Suburban Homesteading – Frugal Living

1. Overconfidence – The assumption that a crisis or disaster will never hit your neck of the woods. The idea that if disaster does strike, city, county and state government agencies will swoop in put everything back to normal.

Overconfident in your judgment and abilities, that they are greater than your actual skill level or knowledge. Never assume you know everything or even enough. We can always learn and expand our knowledge base. I learn new things and contemplate fresh ideas all the time, the guy or gal thinking they know all there is to know will likely be the first one in trouble.

Be open to useful information or insights from the unlikeliest of places or people. Small tidbits can garner useful information.

2. Procrastination – Putting things off to the last possible minute; giving more importance to other tasks, chores, and parts of your life than how to take care of your family. Procrastinating can get you killed. In a true economic or societal collapse you may not have time to run to the corner grocery to stock up. And, if you do have the time there may not be anything to buy once you get there.

Everyone, who didn’t plan ahead, will be doing the same thing – running to the nearest store. The lines will be long; the trip can be dangerous as people vie for the same products. It is a situation that is best avoided. It’s better to get off your butt now, stock what you need and get it done. A lot of people fear stocking up and being prepared because they think they will never use what they bought, eventually there stocks go bad and they waste money.

This is nonsense. You will always need to eat, so the solution is simple – eat what you store and replace what you’ve eaten. First in – first out. Repeat. This way you never spend more money than you normally would. All you’re doing is buying what you already need, just in advance of the need.

3. Inefficient use of resources -Wasting money (resources) on things of lesser importance, while neglecting the stuff needed for your homestead to survive and thrive. Concentrate your efforts on food supplies, garden supplies, livestock supplies and the ability to filter drinking water and collect water for outside watering.

It’s important to protect what you have, but eating and drinking are more important to your family’s long-term survival and comfort. Sure we need to protect what we’ve put away, just don’t neglect the other stuff.

4. Failure to act – This one ties in with procrastination and indecision and many of us suffer from it. Not only will it interfere with your homestead plans it can stop you from planning at all.

Look at your situation, form a plan (write it down), break it down into manageable projects and do it. No excuses.

Anything worth doing well is worth doing badly in the beginning. We all started from scratch. None of us started knowing it all. The difference is we started, learned from our mistakes, asked questions, and moved forward one step at a time.

5. Lack of persistence – Most people start their homestead with the utmost determination and desire to get things done – but they stop when they run into the first obstacle. They lack persistence.

Most things aren’t easy, if you give up before completing your goal, you will never get anything done. Quitters never succeed. Set realistic goals (write them down), break them down into phases and work through it until each goal is completed.

The key word is realistic, never set goals that are impossible to reach. Most of us can’t afford the country retreat, herd of cattle, flock of sheep, or acres of fruit trees . We don’t have the time, between jobs and family responsibilities to tend acres of vegetable gardens. Thinking this is what you need to homestead will only discourage you before you even start. Set realistic goals, not pie in the sky dreams. Write it down and work at it until it is a reality.

6. Divided actions – Many homesteaders run around like the chicken with its head cut off. Their actions are divided, fragmented, disorganized to the point where they never get anything done.

A raised bed here, a few bags of beans there, maybe work on a chicken coop or rabbit hutch – but they never meet their goals, never get anything done. You know who I’m talking about…

Take a look at your personal situation and decide, what is the most important consideration for your homestead to begin and survive? Again make a list. List the most important to the most trivial. Work down the list in descending order until your goals are completed.

What’s been holding you back from starting your suburban homestead? What advice do you have for others who are considering the leap? Let us know what helped you or what you think will help others.

photo credit: Inside Disaster