There are so many reasons why homesteading is an attractive lifestyle, but it can be hard to jump in and commit because it can seem expensive and overwhelming. You don’t need to move to another state, buy a hundred acres, or milk a dairy cow to start homesteading. Homesteading requires a resourceful mindset that aligns with a particular set of values you work to apply to your current lifestyle. It’s a slow, steady process of implementing new skills. While it can be expensive, there are ways to start with nothing. In fact, you can even start homesteading in an apartment! Here’s how to start a homestead with no money.
Research and Plan
Educate yourself about homesteading techniques, self-sufficiency, and sustainable living. Read books, articles, and online resources to gather knowledge about topics such as gardening, animal husbandry, food preservation, and off-grid living. Watch YouTube videos from other homesteaders or other educational media. Create a detailed plan that outlines your goals, priorities, and timeline.
Foraging
Foraging can be in the broad sense or the specific sense. Certainly, you can go into the woods and look for mushrooms, berries, and plants for medicinal, consumption, or decorative purposes. But foraging also can mean looking at your current environment and seeing what you can use as a homesteading resource. Do you have a half-acre backyard you can build a vegetable garden in? Do you have some palettes that you can turn into a chicken coop?
Bartering
Offer your skills, services, or time in exchange for help, resources or access to land with local individuals in your community. Bartering can be a valuable way to acquire tools, seeds, livestock, or other necessities without spending money. To this point as well, you can also sell goods and services to
Utilize Free or Low-Cost Resources
If you look in the right places, you can find free or low-cost resources available in your area. This may include compost from local waste management facilities, woodchip drops, recycled building materials, seed exchanges, community gardens, or borrowing equipment from neighbors or friends.
Grow Your Own Food
Start a vegetable garden to produce your own food. Focus on high-yield, low-maintenance crops suited to your climate. You can even practice container planting especially if you have limited space. Worried about the cost of buying seeds or starter plants? Save seeds from year to year to reduce costs and use produce scraps to regrow new plants from them. Not to mention, composting kitchen scraps and yard waste can provide nutrient-rich soil for your garden.
Repurpose, Reuse, Recycle
We live in the age of consumerism. We all have resources – and a lot of them. Look at what you have and embrace the do-it-yourself mindset. Repurpose materials whenever possible. Salvage or repurpose items such as pallets, old furniture, or discarded building materials for construction projects and infrastructure on your homestead. You can find a bunch of free items on Facebook marketplace! Consider how you can give life to something old and discarded.
Practice Resourcefulness
While it might not be realistic at this point for you to have money to go toward homesteading, a big part of homesteading (that doesn’t cost anything) is training yourself to have a resourceful mindset. Money is a resource. If you don’t know how to manage your money (or any other resource like time, assets, etc) then work on that. When it does come time to take the next step on your homesteading journey to buy more land and/or live off-grid, you will need a substantial amount of liquid cash to move forward and knowing how to live frugally, cut unnecesary expenses, budget, avoid debt, save, budget, and live within your means will be vital.
Build Your Homesteading Community
Fellow homesteaders will be your biggest cheerleaders and support system. They can answer your questions, give you advice, and help you build connections in your local community. Look at bulletin boards in the post office and other community spaces to see if there are connection opportunities in your town. Reach out to fellow farmers, 4-H leaders, or Amish mentors. You can also follow online forums and social media groups to connect with experienced homesteaders. They can provide advice, support, and encouragement along your journey.
Want to learn more about how to start a homestead? Join our Facebook community where you can learn and connect with others who are interested in and pursuing homesteading.
