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Off the Grid, but Still Online

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Re: Off the Grid, but Still Online

#101

Post by [deleted] »

cpursley wrote: post #68
rboyd wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My fiance and I left Chicago (and $1700/mo) in July for this kind of middle ground. I cross-referenced national fiber optic rollout with low population/rural areas and we found a few acres with 1gbps FTTH in the Lake of the Ozarks area. Our place came with an existing 2 bedroom home with existing private well and electric, all-in we bought for under 2 years worth of Chicago rent. Our home is/was a bit of a fixer-uppe…

The Ozarks are beautiful; they took me by surprise. There's many places like this throughout the USA. I don't understand the appeal of living in an expense shoebox in a concrete metropolis. Another place that's got a high quality of life for low cost of living is St. Augustine, Florida. It's an architecturally significant city with several colleges, great art scene, wide beaches.

[deleted]

Re: Off the Grid, but Still Online

#102

Post by specialist »

cpursley wrote: post #68
rboyd wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My fiance and I left Chicago (and $1700/mo) in July for this kind of middle ground. I cross-referenced national fiber optic rollout with low population/rural areas and we found a few acres with 1gbps FTTH in the Lake of the Ozarks area. Our place came with an existing 2 bedroom home with existing private well and electric, all-in we bought for under 2 years worth of Chicago rent. Our home is/was a bit of a fixer-uppe…

The Ozarks are beautiful; they took me by surprise. There's many places like this throughout the USA. I don't understand the appeal of living in an expense shoebox in a concrete metropolis. Another place that's got a high quality of life for low cost of living is St. Augustine, Florida. It's an architecturally significant city with several colleges, great art scene, wide beaches.

I don't understand the appeal of living in an expense shoebox in a concrete metropolis.

Some of us choose to remain close to specialized healthcare, that we trust.

Re: Off the Grid, but Still Online

#103

Post by pageld »

robabby wrote: post #66
rboyd wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My fiance and I left Chicago (and $1700/mo) in July for this kind of middle ground. I cross-referenced national fiber optic rollout with low population/rural areas and we found a few acres with 1gbps FTTH in the Lake of the Ozarks area. Our place came with an existing 2 bedroom home with existing private well and electric, all-in we bought for under 2 years worth of Chicago rent. Our home is/was a bit of a fixer-uppe…

Very inspiring. My wife and I are in northern Chicago suburb of Highwood, and we really aspire to move out west to a more nature-centric style of living. I like how one of the core parameters to your search was Fiber optic internet, and then spread from there. Where did you start your search?

If you want one that's just rolling out, Sibley country in Minnesota is doing ftth even on farm sites.

They just started the rollout and iirc it should be done at least in the towns by next summer.

Rsfiber.com is the site to check out

Re: Off the Grid, but Still Online

#104

Post by MrMcDowall »

Retric wrote: post #57
Zach_the_Lizard wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I suspect you could scale the 'off grid' lifestyle to around 1/2 the US population without many issues. As you spread out the population, the cost of FedEx deliveries is going to grow. Now you can drop off goods in a city via a highly efficient train, have that switched to a truck, and have it delivered to the end customer. If everyone is off the grid in the wilderness, that train becomes a lot less useful to delive…

FedEx works because people near you also need packages. The more packages they ship the more efficient they become. Also, the US population density is ~100 people per square mile so chances are good someone within 1 mile of you also needs a package today. Sure, it's cheaper for them to drop off 10 packages at the same apartment complex, but even fairly remote areas can be surprisingly profitable.

Lots of rural communities, like the one I live in, have a central mail box location where we go to collect our mail. That one location services about 50 properties. FedEx or any courier deliver to the local post office in town. It all works quite well, and it's not so bad having to go out to get your mail, since you usually need other things from town too.

Re: Off the Grid, but Still Online

#105

Post by jrs235 »

rboyd wrote: post #50
codingdave wrote: post #12

There are also middle grounds you can take. I, and other people in my area, live on homesteads, doing our organic / permaculture farming thing, growing our own food, expanding our solar arrays... while also having a good internet connection and a grid-tie so we can do our coding day jobs for part of the day, pay our bills, then shut down and spend the rest of our time in a more disconnected state. I wish I could disc…

My fiance and I left Chicago (and $1700/mo) in July for this kind of middle ground. I cross-referenced national fiber optic rollout with low population/rural areas and we found a few acres with 1gbps FTTH in the Lake of the Ozarks area. Our place came with an existing 2 bedroom home with existing private well and electric, all-in we bought for under 2 years worth of Chicago rent. Our home is/was a bit of a fixer-uppe…

We still have the colder winters (join a curling club to make the winters go faster if you don't like outdoor winter sports) but the outdoors are beautiful and great for activities. La Crosse, WI is only two and half hours from Minneapolis/St Paul and two hours from Madison, WI. The area is excellent to raise a family and much less expensive than the larger metro areas. They are slowly starting to roll out fiber too. Although, we're not really off the grid.

https://www.centurylink.com/fiber/

Re: Off the Grid, but Still Online

#106

Post by MrMcDowall »

grecy wrote: post #40
Luc wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aw, I'm so jealous of the amount of grand nature in North America. It seems out of the question for me on a EU passport to live long term in Canada. You're lucky!

I'm Australian, and have gone through ~7 years of paperwork to become an Canadian Permanent Resident. I have another ~5 years for citizenship, which I'm working towards because Canada really is that awesome :) I'm sure there are places equally as stunning in the Northern European countries.

High five! I've just done the same and just passed the citizenship test. Canada is awesome.

Re: Off the Grid, but Still Online

#107

Post by xacaxulu »

For remote workers within the United States, this is one of the best ways to perform currency arbitrage. Work for company in high cost area, live in low cost area. If you really want to go down the rabbit hole, go work remotely from Mexico for a couple months. I put away a few grand in savings while living extremely well and meeting amazing people while working remotely in Mexico for a company in Chicago.

Re: Off the Grid, but Still Online

#108

Post by neurohax »

rza wrote: post #48

This might have been a good article had it not been for the pretentious, holier-than-thou introduction. Apparently enjoying the fruits of a modern life make you a mindless drone compared to the "contemporary fine artist" who lives on a boat or someone living in a forest re-inventing the wheel for every modern necessity.

I didn't perceive it as pretentious. In my opinion the problem is not enjoying the fruits of modern life, but letting others define for you what has or hasn't value, and living a life where the only goal is being perceived by others as "successful".

Its worse when you see someone preaching marxism like these hollywood actors and big bankers praising cuba, the che guevara and what not, yet fully enjoying the luxuries of capitalism.

Re: Off the Grid, but Still Online

#109

Post by tedks »

codingdave wrote: post #12

There are also middle grounds you can take. I, and other people in my area, live on homesteads, doing our organic / permaculture farming thing, growing our own food, expanding our solar arrays... while also having a good internet connection and a grid-tie so we can do our coding day jobs for part of the day, pay our bills, then shut down and spend the rest of our time in a more disconnected state. I wish I could disc…

>As in many things in life, making a conscious choice to follow your own path is best.

If you've made a conscious choice to follow your own path, why is the path you've found so similar to others?

It's hilarious when non-conformists end up conforming even more.

Re: Off the Grid, but Still Online

#110

Post by Mz »

I have been sleeping in a tent for over three years. I go to a library to plug in. I don't have cooking capacity and I get hot meals from eateries. I self identify as homeless and I am fairly poor, but it was a choice. I walked away from a corporate job that was helping to keep me sick. This lifestyle is helping me get well.

There is no heat or electricity in my humble abode. We adjust amount of bedding and other details, depending on weather.

It has been an interesting experience. I want a house again, but I can imagine it being something small and simple with few amenities compared to most conventional housing.

I am still trying to work out those details. But very much enjoyed this article and posted a link to it on my homeless blog.

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