DandNHill

In January we moved house where there was a wood furnace in the basement. We didn't have any wood though! So once a week, on a Friday afternoon, we headed to the local timber yard and loaded hubby's truck with offcuts. The full truck load was $25. Well considering it was a very cold winter with several days at - 24 we actually managed to heat our house with 3 loads per month, so $75!!!! Obviously we had to collect it and then get it in to the basement but if you are thinking self sufficiency then that is something to remember!!!!

Jingsamichty

Do you have kids? There are school costs.

Planning on going anywhere, ever? Flights in Canada are extremely expensive.

dbd33

This number would not work here, in Ontario. The cost to have electricity supplied is about $130/month. There's also a charge for electricity used but it's negligible; the worst bill we've had was $150. So, here one has to choose to be on the grid at $130/month even if no power is used or off the grid, set up cost for us is about $35,000. Either way, a back up generator arrangement is needed (unless you can keep all your summer produce in some sort of root cellar).

I wonder what self-sufficient people feed to their chickens, pigs and cows. Around here chickens and pigs get commercial meal, left overs, unsaleable food from supermarkets. Cows get grass and hay; growing and harvesting the hay isn't a trivial undertaking.

woodworm

NS Power charge 10.83/month for a base charge, that's it.. and then your consumption on top

bigshark

you will need a lot of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels to be able to off-set the electrical usage. How much roof space would you have, will it be south facing? Also are there any renewable incentives in NS, or Canada for the matter? i.e. do you get paid for exporting unused electricity? this could provide some income if there are any...

Whilst you are thinking of renewable technologies, you should also consider solar thermal - some might say it is more useful than PV. 2-4m.sq should provide enough hot water for your need. however, unlike PV, solar thermal does require maintenance in order for it to run efficiently.

if you want to go a step further you could produce your own hot water without electricity, the following shows how it is done and would be ideal if you live out in the sticks...

Shirtback

Are you planning to heat your house solely with the wood? Count at least 10 -15 cords per winter if so.

Where are you planning to get the wood?

Triple, at least, your budget for vehicular fuel.

What's the budget for feeding & housing the animals you plan to raise for food?

Not trying to rain on your parade, but having done the living-in-the-backwoods-self-sufficiency-thingy, I eventually worked out that it's much cheaper, & a heck of a lot more comfortable, to live a more conventional life, in town, in Eastern Canada.

It may be more feasible on the West Coast.

S

Pulaski

Post #1 ".... harvested our own wood .... ", which I took to mean for fuel.

dishwashing

Thank you, yemelade. I'm very inspired by attempts to change the pace of (mainstream) stuff.

Wishing you good journeys all along

woodworm

we heat a 2200 sqft house and a separate workshop with 2 (Pacific Energy) wood stoves. Both buildings are fully insulated. We use 5 cords of hard wood for both during the winter ( heating period November until April) , price per cord at the moment between $180-220(cut and split if you were to buy it)

Shirtback

Good info.

I was mainly throwing out "things to think about" ...

S

yemelade

We're definetely aiming to have enough money to insulate and solar power the home so that our annual costs are as low as possible. And yes, we would be planning to use wood as our sole source of fuel. Seen a few houses online with wood acreage included in the sale therefore vehicular costs associated with transporting the wood are likely to be low, particularly if we were able to buy a large wagony/truck to attach to our truck to assist with moving wood. Although admittedly I'm unsure which trees grow back and whether we'd need to replant etc or if they'd just grow so it's things like this I'd need to look at. I'd hate to think we cut down all our trees expecting them to regrow, and then they didn't therefore we'd be very cold!

For chicken and pig feed, my aunt feeds them in the UK with a grain and soy mix, with scraps to both the chickens and the pigs straight from the dinner plate and they seem to do really well on it. I would need to find somewhere nearby or that delivered to provide a similar thing, or see about rotating the animals on the land we had so they would always have access to fresh pasture which would likewise reduce the cost to feed as well as surplus garden veggies in the summer to enrich their diet/reduce costs.

PS Bigshark, thanks for the link! Very interesting video indeed, and something we need to consider.

School fees? School is free in NS, no? But we both feel it is essential that we work into the budget extra classes/clubs for the children if they want it. In terms of college, we should hopefully have "spare" money out of this $20,000 to put aside to put towards the costs of this. Please note that $20,000 is the bare minimum we will have without either of us working, but my partner is very keen to work at least one or two days a week therefore our annual income is likely to be higher. Not to mention I'm aware that coupons exist in Canada, and I've seen extreme couponing guys, so I'll deffo be doing that!

I am very excited about it all haha! Thanks for all the advice so far, and please don't think you are raining on my parade, don't worry about that, I just want to make sure I've considered everything, and you have all helped guide me in some way or another, so feel free to add more if you think of more!

Thanks again, much love x

Almost Canadian

Do not underestimate the expense of living rurally. Our capital costs have been eye watering in the 18 months or so since we moved from city to acreage. Our chicken coop has cost us the best part of $5,000 with the majority of that being labour costs of an electrician to get power to it. Most tradesmen simply don't want to work on rural properties. I accept that this may be because we are not too far away from a fairly large city and that it may be different if we lived "proper rural"

What livestock are you thinking of keeping? Wooded properties and properties ideal for hay are usually mutually exclusive.

dbd33

It's a fair while since my children went to college but one went to a college in NS. The cost for the first year was around $15,000, I don't remember how much was tuition fees and how much was residency fees and that does include the out-of-State premium but, even so, I don't think education for even one child can be financed from $20,000 of income.

yemelade

We're thinking of keeping chickens and pigs. Thanks for your input!

In terms of college education, as they'd be perm res by the time they apply, they'd be eligible for the normal fees which currently average about $5,000 per year tuition only. I would think if we put away $2.5k per year spread across 18-20 years this would be about 50k, which seems a decent amount. I agree this is something i need to look at in further depth though as admittedly it's not something I've considered or looked at too much. Thanks for the advice

Novocastrian

When did children get introduced into this equation? That changes everything.

There's no chance that you'll have "spare change" out of $20K a year to finance future post-secondary eduction for them, not even extra classes/clubs in the meantime.

If the source of the income is fixed in terms of the revenue generated, dependent on the age of these (putative?) children, that might well be the annual tuition fees per child by the time they grow to that age.

Good that one of you wants to work "one or two days a week" but good luck with finding any paid employment in rural NS.