Welcome to my off the grid
in the city teeny tiny house life
My name is Rob Greenfield and
I live here in San Diego California
without a single debt or bill to my name.
It wasn't always this simple though.
I used to have a half-dozen credit cards,
a fair amount of debt,
and wanted to be a millionaire.
But now my life is all about happiness,
health, and living for the benefit
of the earth, my community, and myself.
I'm largely able to do this through
simple living and today I'm going
to give you a tour of my simple place.
So how do I not have a bill to my name
yet have a sweet spot like this?
In exchange for using someone's unused
backyard, I am building him a fence,
rainwater harvesting system, a garden,
doing yard work, and improving the place.
Plus he's just into what I'm doing
and wanted to be a part of it.
So come on inside!
This is it. All 50 square feet of it.
It's real simple but it gets the job done.
I don't spend most my time in here,
but what I do in here is sleep, read,
and cuddle. Most my time I spend
outside, either out my community
or out in the great outdoors.
So this is it.
I've got my possessions down to
pretty much what you see here but that's it
So let me show you the outside.
How about off the grid.
What does that mean?
It simply means not dependent on public utilities.
Here I'm energy and water independent
These are the solar panels which I use to
charge up a couple the batteries.
I also harvest rainwater.
Right here you can see the gutters
that I built on my neighbor's house.
That just channels the water down
into the downspout,
then through the diverter,
into these blue barrels
and since I'm a couple feet higher up
than my neighbor
I actually have to pump it
out of those barrels
using this pump into these 5 gallon jugs
just like this and dump these 5 gallon jugs
into these barrels which can store
165 gallons of rainwater
Then to use it, I just turn on the spigot and
then I can use this for everything I need.
This is my outdoor kitchen.
Some people would just say
I'm permanently camping
and I have no problem with that.
The rain that I collect goes into these jugs
and I pour that into the Berkey filter
and the water comes out of here
worry-free, no chemicals
like chlorine, fluoride, arsenic, lead.
It takes care of everything
like that as well as bacteria, protozoa,
and viruses. Then I fill up my cup
and drink the purest water,
at least the purest water to around here
and it is delicious.
So this is the cabinet / refrigerator
and I don't need to refrigerate really
because I buy my produce
often and very fresh
and everything else I buy in bulk
dried goods that I put in jars.
So you can see here all my jarred food
at the top which I get
from the local co-op.
Then below I have my kombucha.
I have my staples like honey,
olive oil, and then my spices.
I have my produce
that I buy in small quantities often
and just two bowls, two plates,
two forks, and two spoons.
So this is the kitchen sink and stove.
It's pretty darn simple.
Not a single drop of water
goes to waste here at my home.
When I wash the dishes
or wash my hands
or whatever I have to do
the water goes down this little drain
into these 5 gallon buckets which
I then use to water the garden.
Here is the stove.
It's just a simple propane stove
which is hooked up
to a 5 gallon propane tank.
I used to use a rocket stove which
was more environmentally friendly
than this but what's good
about this at least is
that by not being hooked up to
the utilities where there's a seemingly
infinite amount of fuel
I at least, since it's a 5 gallon tank
really have to pay attention to
and watch my usage
so I'm much less wasteful.
This is my bathroom
welcome inside. It's very simple.
The most important part of this
is the toilet.
The average American toilet uses
1.6 gallons per flush.
Since I only have about 2 gallons
of water per day total for everything
I can't have a flush toilet.
This is a compost toilet.
You simply sit on the toilet and you go
just like any other toilet
but afterwards instead of flushing
you grab some leaves and put the leaves
and you put the leaves
on top of your poop
and then this goes into the compost.
Also there's a sink right here.
This is just a basic sink
that I can use to wash my hands
and then this water of course
is used to water the garden as well.
So very simple bathroom.
This cost me about $60 to put together.
Next we'll head off to the compost.
In a typical house you would find food scraps
as well as yard waste in a compost pile
but here I'm doing humanure as well
which is human poo and pee.
If you're ever going to do this
I recommend checking out
The Humanure Handbook
which has all the important
information in there.
It's important to do this right,
but the amazing thing
is that it doesn't smell at all.
I mean it's important to heat
the temperature up to at least
I think it's around 130 degrees fahrenheit
and as you can see here
there is actually steam rising.
You can just feel the heat
coming out of this.
So everything breaks down
and with humanure
You have to let it sit
for an entire year.
This tarp is simply over it
to keep the moisture in
since I live in a dry climate.
This is a great way to reduce your impact by
not having an agency or the city
have to deal with your own poo and pee.
Instead I turn it into nutrients
which will then be used in the garden.
This is my favorite spot.
This is my garden.
What you see here,
these are called wicking beds
which are really awesome
for drought tolerant gardening
and just making your water go further.
Below here is a reservoir
that's filled with rocks
and there is burlap over that
and there is soil over that
and you water the reservoir below
through the PVC pipe.
I planted all this food from starters
about 2 weeks ago
and it is looking great.
I'm just excited to have organic,
delicious, nutritious greens
and this is another reason
I don't need a refrigerator
because my food will be
growing right here
and I'll just pick what I need
when I need to eat it.
So as far as the city code goes
I'm actually pretty much
in alignment there.
As crazy as a lot as this may look I'm
doing pretty well but for me
it's not actually city code that I follow.
I follow Earth Code.
It's about doing what's right for the earth.
for my community, and for myself
and that's what's most important to me.
You will also probably have noticed by now
that I don't actually have a shower here
and it may come as a surprise
but I actually have gone
2 years without showering.
That would be pretty surprising to me
2 years ago as well
as I had been everyday showering dude
but I learned that
you don't need to shower every day.
Instead I go for a swim
in a natural body of water
and I learned that I don't need
soaps, shampoos, conditioners,
body washes, colognes and all that.
My body functions just fine as it was intended to do
so I go for a swim here in the Pacific Ocean
which is 5 blocks away.
And lastly how do I get around?
That would be my bamboo bicycle
I've actually biked across the country the
the last 2 summers in a row
on a bamboo bike
so biking around town,
not too big a deal at all but
when I am feeling real tired
or I have something
to carry that doesn't fit on my bike trailer
I take an electric car through car2go
which is an electric car share program
because I sold my car
about 3 years ago to live
more environmentally friendly
and just without so many bills.
And as far as internet and cell phone goes
I don't have either of those.
When I do need to use the internet
I hop on my bike, ride to a cafe,
and share internet with other people.
So life is pretty good here and life is pretty simple.
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