How To Homestead on a Budget
Homesteading will eventually save you a ton of money, but at the beginning, it’s a bit expensive. Setting up a homestead like the ones you’ve see online isn’t something that can be done on a budget. However, there are lots of ways to homestead on a budget and save yourself some huge expenses. These ideas are great for when you’re starting out and can always be improved upon at a later date, if you want to update your resources.
Start Small
It’s fun to dream big and make elaborate plans for the massive homestead that will be our pride and joy. But that’s not where things get started, especially not when you’re on a budget.
Start small and work on one little project at a time. This will keep expenses down and make it so you don’t get overwhelmed by all the projects you have going on.
Use What’s Available
While it’s nice to have raised planters and dedicated seed planting trays, those things aren’t absolutely necessary. To homestead on a budget, you’ll want to start with egg cartons or individual yogurt cup that you would otherwise throw away for starting your seeds.
Then, you can simply plant them in the ground that you already have. No need for special raised beds or expensive soil from your local landscape supply. You should, however, amend your soil as needed, which I cover in this post.
Repurpose
Repurposing items goes along with using what’s available, but takes it a bit further. Sometimes, you can find free items that you can use for your garden that were never meant to be used in the garden.
For instance, you might find an old kid’s sandbox that would be perfect to use as a compost bin or a small herb planter. An old water trough makes a great raised bed planter.
Get creative with the things you find for free and use them to your advantage in the garden.

Forage
Foraging is a great way to get a lot of useful plants for absolutely free. Before you head out to forage for you dinner, be sure to have a plant identifier app ready to help you determine if a plant is edible or not. I recommend using the paid apps since they will typically give you much more accurate results, but there are a lot of free apps out there that will get close. Just remember, if you are ever in doubt, don’t risk it. It’s not worth getting sick for.
Usually, rivers and streams have a wide variety of edible plants growing near them, so start there. In California, a website called Calscape has a searchable list of all the native plants and where to find them. If you want to homestead on a budget, this is an extremely valuable tool.
When I started to learn about the plants that grew on my own property, I found so many useful plants that I didn’t even know I had! Now, I look forward to exploring the yard and showing my kids what plants we can eat as much as we want and what plants to avoid. There’s a unique satisfaction that comes from eating a meal composed entirely of what you foraged. I highly recommend it!
Network
Networking is great no matter what, but if you are trying to homestead on a budget, it’s essential. Facebook is a great place to find other homesteaders in your area. One fantastic thing about the homesteading community is that everyone loves to share knowledge. We’ve all struggled with some aspect of homesteading and we’re all learning together, so everyone I’ve come across in the homesteading community has been eager to share. Homesteaders love to see other homesteaders succeed, period.
Once you find a group to network with, ask questions. They will always answer and often offer to help. Many people will have started out on a tight budget and as their homestead grows, they’ll be willing to part with items they have upgraded. This means you might get some great things for little or no cost.
Trade
Networking opens up the door for trading. Trading is probably the easiest way to diversify the goods your homestead can produce. I don’t have mature fruit trees full of fruit that I love, but I do have one fig tree that’s massive and produces a ton of figs every year. The problem for me is that I don’t like figs…at all. I don’t like them fresh, cooked, in jam or even in cookies. They just aren’t for me. However, most people LOVE figs!
Even though I don’t like figs one little bit, my fig tree is a huge resource for me. I make jam every year and use that jam to trade other homesteaders in the area for things that I do want. Every year, I trade my figs and fig jam for nectarines, apples, duck eggs, peaches, almonds and walnuts. It’s a win-win in every way.
You might not have fruit to trade, but there are other things that people may want. Perhaps you’ve developed your basket-making skills. Maybe you’re great at sewing snack bags for washable, reusable options. You might make beautiful pottery. Whatever your skill is, you can use what you have, or what you do, to trade with others.
Thrift Stores
Sometimes, I’m amazed at what I can find at the thrift store. This is a great place to find items for preserving food. The most common thing I see at thrift stores is canning jars. Canning is almost a lost art at this point and people use jars more for looks than to actually preserve food.
That’s great for you, especially since you’ll be needing a lot of jars to preserve your harvest. Baskets, pots and pans, and even larger food preserving equipment can easily be found at thrift stores.
Some of the more rare items might not be there right away, but persistence pays off and eventually, what you’re looking for will likely end up at the thrift store.

The Single Biggest Thing…
The biggest thing you can do to homestead on a budget is to learn. Learn how to do things on your own and you’ll never need to pay someone to do simple tasks for you. Learning how to do basic skills will save you the most money and give you biggest confidence boost ever. Basic carpentry skills, plumbing, electrical knowledge, cooking, baking, preserving…the list is almost endless.
Learning how to do these things won’t happen overnight, but little by little, you’ll grow your knowledge base and before you know it, new homesteaders will be coming to you for guidance. It’s okay to fail the first time (or few times) you try something. The important thing is to learn for your mistakes and try again. If you fail that time, learn from it and try again. Sooner or later, you will have learned enough to succeed at whatever the task. Never stop learning and never stop trying. The homesteading journey is challenging at times, but one of the most rewarding things you’ll ever do.
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