How You Going To Pay For All This?

How you going to pay for all this? This has to be about the most common question I get asked right after I get done explaining my plan to go off the grid. I get this feeling from most people that when they hear the plan, they think of it as all one big piece. Like $10,k for this, $37,k for that, another $8,700 for this thingamabob, they add it up in their heads and then ask where are you going to get two trillion dollars to pay for all this?

Like anything that is worth doing, you have to take it one step at a time, start small and pay as you go. If you sit and wait for the day that you will have all the money, items, and skills that you need before starting, you might be sitting there for the rest of your life. As time goes by, and you get new information, you may change the plans. Do you start all over and wait to have all those items that are needed for the new plan?

Plans change, different opportunities come along, so you may find that what you started out to do is better used for something else. Or, you may not enjoy it as much as you did before. I am keeping this in mind when looking for my first piece of land. I may get it all wrong, or I may end up with a property that is better used for one of my other plans or for someone else and sell it off, taking that profit (hopefully) and applying it to a piece of land that is better suited for what I need. It maybe an extra step or two, but at least it was a starting point for me instead sitting and waiting for the right time.

Employment, Since I do not have any land yet and I am looking to change careers, currently I am looking for a new basic job to use as a transition to my new location. From that basic job I will be able to see if I want to stay in the area or find a new place. I will also be able to start networking with local people and companies to see if there is a market for my Furniture /woodworkings or selling my Mother's Canned recipes.

To answer that main question, How am I going to pay for all this? The Comedian inside me wants to answer by saying "With money, of course!" But Since I ask myself the same thing, I can say that I plan on working and saving until I have enough to start with a piece of land that will get me out of renting. Then as soon as I can afford enough to build even a small space to set up my woodworking tools, then I will be able to bring in extra money and plan to add each part of the plan as the money comes in.

Like the early Pioneers and Settlers, things are going to be rough for some time. They always are in the beginning of any new adventure, but as more work comes in things will grow and get easier. This is why I knew I was setting out on a "Journey" and not just building a Cabin in the woods. To me, going "Off The Grid" means more then just not having utilities, it is a change in the way I am living my life.