Considering living a more honest life and want to escape the trappings of modern society? Just want to pay less money for energy and be more self sufficient?

No matter your reason, living off the grid in California has some serious benefits! Read on to learn what you need to know to live a self-sustained life in California. 

 

What is off the grid living?

Living “off the grid” is most commonly associated with living without a connection to the power grid, municipal water line, or centralized sewer system.

While this is where the origins and technical definition come from, off-the-grid living has taken on a more universal meaning of living completely self sustained. Everything from how you get rid of waste and power your home, to how you get the food you eat and entertain yourself, are off the land and direct resources you have.

 

Benefits to living off the grid 

  • Live life on your terms: The need to live the hustle and bustle life are lessened and you can do what you enjoy. It also lets you live a more flexible life that’s centered around true fulfillment for you and your family.
  • Better for the environment: The trappings of modern life can be cushy, but they also do quite a lot of harm to the natural world. Living off the grid forces you to live more simply and only put into your life what’s important to you. This leads to a more energy efficient lifestyle.
  • Land flexibility: You can live wherever you want! Be it a remote parcel of land in the sticks or a section of an acquaintance’s property, you can put your home wherever it works.   
  • Privacy: You can live a truly secluded life. If you are worried about what the future may bring and want a quiet life, nothing quite works like moving off the grid.
  • Save money: You can say goodbye to price gouging corporations like the power company. Since you’ll be cultivating what you need, you won’t have to give your hard-earned money to someone else for something you can just do yourself. 

 

Integrating off-the-grid living into your own life

While not everyone can live 100% self-sustained, it’s still possible to just integrate some aspects and achieve many of the same benefits. This strategy provides you with benefits of the off-the-grid lifestyle, without the parts you don’t like.

Read on to learn our top ways to live simply and be self-sufficient in California. 

 

Solar panels

Nothing quite defines living off the grid quite like solar panels. In fact, the term comes from your ability to leave the power grid and no longer deal with the power companies.

Above all else, solar panels allow you to cultivate the power you need for your home. Instead of paying high electricity costs, you are capturing the sun’s rays and powering your home. 

Solar panels are a particularly great way to dip your toes into self-sufficient living. This is because solar power does not affect your lifestyle at all. Everything you do and have currently in your home, you can have with solar power. You’ll just be able to do it more cheaply and without a greedy corporation involved!

Plus, energy from solar panels is significantly cheaper than power from the grid. Once you’ve installed and purchased solar panels, your energy is free for the life of the panels. This is BIG, as energy prices are expected to continue rising in the coming years and decades. Solar panels have never been a more attractive option for California homeowners

 

How to best cultivate solar power

The only way to truly live off the grid with solar panels is through buying, not leasing, your panels.

Many solar companies try to get you to lease their solar panels. When you do this, you’ll still have to pay for energy — just to the solar company instead of the energy company.

 

When you lease

  • The panel leasing company gets all tax credits and rebates
  • A lien is placed on your home
  • Monthly payments are not guaranteed, potentially
    leading to ever-increasing costs
  • Total electric costs reach $.18/kwh or more

When you buy

  • You receive all state AND federal tax credits
  • Your home value will increase
  • You’ll have flat monthly payments
  • Your total electric costs will be as low as $.06/kwh

 

Don’t just trade one power company for another. Contact Inter Faith Solar & Electric today. We offer financing options to make buying your panels affordable and offer 5-star installation service on all panels.

 

Remote land 

If you are going to take off-the-grid living much further than solar panels, getting out of the country may be necessary.

Living in rural and remote areas has a host of benefits, most importantly you can get a lot of land for cheap. You’ll get away from the surrounding community and have plenty of space to develop the type of systems you need to live off the land, such as gardens and water tanks.

 

Grow and raise your own food 

Living off the grid means getting away from people and the modern systems that just make things more complicated. Nowhere is this more true than how we get our food.

By growing your own food and maintaining livestock such as chickens or dairy cows, you can reduce your food costs and live off the land. While you may need to stock up on some essentials to have in times of need, you can keep most of your sustenance for food that you grow and raise.

 

Collect rainwater 

While collecting lots of rain in California may be tough given our limited rainfall, it is both crucial and necessary to live a self-sustained lifestyle.

Many homes use a rainwater tank, which often takes shape as a barrel that collects water from a gutter on your roof. A system is then installed to pump that water through a filter and into piping in your home. 

This works great, but you must work hard to conserve water so that you have it when it is truly needed.

 

Start your off-the-grid adventure with solar panels from Inter Faith Solar & Electric

Solar panels are a great way to get started off the grid living. 

When you invest in a custom solar panel system from Inter Faith Electric & Solar Installation, you get:

  • Valuable rebates and tax credits
  • Expert installation of your custom solar panel system — get up and running in 2 weeks or less.
  • 0% financing with $0 down for qualified buyers. Bad credit is no problem.

Best of all, you’ll stop paying the utility company and you’ll become the utility company.

Call today (661) 245-3224. Get your free and no-obligation quote on your residential solar power system.