You are so right but with a little planning and preparation you can actually have everything except AC. Thats what I will miss the most. Even a homemade 12 volt solar system will run the lights and well pump and give you hot water. We are setting up an alternative electrical system that will run everything except AC. Plus a solar oven for sunny day cooking. We are installing 2 woodstoves for heat in the winter. Our plan is to be able to live in a similar but scaled down fashion to our normal life. After much reflection we decided that you have to be born to washing clothes in a boiling pot in the front yard and all the other crummy parts of living in pre electrical times.
We lived a few years on 12v power on sailboats. Like you said, AC is out. Everything else is in. As far as laundry, I like to stay in the tropics. A bathing suit is pretty easy to wash!