Moving off the grid was a choice done out of necessity. The land itself cost $24,000, which was pretty much everything that we had. We took out a personal loan of $10,000 from the bank so we could get everything established. Long story short, we couldn’t get a mortgage because my husband wasn’t living in SC with me, and I had only had my job for a few months. This, combined with the desire to live a more sustainable life, led us to off grid living.

With a financial constraint in place, and a fairly nice climate in SC, I decided to tap into my old Girl Scout Camp experience (appropriate, as I am now a camp director) and live in a platform tent. It was also cheap, and with our $10,000 loan we could easily afford one. So, we went online and got a 12×14 Wilderness tent. We got the angle kit for four rafters so we could cut our own 1″ metal conduit and just assemble the pieces (saves on shipping). We opted for an extended fly (with three rafters) to give us an 8 foot porch, six foot side walls, screened in front and back flaps, and a window on each side. We also got a Yukon stove to heat.

We also decided, since this was a more long term situation, that we wanted the tent to be on a platform, and not on the ground. They are perfectly fine on the ground, but with the dogs, we really didn’t want any digging.

With all that said,  we selected a 22′ x 12 ‘ location on our property, tucked into the trees. Here, I am sitting in the back of the tent looking forward to the driveway. Now, we get building.