Living Off the Grid with No Money: Can You Do It?

When it comes to preparation and self-sufficiency, the pinnacle for some folks is living off-grid. “Off-grid” meaning off the societal grid and all of its attendant utilities.

You won’t be dependent on anyone else to supply you with electricity, water, sanitation, and in some cases even food. It can be intimidating, that’s for sure, but living this sort of radically self-reliant lifestyle was the norm for much of human history around the globe.

But today, most preppers are saving up for a sort of off-grid retirement; they have a monetary figure in mind that will allow them to extricate themselves from society and start over anew living off-grid more or less as they always have.

But do you really need that much money to go off-grid? Heck, do you need money at all if you can provide everything you need to live? Is it out of the question to suggest that it might be possible to live off-grid without needing any money at all?

Believe it or not, it is. Often very difficult and highly laborious, yes, but still genuinely possible, even today. I’ll tell you how in the rest of this article…

WE WERE LIED TO About OFF GRID LIFE.

Can You Live at All Without Money?

First, we’ve got to get down to brass tacks. Is it even possible to survive in the modern world without money? The old cliché says that money makes the world go round, and I don’t know about you, but I can say with some certainty that that has never felt more true for me.

From mortgage payments and rent to ever-skyrocketing grocery bills, fuel costs, fees, taxes and all the rest. Seems like if you stop paying for one thing or another your life starts to fall apart, or even get tossed in jail!

We don’t need to go into all that; those are subjects for other articles, including some that I’ve already covered. The point is that you truly don’t need money to live. You need survival necessities to live.

Understanding this fundamental shift in thinking is essential if you’re going to make the transition to living off-grid at all, and especially if you’re going to do it without spending any money whatsoever.

Now, it might be more gratifying to get straight to a list of things that can help you live free or dirt cheap.

Not only is that not going to set you up for success, but that doesn’t even come close to preparing you for the totality of the lifestyle change you are about to undergo. But I can fix that.

Indulge me, keep reading, and I promise we’ll get down to the nuts and bolts of actually living a moneyless off-grid life soon enough.

The Necessities of Living

When I talk about the necessities, or fundamentals, of survival what am I talking about? I’m talking about the things you need to keep living in the strictest possible sense: The things that you have to have to stay above room temperature, and healthy enough to do what you need to do.

So what are these things? Well, the list varies depending on who you ask as does the order of importance. Some people say there are 3, 5, 10, 12, or 100 survival necessities for human existence. I prefer to focus only on the 5 true necessities:

• Air – if you can’t breathe, you can’t live.
• Shelter – exposure is a constant and sure killer of men.
• Water – you must stay hydrated or you will die in days.
• Food – fuel for the body and nutrients for optimal health.
• Security – the world holds countless dangers to guard against.

And that is really it. Yes, people need companionship and social interaction, entertainment, relaxation and a spiritual connection with their creator, or else they will begin to mentally or emotionally wither, and die in time. But fortitude in these regards is an internal, not intrinsically external, struggle.

The good news is that each and every one of those five survival necessities I listed can be obtained and provided continually with absolutely no money assuming that you seize opportunities, and are persistent enough and good enough to supply them. Air, at least, is one you won’t have to pay for at all. Yet…

A sobering thought? I hope so. Keep reading.

Living Off-Grid at No Cost Demands Radical Prioritization

If you want to live off-grid you’ve got to get your mind right, but living off-grid with no money requires a truly radical restructuring of your day-to-day, weekly, and monthly priorities.

So many actions will be dependent on the fulfillment of other actions, as will the absolute minimization of waste in all regards, including your effort, time and even your bodily waste itself.

Believe me, this is a total shift from the way that most people live in society with otherwise valuable, life-sustaining resources being squandered or outright thrown away with nary a thought.

Learning how to live this way and then ordering your thoughts in such a way as to facilitate this lifestyle requires a lot of dedicated practice itself.

Bartering is Alive and Well

Now, just because we are going to be living a new life without any money doesn’t mean there won’t be any exchanges of value going on. Hold on, hold on, before you go off in the comments: What is money? Currency.

It’s entirely possible to go on working and getting the things you need from other people by bartering, trading, doing favors, living communally, and so forth. No money required!

Now, before you X out of the tab: yes, it is still 100% entirely possible to live off-grid with no money, no bartering, no other people, and no nothing. The “hermit life grindset” is strictly speaking achievable, but honestly, it’s even more difficult.

Even if you are a red-blooded, master mountain man, you’ll have to be completely content with living the most minimalist subsistence existence imaginable and communicating only in the language of mushrooms.

I mention this because it is instructive and helpful to start ordering your thoughts toward obtaining the things you need by exchanging value for them, not tendering money in one form or another.

Even now you have skills and other assets that can benefit other people, and accordingly you can get what you need by using them in the right way.

Got it? Good. Moving swiftly on.

First Things First: Try an Alternate Lifestyle to Live Without Money

Now we are getting into the nuts and bolts, but before we start breaking down no-money methods for providing those survival necessities discussed above, I want to cover what I call the “why didn’t I think of that!?” solutions.

If all you desire is an off-grid lifestyle that is far from the rest of civilization, there are many jobs, arrangements, and other agreements that might completely facilitate this without disrupting your normal life too badly.

For starters, you might look into being a caretaker of a sprawling estate, a large farm or ranch, or some other gargantuan property owned by rich people. These jobs often entail living on the property, typically in a spartan (but very comfortable) caretaker’s cottage.

Aside from keeping your own modest home in order, you’ll have a job to do in the form of taking care of the property owner’s holdings and any associated tasks. There’s no telling what this can entail, but it’s entirely possible to work out a work-for-habitation arrangement.

Another worthwhile option is looking into an off-grid commune.

No, it’s not necessarily a cult or something like that: believe it or not, there are other people out there like you who just want to detach from this thousand-mile-an-hour way of life and get back to a more simple, sedate, and meaningful way of living.

You’ll have plenty of work and chores to do for the benefit of all, but in return, your own survival won’t be too grueling- or entirely dependent on your efforts alone.

You will benefit by having a nice place to live and relatively abundant supplies, along with company and companionship when things go south. And, best of all, you’ll be paying the “rent” by putting in work.

These opportunities often don’t advertise themselves online or in newspapers, though they sometimes pop up…

Making friends in online and offline communities of like-minded people, paying attention to message boards, classified ads, and connecting with folks in so-called “alternate lifestyle” or “hippie” groups are good ways to locate these living opportunities.

One of them might be perfect for you, and could allow you to step into an off-grid lifestyle without needing a single nickel.

But, assuming that is impossible or just isn’t what you are after, it’s time to get down to business. The following sections will go over all the considerations for providing your survival necessities without any need for money.

Warning: Squatting, Thievery and Piracy are Not Viable

Now, before we go any further, I’ve got to tell you this straight-up: illegally squatting on property, thievery of goods and resources, and piracy of services is not acceptable for facilitating a no-money-spent off-grid life.

I don’t want to get into a big political argument here, but I am talking about the ethics of it first and foremost. And second the practical aspects because doing any of these things is a crime.

Getting caught is going to significantly increase or even guarantee your chances of getting a bad outcome. Fines, eviction, jail time or, in some cases, maybe someone straight up killing you.

Just because you were living in a patch of woods seemingly in the middle of nowhere doesn’t mean that that land belongs to no one.

Those apples growing on trees and falling to the ground might belong to someone. You likely have no right to catch those fish or harvest that deer for your dinner. Do you own the water that you wash and drink from?

You’ve got to know that what you are doing, everything, is legal and ethical. Nothing else will do if you’re going to live off-grid. This entails a lot of remorseless, tedious homework and investigation.

If you’re the kind of person that would decide it’s okay, law be damned, to build a hut in the middle of someone’s forest and take what you need from their land just because you are living a primitive existence, reality is going to be unkind to you. And I don’t want to hear any sniveling when the consequences come crashing down.

You can do anything the right way, including living off-grid with no money, so just do that instead, yeah?

Okay, sermon over, let’s get into it.

Finding a Free Patch to Call Your Own

Living off-grid means actually having a place to live. And I don’t mean a structure. I don’t mean a domicile, not yet. I mean a property. A piece of real estate.

So, where are you going to live, and more importantly these days how are you going to live there without any money whatsoever? Mortgages cost a bundle, as does rent.

You’ve got a surprising number of options, here. Believe it or not, around the US, various states have free properties (or nearly free properties) that you can get for yourself if you agree to certain conditions.

Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa are particularly ripe with these opportunities. And, yes, most of these properties are far from ideal, and located either in logistically undesirable areas or very far away from major population centers. But they are an option.

Another option is to see if you can’t simply set up shop on a friend’s or relative’s land. Especially if you aren’t going to be making any major changes to it, or changes that aren’t easily reversible, they might just say “yes” and let you do whatever you want out there.

If you’ve got permission, you are good to go- but of course, that permission can be revoked at any time.

Public land is another viable route, but often there are restrictions to consider concerning hours of access, loitering, and so on.

That being said, it’s not out of the question that you’ll be able to mind your own business, keep your head down and not be bothered without technically breaking any laws. Breaking rules is one thing; breaking laws is another.

Some states might be far more permissive in this regard, with citizens being able to stay on certain types of public or state-owned property for weeks on end before they have to move on.

This type of thing is more common in Canada than in the US, but still worth investigating depending on your objectives.

What About Adverse Possession?

If you’ve been thinking about going off-grid with no money spent, you’ve probably already stumbled across adverse possession in your travels on the internet.

What is it? Adverse possession is a type of law, really a legal concept, by which someone can become an owner and legal occupant of a property that belongs to someone else basically by squatting.

The trappings and details of it do vary from state to state, but basically, if you live on another’s property, openly and boldly, and the owner doesn’t tell you to leave within a certain period of time, then the land becomes yours, legally, or else you have legal access to the land for various purposes including residency.

Now, don’t get too excited: I know it sounds like a game of “beat the clock” that is easy to game, but in reality, you’ll have to occupy that land openly, and in many cases notify the owner that you’re doing so, for anywhere from five to 20 years or even longer before it’s yours.

And news flash, if at any time you’re told to vacate the property you can be tossed off and to hell with whatever structures or improvements you’ve built on it.

Refuse to leave at that time? No problem, the police will be called and you’re going to have a bad time one way or the other, though you might be able to drag things out in civil court depending on the state.

My opinion: this is a very high-risk strategy for living off-grid with “no money down,” and one with minimal chances of success in most places.

Some online gurus purport to have proven strategies for locating properties that are ripe for acquiring by adverse possession, but my question for you is this:

If you’re going to order your life around acquiring a piece of property like this, and know that at any moment it can all come crashing down and there’s not one single thing you’ll be able to do about it at that point, why take that chance?

Best not to risk it, says I.

But whatever the case, and wherever it’s located, once you find a patch, you’re going to call home and figure out how to get rights to it free, it’s time to tend to your shelter.

A Rent-Free Roof Over Your Head

Next to land, the single biggest concern that most people have when it comes to living off-grid while using no money is a dwelling. Houses, obviously, cost a fortune whether you are building, buying, or renting.

Nothing’s changed in this regard, but you have got to start thinking outside of the box. It’s possible to get a very cheap if rudimentary house yourself in the form of a tiny home, RV, or camper, or by building it yourself from scavenged or bartered material.

The latter, especially, is a great way to do it on the cheap, but you’ll need all of the requisite skill sets to put everything together and safely.

Don’t forget, too, that you’ll likely be contending with codes and laws concerning residential structures wherever you go.

One good alternative option is to live in an abandoned home or other structure already on the property, if present, cleaning it up and tuning it up to make it passively livable though this has its own challenges.

One viable approach is a primitive shelter, especially ones that are designed to be semi-permanent like a yurt or tipi. Don’t discard the idea out of hand!

Yurts especially are a design with a well-deserved reputation for durability, comfort, adaptability, and ease of construction.

They’ve served people well for hundreds and hundreds of years, and continue to do the same today. Yurts are designed to make use of a firepit or wood-burning stove inside for warmth, too.

And it’s possible, if uncomfortable and risky, to live in a tent or other simple “survival” shelter. The better your working knowledge of locating and improving such shelters, the more viable they are for keeping you alive.

No, you won’t really be living a “life” inside one of these structures that the rest of us would recognize as anything approximating normal, but they can keep you alive even through harsh conditions with a little preparation and moxie.

Don’t discount the notion that you might be able to cash in some of your assets or break into your savings to acquire your new off-grid dwelling for yourself and, assuming it is paid off, then live in it without paying anything more thereafter.

Consider the Weather and Climate

It is imperative that you take the time to really learn about and understand the weather and overall climate where you plan on living off grid.

Remember what I set up above about exposure? It is exposure (not dehydration, not starvation, and not violence) that is the most consistent and surest killer of people who are living outside, especially in rough or austere conditions.

If you live in a hot, dry place you’ll need shelter from the sun. Anywhere that is cold, or gets cold seasonally or at night, means that hypothermia is always a possibility.

The weather and climate where you live will directly dictate what kind of shelter is required for you to survive. If you want to try to live in a simple tent in a bitterly cold northern latitude, you’re probably going to be in for a bad time.

As a rule, this will require ever greater skill sets or a greater investment of resources in order to survive. It is certainly possible to do it for free, but it will be even more challenging.

Keeping Warm

Speaking of keeping warm, how are you supposed to stay warm when temperatures plummet? Well, you’ll need heat.

Protecting yourself from the elements, including wind and drafts, by insulating and sealing your shelter will go a long way towards staying reasonably comfortable with the right clothing because of your own body heat. But when it’s seriously cold, you’ve got to have a source of heat.

The most obvious answer is, duh, to simply build a fire! But a fire requires fuel; lots of things will burn and burn relatively safely, and most of the time you’ll be gathering wood.

Lucky for you, wood is found in abundance all over the world, but if you want to get the most from it as firewood you have to chop it to the right size, keep it dry, and then let it season, or completely dry out.

This is a further investment of your effort and energy, and even a single person that is relying on wood for heat can deplete a local area of suitable firewood with surprising quickness.

The other alternatives are heaters that use fuel of one kind or another. Propane, kerosene, alcohol, and even electric heaters can all do the job but fuel costs money. Or rather I should say that fuel is valuable.

If you’re committed to not using money, do you have a way to barter or trade for this fuel and the heater? Consider your acquisition strategy before you commit to living somewhere where you’ll need it.

Be prepared to rely on wood for heating one way or the other.

How Can You Eat for Free?

If there’s one thing that everyone in the US is feeling recently it is the astronomical cost of food. Despite our immense domestic production, the economy has conspired to make keeping a grumbling tummy at bay more expensive than ever.

So just how are you supposed to eat without spending when living off grid? This part, at least, is relatively simple, if not easy: food is all around you.

Lots of things are safe to eat and nature generally furnishes no shortage as long as you are not picky and also diligent, skilled, and paying attention to your surroundings.

All sorts of plants can be eaten, and various parts of good plants can supply you with calories and different essential nutrients. Leaves, roots, shoots, buds, and of course fruits and veggies are all on the menu.

More than this, you can get all sorts of animal protein in the form of various mammals, birds, and even insects. I know the latter, particularly, has a major gross-out factor for people but this is about living, not convenience and not what you’d prefer.

The good news is that people all around the world eat all kinds of things, and with the right ingredients nearly anything can be made pretty palatable if not tasty.

Gathering the right wild-caught or hunted ingredients and then cooking them up with a few choice seasonings can produce a highly nutritious and delicious meal for no money at all- as long as you’ve got the skills!

That being said, you must understand exactly where you are getting your food from and at different times throughout the year. Different seasons and different setbacks will produce different challenges that must be overcome if you want to keep eating without paying for it.

Gardening

One of the most attractive options for supplying yourself with food when living off-grid is to have a garden. All sorts of delicious, nutritious edible fruits and veggies can be grown no matter where you are for the most part.

But gardening is a highly intricate skill and easy to get wrong. Believe me, you’re not going to be able to just scatter some seeds on some ground that you’ve cleared and then start chowing down on fresh, organic veggies in a few months.

Raising plants, and keeping them healthy enough to produce a harvest in the first place, is a full-time job and they must be protected from weather, diseases, bugs, and mammals.

There’s nothing like the misery of heading out to get some firewood and returning in a couple of hours to find that some deer eradicated your fruits and veggies! All that work, down the drain and you still need something to eat…

To make a go at gardening off-grid at no cost you need to start with lots of experience and encyclopedic knowledge of what you are raising, or else have a really excellent guide that you can refer to at all times.

You’ll also need seeds that are suitable for sowing. It’s possible to find and harvest these from plants in the wild, but your best bet might be to barter a little work with a gardener for a set of seeds to get you started. Those, at least, won’t cost very much!

Hunting and Fishing

Probably the most obvious option for getting high-quality food is to hunt it down yourself. There are all sorts of animals out there to catch or hunt and kill, and most of them are edible and nutritious.

The big issue with hunting and fishing is a matter of legality in the United States. Only certain animals can be killed year-round (usually if they are considered pests), or else you’ll need to get a hunting license and hunt only in the appropriate season.

In some states, it might be possible to get a subsistence hunting license, but this is common only in Alaska. Elsewhere it’s generally quite difficult and prone to lots of bureaucratic red tape if possible at all.

Taking wild game without permission, especially protected species, is poaching and if you get caught, you’ll be subject to severe legal repercussions.

The other major issue, of course, is preserving the bounty of meat that you managed to harvest. Without the benefit of a freezer or freezing-cold conditions outside, most of it will go to waste.

The only other reasonable alternative is to hunt game on an as-needed basis, game that’s small enough to be prepared and consumed before the meat is likely to spoil. I must point out here that bagging and preparing fresh, wild game will give you huge amounts of resources that are ripe for trading with neighbors.

This can get you other things you need or help to sustain other people that you live with, and all with no money needed. Make sure you keep that in mind and plan accordingly.

Foraging

Foraging or “gathering” is a fundamental skill for off-grid subsistence wherever you live, and in bountiful areas is one of the best ways to get free food on demand. Of course, finding food that’s good to eat is one thing and then finding enough is another.

Many plants that you encounter out in the wild are either not nutritious or not safe to ingest, and a few are dreadfully toxic. It is essential that you have expert knowledge of any wild edible before you commit to eating it, whether or not it is going to be cooked first.

And remember that foraging is also seasonally specific: you can’t depend on getting nuts and seeds at all times throughout the year, berries and fruit grow in different seasons, and plants take time to mature until they have edible bulbs and roots.

It’s easy to harvest excessively and strip an area of edibles, necessitating that you venture further afield or give it time to replenish before resorting to it again. This problem is magnified greatly if you have more than one mouth to feed.

Charity

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the fact that you can resort to charitable outreach and giving to get a meal.

From church pantries to soup kitchens and more, if you can make it back to civilization there’s always a way to get a bite to eat for no cost. And, as distasteful as it is, begging is also an option if you’re truly on the rocks and starving.

But keep this in mind: you shouldn’t take advantage of charity unless you have no other choice. You chose this lifestyle voluntarily.

Just because subsistence farming and gardening or hunting for wild game is excruciatingly difficult and a grumbling stomach is your constant companion doesn’t necessarily mean you are more deserving of the resources that generous people would give to those who are truly needy.

But do keep it in mind if you desperately need food.

Getting a Drink for No Cost

Water is an incredibly precious resource for off-grid survival, and though you can survive for several days with a deficit in your required water intake, going without any at all will see you incapacitated in about a day, and dead or dying in just a few. It is that serious!

Even more serious is the fact that water you can usually source in the wild is all but certain to be contaminated. Some contaminants will simply make you sick. Others can kill you or cause life-changing diseases.

Chances are the only resources you have for treating water when living off-grid and not spending a dime are going to be boiling (to eliminate biological hazards) and primitive filtration (for some chemicals, solids, soil, and sediment).

That’s a topic for another day, but for now, let’s focus on how to get the water for free.

Surface Collection

There’s no shortage of water on Earth, and most regions have reliable water features that are ripe for surface collection.

Streams, creeks, rivers, ponds, and the like are all more or less viable as long as you are reasonably sure that they aren’t contaminated with serious chemicals, farm runoff, sewage, or biological hazards.

Even so, expect to get giardiasis or “bubble guts” when drinking from any wild source of surface water that is untreated, and you should always try to drink from the clearest and freshest source that you can find.

Assuming you have the fuel to do it, consider boiling mandatory before such water is deemed potable, and if you have the time and opportunity to assemble one, run it through a filter.

Rain catching

My very favorite and probably the best free method for sourcing safe water is rainwater harvesting.

Now, to be clear, rainwater isn’t necessarily completely pure especially if it’s collected after it comes into contact with any surface, including trees.

It will pick up dust, animal feces, and all sorts of other chemicals and small debris that you don’t want to drink. It can be filtered and purified, yes, but just be aware of that.

However, with the right rain-catching setup, you can harvest dozens or hundreds of gallons of water from even a passing shower.

Better yet, it is relatively easy to build large surface area rain catchers for no money using natural materials and stuff that you can easily barter for or scavenge. Some planks or plywood, a plastic or canvas tarp, and a few logs and you’ll be in business.

Alternately, you can just set out lots of containers and let the rain fill them up directly, though this is less efficient and requires more work from you to collect and secure it.

If you live in a rainy area that can make your day-to-day life a drag, but it is truly a blessing for getting free, safe drinking water.

Snow Melt

A good option when winter comes, or if you live in a place that’s cold and snowy for much of the year, fresh and uncontaminated snow can make for great free drinking water when melted even if that can be an annoying chore.

Remember, avoid getting snow that’s discolored, slushy and close to the ground, or contaminated in any other way. Fresh, pure, clean powder skimmed off of the top of newly fallen snow is the best. And as always, never melt yellow snow!

Well

A dug well can supply virtually unlimited drinking water in most places as long as it isn’t prone to suffering from drought.

The major downside is, naturally, that installing a well deep enough to provide clean, potable water is incredibly expensive and difficult without spending a small fortune.

Once again, it is possible, though unlikely, that you can barter your way into having a well done for you or getting the tools and rig to do the job yourself.

Practically, though, this is a long shot. It is a tremendous asset, though, if you’re able to live on any property that has an existing well that is functional and uncontaminated.

If you’re choosing between two properties to live on and one of them has a good well, think long and hard about that!

Sanitation Sans Services

Don’t forget, it also costs money if you want someone to deal with your waste.

From household garbage and scraps to literal human waste, both urine and feces, the necessity of getting rid of it in a safe and sanitary way doesn’t change just because you’re going off-grid and not spending a nickel during the journey.

But I’ve got good news, really good news for once: more than most other survival necessities, it’s easy to deal with waste in a safe, clean way while spending literally nothing.

Latrine

A simple, dug latrine is all you need to deal with liquid and solid bodily waste. It can be something as large as a slit trench to service multiple people, or just a modest, open pit that you can squat over to do your business.

So long as you learn about the process of decomposition as it affects waste, adding the right kinds of substrates can help to keep odor down, and eventually it can be buried and left to decompose safely.

No matter what kind of latrine you’re contemplating, make sure it is well away from all groundwater sources and also that it won’t be affected by its surface water that could flow towards your shelter, food, or other living areas.

Outhouse

If you have the time, skills, and resources you can improve comfort and privacy when using a latrine above by building an outhouse over it.

Even the most rudimentary natural, traded, or scavenged materials can be used to craft an effective outhouse that can make taking care of nature’s call just a little more pleasant under the circumstances.

Definitely not a necessity if you are living by yourself, but always nice to have and it does provide a measure of protection for the latrine by helping to keep animals out.

Composting Toilet

One of the best ways to deal with your waste for free while also turning it into a useful resource is with a composting toilet.

Composting toilets do exactly what they say: mixed with various media and other additives, they can allow your urine and feces to break down into compost.

This can be used to help nourish soil where plants are growing elsewhere on the property or area, or, in some cases, used to boost the growth of plants in your own garden.

Although there are plenty of these on the market these days that you can buy or perhaps trade for, it’s entirely possible to improvise one yourself for free if you understand the principles behind their operation.

What About Wiping?

And don’t forget! You’ll still need to wipe when the deed is done. But toilet paper is really a luxury item. Don’t want to pony up for it? Well then, you’d better hope you can trade or borrow for it otherwise you’ll have to figure something else out.

Assuming that TP is not in your future for whatever reason, you can switch to all-natural substitutes that won’t cost you a dime. Generally, most areas furnish at least one or two plant species that make a surprisingly effective toilet paper substitutes for wiping your own sensitive regions.

Mullein, osage orange, and slippery elm all make for a durable, hygienic and assured wiping experience. Mullein particularly, if it grows in your area or if you can cultivate it, has a papery, soft texture that’s remarkably good and comfortable if you scrunch it up a few times.

Some of you might have already anticipated what might happen if you have a sensitivity to any chosen plant in question, or if you make the grave error of accidentally picking a noxious or irritating plant for the purpose like poison ivy. I can tell you that it will be a nightmare for a time, but you’re likely to survive. Moving on…

Lastly, you can employ reusable toilet paper in the form of old rags, worn-out t-shirts, socks, or any other type of cloth.

These get quite nasty, though, and require extensive washing and subsequent disinfection to be made safe, otherwise, they are just a disease outbreak waiting to happen.

While a great way to save money, if you aren’t taking advantage of chemicals like bleach through bartering or are able to spend fuel freely enough to boil water regularly this isn’t a good option.

Better to use a plant-based material, above, that you can throw away to decompose naturally.