Homestead Living -Moving on with Life!

Habits That Change When You
Homestead

Shop Less – When it comes to food staples,

clothing, and the day-to-day needs,
homesteaders tend to shop less frequently. At
least, it sure changed for us! We buy wheat
berries in bulk and grind our own flour. We
buy 20 pound bags of rolled oats and package
that to last.

Clothing Styles and Habits –

The kinds of clothing we buy has

drastically changed. More denim, less

rayon. Work boots instead of what
‘looks good.’ If I can’t tromp through
mud at any given time, it likely has no

place in my closet. Everything has

moved from fashion considerations to
practical applications. “Will this
keep me warm? Will it last more than
a year? Is it machine washable (not on
delicate, either)?” Looks are a
distant second for us now. Sure, we

want to look good but more

importantly, we want to be warm and

dry.

Less Laundry – The average person would think you would end up with even

more laundry being a homesteader. Nope. When Laundry consists of hand
washing everything or hanging them on the line to dry or anything other than your
standard washing/drying system, you tend to wear things a few days instead.
Especially if you have to go to the laundromat (VERY expensive here). Honestly,
other than socks and undies, is that shirt really dirty after one day? Unless you are
cleaning out the chicken coop, not likely.

Sleeping In – My husband and I are

polar opposites when it comes to morning time.
He is up, chipper, talkative and ready to face
the day! I, on the other hand, have been known
to growl, gnash teeth, and even snap at people

who get too close until after I have my shower

and morning coffee. At least half the cup. I
also loved to sleep in. It is the greatest gift
ever given to mankind….well besides the
perfect pillow.

Using Money for Everything –There

is a certain satisfaction to getting what you
want and need by way of bartering.
Homesteaders tend to shy away from using
money as they get deeper and deeper into the
lifestyle. Many people see more value in a few
pints of freshly canned blueberry preserves
than they do $15 for some scrap wood they
had laying around. I know, it sounds a little
crazy but it is largely true!

Having Elaborate Meals – We don’t go out to eat very often at all anymore.

It is hard to justify spending $100 on a dinner, no matter how nice, when you could
take that same money and buy enough to make 20 meals (or more). OR you use
that $100 to build a place where you can grow your own food that will last years!

What you Consider Entertainment– Used to be I could spend literally 12-

16 hour stretches on the weekends playing online games. No joke. I would sit here
on my backside (which got bigger over the years from all the sitting lol) every free
moment I had and be plugged in to some game or another, completely immersed. I
had more interaction with people online than I did in the ‘real world.’ Before that,
watching TV or reading a book, maybe going for walks was my entertainment. Even
if I didn’t have the blog, it has pretty much all changed.

Buying Everything New – Touched on lightly above, I don’t

know any homesteaders who rush out to buy whatever they need

brand new. Sure, there are certain items that you kind of need to buy

new but those are pretty rare. Instead, they either fix it, make it, or

make do without it. You can never really get ‘away’ from needing to
have and use money but it is not the first route most homesteaders

take. In fact, it is usually the last when all other options dry up.

Homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. It is characterized by home
preservation of foodstuffs and subsistence agriculture! It may also
involve the small scale production of textiles and craftwork for
household use or sale. And, Homestead.org is a place to learn to
homestead and build a sane, earth-based lifestyle!