Where are you in the homestead journey?
Before I put myself on a mortgage, I’d like to pay off all my credit card debt, build up at least a 4-month emergency fund, on top of being able to purchase the land in cash. I have no doubt I will accomplish these in the right timing. These goals, however, are not putting my homesteading journey on hold by any means as there are plenty of habits and skills I am developing now that will allow me to hit the ground running and make the most of when I do finally accomplish my milestones. Here are a few of the changes I’ve been developing over the past year.
Make Daily Occasion Meals and Snacks at Home
Getting comfortable in the kitchen is a huge skill in homesteading, as it will allow you to make the most of your harvest when the season comes. I am no scrooge to dining out, especially meals that are too sophisticated to attempt making at home. Building a habit of eating at home will also make going out more special for those celebratory occasions, rather than eating out daily out of exhaustion or habit.
Related Article: How to serve home cooked meals daily (without cooking everyday)
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Repair
Making intentional changes to be less wasteful is not just good for the environment, it can reduce the need to buy certain items which can especially help with a tight budget. Some ways to recycle include turning old clothes into cleaning rags or yarn, saving jars for homemade recipes (NOTE: do not repurpose regular sauce jars for canning) or dried herb storage, turning kitchen scraps into compost or regrowing them! Milk jugs and mushroom cartons can be used for starting seeds or keep them as planters depending on what you’d like to grow. To avoid hoarding trash, I would suggest setting a limit for yourself on how long you will keep an item before throwing it away if you don’t have a specific idea on how it’ll be used.
Using old fabric scrap to patch a ripped comforter.
Follow me on Instagram for behind-the-scenes reels and to let me know how I did:
Avoid Buying Novelty and Singular Use Gadgets
I have a tendency to collect hobbies. It’s so exciting buying new materials to start something new, but it can also lead to a lot of impulse spending and money wasted. To curb the overspending, I only buy tools and equipment for the hobbies I’ve already developed as I need them for a specific project and try not to buy things that only have one use or for one project I won’t make again. When I start learning a new skill or hobby, I try to recycle, reuse, and borrow as much as I can to get started before investing any extra money.
Build a Home Library
Online resources are a great tool to use, but having a physical source of reference materials close by will be crucial on your homesteading journey. Especially if moving further away from the city is in your plans, you never know when you will lose internet or electricity access or for how long. You don’t want all your information to be stored on a server, unavailable to you. Print out your favorite reference articles and recipes, invest in books, save magazines, informative brochures etc. and create a home library of information available to you at any time.
Learn To Cook Without a Recipe
Knowing how to substitute, omit, or add ingredients to a dish with a generic base and being able to cook without having specific instructions and a list is crucial to reducing waste. Learn the fundamentals of some of your favorite dishes and experiment with different flavor profiles on your own. Adding leftover ingredients to use them up saves on waste and can spark imagination. Cooking is an art, not like baking which is much more precise, and allows more room for mistakes and experiments.
If this is your first attempt in the kitchen, give yourself the patience and grace to get past the learning curve before giving up. Not every attempt will turn out well, or even edible… but that’s when you break out the pasta and meat sauce as back up dinner and try again next time!
