When you're ready to start taking your homesteading journey seriously and begin increasing your self-sufficiency, there are certain skills you really need to learn first. Here are the first five steps to start your homesteading journey.
Why We Chose Homesteading
After being married for a few years and as we started having children, we knew we wanted to start building the skills and infrastructures to be able to live a more self-sufficient life.
We realized homesteading wouldn't just "happen" overnight, but there were some basic skills we needed to learn and implement in order to be successful with our homestead journey.
Creating a homesteading lifestyle doesn’t mean having to make a giant leap out to the country. Whether you’re in the suburbs or even a one-bedroom apartment in the city, you can start your homesteading journey today by applying these urban homesteading key principles and begin making the mind shift from a “consumer” to a “producer".
You can hear more about our homestead journey, going from an apartment to 40 acres, the 10 things I wish I knew before I started homesteading, how homesteading can improve your health, how to buy a homestead and, in the podcast episode below, we talk about the 7 essential skills you need to start mastering now before you can take your homesteading journey to the next level.
But for the rest of this post, we're going to focus on the first FIVE things you should do. These homesteading skills take effort and hard work to learn but its well worth it.
Must-Have Skills for Homesteading
Time Management
The first skill you need to master as a homesteader is time management. I have discussed my own time-management tips in detail here.
Remember, homesteading is like a part-time job. It takes many hours per week and you need to learn how to manage your time well.
It's said that the average person watches three hours of television each day, which is as much as a part-time job! This is the time you're going to need if you're serious about homesteading.
My best tip is to start setting an alarm and getting up at a specific time each day. Then start tracking how you're spending your time and make the decision to use your extra time productively.
Once you master time management, as well as the other skills listed below, you'll be ready to jump into homesteading.
Cook From Scratch
If you don't know how to cook with just plain old ingredients then you're going to be in for a real shock when you start living on a homestead.
Start shopping on the exterior of the grocery store where foods don't have ingredient lists, they are the ingredients. Learn the tips and tricks to cook efficiently with good quality ingredients to make delicious wholesome and simple meals.
Watch the video above to see how quickly and easily I chop an onion!
If you already know how to cook from scratch, then start making some items you may purchase from the grocery store on your own. We like to make homemade herbed garlic salt, DIY cooking spray, homemade bone broth, homemade pie crust, and our favorite no-knead five-minute bread.
Replace store-bought flour with fresh home-milled flour. Milling your own flour at home may seem a little daunting at first, but the benefits are well worth it.
Shop Locally
If you can skip the grocery store and begin sourcing and buying food and other goods locally this is even better. Shopping locally does so many great things for you and your community…
- It helps keep local businesses thriving
- You'll be getting the freshest produce
- It's going to help you make connections with local farmers
- And you'll learn how to cook with the seasons based on what produce is available.
Get used to the idea of eating what's fresh and in season! In the winter, these are items like root vegetables, parsnips, potatoes, onions, etc.
If you can go to a farm and shop directly from the farmer, this not only helps support local farms, but it will also likely save you some money!
Get Rid of Consumer Debt
Debt always causes stress! Getting rid of debt is so freeing, not only for your mental capacity but also for your time.
Do whatever you can right now to pay off extra debt, even if that means picking up a side job, selling some items, living frugally, or even saying no to extra purchases for a while.
If paying off your debt means you put off homesteading projects for a bit, just know it will be worth it to walk into the homesteading lifestyle debt-free.
Start by making a list of your debts and begin tackling them one by one. You might find it helpful to read Learning How to Homestead While on a Budget.
Once you can start homesteading, you'll be paid back with dividends. Because not only will you be saving money on the food you produce, but you'll be saving money on income taxes by not having to create the income it would take to buy that food.
Start Growing Something
You don't have to start growing a large vegetable garden in order to be a homesteader. Our recommendation is to start growing something! Even if it's as simple as a houseplant, or taking some grocery store herbs, putting them in a jar of water, and keeping them growing on a sunny windowsill.
If you're limited on space you can check out the Greenstalk Vertical garden system and see how we planted an instant salad garden in ours.
Or, if you have a small space in your yard, check out how we turned a patch of grass into an instant garden and how to raise meat rabbits.
Whatever you do, just start growing. There are so many great skills to be learned simply by keeping plants alive. Plus, here's our list of homesteading essentials to help things run more efficiently.
What Is Homesteading?
Remember, homesteading is a state of mind, not a state of where you are. You don't have to have 40 acres to be a homesteader.
It's a choice that we make in all the little decisions throughout the day to be a producer and not just a consumer. To do things ourselves instead of relying on a purchased solution.
You can homestead wherever you are, start by learning the five steps above!
More Resources for the New Homesteader
- How to Finance Your Homestead
- Homestead Security: How to Protect Your Family, Livestock, and Property
- 7 Reasons Why You Should Homestead This Year
- 8 Things You Need to Know When Buying Homestead Property
- 7 Things You Must Do On Your New Homestead
- Good Enough is Perfect
- Organizing Your Property’s Permaculture Zones
