20 people who live off the grid in vans, boats, tents and cabins, share their stories.

Living life constantly surrounded by people and plugged into the internet can cause major sensory overload. Even the most extroverted city-dwellers among us have likely daydreamed of running away to the woods and living off the land. But few have the initiative (or survival skills) to pick up and make a life off the grid happen.So, when people truly have the gumption to break a lease and go live on a boat, or pack up their things and pitch a small tent in the wilderness, it's equal parts fascinating and inspiring for the rest of us.In a popular Reddit thread, people who have lived off the grid shared how it changed their lives (for better or worse) and it's telling how many people prefer it.1. owlwithakeyboard grew up on a boat. I spent the first six years of my life aboard a 31' sailboat. My dad was in the military and bought the boat rather than living on-base. When he and my mom got together it was easier for my mom to move aboard than it was for him to sell the boat. Then I was born, my parents moored in the Bay Area of California, and the rest was history. Growing up I had basically the same experiences as everyone else, just in a slightly different way. Most kids had a swing in their backyard. My swing was mounted to the mast and swung out over the ocean. I had to wear a life jacket every time I used it, and never while we were underway. I had the same toys as everyone else, just fewer of them, because my 'room' was the V-berth in the boat's bow and space was at a premium. My mom still had to wrestle me into the bathtub on the regular, though my 'bathtub' was a plastic bucket filled from the galley sink. Of course, living aboard I had some experiences most folks never got to. Our marina was fairly deep and fairly quiet, meaning wildlife encounters were a nearly-daily occurrence. Most were the usual beach wildlife, sandpipers and grebes and herons and the like, but every now and again we'd get an eagle ray, or a starfish wider than I was tall, or dolphins or porpoises or one very lost ocean sunfish. Whenever my parents got restless they'd bring some extra groceries aboard and cast off for a long weekend underway. I learned early how to keep my balance when the waves got up, and to this day seem immune to seasickness. (I wasn't as a kid, but that's another story.) It's been twenty years now since I lived aboard, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. 2. yournewbestfrenemy sometimes misses the van. I don't live in it anymore but I moved out of my parents house and into a buddy's van when I was 23. Drove around, had a great time, eventually spent all my money by the time we hit Georgia so I got a job and a normal place and... Now I live in Georgia. He's still out riding that van, somewhere. 3. ChaiTeaAZ loves their off-the-grid lifestyle. It all started about 3 years ago, when my husband and I couldn't bear the thought of living in the Phoenix area for another summer. Friends of ours mentioned moving up to the Portland area, so we thought we'd take a road trip in a rented motorhome and stay long enough to check out properties. However, after calculating the cost of the rental, plus gas, plus a "pet deposit" for our 3 dogs, it would have been close to $7k for a month's worth of travel. We then thought that if we were going to spend 7k, why not just buy our own RV? Problem was, the 7k RV's were old, needed a lot of repairs, and had no extended warranties... so why not buy newer? So, we bought a 2 year old, 30 foot Thor Ace, the monthly cost was about what a small mortgage would be, so we considered it our "cabin on wheels". We took longer and longer distance road trips as our confidence levels grew, but then realized we could escape the heat by just driving 3 hours north of Phoenix, and boondocking on BLM land, or National Forests. We really fell in love with the Flagstaff and Williams area, kept going back there and staying in the woods for a week, then 2, then a month. Problem was, on long weekends and holidays, our favorite spots would get taken before we could get there. We decided to find our own land, where we would always have our spot. We bought 40 acres for $50k. At first, we were going to going to put in a slab, build a cabin, put in septic to empty our black tanks into, a cistern for water, run electricity in from nearby power lines. But, we found that we really liked camping in different locations each time and didn't want to lock ourselves into one spot. We recently took out the RV's factory installed toilet, put in a composting toilet (no more black tank dump runs!), installed an inverter and battery bank for solar panels, so we can watch TV, power our laptops and monitors for work. If we need to turn on the generator for the AC, it's only for an hour or 2 during the heat of the day. We have water delivered at the beginning of the summer, lasts us 4 months. Maybe once a week, we'll go into Williams or Flagstaff to buy groceries, refill our gas container, or eat at a restaurant with some of our new friends and neighbors, but 99% we just hang out on the property. I never thought I would be an off-the-grid kind of person. But turns out, this is my heaven on earth, and the best thing we have ever done for our health, happiness and mental sanity. Edit: damn bare thoughts Edit 2: started an instagram, check out Earzapoppin 4. 80000_days lives a solar-powered life. I lived in a teeny cabin 12' by 20' off grid because my best friends and I wanted to live in that part of the country and we don't like most people and the land was cheap and had a spring for our water. Now you would never know our homes are off grid except for the solar panels out back... 5. isk8kona is hiking from Mexico to Canada. I'm currently hiking the PCT, a 2,650 mile trail from the Mexican border to the Canadian border. So, I sleep in my tent most nights. Just passed the 1,500 mile mark today actually! 6. gillish gained perspective from living off the grid. I lived in a small city house in Atlanta that was completely off the grid for 5 years. We had solar energy, all rain water system that filtered and pumped into the house, composting toilet, bees, chickens, and we grew our own food. We built two tiny houses on the property (more like sheds) as well. It was a great adventure but man the summers were brutal without AC, and the winters were dark because our solar energy system wasn’t the best. I remember many nights of eating dinner cooked on our camping stove to the light of a kerosene lantern, and being able to look out the window at our neighbors who had city power, AC, and all their fucking lights on. And winter we would have to heat up our water on the stove and take bucket baths in the bathtub since not having city water meant no hot water either. Our definition of luxury dramatically shifted in that time, and to this day I am in awe of hot water from a tap. At the same time it wasn’t all bad at all. We chose to live that way, and I would do it all over again for sure. I remember so many warm summer nights sitting among our organic veggie garden - collards almost as tall as me - watching the lightning bugs come out. Our chickens laid the best damn eggs of my life. And I developed a real deep appreciation for the pace of the earth when forced to live so closely to the schedule of the plants and sun. Edited to Add More Details: At the time I was living there, I was dirt poor so everything was engineered out of found/low-cost objects. I would build everything better the next time around particularly since now that I’ve got a lot of experience building systems AND a much better income! My job is now portable so I’m currently doing some long term travel (living out of my car and couch surfing) which I just started two months ago. My goal is to determine where and how I want to live tiny by January. Tiny house on a foundation? Tiny house on wheels? Van life? Boat life? RV? We will see! 7. Leauxx doesn't mind living in a tent. My husband and I live in a 16x16 foot military tent out in the Montana wilderness. We are in the process of building a house and will most likely be in the tent till oct when it starts getting really cold! I hope we can dry in the house before that. Just got our foundation walls poured, working on adding raiding floor heating before the slab goes in. It’s been quite the journey so far. Let’s see...we have a solar powered well pump, a solar shower bag for “warm” showers but mostly we bathe in the river. We also have solar powered internet! We stream the mariners every night with a projector. Shoutout to r/MLBstreams Anyway, I love living and cooking outside. Today it’s 80 degrees and I can hear the birds and the river. We have a bear that comes through every now and then if we forget to put the dog food in our Jeep. He really likes dog food. Haven’t seen him in person yet...but I’ve woken in the middle of the night when our dog barks and know he’s out there being a bastard. Edit: thanks for the interest. For anyone who cares, here are some pics of our tent setup! https://imgur.com/a/9C6tlp4 8. happystamps knows the pros and cons. I did it for about six months this year in my old VW ('70) camper. My partner and I had moved to a new city, but I couldn't find work there. I got a job 4hrs away, so started in February, staying in a pub car park and keeping warm using the burners. Moved into the woods in March and stopped there for 5 months. Best part was watching the sun go down through the trees, learning to juggle and smoking a doob. Worst bit was being made homeless by hornets on 2 seperate occasions. Oh, and shitting in a bag. 9. Astrotd loves the boat life. I lived on a 27' Erickson for about 3 years. I was living in LA and a production manager I worked for lived on a boat and it seemed like a cool idea. Got lucky with a find on craigslist and saved a few thousand because the motor didnt work and the guy needed to sell it. Had a friend fix it for under $100 and some beer. Saved a ton of money not paying LA rent and went sailing every weekend. One of the best times of my life. Ended up selling it after making a few upgrades for way more and went backpacking in South America for a year with the money. Currently building a 2017 Tacoma and thinking about living out of it. 10. lookyloolookingatyou lived on a sailboat during a storm. I lived on a 37 ft sailboat in a swamp (connected to the ocean, not sure what the exact term is) in Florida. Only one really interesting story. I lived at the very end of the dock, probably a quarter mile from shore, and the boat was in a state of advanced disrepair. No sails or rigging, engine disconnected, plumbing and wall panels removed, green moss covering the deck and windows, heaps of oily engine parts all over the inside, and most critically (remember this part): no internal source of power. None of my electronics would function unless the boat was connected to shore power from a terminal on the dock, which it always was. That said, I did have satellite TV. Weird set-up. So, somehow I missed the news that a tropical depression was on it's way. Given that this was Florida, it makes sense. Anything less than a Cat 2 hurricane is basically nothing to us. The night before, I smoked a tremendous amount of weed and passed out with the television on. I awoke the next morning to some pretty hard rain on the windows, and water streaming in from several places in the ceiling. I swung my feet of my bunk and into about six inches of water. That was not unusual. My bilge pump was broken and the bilge typically overflowed when it rained hard. It takes about an hour to bail out the water when it gets this high. I then made a trip to the piss jug and started a pot of coffee. As I was drinking my coffee, an emergency alert starts up on the television. It said something like this: "This is an emergency alert. A tropical storm has landed in your area. Winds exceeding XX mph. Do not leave your home. If you are in a vehicle, seek shelter immediately. Extreme danger of tornadoes and flying debris. Emergency services are significantly hampered by present conditions." I don't know if that was the exact wording, but basically the theme was "You are in extreme danger right now, and no one can help you." I decided to assess the situation. I noticed that my boat was rocking pretty intensely and spray was slamming against the windows. Between the spray, the tint of the window, and the green moss on the outside I couldn't see shit. I make my way to the cabin hatch. I slide the hatch open and stick my head out and I am immediately hit in the face by stinging cold needles of rain being blasted by sixty-some odd mph wind. Between my nearly-closed eyelids I didn't see shit. Not the dock, not the only other boat at my end of the dock, not my dock lines, and definitely not the fucking shoreline. It was just a dense wall of gray rain in every direction. I retreat back into the cabin and begin to wonder what this means. I quickly reach the conclusion that my shitty mold-eaten docklines have snapped and I am now adrift. I look for my cellphone to call one of my land-dwelling buddies to get down to the dock and see if he can find my boat. After a quick search I locate my phone in the water, which has risen a couple inches. Not working. At this point I am on the verge of panicking. I can't see the shore, I can't see any other boats, I had smoked a little more weed with my coffee, and my phone isn't working. I assess the situation: a half gallon of water (I didn't think to fill the jug with rain water), a few grams of cannabis, half a pack of smokes, a few cup-of-soup, and no flares or life raft or even lifejackets. I remember that I have a radio. I'm not quite sure how to work it, but I turn it on. I am rapidly cycling through the channels, repeating the same message: Vessel in distress! Vessel in distress! This is (my name), Captain of the (boat's name). My vessel is disabled and I believe I am adrift. Last known location: (the address of the dock I lived at), last confirmed time: around midnight. Requesting immediate assistance! Finally, after repeating this message several times across several channels, I get a response. The reply is incredibly staticky and patchy, so it's near impossible to hear the guy. But after asking him to repeat himself multiple times, the static suddenly clears out and I can hear him clearly. He's an older guy, and he sounds pretty sure of himself. He has been saying, no shit, "You forgot to say over!" Seriously. I am adrift in a disabled vessel in the middle of a tropical storm desperately seeking help and this guy wants to play technicalities. Fine, whatever. I repeat my message and end it with "over" this time. The guy replies, telling me to remain calm. The storm is passing and the weather should be relatively decent soon. I am in a high traffic area where lots of commercial boats and pleasure boats are docked and there will be quite a few people out on the shoreline when the storm clears. He has a pretty large fishing boat and can be out in about an hour to help me. He's familiar with the area, and the lagoon I was in is relatively sheltered and I should probably be running aground soon anyway, but just in case, he says, I need to go outside and look for landmarks on the shoreline. Over. I tell him I can't do that because the rain and wind is still very intense and will destroy my eyes, over. He asks if I have any diving goggles, or even a clear glass bowl I can use to cover my eyes, over. I find a semi-translucent Tupperware container and tell him I'm going outside, over. The Tupperware container was not effective, I still couldn't see anything. Over. Alright, he says. What is the status of your vessel, precisely? Over. Sails missing, engine disconnected. The water is coming in through the ceiling and from the bilge and is almost halfway to my knee. Over. Don't you have a bilge pump? Over. Yes, but it's broken. Over. Okay, he says, what about your batteries? How much power do you estimate you have left? Over. I have no batteries. Over. There was a long pause. How is your radio working? Over. I reply instinctively. It must be shore power. Over. There was another long silence. Are you sure you're adrift? Over. Now that I think about it, my TV and coffee maker are still on. I am using the radio. There is no way this would be possible if I had been blown loose from the dock. No, I guess not. Over. There was another long silence. When he speaks again, it is clear that he is attempting to restrain his laughter. Do you need any further assistance? Over. No, that should be good. Over. Have a good day. Over. You too. Over. About ten minutes later the rain cleared and I went outside. The storm surge had completely covered the dock but sure enough I was still securely connected to my slip. All in all, this experience lasted about half an hour. Edit: To answer some questions: I wanted to take it easy for a while and a friend of mine had purchased a sailboat for cheap that he intended to fix up. He never did and since nobody wanted to buy it, he eventually moved it to the cheapest, most run-down mosquito infested marina he could find, which was wedged in a corner of the bayou in between some kind of commercial fishing operation and a much nicer marina. The marina consisted of one dock and a hose where I got my water and bathed. It was owned by some rich dude, and of the seven or eight boats there, five of them were his. I can't find a good image to convey what the area looked like, there was a lot of spanish moss in the trees and algae in the water but the ground was pretty firm. My friend offered to let me live there if I paid the moorage fee, which was a fraction of the cost of an apartment. Although I only had to work part-time, living there was certainly not "taking it easy." The bilge pump didn't work so it was not unusual for water to build up on the floor when it rained. I now live in a normal house and I still routinely smoke weed with my breakfast and in fact had done just that moments before typing this story. After this incident, I watched television for a while, bailed out the water, and then waded ashore (dock was still submerged) to go to work. 11. BrickWallace loves the freedom. I get to comment! I live in a 1984 dodge b250 camper van. Purely by choice i should add. I was sick and tired of paying 1200 or so towards rent every month and not getting anything out of it at the end. So I searched and searched for something that would fit my needs and the van hits the spot. It's not exactly classy. It's a woodpaneled ocean liner with shag carpet but it's home. My beer is always within arm reach. I can move whenever I please and it's easy to clean also my job pays me to live on my worksite with it so It works out. 12. nemosworld4 doesn't plan to settle down. I've lived on some type of rubber for about 4 and a half years. Love the freedom and the lifestyle. My dog has seen more of North America than most people I know. It's by choice and I can't see it ending anytime soon. 13. Account778 has learned to minimize their lifestyle. I've been living in a travel trailer for the last 4 years. Started working on pipelines 6 years ago and was always on the road and decided it wasn't worth paying rent on a place I only saw an average of 4 days a month. Now I can live where I'm working and bank more LOA vs staying in hotels and I go wherever I want when I have time off. I've minimized what I own and waste less money on non-essential things due to a limit of storage space which further saves money. Sometimes i do get myself a nice hotel room for a long, hot shower that last longer than 8 minutes, good wifi and cable though to spoil myself. I could have wifi and satellite in my trailer, but I just really don't miss it that much. You learn that YouTube is just a waste of time because it kills your data. 14. grapedrank2 loves the bus life. I live in a 1997 Ford e350 at the moment and I must say I’m loving it. I was medically released from the Canadian armed forces and knew that I’d be moving to Winnipeg for me next job. I knew I didn’t want to rent and throw my money away and mortgages are far too expensive so I figured the hell with it. I’ll live in a bus. I gotta say I don’t imagine anything better for me. 15. allseeingike used to live in a tent in the Everglades. I don't live in a tent anymore but I used to in the Everglades. I was just young and I couldn't find anyone that would rent to me. Ended up in a tent in a ranch and just took care of the animals in exchange of living on the property. Which was really cool because I love animals but the owner of the property was a massive piece of sh*t. 16. SweetShakes grew up like a pirate. I grew up on a 100 year old wooden tallship with my Father. Currently I'm working on a 172ft white yacht that fishes in Alaska and Costa Rica. I have a guitar, clothes, and my Nintendo switch. I'm happy. 17. gamesterette and her husband have lived on wheels for years. I lived in an RV for 9 years with my husband. Started out in a 23 foot motor home for 3 years, then a 35ft 5th wheel after we had our first kid. If that's the kind of story you are looking for, I can share more details. EDIT Full story I was 18, fresh out of high school. He was 17, just got his GED. We lived in a small travel trailer (unbeknownst to his family) for a few months to get a feel for living together, on our own, away from family. He got an employment opportunity out of state. His grandparents and uncles were willing to help him. His parents would only let him go if I went with him, and his grandparents wouldn't help us live together unless we were married. So we got hitched. My dads wedding gift to us was a 1983 Southwind motorhome. Hubby's grandparents found us an RV lot to park it on, and his parents drove it up there for us. We paid $300/month, all utilities included, in a small park in NM. It was a friendly place, and we got along well with our neighbors and landlords. At one point, we tried renting a house. We didnt like all the upkeep required, and went back to the motorhome. We had 2 medium sized dogs and a cat. About 2 years later, we found out I was pregnant. All the apartments in this little town were section 8 housing with a 2 year wait. We were getting homesick and knew we didn't want to buy a house. Once again his grandparents swooped in to save us. They cosigned on a 2000 35 foot Nash 5th wheel. $15,000 and 1.5% interest. We sold the Southwind for the downpayment, and the company that towed it away delivered the 5th wheel the same day. We stayed in the same RV spot, and we loved it. We took the dinette out to make room for a crib, and it was perfect. We had a little garden out back, dog had the run of the park, and all the residents were built in babysitters and helpers. But we missed our families. So when my daughter was 7 months old we packed everything up and had the trailer towed back home. We parked on his parents property with full hook ups. A year later, I'm pregnant again. Hubby was a stay at home dad, I worked at a gas station. He did car and yard work for his parents to pay our rent. We couldn't afford to move out. So we got 2 recliners from a thrift store for $20, removed the built in couch/futon, and put a mini crib and 1 chair where the couch was, the other chair went next to the mini crib When daughter 2 outgrew the mini crib, hubs built a bunkbed where the dinette originally was. They loved it. We spent a lot of time outside and with family, since the inside was so cramped. We didnt have many amenities. A TV and ps3 bought before either kid was born, and the built in radio. But we had each other. The kids had a dedicated room in Papa's house, a 2 minute walk away, where they were welcome at any time. We got the apartment 1 week before my oldest girls 6th birthday. The kids learned early that they had to put every toy away as soon as they were done playing with it. The floor had to be cleaned up before bed and nap time every day. They love being outside, and going on long drives. The understand the importance of keeping your living space clean and tidy. They are very close, and are excellent helpers. Uh, so yeah. That's our story. If you have questions or need clarification, feel free to ask. 18. Kitty42 lived their Little House on the Prairie dreams. Ever since i was in elementary school and read the Little House on the Prairie series i wanted to be a homsteader. I remember telling my family when i was 11ish that i planned to join the amish one day. Years later, im in my mid 20's with a husband and two boys under 4. My husband had always known i wanted to go off grid but wasnt into it. Anyways he's in school, moneys really tight, he's getting ei but he owes money to the government, so now their also taking a large portion of his ei. Im not working other than babysitting at this point, as daycare costs more than i was making waitressing. Were not going to be able to pay rent soon. I look online and immediately find an add for free rent. Its a place about an hour out of the city. It's this old farmers family homestead. It has three seperate houses on it all fenced off with flower gardens on 230? acres of land. One is the original house he grew up in, the two others he brought to the property later on, the rest is farmland he rents out to other farmers. Basically the deal was we mowed the three lawns and took care of his late mothers flowers. In the summer he would have some mamma cows and their babys dropped off to keep the grass down in the rest of fenced off part of the property. So we would walk the fence every other day or when there was a storm, clear and or repair the fence. We would also check on his elderly brother who lived on the other side of the property, and bring him groceries once a week. Take out his garbage. The house we lived in was an old schoolhouse built in 1907 with an addition added onto it. We did have power and phone but no running water or gas. We had a huge potbelly stove which we cut wood for on the property, but we also burnt coal in the winter as it gets to -40.(Alberta Canada) We used an outhouse, but also had a wooden box setup with a bucket for the kids in the bathroom. We would heat water and shower with a shower bag hanging over the tub. The kids were small enough i would bathe them... lol... in a big vegetable drawer from an old fridge. That is untill we had our third child and I upgraded to an actual baby bathtub. We hauled our water from a well in buckets, on sleds in the winter and a wagon in the summer. In the summer i would do laundry by the well in an old wringer washing machine. I had gardens and chickens and my kids played in the dirt. I loved it. For quite abit of that time my husband was only home weekends when he was in school or if he got a job he would be out of town doing 24 and 4 shifts. So when he was home we had to make sure i had enough wood to last till he got back. But i still f*cking loved it. As of now i have 3 teenagers who would not be impressed with living off grid. So i get my fix by keeping a year round campsite with a little 1970's trailer, and living out there as much as i can in the summer 😁💓 Or throwing a mattress into the back of my Suv and going on an adventure with my dog when my now ex husband has the kids for the weekend. 19. DotSlashFW transformed their van into an RV. I live in a Van that I turned into an RV. I rather live rent free then constantly have to worry about bills. I live in Texas right now so the heat is pretty bad during the day but at night it's livable. I've got basically a full kitchen and I sleep in a hammock so I'm not missing out on much. Plus it's an interesting talking point once people find out. There's a few things that you really have to adjust too though, the main one is showering at the gym or using public restrooms if the need comes up. Both can be included if you get a big enough van/ are willing to sacrifice other aspects of you're living space. If anyone has questions just ask I'm an open book when it comes to this stuff :) been living in it for about 4 months now. 20. MegasXLRV loves their life with Sylvia. I got an offer to work at my buddy's business as a heavy equipment operator but work is seasonal and I didn't want to rent or buy a house in the area. Not a problem for someone who has always dreamed of living in a motorhome...(I have strange dreams, lol). So I flew across the country and bought one of the biggest and heaviest motorhomes I could find, a widebody Blue Bird Wanderlodge. 40 feet and 45,000 pounds of '90s luxury. I love the beast and the two-stroke turbocharged and supercharged diesel engine sounds like sex. Leather interior, fully air conditioned, hydronic heating with electric resistive heating as a backup, spot for a washer/dryer, convection microwave combo, extra basement fridge/freezer, 40" tv, 15kw diesel generator to power all the hungry appliances when not connected to shore power... I call it my rolling condo. I'm staying on my friend's property and working for him till winter then I'm going to travel around the US and visit friends and family till spring when work picks up again. I didn't know if I'd adjust to this lifestyle so different than what I was used to but I honestly love it. Here is a picture of Sylvia in all her glory https://imgur.com/vEDTLkg 21. lshiva is living it up in the desert. I live in an 8'x12' house I built myself in the desert. I've got solar panels, but I haul water in from town as needed. Today I picked up 5 gallons on the way home from work. I'm sitting in air conditioned comfort playing video games, watching tv, and watching my dog nap. I liked the area, land was cheap, and I thought building a house would be fun. It took me a month or so to build it, and it's got everything I need. A well would be nice, but I can buy water for the next 30 years for the same price as a well. A few years ago I quit my job, sold my home, ans rode my bicycle around the world. After living that lifestyle for over a year an apartment was just too much space for me when I got home. I slept on the couch in the living room most nights and hardly used the bedroom. So I downsized to living out of my car for a year or so. But I'd missed having a kitchen while on my bike trip, and I still missed it in the car. I watched land sales for a few months until I found something in my price range that I liked, and then got building. I'm pretty happy with what I have now. I can do neat things like build a solar powered heater for the house, or shoot trap in my backyard. Not having neighbors nearby is great. 22. BiggieHoson is living the circus life. I quit my job a few weeks ago and joined the circus. I now work for Cirque Italia as a tent crew member and a part of the pre-show. I now live in a bunk that's pulled around by a semi.