Why did we move off grid? This is a fair question. Some may well be wondering, why would anyone in their right mind, possessing even subtle vestiges of sanity, move somewhere that has no power lines? What kind of tin-foil hat wearing lunatic would one have to be to consider such a thing?
Well let me attempt to answer this. First, I'll assure you, we don't wear tin-foil hats. We don't even own any. For one, they don't really go with anything and silver isn't our color :-/
In all seriousness though, why make life more complicated than it needs to be? We get it ...
Let me take you back a few years. We were still looking for property and weren't sure if we were going to go with raw land or something that already had liveable structures on it. We had talked about going off-grid ... someday. That was our ultimate goal for power but we weren't really planning to go that route right off the bat. We knew little about solar and figured that it would be too expensive and probably complicated to do.
If you recall, this was back in 2021 when Texas' power grid came within seconds or minutes of complete failure. Partial grid shutdowns took place. This was catastropic enough but what made it 10 times worse was that it happened in the dead of winter. People literally froze to death (hypothermia). Some died of carbon monoxide poisoning from sitting in their running vehicles in their garages trying to stay warm. By the time the whole ordeal was over, 246 people lost their lives. Some estimates go as high as 702!
This was tragic to say the least and it made us think twice about going off-grid sooner rather than later. The folks who weren't reliant on the power grid fared much better.
So, skipping ahead, I remember the day that we stepped out of the truck onto the soil of what would become our property. Home. It was so quiet and peaceful. Really quiet and beautifully situated in an area surrounded by mountains. Love was in the air. This was looking very promisng. I can't tell you how many properties we had looked at over the course of those 3 years but this one actually had aspects of it that we all liked. Try to get 5 women to agree. Not an easy task.
But ... there was one thing that was clearly missing. Power lines. The property was off the grid. Tens of acres. Not a single power line running through it. But hey, no problem right? We'll just call the power company and see about getting some poles installed because although we knew off-grid was the way to go, we still didn't think that we were ready to do it right away.
The High Cost of Grid Power
Well that phone call turned out to be the deciding factor for us. You can say, in a sense, that it was when the Off Grid Girls were born because they told us that it would cost $25k just to run wire across the property!!! That was not even counting the cost of any poles and we would likely have needed several!!! So this could have easily approached 75 - 100k in cost. Guess what? We didn't have that! Maybe in our dreams but certainly not in our bank accounts. So the decision was made for us. Ready or not, off grid it was.
So the cut and dry answer is, we went off grid primarily because it was the most affordable option. Had it not been for that, we would've probably put it off until later but I'm really thankful that we did it sooner instead. It actually wasn't as expensive or as complicated as we thought it would be. It's basically about as complex as you make it meaning, how much power do you need?
Personally, I've been running off of a single solar panel and a 2330Wh solar generator for months without issue. Meena and her mom are doing the same with a 2048Wh generator with an expansion battery that brings it up to 4096Wh. Only Ally and her mom have an actual full solar system operating right now, so theirs was more complicated to setup. For both Meena and myself, its just been a matter of plugging our RVs into our generators and connecting those to a solar panel or two. How hard is that?
Off Grid Affordability
The honest truth is that it's never been easier or more affordable to go off-grid. We didn't hire any expensive contractors to get us up and going. We did a lot of youtubing. I highly recommend Will Prowse's YouTube channel. We have learned so much from this guy. He especially appeals to DIYers. Now you definitely need to be smart when DIYing things. Don't make the sad mistakes that I did.
Now for sure, solar isn't going to work for everyone. If you live in a state that has little sunlight, you might want to consider something else. I think that many equate off-grid with solar power but there are other energy options to choose from. There's wind power, hydro (water) power, and geothermal power just to name a few. Do some research and find out what would be best for you. Whichever way go you, we highly recommend off-grid living. Its sooooo nice to not have a power bill! And its additional peace of mind not having to worry about future power outages. When you're your own power company, you don't have to stress over things like that.
Can't go fully off grid? Here are some options
We understand that everyone can't go completely off the grid. While it is more affordable than it used to be, it still may not be a viable option for many. In that situation, we recommend doing what you can to have simple backup solutions so that if there is a prolonged outage, you can still do simple but necessary things like charge your phone, heat food, keep warm, etc. Below are a few items that I've purchased and used myself:
Mini Solar Panel
I purchased this to power a small MP3 player so that I can listen to music and such while working on my build site. Its good for charging little things like a cellphone. It's only 7 watts so you're not going to be able to power a laptop with it and it will take time to even charge your phone. But its small, lightweight, and easy to use. It has one usb port in the back that you just plug your device into.
Indoor Propane Heater
Spending a winter in a trailer can be brutal. It was a memorable experience for me. I do not like the cold. I was born and raised in a tropical place and have a high tolerance for heat but very little for cold. In my trailer I have a propane furnace but I don't like to use it because it consumes a lot of propane and it heats the entire trailer when I just may be in one room. It's just not efficient. So I purchased this little heater to just basically heat the room that I'm in. It works great and saves me a fair amount of money in propane. I have also used it to warm and cook food. You just have to be sure to crack a window to have proper ventilation and have good clearance around the heater itself. Also I would not recommend using any type of propane appliance indoors without a CO2 detector. My trailer came with one built-in. If yours doesn't, please consider getting one.
Hand-crank powered flashlight
I bought this years ago and took it on a camping trip. I like that it doesn't need batteries. Its pretty easy to use but I'll admit that the flashlight itself isn't the most powerful. It's better than nothing though if you're in a prolonged power outage situation.
Solar Generator
Honestly nothing beats a good solar generator. Once you have it, all you need is a few hours of good sunlight to fully charge it depending on the battery size. No need to purchase gas. You just need a good solar panel or two. There are so many options out there that, instead of linking to any one in particular, I'm sharing a link to the City Prepping YouTube channel. This particular video is his yearly review of the best solar generators on the market. He runs solid performance tests on them and gives cost breakdowns for each. Before purchasing one, I would recommend that you check out his video.
I could list so much more but this is good for now. If you have other ideas to contribute please do so in the comments below.
Grid Down Power Up
If you're still on the fence about all of this, we recommend that you watch the video below. Its a documentary called Grid Down Power Up put together by Dennis Quaid about the reality of a grid down situation.
I hope this has all proven helpful to you. God Bless :-)