OK, so you have a property, but no home on it, or maybe you have been looking for land, a place away from the city, away from the crowds, but if it already has a home on it, the price skyrockets, you could afford to get land with no home, now what? Assuming your land (or potential land) is located in a place with no or few building codes, you can build your own home, that’s what we did, and we were able to use recycled materials, making the costs minimal. Bob didn’t have a “plan”, though he had a rough idea of what he wanted to end up with. For those with no idea how to start, I have found a couple of small home plans to get you started, these are designed to be low cost and easy to build, you can use new materials, used materials or a combination of each. Here are the links:
6 Responses
I have a farm in NW Florida.
I on Disablity due to Parkinson.
with limited income, I knew that I had to get off the grid.
$1100 a month on S.S. $300 of that going to electricity.
My family house burned down last winter lost everything. So I decided not to get nothing big to save the money and downsize.
I downsize to 2 FEMA trailers
cleaned them up and hooked them together. Made home made windmills and water mill.
My electric bill is now $25.00 per month during.
I did away with cable and house phone.
I got internet which I watch TV on it and have majic jack for a phone.
I was paying around $125 for cable
so this was reduce down to $40.00 per month.
I built my on Gasifier for cooking and heat during the winter.
I like to be off the grid but I have no land of my onw to work with and it is hard for a poor man to do so.
Nice list. When I was researching for our little place, I had stumbled upon most of those on the list. The one thing that has helped me a lot was the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Used building materials very cheaply priced. We are building our cabin in a modular design in hopes that expansion will be easy. http://www.amyandjoshscabin.com is our website. We have a cabin blog on there to document our progress. Nice site and I will be adding your blog to our links.
Scott
Thanks for the bio, very interesting, again I say, you should have a blog, it’s not hard to do, if I can do it, anyone can!
Be sure to comment from time to time, I would like to know what is happening in your life. :)
mockum
Thanks for the link, I’ll add it to the post.
Wretha
Thanks for the links. Another source for smallish house plans is https://www.countryplans.com.
Hi,
I live in Alaska and moved off-grid 2 years ago and love it. Solar and wind for power with a small generator for the dark months. Used $30 dollars in fuel for electric last winter. I live up on a hill side with a view of the Alaska range and the Tanana river to the south. Lost 20 pounds with no tv and spending more time outdoors. I am currently building a small house that is 12×24 with a loft bedroom. Using some left over 2×8 boards and almost all salvaged materials. Cell phone and wireless internet connection. I did not do this to be green either but just to see if I could. Sold a perfectly good 3 bedroom house in town. Most of my friends can not understand why. I am 52 and may live to be 100 it is so peaceful out here. Some days it is hard to work on my cabin because I just want to sit and enjoy the view. I bought Lamars how to build a cabin instructions and it does have a lot of good info in it for someone just starting out. I have a friend who is just heading out to the Brooks range to spend part of the winter in a small cabin on a lake. No power or roads and 50 to 60 miles to the nearest place to get help. I will try to add a link to her blog as I am sure you and other readers will enjoy reading it. Anyway just wanted to tell you congratulations on what you are doing.
Scott
https://northernlightlegacy.blogspot.com/