Gee-Whiz Gadgets for Living off the Grid

You like living out in the country. Living away from smog, noise, and crowded streets suits you just fine. But there's no reason to forgo some of the nicer things associated with civilization. This gadget guide for country folks offers some nifty items for off the grid living, or for those just outside the city limits. There's enough here to whet the gadget lust in any survivalist's heart. So let's take a look at some technology that will make that little cabin in the woods a lot more fun.

I may be in the market for buying a house pretty soon, & just last night I was thinking about going off of the electrical grid by finding some solar panels to put on my roof. I hope they are not so expensive that it would take years to recoup the money I saved, are they?

Is it true that using solar panels could generate more electricity than I need (which isn't a whole lot...my electric bill is usu around $50/mo) & allow me to actually sell it back to the electric company???

“Is it true that using solar panels could generate more electricity than I need (which isn’t a whole lot...my electric bill is usu around $50/mo) & allow me to actually sell it back to the electric company???”

Yes. I have a friend who does that on his estate (2 homes). It cost him over $30K to install, but he sells back electric every month except in deep winter.

Here's how I lived for a short time as a child. kerosene lamps, hand pump well, out house for taking a dump. No air conditioning, no electric lights and certainly no TV. The step father and my mother were building a house on 2.5 acres and it took about 2 years of living like that(all work being done by my step father, me and my brother and my mother, slow work)before we received the electricity and all the other things that go with it(the power company took that long to run poles and wires out to our area).

Fortunately my step father and mother had lived that way as youths and knew all the tricks to survival. I still remember and if I had to(yuck)I could do it again. However, if you want to live off the grid here are some things to remember.

You cannot, even with solar panels, keep constant electricity at your house unless you use a generator(diesel powered and heavy duty)and then it is cost prohibitive. You can have electricity MOST of the time with solar panels, wind power(if you are in a area where windmills work, when I was a kid we weren't in such an area)etc. but you won't have air when you want it and several other things either, and MOSt of the time is pretty rugged compared to what we have today.

Food preservation is a major problem that can be solved but remember you are going to be working you butts off for many hours a day keeping things going.

Living off the grid for a while will remind you why the work used to be split up between a wife and husband, husband worked the job(farm or whatever) and wife busted her butt at home, and I mean busted it.

Word to the wise: Kick the a**hats we have in office now OUT, bring back our constitution, bring back our industry, force the greenies out of our lives and drill, use coal, nukes and hydroelectric, because any other live is so frickin' hard you won't like it, I guarandamntee it.

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