs/debt.


14 posted on 01/08/2016 8:14:37 PM PST by HonkyTonkMan
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To: ReformedBeckite

Cut down tree
cut into logs
stack and haul logs to place
split logs
Stack wood
Burn wood


15 posted on 01/08/2016 8:15:52 PM PST by Jolla
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To: Kartographer

Husband got a gas powered log splitter a few years ago.
It is great. He couldn’t get along without it at his age!


16 posted on 01/08/2016 8:29:50 PM PST by Twinkie (John 3:16)
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To: cherry

I grew up with an outhouse. We had enamel pee pots for the
night time. Emptied them in the morning into the outhouse.
Going potty wasn’t thought much about. Just in and out in
a flash. Wiped with Sears & Roebuck catalog pages!


17 posted on 01/08/2016 8:33:41 PM PST by Twinkie (John 3:16)
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To: Kartographer

Just starting to install my second set of solar racks. Slow work in the 30s°F. Only a few tens of watts output right now while we’re fogged in and the sun so low but by June I’ll have more electrical power than I know what to do with (about 1,000 watts and 1,000 stored amp hrs).


18 posted on 01/08/2016 8:34:27 PM PST by steve86 (Prophecies of Maelmhaedhoc O�Morgair (Latin form: Malachy))
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To: steve86

BTW, one of my panels, a 75 watt-er was purchased in 2001 and still going strong (can not detect any degradation in output although theoretically there would be 15% or so). It seems immortal.


19 posted on 01/08/2016 8:41:51 PM PST by steve86 (Prophecies of Maelmhaedhoc O�Morgair (Latin form: Malachy))
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To: vpintheak

My in laws have only wood heat-no furnace. It is lovely, but at this stage their sons have to have an annual woodcutting day.

Helped their boys develop grip for wrestling back in the day. My husband still enjoys splitting wood.


20 posted on 01/08/2016 8:49:19 PM PST by NorthstarMom (God says debt is a curse and children are a blessing, yet we apply for loans and prevent pregnancy.)
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