I would like to introduce myself. My name is Kelly and I am on a journey to make the lifestyle of my family and myself more ecofriendly and self-sustainable. I believe that I have be very lucky to experience living a self-sustainable lifestyle early in my childhood when visiting my paternal grandparents.

They were "hill people" who had moved to the city for work and brought the ideas of producing your own food, fixing things when broken, and helping neighbors as the norm, etc. Of course my Mother was just the opposite if it didn't come from the supermarket then you didn't eat it, you bought everything new and replaced it when broken. Since opposite attract but rarely stay together my parents seperated early and I lived with my Mother. So my experiences with my grandparents lessened and I started my adult life after my Mother's example.

Though I always dreamed of eventually becoming like my grandparents I just figured I would need to move to an existing homestead to do it. Since I felt that I was trapped in that lifestyle as with life your dreams keep being moved to the next day, week, month, or year. Once children entered the scene then I just hoped to keep up with their needs.

All that changed when we noticed how unhealthy most children seemed to be around us. They have allergies, asthma, colds multiple times a year, and so on. That started us on taking out fast food and processed food & snacks and looking for healthier ways to prepare meals. The difference was noticeable, to us at least. Our children rarely visit the doctor and when sick we rely more on my MeMaw's remedies then anything else. You know lemon and honey tea for a sore throat, homemade chicken noodle for a cold, vapor baths and so on. They work extremely well even if they need more dosage and my children are bothered less by ailments because their bodies have had a chance to become resistant naturally.

To make changes in our current home it took a fire to occur. When we lost our home to a spontaneous fire we thought our dream of moving to a healthier rural life was gone. So we decided to rebuild the parts of the home that were lost more efficient and in line with our dreams. We downgraded such things as carpets, cabinets, and furnishings to upgrade our appliances to the best energy star available, better windows, increase insulation, and improve the interior for a better air quality and sunlight use. Those had an immediate impact. Then changing to CFL's and putting most electronics on power strips, which can be turned off when not in use, just increased the amount of efficiency.

When we first bought our 1953 brick cape cod home our electric bill started at $500 and top out mid winter/summer around $975. Now even with the energy cost increase we top out at $500 and barely make that. That is with six people, 4 of them growing children (1 hitting pre-teen and the rest not far behind), my husband running a home based computer programming and developmental consulting on the side, and all the other assorted pets, friends, family, and in-laws that come to stay a few months out of the year.

So now we are working on taking a suburban home off the grid and doing it without alarming the neighbors. Since the economics of today's life has made it harder to have the resources available to do this all at once we will be piecing this together over the long term and I invite you to join us on the journey. This blog is the place for me to share my story on a personal level as my other blog is more for getting the information people looking into this lifestyle need out there. So leave me a message or even visit my forum at www. OffGridUSA.com and talk with me there. I'm always looking for new friends, ideas, and comments.