I spent that summer living in a neighbor’s barn and building. The house I’d decided on was a monolithic concrete arch, 24 feet wide and 36 feet deep. It came to 800 square feet total, and would be covered with 2-4 feet of earth when finished. The sides would be completely underground, and the front wall would be fully exposed, with a lot of glazing to let in light and warmth (you can see photos of a bunch of these homes at earthshelter.com). I first needed to dig into my hillside and lay a slab foundation, then construct the framework of the the house, build the front wall with concrete block, and then have the main framework shotcreted (concrete sprayed with a high pressure air hose, to form rounded structures). Once the shotcrete set, I began building wall framing inside, and running water and electrical lines.<\/p>\n
It’s not finished yet \u2014 some things cost more than I’d expected, and by the time winter really set in, I had a lot of interior work still left to do and had run out of savings. So I moved back to the city to find another job, and I continue to work on the house on my weekends.<\/p>\n
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However, the house is complete enough that I could live in it if I had to. I’m working my current job (I leveraged my offgrid experience into a position in the solar power industry) because of a conscious decision that the income is worth the time, and I have an alternative option should I decide that I really dislike the employment. That option makes a big psychological difference.<\/p>\n
I can reflect on my job and know that I’m working it for a specific goal.<\/b> I already have enough saved up again to finish the house interior, and what I’m doing now is saving up to build and stock a good workshop. With a good selection of woodworking, metalworking, and automotive tools I will be able to indulge in fairly technical hobbies. I can easily live on the proceeds of custom niche machine work, or have fun restoring and selling an antique vehicle from time to time. In addition, things like building my own furniture and maintaining my own vehicles will save a lot of money, and be more rewarding than hiring others to do the work for me.<\/p>\n
Thanks to the planning and hard work, I will retire by the age of 30 \u2014 if not sooner. That doesn’t mean I’ll spend my time watching TV and playing golf, it means I will be able to actually live<\/i> life instead of sacrificing all my time to a job making money.<\/p>\n<\/span>Questions About the House<\/span><\/h2>\nLiving off the grid isn’t what many people expect. With the dramatic recent reduction in solar power costs, you can really have every modern convenience without a power pole. You really can’t tell an offgrid home from the inside. The keys to doing this effectively are putting more attention into efficiency, and choosing the right power sources. Electric heat, for example, is extremely inefficient. Propane is a far cheaper way to cook, and a wood stove is a great inexpensive, renewable source of heating. Thoughtful home design to utilize solar exposure, prevailing wind currents, and other environmental factors can significantly reduce the amount of artificial heating and cooling needed in the first place. Modern efficient appliances and lighting further reduce electrical needs.<\/p>\n
Because of my high altitude and sunny climate, I chose to use a solar hot water heater instead of an electric or propane type. It’s a simple system with an 80-gallon tank (which should be able to supply comfortable hot showers through 3 days without sun), and it reduces my propane needs to just cooking. Internet can be provided by either satellite or wireless broadband (my cell phone reception is iffy at the house, but my Blackberry can get a pretty decent signal).<\/p>\n
What about my social life?<\/b> Am I going to be some sort of loner hermit? The answer is definitely not.<\/p>\n
I’m not someone who needs constant social interaction, but you get plenty of it in the boonies. It’s clear from both my own experience and talking to other folks living in similar situations, that there is much more community socialization when there aren’t many people than when there are lots. I’ve never known more than one or two neighbors when I’ve lived in a city with dozens of people within shouting distance. But when there are only five families in a square mile, you know all of them, and their dogs, and often their friends and relatives who occasionally visit. It’s true for my house now \u2014 there are a few permanent residents and a few weekenders and we all socialize regularly.<\/p>\n
The other question I always get is about family.<\/b> The short version is that I have no desire for marriage or children. The house isn’t big enough for a family, and it wouldn’t be feasible to put on an addition. If I wake up one morning and suddenly can’t live another day without offspring, I’ll just have to build a new house. But I don’t envision that happening.<\/p>\n<\/span>Tips<\/span><\/h2>\nIf you’re considering doing something like this, I’d like to offer a couple quick tips from my experience. Just as a good financial decision now can have magnified implications down the road, time spent planning a house can prevent huge problems in construction<\/b>. An hour spent fixing something in the foundation can prevent a day’s work in construction or a week’s work in finishing.<\/p>\n
My other suggestion is to not let the traditional rule your decisions. If you’re putting this much work into a place to live, you clearly plan to be there for a long time. So don’t worry about building a house that will be easy to sell \u2014 build the house you really want to live in. My bedroom is minuscule by most folks’ standards, because I like the idea of a cozy sleeping space. (I also ran a small water line and drain to the bedside table, so I don’t have to get out of bed for a drink of water at night.) The pantry is huge, though, because I will be growing and preserving food. I’m building a house to live in, not to sell, so I don’t care if it appeals to a real estate agent or bank loan officer.<\/p>\n
Most of all, if you have a dream, you should do it<\/i>. Stop fantasizing and start planning.<\/b> No matter how many years it might take, it won’t ever happen until you start. And once you do start, you’ll be amazed at what perseverance and dedication can do for you. There’s no better feeling in the world than deciding how you want to live and making it happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This article written by Ian is part of the “reader stories” feature at Get Rich Slowly. It’s the extended version of the story he shared in his prize-winning entry to this year’s GRS video contest.<\/b> Some reader stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success \u2014 or failure. These stories feature folks from all levels of financial maturity and with all sorts of incomes.<\/i><\/p>\n
It dawned on me in college, having experienced several different summer jobs, that I really didn’t like being employed. Sure, the money is nice \u2014 but it’s just no fun at all to spend your days working to reach some boss’s plans or goals. I’m sure there are some folks out there who find a 9-to-5 job fulfilling, but that sure ain’t me. There’s too much fascinating stuff out there to learn and do to spend 40 years in a cubicle. The mere thought makes me shudder, and I wanted nothing to do with a career.<\/p>\n
Most of the financial advice out there is geared towards building up a big account to retire on. I figured that I would enjoy taking a different route \u2014 reducing the total income I needed to live on. With a significant reduction in expenses, it becomes feasible<\/a> to live very comfortably on a part-time income, or even just income from hobbies. How do you reduce your expenses that much? Live off the grid.<\/a><\/p>\n<\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3293,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[484,476],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81932"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3293"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}