Building a home from the ground up doesn’t sound like an easy task, but it becomes increasingly difficult to do so when you live up the mountains of West Virginia. Fortunately for all of us, Josh and Erin Myers embarked on such a mission, and filmed everything for YouTube so we don’t have to actually face the struggles of a life off the grid ourselves.
The result of the Myers adventure is not only quite inspirational and creative, but also quite popular, gaining them more than a million followers since the start of their Wild Wonderful Off-Grid channel in 2018.
So what are the ups and downs behind Erin and Josh’s adventure? What did they do before starting the channel, and how did they fund all of it? Stay here to find out!
Contents
Who Are They?
Wild Wonderful Off-Grid is one of those YouTube channels you definitely need to follow, whether you’re looking for a change of lifestyle, or simply want to enjoy very good videos.
Several years ago, Josh and Erin Myers became increasingly dissatisfied with their city lifestyle, and all the debt it involved. That’s when they set up a years-long plan which would allow them to leave their busy, pressured lifestyle and build a ‘self-reliant’ house for their family.
In early 2018, Wild Wonderful Off-Grid was created as the Myers’ way to document their journey toward their desired lifestyle in a mountain area of West Virginia. The channel first focused on their efforts to prepare their land, and take the first steps to building an off-grid house and power generator.
Erin and Josh’s project was supported from the beginning by other people with similar interests, slowly but surely spreading the word about their idea of a lifestyle, while also supporting their mission financially with views and merchandise purchases.
Nowadays, Wild Wonderful Off-Grid has over a million subscribers, and a massive following on other social media, proving how well Erin and Josh’s innovative and inspirational ways have changed their and other people’s lives as well.
Net Worth
According to online reports, Erin and Josh Myers have a net worth of $1.4 million. This estimation is based on consideration of the popularity of Wild Wonderful Off-Grid, given how the channel might be receiving from views and merchandise sales, along with Josh and Erin’s side businesses.
Unlike other content creators, Erin and Josh don’t use any subscription site to obtain financial support from their audience, meaning that their off-grid project has been funded mostly out of their life savings and jobs. As the Myers revealed in a video from late 2018, they had been living a modest lifestyle for at least five years to fund the build of their mountain home, on top of Josh keeping his nine-to-five job to have a stable source of income as they pursued their dream.
Another source of income for the Myers comes from renting the guest house on their property, and another house on a different property which they bought, renovated and unveiled in 2023, taking another step closer to achieving their dream of living self-sufficiently.
How The Adventure Started
Not everyone is ready to face the struggles and challenges that adopting an off-grid lifestyle entails. That’s why Erin and Josh Myers carefully set out a plan to make their goal of living a sustainable and debt-free lifestyle a reality in a matter of a couple of years.
As affirmed by the couple in a Wild Wonderful Off-Grid video from 2018, their project was born around 2013, when they noticed that debt was having a big toll on them, and something needed to be done on their part to solve it. Though they adjusted their lifestyle and expenses, it was still not enough to make their life free of long-term financial commitments, such as mortgages.
At that point, the idea of selling their current house and moving to the mountains became more and more tempting, but they took it slowly by planning a clear budget for their future home, securing a stable source of income through their jobs, and saving enough to make it all possible. By early 2018, the Myers had already sold their home and purchased a 73-acre property in West Virginia. They also bought a cabin van for their family to live in as they built their sustainable house at the same time, on top of obtaining a side income by renting the house which was already built on their property when they purchased the land.
Struggles & Lifestyle Changes
To make their dream of an off-grid lifestyle in the mountains a reality, the Myers had to make more than a couple of adjustments to their old lives.
As affirmed by Erin and Josh in a 2018 video from their channel, saving money was the first of their concerns while planning how to achieve their goal. That led them to set a plan to pay off the entirety of their debts up to that moment, including bank card and medical bills. At that point, their mortgage payments were their only worry, but they soon realized that getting rid of that long-term debt required even more radical changes to their life.
Cutting their expenses was the way to go for the Myers back then, as the couple got rid of everything they didn’t consider essential for their life, such as rental movies, TV services, and gym memberships. As they affirmed, their cell phones were a big hindrance to their finances as well, choosing to get rid of these while conserving Josh’s professional phone as their only active device.
Erin and Josh also did their best to save money on food, choosing to grow vegetables and process their food instead of buying it in supermarkets. Expensive clothes were also out of the question for a couple for years.
By the time they bought their West Virginia property in 2018, the Myers had already been living an adjusted lifestyle for several years.
Did They Finish Building Their Home?
After four years of hard work, tight budgets, and sorting out the difficulties brought up in the search for an alternate lifestyle, in 2022 Erin and Josh finally finished the off-grid house they always envisioned. Their described self-reliant house was designed with an A-frame stylish enough to become the Myers’ dream house, but it’s also secure and spacious enough to comfortably host their family of five.
As seen in the many videos shared by Wild Wonderful Off-Grid, the house built by the Myers has every good quality of an off-grid house, while also incorporating modern technologies. Erin and Josh did a great job at using their land in the smartest way possible to provide their family with food, including vegetables grown in their yard and proteins coming from their small farming system.
As well, the Myers successfully produced their house’s own energy by having built a solar-powered provider. This solves one of the main concerns they had back when they lived in the city, and the high costs of living became an issue. The house is also secured to protect their family and farm from wild animal attacks, something they learned the hard way after their chicken coop was surprisingly attacked in the past.
These days, Erin and Josh are happily living in their self-reliant house, while also planning the expansion of some of its areas.
New Projects & The Future
These days, Wild Wonderful Off-Grid is not only focused on Erin and Josh’s journey to an off-grid life, but also on their other endeavors. For a start, the couple has recently taken a further step into living a life debt-free by renovating an old cabin house by themselves to put up for rent. This project had been in the works since early 2022, and despite encountering many challenges along the way and having to prove themselves as efficient designers and builders once again, Erin and Josh finished the renovation and made it available for rent in September 2023.
While the couple had already been renting out a house on their property, this new cabin project is part of their efforts to expand their real estate business Meyer Builders, which they have described as an essential part of their retirement plans. Given that, it won’t be surprising if the couple keeps taking on further renovation projects.
Though it’s unclear what else the Myers complete plan is for the future, there’s no doubt that they still have lots of entertaining and inspiring content to give to their Wild Wonderful Off-Grid viewers.
