Journey to Off Grid Living

So towards the end of 2022, my husband and I decided we were tired of working between 70-80 hours a week and still struggling financially. After the birth of our second child, it became apparent that it would be cheaper for me to quit my job and stay at home with our kids since the price of daycare was rising and the availability of trustworthy options were dwindling. Our house, which we had only just purchased at the end of 2020 was starting to feel like a prison and we were only digging ourselves deeper into a financial hole with the economy going in the direction it was going. We didn't have much of a savings so we thought we were stuck, but luckily my mom gave us a solution to our problems.

So, unfortunately, this economy was hitting my mom and stepdad as well. My mom had suffered a head injury from a car accident almost a full year ago and was still unable to work due to constant headaches and forgetfulness. My stepdad was the only one working and with the rising costs of everything they were struggling as well, so they asked us if we would want to purchase their camper from them and just take over the payments. After a few hours-long conversation, it was decided that we were going to indeed take them up on their offer and also move onto their property to help out both of our families.

The first month was filled with normal moving stress and my husband trying to find a job. He was lucky and there was a distribution center for a dollar store that was hiring and he got in on the fourth shift (he works Friday-Sunday for 12 hours a day). We also spent this time getting the camper ready to be lived in full time, which thankfully our children are still very young (3 and 1) and this camper has a bunkhouse room so it has space for them without having to shove them in what is basically a cabinet. As much as we wish we could go off grid right away, the start-up costs can be kind of high especially when you have to think comfort for your children as well, so we hook up to the electric at the house and run the garden hose for water and we agree to split the bill with my Mom. It is going to take some time to adjust to the new living space but we will get used to it.

The second month in, the new challenge was dealing with things breaking what seemed to be all the time. This camper was built in 2013 so it still was built better than some of the newer campers made today, but it's still a camper. Other than the usual light bulbs going out and having to replace what seems like every fuse one by one, our heater decided to go out on us in the middle of February. We did every single home diagnostic and fix that we could think of and that the internet could tell us what to do, but we finally came to the conclusion that it needed a professional which we couldn't afford. So came a lot of nights sleeping in the spare room of my mom's house because we couldn't put the kids through trying to stay warm out there, which made the house get really crowded really fast. We finally were able to buy an electric fireplace on sale that worked just fine on the more mild nights, but when it dropped down below freezing we had to still sleep inside.

The second month also brought our first step into living off the land in the form of chickens. We brought our first six chickens with us when we moved that were already of laying age, but we wanted to be able to sell the eggs to help bring in some extra income. We purchased a straight run of barred rock chickens to go with the two we already of that breed. They are really good layers and will make good meat chickens when the time comes. I purchased a straight run so we could get a couple of roosters and be able to hatch our own chickens so we would be able to have our own steady supply. My husband built a brooder box with the scrap material that was already on the property so it didn't cost us anything extra. Luckily, our local feed mill has their own feed mix that they sell for only $16 for 50lbs which makes it a ton cheaper than having to buy feed from one of the bigger stores and will allow them to pay for themselves once we start producing enough eggs to sell. Still not old enough yet to even introduce them to the existing flock yet, but they are healthy and growing.

The third month is getting better, we were getting ready to put our old house up on the market so we could be done paying for two places when we were contacted by a friend of a relative whose landlord was selling their house out from under her and they needed a place to rent and there were no options that were in their price range. Thankfully, their price range covered our mortgage and allowed us to put a little back for any repairs that will eventually come up so we were able to work out a deal with them. This does take away from the lump sum of the equity we had in our house, but it does allow us to not have to be paying for two places and it helps them out as well. While we still have a little bit to catch up on financially, this will help us out a ton, saving almost $1,500 a month. With mild southern nights upon us, we are no longer having to stay in the house at nights and we can enjoy some more solo family time out in the camper. We got the girls' room almost completely put together (just need to figure out turning one of the top bunks into a makeshift closet for all their clothes), and they are happy being able to play with each other in their own space again. It's been a long road but it's finally starting to get more comfortable.

We still have a long way to go before we are completely off the grid on our own land but we are working on it. It's the start of planting season so we can start producing our own food more which I am hoping will save a good amount of money and help us achieve our end goal even quicker.

Anyone living off grid, off the land, or even just in a camper that has any suggestions or advice leave some comments! We are just winging it out here.