How to Make Money Off The Grid: 50 Ideas to Try Now

UPDATED: June 19, 2019.

How to make money off the grid is a key concern for most off grid families. Although it would be great to not need money at all, the plain truth is there are some things you just can’t make, grow, hunt, or barter for.

Property taxes must be paid, and I’ve yet to find an insurance company that will accept eggs, wild game, or handcrafted furniture in exchange for home or automobile insurance.

Whether you’re saving money to move off the grid or supplement your homestead living expenses, there are many ways to earn income.

Want this list as a downloadable printable? Scroll down to the bottom of the list for the link. 

When we first bought our home here six years ago, Dan was working in town and I was working from home as a freelance writer. I was also homeschooling child number six and 8 months pregnant with our seventh child.

As the years went on, and we moved away from our beloved home for work (and then back again), we looked for ways to have more control over our income.  As we strive to become more self-reliant and build our homesteading skills, learning how to make money off the grid and open up new income streams is a major goal.

And as we continue homeschooling and homesteading our two youngest children, we’re keenly aware that the work world will look very different for them than it did for us. As we learn how to make money off the grid, our girls are learning right beside us.

Related: How Much Does it Cost to Move Off The Grid?

If you’re serious about succeeding off the grid, start thinking about how you’ll make money to support your family.

How to Make Money Off The Grid: 50 Ideas to Get You Started

There are many, many more great ideas out there for making money on your own, starting a side hustle, and launching a small business. But not all of them suit everyone.

For example, online businesses may be out of the question if you have limited internet. Or maybe you live too far from town to sell goods or services there.

Here’s a quick list of how to make money off the grid to get you started.

1. Teach a night school course on what you’ve learned – ie. battery basics, container gardening, raising chickens, installing solar panels.
2. Depending on where you live, the laws in your area and the size of your acreage, you might be able to rent space to an alternative energy company for windmills or solar panels
3. Create an online course on a homesteading or off grid living topic
4. Write and sell an ebook on any topic you know about
5. Self-publish and sell a print book on any topic you know about
6. Write a print/digital newspaper column for a local or online paper
7. Host a YouTube channel (like My Self Reliance from fellow Canadian Shawn James) dedicated to one aspect of homesteading or living off the grid – this has become extremely popular as there are a lot of viewers who prefer to enjoy the lifestyle from the comfort of their suburban or city home! You’ll earn advertising revenue
8. If you have good internet off the grid, you could become a part-time virtual assistant
9. Teach English online to students in other countries
10. Sell your digital images, printables, and graphics online
11. Start an off grid living blog dedicated to one or more aspects of your off grid homestead. Income can come from ad networks, affiliate income, and creating products to sell
12. Become a digital freelance writer based on your previous career (this is what I do – I’m a freelance business and personal finance writer)
13. Open a Shopify store and sell digital products OR run it as an e-commerce store to sell and ship physical products
14. Start a homesteading podcast like Pioneering Today from Melissa K. Norris
15. Sell your nature photographs and images online at a site like Creative Market
16. Run homesteading workshops on gardening, crafting, woodworking, or animal husbandry
17. Work as an interpretive guide at a pioneer museum or living history attraction
18. Become a hunting/fishing guide
19. Run a bed-and-breakfast
20. Chop and sell firewood from your woodlot
21. Grow your own fresh herbs and garden produce – sell from a farm stand or at the local farmer’s market
22. Sell your seedlings
23. Keep your seeds from last year’s garden and sell half of them
24. Make teas, dried herbs, potpourri, tinctures, and essential oils from your homegrown herbs
25. Make any of the items in #18 from greens that you’ve found foraging for plants in your area
26. Tap your trees to make maple syrup or birch syrup to sell locally or online
27. Sell your preserves, jams, and jellies made from your garden produce
28. Raise and sell baby animals – ie. chicks, bunnies, kids, piglets etc.
29. Dogsit or operate a small boarding kennel. Check the kennel laws for your local area first.
30. Sell eggs
31. Bake and sell bread, cookies, and desserts at your weekly farmers market. Or contact restaurants, bakeries or delis in nearby towns to see if they’re interested in buying your baked goods
32. Sell meat from animals you’re raising
33. What about worms? Raising and selling bait worms is a great first business for teenagers living on a homestead
34. Got bees? Sell your excess honey
35. Sell cow or goat milk
36. Make and sell artisan cheese from cow milk or goat milk
37. Got goats? Make and sell goat milk soap
38. Craft and sell seasonal decorative gifts from things found on your property, such as evergreen garlands, pinecone wreaths, and dried flower arrangements or wreaths
39. Got acreage with lots of trees? Sell Christmas trees
40. Own acreage on a highway or busy road? Sell sign space to businesses in the closest town or city
41. Or sell smaller trees to landscaping companies, builders, or individuals in the suburbs or cities
42. Sell the compost you create on your off the grid homestead
43. Use your construction skills to help others with their homestead projects
44. Set up an Etsy shop to sell your handcrafts
45. Start an Etsy shop to sell your original patterns for your handcrafts – knitting, crocheting, sewing, quilting, rug-hooking
46. Learn and teach a pioneer craft such as soapmaking, candlemaking, spinning, quilting, rug-making, basket making, barrel-making
47. Keep your old job! At least for now. Not as much fun, but it pays the bills while you learn the ropes of homesteading and off grid living, and work on cutting your costs as much as possible
48. Work as a consultant based on your previous career. Choose your projects, only work one or two months at a time, or part-time for longer
49. Launch a career as a freelance writer based on your previous career as well. This is what I do. I make a full-time living working part-time as a freelance business and finance writer after a career as a banker.
50. Sell your gently used (or never used) items online to generate cash to buy things for your homestead. Top sellers include small kitchen appliances (think toasters, coffeemakers, breadmakers, slow cookers), sports equipment, and baby and kids equipment and clothes. Look for local Facebook swap’n’shop groups.

Finding a good way to make money will be a trial and error process. Start by picking two or three ideas from the list, and give them a try. Remember, your own attitude makes a big difference when learning how to make money off the grid.

Be creative, be open to new ideas, and check out some of the links in this page to see how others have used their homesteading, survival and creative skills to support their off the grid lifestyles.

Grab your free printable list of 50 Ways to Make Money Off The Grid right here!

You’ll also gain access to our free resource library with 25+ free off grid living, homesteading, and homeschooling resources.

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