In case you don't know, The Modern Homesteader is a Youtube channel about a family of suburbanites who moved to the country in North Carolina and set up a homestead. Last year, they did something called the 40 Day Homestead Challenge (which you can watch here) where they attempted to grow all the food they need for the summer. They documented … [Read more...]
Off Grid Living: Washing Clothes by Hand
If you’re tired of seeing your money and your water supply go down the drain – literally - every time you do laundry, it is time to think about alternative methods for washing and drying your family’s clothes. In addition to saving energy and water costs, you will discover that washing your clothes by hand will result in cleaner and … [Read more...]
17 Homesteading Skills That Will Earn You Money
There’s no denying the value that homesteading skills can offer in a scenario where you are forced to live off the land. But what about in the meantime? It turns out that there are plenty of homesteading skills that can earn you extra money in the present day while also helping you prepare for future possibilities. Below are 17 such … [Read more...]
15 Self-Sufficiency Skills to Teach Your Children
Our parents had it easy. They totally trusted the school system’s ability to take snotty nosed kids and turn them into fully functioning members of society. But look at us now, mom! We’re still confused when it comes to filing our taxes, we had to learn the hard way about balancing a budget, and we have only just begun to learn survival skills for … [Read more...]
16 Real Ways to Save Money on Groceries
I'm only thirty-four years old, yet I'm already old enough to say, "Back in my day..." For example, back in my day, my husband and I only spent $50 a week on groceries. Now that I'm older and have two children, sometimes I spend as much as $200 a week on groceries! Obviously, kids are expensive, but buying groceries for four people instead of … [Read more...]
7 Natural Cleaning Recipes for Your Whole House
Once upon a time, cleaning the house meant covering every surface in products purchased from the nearest store. The manmade ingredients certainly stripped the place of germs and left behind a pleasant scent, but they also contained unsavory elements that left toxins lingering around the house and in the air. These products, no matter how … [Read more...]
How to Secure Your Homestead
Most of the time, people living off the grid don't think too much about home security. They assume that all the crime happens in the cities and that they don't need to worry about burglars out in the middle of nowhere. This is partly true. Your average burglar isn't targeting off-grid homesteads. However, if a major disaster occurs in the … [Read more...]
Top 10 States for Living Off the Grid
You can live off the grid just about anywhere, but some locales are more suited for a self-reliant lifestyle than others. There are many “best places to live off grid” lists floating around on the internet, but the majority of them focus on just one key aspect of setting up an off-grid homestead: weather. Yes, weather and climate are very … [Read more...]
How to Make Activated Charcoal (With Pictures)
Yes, you can make it at home, but it's a little more complicated than you might think. A little more complicated is an understatement. If you can buy activated charcoal and stock it, go for it. Making it is a complex and tedious chore. Some websites say it’s so easy. Well, it's not. I'm not saying it can't be done, but you have to be patient and … [Read more...]
5 Basic Skills to Learn Online
Of all the amazing inventions that have come about over the last century, I think people take the Internet for granted more than any of them. Just think about it: With the Internet, you have the entirety of human knowledge at your fingertips. There was a time when people would regularly trek miles to a library just for access to a portion of … [Read more...]
14 Towns Where You Can Find Free Land
There was a time when getting free land in the United States was relatively easy. Thanks to the Homestead Act of 1862, anyone who was willing to stay put and farm for five years could claim a 160-acre plot of land. Of course, that was over 150 years ago, and the days of free land are far behind us. Or are they? If you're willing to move, there … [Read more...]
5 Worst Decisions We’ve Made Homesteading
There are many things that can make homesteading difficult, but as Aust says in this video, oftentimes the thing making it difficult is you. Nobody's perfect, which means we all make mistakes. But if you want to minimize your mistakes and make homesteading easier, take the time to learn from the mistakes of others. In this video, Homesteady … [Read more...]
How To Buy Your Dream Homestead: 55 Financial Tips
Do you yearn for your very own homestead but just can’t figure out how to afford it? You are not alone. Fortunately for you and tens of thousands of potential homesteaders and prepper retreat dreamers, the government might actually be here to help for once. While “free land” for homesteading and farming doesn't really exist anymore, in spite of … [Read more...]
15 Ways to Homestead While Renting
When people think of homesteading, they usually think of a big piece of land out in the country, a large pasture with grazing cows, a huge garden with row after row of crops, a barn filled with livestock and chickens, or something along those lines. This is a misconception. Although that description could certainly be of a homestead, the term … [Read more...]
Baking Soda Trick To Fix Almost Anything
Do you buy baking soda in those tiny little boxes they sell at the grocery store? Not me. I buy huge 20-pound bags from Sam's Club. Sometimes people look at me weird when they see the big bag of baking soda on my kitchen floor. My friend once asked if I was starting a bakery. The truth is, I don't use baking soda for food very often. Rather, I … [Read more...]
3 Things To Know Before Going Off The Grid
When people hear the words "off the grid", they usually think about a nice little cabin in the woods or a homestead out in the open country. What they often don't think about is no power, no cable, no water, no sewer, no garbage pickup, and all the other things we take for granted every day. It's not so bad once you get used to it, but if … [Read more...]
