Although not technically going off-grid, we are approaching the Next Big Move in our quest for simple living (I’ll show how this is on-topic in a moment).
After 18 months in Wales (UK), we’re moving to the World’s Smallest Cottage (metaphorically speaking, probably, but it’s definitely *small*!) back in Somerset, in February 2013. The cottage is literally about one third of the size of our current three-bedroom semi in rural Wales, just as isolated (if anything more so), and affords us the opportunity, at last, to take a good long hard look at the Stuff we are keeping which we should have jettisoned when we moved up here! If anything we have even more Stuff than we had when we arrive, so we’re really looking forward to the opportunity to offload.
as part of this process, we’re considering going off-Web after 1st Feb, and relying on locally-available Web access such as libraries, or, at most, a wireless dongle for periodic mail download and blog post upload. I wonder if anyone has any experience of this, and can relate how it has worked for them, what adjustments they have had to make, and how they have found it.
This really is a big deal for us, since work and run my business from home, and need Web access to upload data, retrieve email, etc. I’m an accountant (CPA in US parlance), and I need to keep continuity. I’m also mindful of the fact that ‘simplifying’ can sometimes make life immeasurably more complicated, as when, a few years back, I got rid of a supposedly unwanted ‘second’ vehicle, only to find myself spending up to four hours a day waiting for and travelling (slowly) on public transport. So we’re pretty open-minded about the whole thing. Any advice, experiences greatly appreciated.
Web access apart, we’ll e on electricity only (main grid), no gas, no mains drainage (septic tank), and we’ll be renting, so we’ll be living pretty lightly. We can’t wait!
Looking forward to hearing from you all
David
