7 Hacks for Homesteading with Almost No Money

You may be familiar with the word homesteading but may not be quite sure what it means. Homesteading is all about living a self-sufficient lifestyle. It is about being more reliant on the earth and nature, using less energy, recycling, growing your own vegetables, perhaps raising chickens and living off the grid. With these 7 Hacks for Homesteading with Almost No Money you wont have to spend a fortune.

What Does Homesteading Involve?

Homesteading can be about building an environmental conscience house or turning your home green, planting an organic vegetable garden, growing fruit trees, working with the local community, using solar energy or wind power, ditching your car and using a bicycle or perhaps keeping a bee colony. It does not have to be all of them and you may choose to start homesteading slowly, building up towards a more self-sufficient way of life.

Is Homesteading Expensive?

The idea of homesteading is for you to not only be self-sufficient but also reduce your costs. We are all very aware today of the damage that has been done to the environment and about decreasing our carbon footprint.
We are also all aware of the high cost of living today and the need to cut down wherever we can. Homesteading can be costly if you are considering buying land and livestock, but there are ways to homestead on a budget.

Homesteading on a Budget

There are tons of ways to get started with homesteading with almost no money. Below are some easy ways you can get started immediately for cheap!

1. Grow your own food

Plant a vegetable garden today. A vegetable garden does not take up much space. If you do not have a garden, make a few wooden containers. You need to have good soil, good drainage and a nearby water source. Find the right spot in the sun; make your raised beds and plant.
Vegetables are seasonal and from this minute on you are going to be a seasonal and healthy eater. Grow vegetables that you can eat daily as well as cook with. Lettuce, spinach, beans, carrots, potatoes, and beetroot are all hardy and giving vegetables.

2. Plant a herb garden

Herbs are inexpensive to grow. Remember with herbs, the more you pluck the more they grow. Grow herbs that are good for cooking, cleaning and medicinal purposes. Grow garlic and ginger. Make a ginger lemon mint tea in the mornings, fresh, free and an excellent morning cleanse.

3. Bake your own bread

This Hacks for Homesteading is a no brainer . You can make preservative free bread that is healthy and cheap. You could even grow your own wheat and make your own flour. Share your home baked bread with your neighbors or swap it for some of their homemade produce. You may want to even sell it.

4. Build a chicken coop

Look after your chickens well and you will have eggs for life. You may have to pay a little for your chickens initially but the rewards are worth it. The idea would be to have free roaming and organic chickens and you can make your own chicken feed. It is not expensive to buy chicken feed, though, just keep an eye on the labels.

5. Keep livestock

You will need a bigger property for this but a goat is an excellent for milk and in the long run, for butter and cheese too. The same applies with a cow which will also eventually give meat. Pigs can be rewarding as they reproduce easily and you could have a fairly constant supply of bacon. Rabbits too are something to consider as a meat source.

6. Live off the grid

The first thing you should do is install solar panels. These can be expensive but you will see how wonderful it is to not have electricity bills. Solar panels are an investment as they will cost you money initially, but the investment pays off fairly quickly.
It is also a good idea to put in gas. You will have the backup of gas if there is not enough sunshine. A gas geyser to heat your water, although costly in the beginning, is a good and wise investment too. Another thing to keep in mind is that you don’t necessarily need to use lights for everything. You can use a fire a lot of times for light or invest in a reliable flashlight to use from time to time.

7. Trade

Remember your community. Share skills. Share produce and work together to cut down your costs. Trade and barter are the way forward for a more sustainable lifestyle too. Work with your neighbor.

About the Author

Jack Neely is a fitness expert, survivalist, and world traveler. He’s been in several life or death situations, and he’s making an effort to spread his knowledge around the web to help others survive these situations as well. He’s also on the content team at The Tactical Guru.