A FRUGAL-LIVING fella moved into an off-grid hut where he pays no bills and uses a self-made toilet that cost less than £2 to make.
Self-described “old-fart” Kevin moved onto a patch of land he bought four years ago after living in a van for over a decade.
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The cheap-living chap said he has lived alternatively for 17 years, and “often said” to himself that he wanted to buy a “little bit of land” he could park his camper on.
Three-and-a-half years ago he did just that, copping his own 18-acre slice of heaven in the British countryside, moving his camper onto it and building his own self-sufficient homestead.
He said: “The pace of life going forward was just too fast, I thought that going backwards was the way to go forward.
“As strange as that sounds.”
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He said he has been able to reduce the amount of work he had to do, but it’s a more physically “harder” one which is is “so much more pleasant.”
He said: “I’ve got my birds, I can hear my water running, there are sheep in fields, I’ve got my dogs, a hut to live in and I don’t need anything else.”
I thought that going backwards was the only way to go forward
Kevin
Kevin went on to say that his cabin is “nothing special and isn’t built with the latest technology” but he can keep himself warm, dry, and fed.
He gives a tell-all and a tour of his land on Youtube channel Liveration, in a video that has been viewed over 150,000 times.
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In the video he tells the audience everything he does that keeps him alive-and-well, while relying solely on himself to provide everything he needs.
I bought LAND off e-bay & built an off-grid hobbit paradise out of old tyres & chunks of mud – it’s better than any flat
WHAT’S IN THE BOX
Throughout the video he shows different parts of the homestead – and how he has adapted it.
First up, he shows his old caravan which he’s now turned into a “guest wing” but at the time of recording it was doubling as a stock shed for his vegetables.
He said: “The reason I have the caravan there is because there’s a solar system on it.
“I have a small system on my hut which powers my home, but this system powers the whole plot.”
After showing that off, he tours the garden patch where he “grows as much” of the food he eats as he can – everything from onions to runner beans and parsnips to garlic.
He said: “With a polytunnel I can grow enough food so that in a year’s time I’ll no longer have to buy any food whatsoever.
“I used to help my dad in his garden when I was kid, he’s my inspiration.”
Next up he shows a tool shed, it holds all of his tools and even has a shelved spade that he said was the same one that “dug the first” hole on the plot.
He then shows off a huge allotment where he grows fruit, including strawberries, raspberries and gooseberries.
Water flows from a river just outside the plot which pumps into a tank and funnels through to the allotment using gravity.
Electric is powered through a generator which he said “powers everything” he needs.
He also has a “mushroom container” where he grows all kinds of the fungi like Lion’s Mane and Oyster mushrooms.
Round the back of the hut he has a wood-store where he keeps all of his firewood but admits it can still be a “struggle” in the winter.
He said: “I struggle in the winter a little bit (with food) but then contrary to popular belief, I switch the freezer off and have never had food poisoning.”
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Kevin even found a clever way to pump water to his house, using a “100 metre” pipe that travels from a river to his house with a pump – and is pressed through a water purifier to make it safe to drink and wash with.
Continuing through the plot he showed off his storage shed which holds his gas canisters, a motorbike to speed into town if he does need supplies and a two-wheel tractor to manage his land.
But, the most surprising feature of his land is a self-made toilet – which he said he built himself for £1.76.
He said: “I built a long-drop toilet, doesn’t look very much, it cost £1.76 and I love that it cost that much.
“I built it out of scrap materials, got the digger, dug a massive hole and there you go – as nature intended.”
He has an outdoor bath that he washes in, but because he can’t run hot water into it he bought a big metal barrel, placed it on some bricks and built a fire underneath to heat up water before filling up the tub.
“Sitting in there, when the sun goes down, a glass of wine on the table, job’s a gooden.”
But when that doesn’t work, he has a propane shower which gives him hot water via electric which he also uses to wash his clothes with a second hand “good old fashioned twin tub”.
Finally, he shows off his “abode” which he built in one month, it has a seperate wooden balcony which he also built by himself.
“It’s pretty, it works, somewhere to sit in the summer with a view.”
“It has a kitchen area with little over-shelves, and a fridge which I got for £20”.
“The bedroom department is just a bed, and there’s a three piece suite to relax on.
“I have somewhere to cook, clean, wash and sleep.
“The heart of the hut is the log burner, I enjoy the winter more than the summer because I cook all my food on it.”
SACKING OFF THE RAT RACE
Kevin decided to switch his life up after spending his career travelling, and paying for a home with four walls he “never saw”.
He said: “I was driving containers around, going to work on Sunday night and gone all week, every week.
“My career has been travelling with work so why do I need to have bricks and water – why pay for something I never see.
“I wanted the lifestyle, and over time I started to love being frugal.
“Days of the week don’t exist unless I go shopping.
“My time is my own.”
NOT THE ONLY ONE
Kevin is not the only Brit choosing to live an off-grid life – as multiple Brits choose to pack up the rat-race and either live on their own plot of land or drive off in a converted van.
A man who worked 60 hours a week and made six figures now lives off grid in an old school bus full of genius features.
And, a dad has revealed having to live in a caravan with his six-year-old twins after losing all of his money in a divorce.
While also, this chap revealed how trolls call him a “jobless sponge mess” and would rather he did not date their daughter because he lives outdoors.
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