Off-Grid vs Reality: How I Cut My Living Costs to Under €7,000 a Year

Many years ago I left my corporate, stressful retail career in the UK and moved onto a plot of caravan land in Portugal. Three properties on, I now live beside the river — building a life across three different areas I’ve loved along the way. People often ask how it’s actually affordable, so here’s exactly what I do — real numbers included, plus how it stacks up against average UK costs.

A quick honest note: I’m not fully off-grid — I’m still connected to the electric grid. But living in nature, right by the river, with spring water, no gas, and a private forest around me, it genuinely feels like it. And having actually run the numbers (more on that below with solar), going fully off-grid wouldn’t even work out cheaper for me — so this is the setup that makes the most sense, financially and practically.

Let’s Talk About Fear First

So many people I speak to are stuck in the same pattern — a big mortgage, an expensive car, a lifestyle they’re locked into early on — and they’re not actually happy. It’s fear that keeps most people there: fear of change, fear of “what if it doesn’t work,” fear of what people will think. But there’s another way. You could be living a life you actually love, following what you’re passionate about, for a fraction of the cost. It’s not always easy, and it’s not for everyone — but it’s possible, and I’m proof of it.

My Actual Yearly Living Costs

Here’s the real breakdown, not vague estimates:

• Electricity: €2,000

• Food: €3,700

• Internet: €360 (I use free streaming sites instead of paying for Netflix etc.)

• Car (fuel, insurance, upkeep): €800

• Council tax (IMI): €100

• Water: €0 — I have my own spring, so water is completely free

• Gas: €0 — I don’t use it at all

Total: just under €7,000 a year — with a paid-off house, no mortgage, no rent, and free water straight from the ground.

1. Start Small if You Need To

Before the house, I bought a plot of land for €8,000 and lived in a caravan on it while I got established — a mega cheap way to get started. When I moved here, this was permitted in the area I chose. Worth flagging though: check with your local câmara (town council) first, as caravan and mobile living isn’t really allowed in most areas anymore. Better to know the rules before you commit.

2. Buy Smart, Not Big

Don’t be afraid to lowball. I offered half the asking price on my property, selling my old land I offered 200,000 on the property that was 480,000 and the previous owner said i could pay it off over 10 years as i needed to sell my old place, and that could of took a while — the seller said yes. I now own it outright: no mortgage, no rent, ever. The average UK mortgage runs £1,100-1,200 a month right now — that’s £13,000-14,400 a year before a single bill is paid.

3. Council Tax: Portugal vs UK

Mine (IMI) comes to €100 a year. In the UK, council tax alone is typically £1,440-2,400+ a year depending on your band.

4. Kill the Subscriptions You Forgot About

Go through your bank statements and Apple subscriptions line by line. I found €600 a year in things I didn’t need or had forgotten I was even paying for. Cancelled instantly. I’ve also swapped paid streaming for free watching sites, which alone keeps my internet and entertainment costs down to €360 a year.

5. Shop Your Phone Contract Every Renewal

Went from €350 to €120 a year just by switching each time my contract was up. Aiming for €80 next. Most people stay on the same plan for years and quietly overpay.

6. Compare Car Insurance and Utilities Annually

Small wins, but they add up — checking each year instead of auto-renewing keeps costs down. My whole car budget (insurance, fuel, upkeep) comes to about €800 a year.

7. Eat Well, Not Expensively

Cut the pricey junk food, cook simple wholesome meals, and grow what you can. My total food spend comes to around €3,700 a year. For comparison, UK households budget £350-500 a month on food — £4,200-6,000 a year.

And there’s free food beyond what you grow yourself — the Portuguese are amazing people, and if you share your excess harvest with neighbours, they’ll share theirs back with you. It all balances out into real savings and a much better variety on the plate than you’d get growing everything alone.

8. Furnish for Free

You’d be amazed what people throw out — full bedroom sets, sofas, tables, even brand-new bedding still ironed in the bag. A bit of repair and repurposing goes a long way. Second-hand sites online are also worth a proper look — so much stuff gets listed in genuinely good condition for a fraction of the price new.

9. Trade Instead of Pay

Trading materials, skills, and labour with neighbours and friends can save you a huge amount if you’re building or renovating. I even traded my first plot of land for three years of building work, which helped me build three houses on my second property.

Trades don’t have to be pure economics either — I swapped a campervan I wasn’t using for two electric bikes with a friend, which gave my partner and me more freedom and made things more adventurous together.

Money-wise it wasn’t an even split, but emotionally and in terms of freedom gained, it balanced out fine. He gets to use the van for fishing trips, which gives him more freedom too, and since it stayed with a friend, he told me I can borrow it back anytime — so really there’s no loss at all. It’s not always about cash changing hands — sometimes what you already have is worth more to someone else than money is.

10. Explore Locally Instead of Flying

There’s usually somewhere incredible closer than you think. Save the flights for when they really count. And honestly — beaches are beaches all over the world. Sand, sea, sun; the details change but the experience doesn’t. Enjoy what’s close by instead of chasing somewhere further away.

11. Free Water, Heating Smarter, and Why I Skipped Solar

Having my own spring means water costs me nothing — no bill, ever. On heating, I’m hunting for a cheap log burner (~€200) this winter and collecting wood from the forest instead of relying purely on electric, which is currently my biggest single cost at around €2,000 a year.

I did look seriously at solar here, but the valley has limited light and it just wasn’t worth it — quoted around €8,000, which is basically the same as 4 years of my current electric bill. By the time you factor in batteries or the inverter needing replacing a few years down the line, the actual savings would have been minimal.

I’d also had solar on my last two properties, and winter power was always a struggle even then. Worth doing the maths properly before assuming solar — or going fully off-grid — is automatically the answer. Sometimes staying connected to the grid, with everything else stripped back, is genuinely the cheaper and more practical choice.

12. Make Your Savings Work Harder

Shop around for the best savings account rates too — currently looking at around 2-4%, and it’s worth switching for. I’m also looking into stocks and shares, which can return more (roughly 7-10%), though that comes with real risk and isn’t something to jump into without doing your homework.

13. Buy Pet Food in Bulk

We feed the dogs natural dog food — buying small bags works out to about €10 every two weeks (roughly €260 a year), but buying the big bag instead brings that right down: €30 for a bag that lasts about 6 months, so around €60 a year. Same food, just buying smarter — a good reminder to check if bulk options exist for anything you buy regularly.

You Don’t Have to Move Abroad

This doesn’t have to mean relocating to another country. You could get the same result by staying exactly where you are — downsizing your house, downsizing your car, and letting go of the pressure to keep up appearances or match what everyone else seems to have.

So much spending comes from image and comparison rather than actual need. Cut that out and you free up money and headspace, wherever you live.

The Trick That Actually Made This Possible

Before I left, I trained myself to save around 25% of my UK wages — by simply pretending I was paid 25% less. I lived entirely on the “reduced” wage and put the rest straight into savings before I could touch it. It sounds simple, but it works, because we naturally live up to whatever our means are. If it’s in your current account, you’ll find a way to spend it. Take it out of the equation first, and you adjust without even really noticing. That pot of savings is what gave me the freedom to make the leap.

Where Else You Could Do : Rough Property Prices in 2026

If you are drawn to moving abroad, Portugal isn’t the only option. A few countries where land and rural property are still genuinely affordable:

• 🇵🇹 Portugal (inland/rural): Ruins and renovation projects from around €40,000-50,000; rural plots of land often available well under €20,000

Pureportugal.co.uk is a great site for off grid projects.

• 🇧🇬 Bulgaria: One of the cheapest in the EU — rural houses from under €14,000, city apartments from around €28,000

• 🇷🇴 Romania: Similar story to Bulgaria — larger rural properties and land for relatively little, especially away from Bucharest

• 🇬🇷 Greece (mainland, rural): Affordable land outside the islands and tourist coast

• 🇦🇱 Albania: Increasingly popular for the same reason — cheap land, low cost of living, EU-adjacent lifestyle

Prices vary a lot by region and condition, so always view in person and check legal and planning status before buying — but the broad pattern holds: go rural and inland, and Western European-style living becomes achievable on a fraction of the budget.

A Dose of Honesty

It’s a shame, but money still makes the world go round — there’s no completely free version of this life. You can’t grow enough food to cover everything, things break and need fixing, you still want to see family and friends, you need a way to get around. This isn’t about escaping money altogether — it’s about needing so much less of it that it stops running your life.

What I Actually Gained

Money aside, this life has given me things I never had in my old career. I meet incredible people from all over the world through the Airbnb. I’ve had time to properly develop my writing and photography — and it’s led to features in magazines worldwide. I’ve also learned sound healing and how to create music, something I’d never have had the time or headspace for before — and once learned, it costs nothing to enjoy and has become something I love sharing with guests.

I work outdoors, in the sunshine, getting natural exercise just from daily life, and I play in the river with the dogs. There are still hard times — landslides to deal with, rainy seasons, things that go wrong — but even with all of that, it comes with about 95% less stress than I carried before.

Off-Grid vs Reality: The Bottom Line

Average UK households spend around £3,100 a month — roughly £37,000+ a year — including a mortgage of £13,000-14,400 and council tax of up to £2,400+. People I know in the uk are paying a basic survival yearly cost of living of up to £80,000 a year .

My entire year — electricity, food, internet, car, council tax, and pet food combined, with free water and no gas — comes to just under €7,000 (around £6,000). That’s less than a fifth of what the average UK household spends.

So If You’re Thinking About It

Maybe it’s not moving to another country — maybe it’s changing jobs, downsizing, saving for the thing you’ve always wanted to do, or just building a life that actually fits you instead of one you feel stuck maintaining.

Whatever the dream is, there’s always a way to start. You don’t need to have it all figured out — you just need to take the first step. 🌿

Want help making a similar move?

I share the reality of off-grid life in Portugal — the wins and the hard bits — over on WyldeRoots - wylderoots.org

• Coaching: 1:1 coaching calls if you’re figuring out your own version of this — whether that’s a full relocation, a career change, or just building a life that fits you better.

• Courses: Practical guidance on the move itself — buying land or property, budgeting realistically, and avoiding the mistakes that cost people time and money.

• Stay with us: Come experience it firsthand at WyldeRoots River House, our riverside Airbnb in central Portugal with coaching and sound healing available — swim in the river, unplug, talk and see what this kind of life actually feels like before you commit to anything.

You can find all of it, plus my writing and photography, at wylderoots.org, or message me directly on Instagram @ wylderoots.pt or email me apsully@hotmail.com