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No matter where you live; learn to think like a homesteader & you'll save money!
March 2009 - Posts
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Well, weather you care to learn these tips because you dream of 'Little House on the Prairie Days' or you just want to stretch the dollars you have, a homesteader's mind works a little differently than most.
One main thing is to look at any one object and see how many different ways you can use it (avoiding extra purchases).
Let me give you some examples:
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Plastic Ziplock Freezer Baggies: Of course freezer storage, pillows for camping, no leak lunch bag that fits in back packs, storing scarf/hat and glove sets for summer, meat marinade (easy flip & clean up), make up bag (you know they get messy inside anyways) and best of all these are really NOT disposable...make them LAST by washing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1UzVYfOkvU&feature=channel_page
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Empty Milk Jugs: Cut to make oranizers or planter -  , keep the handle part to make a basket for berries or produce from the garden, or use that as an all purpose scoop (maybe for dog/cat food/animal feed), also plant covers for that spring chill and cutting the 'flatter' part up as burger patty separators or to carve for paint sencils. Many more on this one....many....
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Rolled Oats: Use in place of bread crumbs for meatloaf, use as toppings as all or part of the 'fattening' struddle on cobblers, send through the food processor for a while to make Quick Oats or longer to make oat flour (good for thickening and binding). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR6En56LNUU&feature=channel_page
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Egg Cartons: Styrophome ones can be used for quick ice cubes. The cardboard ones work great for organizing small items like paper clips, tacks, screws and buttons. Use to fill space while shipping or start some garden seeds in them (the cardboard composts when planted).
There are so many items that are easily over looked as one-use items. These are just a very few.
No matter where on earth you live, you can develop a homesteader's mindset!
Best Blessings and enJOY the journey!
Donna MIller
Donna Miller is a work-from-home wife and mother. She delighted to share her trials and triumphs of learning to homestead anywhere. The Millers own and operate Millers Grain House which offers Organic and Chemical-free Whole Grains, Bosch Mixers, the NutriMill, instructional tutorials, recipes and more.
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"I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."
Robert Frost (The Road Not Taken 1915) This poem always made me reflect on life. Am I a follower or a leader? Do I know when to be one or the other?"
The road less traveled by" - what does that look like now in this day and time? I've come across the poem again and read it with new eyes each time:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
The road less traveled by can be viewed as having made a difference in our lives with either regret or with contentment. It's not the road that leads to our happiness, but the way we view the choice that leads to it.
Our family has chosen the road less traveled to homestead. Are there days it is not easy and the work load is heavy? You better believe it! But if I look to the more often treaded road and long to have taken it, there is a difference that would be missing in my life, the life of our family and kids that could not be replaced by another choice. The chickens hatching, the bunnies, the garden work and rewards, the firewood and marshmallows - all are 'the differences' we have due to that choice of roads. Every day you, the reader of this post, make choices. You made the choice to read this (bless you!) and will make a choice how to receive it as an attitude. Reading it is not what makes the impact upon your happiness - your attitude toward the choice is what impacts your life.
When choosing to skimp, save and live frugally even though it seems like hard work, it is the road less traveled by. Developing a homesteading mindset, even in the suburbs is also a road less traveled by. What we do with that choice and how we view that choice is what makes all the difference.
Best Blessings and enJOY the journey!
Donna
Donna Miller is a work-from-home wife and mother. She delighted to share her trials and triumphs of learning to homestead anywhere. The Millers own and operate Millers Grain House which offers Organic and Chemical-free Whole Grains, Bosch Mixers, the NutriMill, instructional tutorials, recipes and more.
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Please let me preface that I know many people who are legitimately in a 'program' of some form, so don't take this the wrong way. There are real people in real need. I also believe their character would prefer a 'leg up' over a 'hand-out' any day of the week. At least, they would after I explain the difference. I can speak because I have been there.
Yep. I looked the difference up. Just to make sure I wasn't living in some southern colloquialism time-warp. I'm a vocabulary geek. They do each mean what I thought they did.
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leg up:
a.a means of help or encouragement; assist; boost:
b.advantage; edge
hand-out:
a.a portion of food or the like given to a needy person, as a beggar.
b.anything given away for nothing, as a free sample of a product by an advertiser. |
Is there a reason why home grown tomatoes taste better than store bought? I believe it is the effort put into growing them yourself. We can argue the point of what is in or not in the soil, but the truth is, you've earned it and it is a sweet reward!
Is there a reason this quote is, well, quoted so often? "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day; teach him to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime." One fish will not keep a man (or woman) from goING hungry. It only stalls the inevitable unless another fish falls in his/her lap the next day.
Let us look at what is created with a 'hand-out', shall we?
By the first definition, yes, it is our duty to care for the needy, but to give one fish means they are only temporarily cared for...so...is our obligation fulfilled? I would say "HARDLY." But also, by simply handing out items that are needed, we have reduced this person, this soul, this productive body of society to a 'beggar.' That is not a label to many would willingly wear for too long.
Secondly, when something is given for 'nothing' - someone, somewhere IS always paying the price for it. Usually it is the consumer, unwittingly until the end, but still ultimately paying a price. By becoming dependent upon the 'hand-out' and seeing no way out or worse, lethargically addicted to it as a source of sustenance (be it drugs, food or money). A free sample from an advertiser, as we all know, is meant to entice us to buy and take the bait, for who's gain? Do those giving free samples have OUR best interest at heart or their own? Free information is one thing. Free money, free food, free items are all another, much like bait.
Now let us look at what a 'leg up' is in comparison.
Let's take the saying to 'teach a man to fish' that act not only impacts his own starving body, but that of his family, friends and community. He will likely out of his boosted confidence spread this skill by teaching others. He enjoys the fish he works for with a more enthusiastic gusto than the one that washed up on shore (that's a little 'iffy' smelling).
Encouragement says: "YOU can do it!"
Assistance says: "I'll help YOU, but I'm expendable, YOU are what is important."
Giving someone a boost, advantage or edge puts them ahead in the game, but the game still has to be played by everyone who is in it. No benchwarmers ever helped win the game.
On a personal note, I know the difference between the two intimately. I was on scholarship (poor-people & talent scholarships, not brainy-people scholarships) for all of my high school and college years. That was humbling and encouraging. It wasn't a free ride. I had to do work-study and still pay for classes. Had I not had that 'leg up' I would not have never gone on to school. Yet, early on in my adult life we found ourselves struggling as a married couple to make ends meet and suddenly a baby was on the way, surprise! We did turn down the government subsidies we qualified for (well below the line) because we'd known what it was to be poor and work hard all our lives already. We did accept food from a food bank ONCE because we had three small children and a job loss. That was all it took to realize the difference between working hard because we had someone give us a 'leg up' (wanting to honor their encouraging trust in us) and waiting for that next 'hand-out'.
I don't fault anyone for doing what they need to do. I just think the two differing means of 'help' create two different attitudes in the receiver. I would rather help someone feel empowered because they don't need me anymore, they’re fine now, and can go and give a 'leg up' to someone who needs them.
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I have come up with a list of items that warrant practicing each week to prepare for an uncertain economical or governmental future. It isn’t being pessimistic to actually WANT to and look forward to being able to be more self-sustaining and out of debt. It is prudent in our time.
This list below is our practice list for preparation. We’ve included the explanations for what the check list topic is. Feel free to copy and print this out for your family to use as a basis for preparedness training each week.
Best Blessings!
Donna
Weekly Preparation Practice:
1. Serve someone with nothing in return:
Sorry, Mom and Dad, but your God-given, regular responsibilities as parents don’t count for practice in this category. It is the over and above actions. No money has to be spent, just some time, or some effort, or care. This can be any form of service from inside or outside of the family. Practice selfless giving. Expect nothing in return.
2. Spend at least one undistracted hour with your whole immediate family:
This means no television, computers, electronic toys, music in headphones, etc…You get the picture. Take a look at your family’s schedule. We have become a fragmented-family society. Can you actually enjoy your own family? Can they actually enjoy being with you? If called upon for quarantine or as a support system, we’re going to need to be more homebound WITH our family members. Practice now! The idea is to build this up over time.
3. Garden work:
Actual gardening is obviously most productive, but in the winter, it may not be possible. Planning, seed sorting, composting can all still be attended to for a productive garden in the spring.
4. Re-use at least one thing that normally gets thrown away:
. Just look at each item before tossing it and ask yourself the creative question: "Can I use this again or in a different way?" This can be a can, left-over ‘scraps’ of food, or anything.
5. Preserve something:
Dehydrate it, can it or freeze it.
6. Work on longer term food storage:
Keep building that inventory with ever sale that goes on now of non-perishable foods.
First – your one year WORKABLE pantry and then the stock-piled store and ignore stash.
7. Try a new recipe or a new variation of an old one:
Can you create something with alternate ingredients, if ingredients are in short supply? Or make something all together new that is actually edible if you are limited?
8. From WORKABLE one year pantry, make at least one breakfast, lunch & dinner:
Practice now! That is why we push building the year long WORKABLE pantry now and the long-term, store-n-ignore, stash-n-dash hide out food later. Be well versed in using all the non-convenience items that you have for your preparedness. Otherwise, they do you no good.
9. Calculate the cost of at least one meal this week:
This is related to the number 11 on the practice list.
10. Financial preparation:
Working to get out of debt, cutting monthly expenses, saving on utilities, making extra income with an at home or side business, and more all can apply to practice in this category.
11. Work on local food/barter systems:
Do you have a dairy cow? Find someone with a great garden and swap milk for produce. Look for local CSAs and Co-ops. Better yet, get involved and join in one!
12. Research and study something new about sustainable living:
Try the library (yes we still have those). Is there an area of preparedness that you know you’re lacking or just not yet interested in? Expand and grow your mind!
13. Try a new hands-on preparedness skill:
To give all the examples, this list would be way too long. Ideas range from making candles to dehydrating… just get your hands dirty and try it instead of just reading and gaining head knowledge.
14. Do without electricity for one night (from evening until bed-time):
This really is a lot of fun! Candles, lanterns and board games, oh my! You can even combine this item with #2 and double your practice!
15. Cook once this week (in winter) by fire or (in summer)by solar:
Even if it’s hot-dogs over a bon-fire or a pot of beans in the fireplace use the fire for more than warmth. Make a solar oven and bake a chicken, brownies and more. It’s not just fun and it’s a skill!
16. Know in Whom your security and peace lie:
Don’t rest on all this preparedness and hope it will save your soul. Practice living for and knowing the One who can. He brings Peace in the midst of a world gone crazy and joy in the trials. Don’t neglect your relationship with God Almighty and His Atoning Sacrifice for us. Know Him. Know Peace.
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