Is Self-Sufficiency the Answer to Inflation? My Thoughts on Breaking Free from the System

My current reality vs. my future dreams? 😅 (not sure where the pumpkins came from)

Full disclosure here: I'm writing this from my house in Dubai, I am probably the least self-sufficient person you could imagine. But lately, I can't stop thinking about something…

Every time I go to the supermarket, I get that WTF moment looking at the prices.

The cost of basic necessities keeps climbing, and my salary isn't exactly rushing to keep up. Sound familiar?

Living in Dubai, I'm technically in a better position than many – no income tax and a decent engineering salary.

But even here, , I'm watching inflation eat away at my savings like a hungry teenager raiding the fridge.

Now, here's the thing about being an engineer – we're trained to solve problems.

And this whole situation feels like a massive problem that needs solving.

I've spent the last few years learning about:

• Financial independence
• Cryptocurrency
• Various ways to protect wealth

But recently, my thoughts have been drifting in a completely different direction: self-sufficiency.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking – an expat living in a Dubai apartment dreaming about self-sufficient living? Talk about a contradiction!

But bear with me here…

Why I'm Even Thinking About This

The reality check that got me thinking… 📈

Let's rewind a bit…

I had been living in the Middle East since 2017, and initially, everything seemed great financially. No tax, decent salary, ability to save – ye know, living the expat dream.

But here's the kicker –

Over the last few years, I've watched as:

• Housing costs have skyrocketed
• Food prices keep climbing
• Utilities are getting more expensive
• Savings accounts are paying basically nothing in interest
• As an expat you always assume you will move back to your home country in a few years – the thought of doing that in this economy has me freaked out a bit, not gonna lie.

And the traditional advice? "Just invest in index funds and wait 30 years."

Well, that's all fine and dandy, but what happens when inflation is eating your lunch faster than your investments can grow?

Every time I go back to the UK I am shocked by the cost of things, literally every time I go back its like a remarkable price increase on almost everything.

Talk about a punch to the gut…

Now, I've already explored various ways to grow & protect wealth:

• Cryptocurrency (got rekt a few times learning that one 😅)
• Traditional investments
• Side hustles like this blog

But here's what keeps bugging me…

A

ll these solutions still leave us dependent on the same system that's causing the problems in the first place.

We're basically trying to:

• Earn more money
• To buy more expensive things
• To maintain the same lifestyle
• While hoping our investments outpace inflation

Does this sound like a hamster wheel to anyone else? 🐹

What Self-Sufficiency Means to Me (For Now)

So what exactly do I mean by self-sufficiency?

Well, full disclosure – I'm still figuring that out myself. But here's where my head's at…

To me, self-sufficiency isn't about becoming some kind of mountain hermit (though if that's your thing, more power to you).

[Link: Check out my early thoughts in "Exploring Off-Grid Living: Is It Feasible for My Family?"]

Instead, I'm thinking about it as a spectrum:

• On one end: Complete dependence on the system
• On the other: Total independence
• Reality: Probably somewhere in between

Right now, where am I on that spectrum?

Let's be honest – I'm about as dependent on the system as you can get:

• Living in a house with fake grass in the garden
• Buying all my food from shops
• Working a 9-5 job
• Paying for utilities
• Basically, if the system hiccups, I'm screwed 😅

But here's what I'm starting to envision…

A life where:

• You grow some of your own food
• Generate some of your own power
• Have practical skills to fix and build things
• Need less money to live well
• Have more control over your time

Read more about gaining control in My Path to Personal Sovereignty: Starting the Journey.

Think about it like becoming an investor in yourself and your capabilities, rather than just investing in stocks or crypto.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "But Adam, isn't this just substituting one form of work for another?"

Well… yeah, kind of.

But here's the difference:

• Traditional work = Trading time for money to buy things
• Self-sufficient work = Creating value directly for yourself
• One makes you more dependent
• The other makes you more independent

And let's talk about skills for a minute…

Right now, my skill set is pretty specialized:

• Can design marine structures? ✅
• Can grow vegetables? ❌
• Can fix basic things around the house? 🤔
• Can generate my own power? 😅

But imagine if we all had a broader range of practical skills?

The Appeal: Why It Makes Sense (In Theory)

Let's talk about why this whole self-sufficiency thing keeps bouncing around in my head…

First up – the economics of it all.

Right now, my monthly expenses look something like:

• Rent/Mortgage 💰
• Food 💰
• Utilities 💰
• Transport 💰
• Random stuff I probably don't need 💰

Notice a pattern? Everything requires money. Which means:

• Need a job
• To earn money
• To pay for stuff
• To stay alive
• Rinse and repeat

But what if we could flip that equation on its head?

Imagine reducing or eliminating some of these expenses by:

• Growing food instead of buying it all
• Generating power instead of paying for it
• Building things instead of buying them
• Fixing stuff instead of replacing it
• Actually knowing how things work

Now, I'm not saying it's free. Obviously, there are:

• Initial setup costs
• Time investments
• Learning curves
• Probably lots of failed attempts (RIP basil plant)

But here's the thing that really interests me…

Once you have these systems and skills in place:

• They can't be inflated away
• They can't be taxed
• They can't be devalued
• They're truly YOURS

Think about that for a minute.

When I wrote about cryptocurrency and protecting wealth, I talked about seeking assets that can't be printed.

Well, what better "asset" than:

• The ability to grow food?
• The knowledge to build things?
• The skills to be more self-reliant?

It's like creating your own personal insurance policy against:

• Inflation
• Economic uncertainty
• System dependence
• Rising costs of living

Plus, there's something really appealing about the idea of:

• Working with your hands
• Creating real things
• Understanding processes
• Being more connected to what you consume

The Reality Check (Questions I'm Wrestling With)

Right. Time for some brutal honesty here…

Let's address the elephant in the room:

• I live in Dubai
• In an apartment
• Can't keep a basil plant alive
• Have zero practical skills outside of engineering
• And I'm sitting here writing about self-sufficiency 😅

[Link: Read about my Dubai life in "Living in the Middle East: My Experience as an Expat Engineer"]

So yeah, there might be a few challenges to work through.

The Location Thing

First up – Dubai.

Let's be real about the challenges:

• It's basically a desert, however I am learning what can grow here
• Everything is imported
• Land costs are high but actually probably less expensive than other major capital cities
• Growing anything is… challenging
• The summer would kill most plants (and possibly me)

And then there's the whole "my current reality” situation.

I mean, sure, I could:

• Start a small garden
• Maybe get some herbs going
• Try some container vegetables
• …probably kill them all

[Link: See my first thoughts on sustainable living in "Zero Waste Construction"]

The Skill Gap

Now this is a biggie.

Current skills I have for self-sufficient living:

• Can design maritime structures ❌
• Can calculate wave forces ❌
• Can use Excel really well ❌
• …yeah, none of these help 😅

Skills I would actually need:

• Gardening
• Basic construction
• Electrical work
• Plumbing
• Animal husbandry
• Food preservation
• Tool maintenance
• … the list goes on

That's quite a gap to bridge, innit?

The Family Factor

Then there's the whole family situation to consider:

• Got a wife
• Got a young son
• They might not fancy living off-grid
• They probably like having air conditioning
• They definitely like having WiFi

[Link: Check out my family's journey in "Balancing Career and Family: Achieving Work-Life Harmony"]

So any moves toward self-sufficiency would need to be:

• Gradual
• Family-friendly
• Not too extreme
• Comfortable enough for everyone
• Still connected to the modern world

The Financial Independence Angle

Finding the sweet spot between FIRE and self-sufficiency 🎯

So how does all this self-sufficiency stuff tie into financial independence?

Well, let me share where my head's at on this…

See how my FIRE journey started in How Living Abroad Accelerated My Financial Independence Journey.

First up, let's talk about what financial independence actually means.

The traditional FIRE movement says:

• Save up 25x your annual expenses
• Invest it in index funds
• Live off 4% per year
• Bob's your uncle

But here's the thing that's been bugging me lately…

What if we're thinking about this all wrong?

Because right now:

• We save money
• To invest money
• To make more money
• To buy things we need
• To survive in the system

More about system independence in My Path to Personal Sovereignty: Starting the Journey

But what if instead we:

• Learned valuable skills
• Created systems for basics
• Reduced our need for money
• Became more resilient
• Stepped partially outside the system

See where I'm going with this?

It's like two different paths to the same destination:

Path 1 (Traditional FIRE):

• Work like crazy
• Save everything
• Invest wisely
• Hope inflation doesn't eat you alive
• Pray the market doesn't crash
• Cross fingers that 4% rule holds up

Path 2: Enter: SovFIRE

Now, I've been thinking about this combination of Bitcoin, self-sufficiency, and financial independence so much that I reckon it needs its own name.

Let's call it SovFIRE.

What's SovFIRE? Well, it's basically what happens when you:

• Stack sats for sovereign money
• Stack skills for sovereign living
• Reduce dependencies on broken systems
• Create your own wealth preservation
• Build real-world value

It's like a triple-threat approach:

• Traditional FIRE for the foundation
• Bitcoin for wealth preservation
• Self-sufficiency for real-world security

Learn more about Bitcoin in Understanding Cryptocurrency: A Beginner's Guide for Expats

Think about it – what's more sovereign than:

• Money that can't be printed (Bitcoin)
• Food that you can grow yourself
• Energy that you can generate
• Skills that can't be taken away
• Systems that you control

The beautiful thing about SovFIRE is that it doesn't rely on just one strategy. If:

• The market crashes? You've got real-world skills
• Bitcoin dips? You've got self-sufficiency
• Garden fails? You've got savings
• Everything fails? At least you've learned a ton 😅

Is it more complicated than traditional FIRE?

Absolutely.

Is it more work than just stacking sats?

You bet.

But in a world where everything seems increasingly uncertain, maybe the answer isn't putting all our eggs in one basket – whether that's:

• The stock market
• Bitcoin
• Real estate
• Or even self-sufficiency

Maybe it's about building a complete sovereign lifestyle that reduces our dependence on broken systems altogether.

Now, I'm not saying one is better than the other.

But here's what really interests me…

You could potentially:

• Combine both approaches
• Get the best of both worlds
• Create multiple layers of security
• Have more options
• Be more resilient

Think about it:

• Financial investments for wealth
• Self-sufficiency for security
• Skills for independence
• Community for support

It's like creating your own personal sovereignty stack.

(Yes, I just made that term up. But sounds cool, right? 😎)

What's Next on My Research Journey

Baby steps toward self-sufficiency… very baby steps 👶

Right then, so what am I actually going to DO about all this?

First up – let's be realistic about where I am:

• Living in Dubai ✅
• In a house ✅
• Working full time ✅
• Complete newbie to all this ✅
• Potentially terrible at gardening ✅

So my first steps need to be… well, pretty small.

Research Phase

First up, I'm planning to dive into:

• Books about self-sufficiency
• YouTube channels on homesteading
• Blogs from people actually doing this
• Online communities and forums
• Real stories, not just theory

But here's the thing – I don't just want the highlight reel.

I want to learn about:

• The failures
• The mistakes
• The reality checks
• The true costs
• The actual time commitments

Because let's be honest – if I'm going to fail at something, I'd rather learn from someone else's mistakes first 😅

Small Experiments

While I'm doing that research, I figure I can start some tiny experiments:

• Try growing herbs again (RIP previous basil)
• Learn basic DIY skills
• Start composting (if my wife agrees 😬)
• Reduce our waste
• Learn to fix simple things

Basically, anything I can do in an housewithout:

• Getting evicted
• Causing disasters
• Creating awful smells
• Annoying the neighbors
• Making my family hate me

Future Planning

While I'm working on these baby steps, I want to research:

• Land costs in different countries
• Legal requirements for self-sufficiency
• Climate considerations
• Infrastructure needs
• Family implications

Community Building

And probably most importantly, I want to:

• Connect with others on this journey
• Learn from those who've done it
• Share my (probably hilarious) failures
• Build a support network
• Create a learning community

Because let's be honest – I'm going to need all the help I can get!

Final Thoughts

The journey of a thousand miles begins with killing your first herb plant 😂

So there you have it – my complete brain dump about self-sufficiency from someone who's:

• Never grown a successful plant
• Lives in a desert city
• Works as an engineer
• Is probably way out of his depth
• But is somehow still excited about all this 😅

Here's what I keep coming back to though…

Every major change in my life started with:

• A weird idea
• That wouldn't go away
• That seemed impossible at first
• That others thought was crazy
• That ended up changing everything

Like when I:

• Moved to the Middle East
• Started learning about FIRE
• Got into crypto
• Started this blog

All of these seemed pretty intimidating at first too.

But here's the thing about personal sovereignty and financial independence:

• Sometimes you have to explore new paths
• Even if they seem scary
• Even if you might fail
• Even if you don't know where to start
• Even if your basil plant judges you

Because let's be honest:

• The current system isn't working great
• Inflation is eating our lunch
• Traditional paths are breaking down
• We need alternatives
• We need options

So yeah, maybe I am:

• Completely naive
• Totally unprepared
• Way too optimistic
• In over my head

But ye know what?

I'd rather:

• Try and fail
• Learn and grow
• Share the journey
• Maybe inspire others
• Than just accept things as they are

What About You?

• Have you thought about self-sufficiency?
• Are you already on this journey?
• Got any tips for a complete beginner?
• Want to join me in figuring this out?
• Know how to keep basil alive? (seriously, help)

Drop a comment below and let's start this conversation.

Because if there's one thing I've learned from my previous crazy ideas, it's that:

• We learn better together
• Community makes everything easier
• Shared failures are more fun
• And sometimes the craziest ideas
• Turn out to be the best ones

Until next time, Adam

P.S. Yes, I'll keep you updated on my next basil plant attempt. How much worse could it go? 🌿🪦

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