joiner andy Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 You could still have that - take a look at what this bloke has built. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2039719/Simon-Dale-How-I-built-hobbit-house-Wales-just-3-000.html that looks good, i saw one similar on grand designs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy Jnr Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 I'm sort of with you Medusa, but I also find that I cope very well when I don't have anything at all. So, I'm wondering if the ultimate need for comfort is as universal as we would be told to think. Think you answered your own question there. We're told, so we do. It's difficult to get away from media persuasion and even harder to cast aside the inevitable reliance we have on the things we buy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElasticMan Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 that looks good, i saw one similar on grand designs Its pretty impressive - details on how it was done here http://www.simondale.net/house/build.htm Of course the £3000 figure assumes that there are no labour costs - he estimates that it took between 1000 and 1500 manhours. Still impressive though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mecky Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 Would still have to pay tax, council tax, buy clothes etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perplexed Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 Depends to what extent really. I could live without many "consumer" items quite happily. I'm usually a few years behind the latest phone etc. I'll get a new mobile when my current one breaks and not before. But I don't really need a mobile, it's just handy now and then. But what happens about things such as medical care? Somebody has to be sufficiently on-grid to be paying into the system to fund and provide this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cavegirl Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 I've been plugging through Nick Rosen's book for months. He lives "off grid", sort of. No mains power, water, gas... just cash from a bit of journalism and basketweaving to buy food and put petrol in the camper van. Is it a viable lifestyle for anyone? Could you do it? This is almost exactly the plan that my partner and I are working towards at the moment. We're currently in the process of saving for a campervan which we're planning to fit out with insulation, solar panels, a means of storing and converting vegetable oil into diesel and a w.c./ shower. The only thing I haven't worked out yet is how to build a contraption that will easily wash our clothes (we lived without a washing machine for 6 months and I've no intention of hand washing everything in a sink again- total nightmare!). During the week we're planning to work as independant journalists on our own magazine and participating on wooffing sites or volunteering as a means of obtaining plenty of good organic food. At the weekend we'll be joining a re-enactment society and teaching people about traditional crafts. I'll do wood-turning on a pole-lathe and my partner is a leather-worker so we'll be selling the products that we make on site and online. Part of our profits will go towards a 'guerilla gardening' project of planting fruit and nut trees in relevant spaces and if the magazine becomes fairly successful we'll grow it as a co-operative business with shared profits rather than try to get rich from it. I think that as the system crumbles over the next few decades the more self-sufficient and resilient people can become the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent Orange Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 Try crofting in the Scottish Highlands & Islands. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crofting I am sure you could generate your own power up there, be from wind or solar. It would be a tough life, but with a bit of dedication, would be worth it, if you are into that kind of thing. I, like others, prefer my creature comforts too much to embark on anything like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
upinwath Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 I've been plugging through Nick Rosen's book for months. He lives "off grid", sort of. No mains power, water, gas... just cash from a bit of journalism and basketweaving to buy food and put petrol in the camper van. Is it a viable lifestyle for anyone? Could you do it? Not done that but, when I was single, it would have appealed. As long as you have cash for basic (and the odd pizza), why not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitisbad Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 are you talking about no power or just being rural, I.E. solar, wind, or oil for the central heating? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sccsux Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 Would still have to pay tax, council tax, buy clothes etc Not necessarily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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