Homesteading on a budget

While dreamy farms with large red barns and hundreds of animals may be appealing to one wanting to homestead, that’s not reality for most. Homesteading does not mean that you have to have loads of animals and infrastructure. You can homestead on just about any budget from anywhere. Homesteading on a budget is possible because homesteading is about so much more than how much you have.

In our almost four years of homesteading, we have made a lot of mistakes when it comes to the homestead budget. And the thing is, we’re still going to make mistakes in the future. But with all of the mistakes, we have found so much satisfaction in growing our own food and living a simple life with our children. We are on an even tighter budget than when we started, but we are still producing a lot of food on our less than two acres of land. Learning the skills to be more self sufficient are possible in just about every phase of life and on almost any budget.

You can start homesteading on a small budget with a little ingenuity. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Learn to build things yourself.

Truthfully, I’m not much of a builder. However, my husband is creative at building the infrastracture we need with few or repurposed supplies . When we decided to build raised garden beds, he used old pallets and tin so that they cost us $0 to build. Our chicken coops were made by him. They were mostly built with cheap planed lumber we bought from someone locally. He even engineered a contraption to collect all our rabbit’s poop from the cage into a five-gallon bucket so we could use it in the garden and compost easily. Our goat barn was built from old pallets and cedar fence planks.

There are endless ideas online for fencing, raised garden beds, shelters, chicken coops, etc. Youtube has so many how to videos on almost anything you might need. As a beginner, what you make may not be ideal, but it will get you started for what you need now. Even if you can’t build it yourself, recruit friends and family to help. You can offer them eggs from your chickens, milk from you goats or vegetables from your garden for their helping hand.

Save money on feed to help your homesteading budget.

Homesteading on a budget means you have to find ways to cut costs. You have to feed the animals you buy. While feed prices are going up, there are so many ways to cut costs even if you don’t have a large piece of land for grazing. You can buy feed in bulk and save a little. Grow a garden just for your chickens, ducks and pigs. Let your animals free range as much as possible. Try implementing ideas from people like Joel Salatin and rotate your animals across your land.

 Ferment your chicken, turkey & duck feed. It’s better for them nutritionally and it’s cheaper for you. Even if you can’t afford organic feed, you know that your animals are still healthier than the ones being raised on large farms where they are allowed little room.

Check out my article on how to save money on chicken feed here.

Raise smaller animals.

It may be ideal to raise a large head of cattle for meat, but if you can’t afford it or if you don’t have the space, try other sources of protein. Rabbits are very inexpensive to feed, especially if raised in a rabbit tractor. They are a great protein source. Meat chickens can be raised inexpensively in chicken tractors. If you want to produce your own dairy, try goats instead of cows. They eat a lot less than a cow and require less space. Homesteading on a budget may mean you need to start out small.

You can also raise less animals at once. Raise two feeder pigs and sell one to make up for the butchering and feed costs.

Garden to start homesteading now!

There are so many ways to save money gardening. Grow an in-ground garden and you save on the cost of soil. Start a compost pit so that you can feed that soil year after year. Use your animal’s manure to add to the compost. Make compost teas instead of buying fertilizer. If you have rabbit’s, use their poop directly on your plants!

One seed can produce so much food. When our garden is thriving, we go weeks without buying produce at the store and we still have a ton left over to preserve.

Learn to preserve food.

Canning is usually the first step people take to learn to preserve food from the garden. But there are other techniques such as fermenting. We have been fermenting our cucumbers for the last few months. They make great pickles that are good for your gut. Research water glassing eggs or dehydrating. It will save you money in the dead of winter when your garden is no longer producing.

Sell the things you produce.

While you probably won’t become rich selling your produce, canned goods, etc. at a farmer’s market, it can put some money back into your pocket. We have plans to sell next spring simply because we want to offset some of our costs of raising our animals. If you have the right products, you can make a good side profit at farmer’s markets and meet other homesteaders and farmers as well. Making connections with people who have similar interests can help you to grow your own knowledge and skills.

Live simplistically.  

Learn to cook from scratch with the things you have. Cook with animal fats and with the produce from your garden. Learn to clean with water and vinegar instead of buying 10 different cleaning products for your home. Sewing is a great skill to learn. Sew so that you don’t have to throw out that pair of jeans. You can patch them up yourself!

Focus on your homestead chores and turn off the tv and phone. Part of homesteading is slowing down and living a simpler lifestyle.

Take your time getting to your homesteading dream.

Building the infrastructure on a homestead takes time even when you have the money. Plan for the things you really want and the things you want first. Slowly build shelters and fences if that’s what it takes. Start with a small garden and expand the next year. Start out with just a handful of chickens and move on to more as the years pass. A farm takes time to build. Being self-sufficient takes time too. You are not a failure if you’re being smart about where your money goes.

Least expensive animals to raise:

• Rabbits
• Ducks
• Chickens
• Turkeys
• Goats
• Pigs

Plants that produce the most from one seed:

• Tomatoes
• Squashes (especially summer squashes)
• Cucumbers
• Okra
• Potatoes
• Greens such as kale, spinach and romaine

You can homestead on a budget no matter where you are in life. It takes constant work and learning, but if you really love it, it is so worth it. If homesteading is your dream, but you don’t have the money to go all in, start small and you can eventually find yourself right in the middle of where you want to be.