Have you ever entertained the idea of getting off the grid?

I live in a city and use the grid minimally.

I would like to be completely off the grid, but that is not possible as to water.

It would be possible if I moved to the country and had my own water supply.

I started about 4 weeks ago.

To be fair, it is on a sailboat, so in some ways that feels like cheating.

Thinker of deep thoughts wrote:

I can't do it because my wife loves the luxuries of life too much. But the thought of being beholden to nobody and free to do whatever your heart pleases does have a certain appeal. In addition, the most enjoyable things in life really don't cost money yet we have an insatiable desire for more money as a security blanket for the future. We also keep accumulating more stuff because the stuff we have no longer excites us.

Come on. Tell the truth. Have you ever thought about it?

Really? As far as I know food costs money. A roof over your head costs money. Running water costs money. As does heat and electricity. Hot showers. Indeed, even sex costs money unless you can find a woman who wants to be homeless and live off of dump scavenging.

Where do you get this idea that the best things don't cost money?

Oh, and if you want to grow your own food to avoid paying any money - let me know how easy that is. I've heard it's pretty tough even with a tractor and gasoline and water (and land) and seeds and fertilizer and... all of which cost money. But if you can do it without any money let us know how.

Yes, I've thought about living in a 400k to 800k house with no electricity and some chickens.

But look at the problems that come with that!

I quit watching football a few years ago. Best choice I ever made.

I joined a commune and we live off the greed. We don't even have internet. I can't even post to LRC.

Just Kidding. I live in my mom's basement with my trophy wife and I have a 13:47 5k PR.

There are people in pretty extreme places like Alaska, who grow their own produce much of the year, build their own cabins and chop their own fire wood, hunt and fish. They get buy with minimal money.

I entertain the thought once in a while, but then I come to my senses that it would probably really suck after a few days and I would start to miss all of the creature comforts that I'm used to.

Wood smoke is very bad for your lungs. That will hurt your running.

Indeed, but don't eat poisonous mushrooms or berries when you really get hungry.

Yes I am ready wrote:

I live in a city and use the grid minimally.

You live in a city. I don't think you are using the word minimally correctly.

I like local pizza.

Well There Is Always This wrote:

Oh, and if you want to grow your own food to avoid paying any money - let me know how easy that is. I've heard it's pretty tough even with a tractor and gasoline and water (and land) and seeds and fertilizer and... all of which cost money. But if you can do it without any money let us know how.

I never knew how many stupid people there were, until I got on the internet.

The fact is that an illustrious person can grow a flourishing garden with very little outlay of cash. It is helpful to have a good fork, hoe, trowel, things like this, but the cost is much less than for running. Getting organic non gmo seeds and soil amendments and other materials is relatively inexpensive. The only real cost is for water, but even that is not much compared to the great return, having wholesome, organic non gmo food that is good for you.

Living off the grid sounds like a whole lot of work.

Ummmm...pretty sure that there is a difference between "grow(ing) a flourishing garden" and meeting all your needs "off the grid". So I am not really sure why you would advertise your own stupidity and even explicitly call attention to stupid people like you on the Internet.

Thinker of deep thoughts wrote:

I can't do it because my wife loves the luxuries of life too much. But the thought of being beholden to nobody and free to do whatever your heart pleases does have a certain appeal. In addition, the most enjoyable things in life really don't cost money yet we have an insatiable desire for more money as a security blanket for the future. We also keep accumulating more stuff because the stuff we have no longer excites us.

Come on. Tell the truth. Have you ever thought about it?

How would you do "anything your heart pleases"? Usually that involves a car, or a boat, or for me driving to a ski area, or a recreation area to go mountain biking, or to a National Park to go hiking. Or to the movies.

How are you going to do these things if you live in a cave? Doing things is not about materialism, doing things is about the drive to have a fulfilling life. If living in a tent and wearing rags and eating food you grow or catch is fulfilling to you then you should pursue that.

Well There Is Always This wrote:

Oh, and if you want to grow your own food to avoid paying any money - let me know how easy that is. I've heard it's pretty tough even with a tractor and gasoline and water (and land) and seeds and fertilizer and... all of which cost money. But if you can do it without any money let us know how.

Yes I am ready wrote:

I never knew how many stupid people there were, until I got on the internet..

Indeed. Experts on things they can't do.

If you wanna live off grid do it in a tropical region so you won't need energy for heating. When I was in Thailand I slept on the beach for 8 weeks, why have 5 star accommodation when you can have 50. I loved sleeping on the sand seeing the stars, listening to the ocean. I was planning on making a sand bed it was so comfortable.

Food was easy in a tropical region. Bananas, melons, durians. The streets in the city were covered in taramind that had fallen from the trees. I remember using a big stick to gather a bunch of wild bananas and they were so sweet and tasty.

I'd wash in streams/waterfalls, it was refreshing thanks to the heat.

Living off the grid with no money in a cold climate is just masochist. We are tropical creatures not born for the cold. We don't know any better because we've been brought up in houses with heating and supermarkets. We work hard every at jobs we hate to buy holidays to get away from it all. Eventually some lost souls get fed up with our daily social reality that we've been born into and make threads about living in the wilderness.

Of course. Turn on, tune in, drop out. Tim Leary had some interesting ideas, but in the end, I think the life of a vagrant would get pretty rough. I love my appliances.