Maggie6424 AMA

[maggie6424]

Make me think ladies. My brain needs a workout!

[sdlaura]

Do you homeschool? Where was your gym pic from - the small town nearby?

[teachermomtobe]

Easiest & hardest part about living off the grid?

[maggie6424]

Apr 13, 2017 16:14:44 GMT -5 sdlaura said:

Do you homeschool? Where was your gym pic from - the small town nearby?

Nope. I don't have the patience to do homeschooling. Ds1 goes to pre-k in town. After dropping him off, I go to the rec center there. Calling it a gym is giving them to much credit!

[maggie6424]

Apr 13, 2017 16:22:45 GMT -5 teachermomtobe said:

Easiest & hardest part about living off the grid?

Easiest/best is not having traditional bills or a mortgage. We can do whatever we want on the 37 acres. I could walk around nekked if I really wanted to!
Hardest part is having nothing and no one close. Gas station? 15 minutes. Bank/grocery? 20 minutes. Target? 1:45 minutes for a small one. Emergency care? 1:20.

[teachermomtobe]

What does your H do for work? I don't remember if you work too but if you do, what do you do?

[marshian]

What motivated you to go off-grid? Was it something you'd always considered?

[marshian]

What "group" did you fall into in high school? Jocks, nerds, popular kids, etc?

[maggie6424]

Apr 13, 2017 17:09:09 GMT -5 teachermomtobe said:

What does your H do for work? I don't remember if you work too but if you do, what do you do?

I'm a sahm. I also do young living, but not on any kind of scale. H is a contactor, he builds greenhouses. We live in Colorado, so most of them (I assume) are for marijuana. But we also live at 8400 feet, so if you want to grow any produce you basically have to have one. We're moving towards building up a farm for the long term. Organic chickens and eggs, a few cows, goats for milk, and arugula.

[maggie6424]

Apr 13, 2017 17:43:57 GMT -5 marshian said:

What motivated you to go off-grid? Was it something you'd always considered?

H always wanted this. I didn't want to be quite so remote, but I'll live. We were so tired of big city life. While we are from the Kansas city Ks area, we moved to Denver in 2009 for his job. Traffic in Denver wasn't quite like LA, but it was pretty bad. Plus, so much crime. H's f-350 was stolen from in front of our house by three Hispanic guys at 4:00 in the afternoon. Broad daylight. H and I were restaurant managers for big chains for years. He really got tired of working for someone else. And we wanted our kids to be wholesome country boys! We finally built up enough equity in our house to have a big enough chunk of money to buy without another mortgage.

[maggie6424]

Apr 13, 2017 17:45:19 GMT -5 marshian said:

What "group" did you fall into in high school? Jocks, nerds, popular kids, etc?

I was a loaner to the max. I had friends in every group, but didn't actually fit into any of them. I was the girl who always dated guys 4+ years older than me, so I thought I was too cool for school.

[sdlaura]

Apr 13, 2017 16:31:11 GMT -5 maggie6424 said:

Apr 13, 2017 16:14:44 GMT -5 sdlaura said:

Do you homeschool? Where was your gym pic from - the small town nearby?

Nope. I don't have the patience to do homeschooling. Ds1 goes to pre-k in town. After dropping him off, I go to the rec center there. Calling it a gym is giving them to much credit!

No way I could do it either. DH and his sister were homeschooled for a few years and neither would do it with their kids.

[maggie6424]

Apr 13, 2017 18:21:48 GMT -5 sdlaura said:

Apr 13, 2017 16:31:11 GMT -5 maggie6424 said:

Nope. I don't have the patience to do homeschooling. Ds1 goes to pre-k in town. After dropping him off, I go to the rec center there. Calling it a gym is giving them to much credit!

No way I could do it either. DH and his sister were homeschooled for a few years and neither would do it with their kids.

I think maybe I could do a semester every so often.. But that's it.

[ihatepizza]

What are you passionate about?

[maggie6424]

Apr 13, 2017 20:19:22 GMT -5 ihatepizza said:

What are you passionate about?

I looooove making natural soap and other body products. It's my hobby turned extra income.
But mainly I'm passionate about health. Eating organic, non-gmo, keeping diet balanced, and living as clean of a lifestyle as we can.

[applemuffins]

Do you have a list of people who are coming over if we end up in nuclear war/zombie apocalypse to seek shelter at your off the grid location? Do you keep reserves for that kind of thing?

[maggie6424]

Apr 13, 2017 20:43:05 GMT -5 applemuffins said:

Do you have a list of people who are coming over if we end up in nuclear war/zombie apocalypse to seek shelter at your off the grid location? Do you keep reserves for that kind of thing?

Ha ha ha... Most likely yes. In either family, only us and one uncle in Kansas live in the country. We were actually really worried about things going south in the country, possibly even a civil war. Or China getting crazy and doing something awful. We have been buying bags of rice and beans from Sam's for the last year and keeping them in food safe 5 gallon buckets. If nothing else, we just start using them to cook regular meals. Now that we're on well water, we don't have to worry about water. Huge plus! H also knows how to reload almost any kind of ammo, and has the supplies to do it. Once we have a source of protein, I'd say our place would be pretty desirable in a apocalyptic world!

[lindsay]

How did your H convince you or how did you come around to the idea of living off the grid?

Do you have any neighbors nearby that you see around?

Was your/your husband's family supportive?

Does it feel safer living there than the typical towns/cities/neighborhoods?

[applemuffins]

Hahaha glad you have some supplies! You are already off the grid, it would seem like a waste not to be prepared!

[maggie6424]

Apr 14, 2017 3:06:27 GMT -5 lindsay said:

How did your H convince you or how did you come around to the idea of living off the grid?

Do you have any neighbors nearby that you see around?

Was your/your husband's family supportive?

Does it feel safer living there than the typical towns/cities/neighborhoods?

Well the ability to buy the property outright was a huge factor in convincing me. Plus the 37 acres. Also, being at 8400 feet means we don't have sweltering summers. We also have a plan to build our forever home eventually.. so this is temporary.
The "plots" of land out here are all just over 35 acres. We have many neighbors but don't typically see them. The homes are visible though.
Our families thought we were pretty crazy. Neither of us had ever lived like this before, and the kids plus me being pregnant didn't help. My h is very handy, there's not much he can't do. They were silently shaking their heads just sure it'd be a matter of time before we decided it was a mistake. Now they're all really proud of us.
Safer is an understatement! We don't lock our cars, either at home and sometimes in town. We only lock our house and the gate when we will be gone overnight. I have left my purse unattended many places in town without a second thought. Everyone out here owns guns, and most carry on their person mainly for animal protection. I also know that out here you protect your own, so if looting or anything like that started happening, the "neighborhoods" would band together and fight.

[maggie6424]

Apr 14, 2017 7:48:30 GMT -5 applemuffins said:

Hahaha glad you have some supplies! You are already off the grid, it would seem like a waste not to be prepared!

Definitely! We just don't really have room to house anyone else. But as soon as the ground warms a bit, we'll be starting on an addition. It will give us a bedroom, the boys a bedroom, a powder room or 3/4 bath, closet space, and a place for the washer/dryer. It will take us from 580 square feet to about 1200. It will feel like a mansion by the time it's done, just because we're so used to all being in basically the same room all the time.

[sdlaura]

maggie6424 it's funny, but I feel way safer in cities than I would out in the country. I like that my very close neighbors keep an eye on our house all day and that there is always someone close by in case of an emergency. Far apart houses without other people nearby scare me

[lindsay]

sdlaura logically I believe the country is safer. It usually around a small town where everyone knows everyone. My mom grew up in the county and they never locked their doors. BUT I have it in my head that murderers go out into the country to hide bodies, too much dateline and 20/20 I guess.

[maggie6424]

Apr 14, 2017 12:28:41 GMT -5 sdlaura said:

maggie6424 it's funny, but I feel way safer in cities than I would out in the country. I like that my very close neighbors keep an eye on our house all day and that there is always someone close by in case of an emergency. Far apart houses without other people nearby scare me

I get that. You have good neighbors though. At our house in Denver, we were one of the only white families in a very Hispanic area. We don't speak Spanish. Soooo that singled us out, and unfortunately meant a lot of them didn't make any effort to be friendly.

[sdlaura]

Yep, specific neighborhood matters more than city or country in terms of safety, I think. We do have great neighbors. We used to live in a neighborhood that was very nice and safe, but nearly all our neighbors were recent Chinese immigrants who moved there for the good schools. So there was a language barrier there too and that was one of the reasons we moved to our current neighborhood. I read about a study that said most Americans value diversity in their schools and workplaces, but prefer to live in less ethnically diverse areas, near other people who are most like them.