“You’ve got to have money to homestead.” I’ve heard that to my face a few times and too many to count online. In this blog post, I’ll share some ways to homestead on a budget with 8 beginner homesteading money savers.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Always shop small, local, and/or direct when you can, though!
Land cost money!
Infrastructure costs money, yes. A chicken coop is gonna need materials. Fencing isn’t cheap. Just purchasing the space to create a homestead is pricey!
But…
What if I told you that homesteading is a state of mind, a lifestyle change? That’s what wikipedia says. Don’t believe me? Go look for yourself.
It’s a MINDSET.
So, yes. Some aspects of homesteading do cost money but when you see homesteading as a lifestyle and state of mind, then you will start to look for ways to homestead on a budget.
A lot can be done on 1 acre or even half an acre! I know one lady who was homesteading in her sky rise apartment. Balcony garden and all. Place doesn’t matter when we are talking about a mindset.
We live on 1 acre but use mostly the back yard. About half of the acre gets used to raise chickens, have a vegetable garden, and move meat chicken tractors twice a day for 6 weeks. Here’s how we raise meat birds on half an acre.
Pro Tips, homestead-style
First of all, I’m not a pro and I struggle with imposter syndrome.
Just recently I had a new friend ask how far away my “farm” was. I answered “well, I don’t have a farm but I live about 8 miles away.”
Even after truly homesteading for over 5 years now, I still have moments where I feel inferior, like an imposter. A poser who “wants to be a farmer but you ain’t even got a tractor!” No one has actually said that to my face but I’ve sure said it a hundred times to myself.
And… yeah well, I don’t have land either. We homestead 1 acre in North Carolina. If we can change our mindset on homesteading and farming in general, we’re sure you can too.
Pro Tip 1: start small! Keep your “to-try” list small and add to it as you cross things off. Have a master to-try list then make a yearly one. For instance, on my 2025 to-try list is to bake a pie 100% from scratch.
Pro Tip 2: don’t count yourself out as a homesteader because you don’t have a tractor, own cows, or chickens yet. Again, it’s a lifestyle, a way to live. To do what you can where you are with what you’ve got, I think the saying goes.
Pro Tip 3: source what you can’t do yet. For years we bought farm fresh eggs from a local friend with chickens. We currently buy a beef share each year to fill the freezer and get raw milk from a friend down the road who I met at an Azure Standard drop because I overheard her conversation about her milk cow. Yep, I eavesdropped and it led to a beautiful connection and new person to add to my “community”.
I’m here to help you get started with beginner homesteading money savers, friend!
I’ve got a list of 8 ways to start homesteading today that don’t cost any money or is very budget friendly.
1. Make your own fruit jams
This was the gateway drug that got me into preserving foods! Canning, fermenting, dehydrating. All of it was due to making my first strawberry jam from berries I picked at a local U-Pick farm.
Three simple ingredients make the very best homemade jam! I haven’t bought Welch’s Concord grape Jelly in 5 years now.
Strawberry Jam recipe
Blueberry Jam recipe
Apple Jam recipe
Where to find the in-season fruits?
In-season fruits will be the way to go. They will be much cheaper in their season than outside (which means grocery store products are shipped from many miles and countries away.)
- find local U-pick farms (internet search with your zip code)
- ask Facebook friends with an “ISO u-pick farms” post
- buy in bulk in-season fruits (zone 8a: strawberries April-May, blueberries July-August, peaches- July, figs- August, apples and pears- August-October)
- buy frozen organic berries at the grocery
- friends who have lots of fruit (offer to come pick and then gift them a jar or two of jam)
2. Reduce waste
When you do acquire farm fresh eggs, don’t waste the shells! Try these up-cycled eggshell ideas.
Putting up tomatoes? Those scraps can be composted or better yet, turn the skins into tomato powder for all your fall soup pots!
Dump coffee grounds in the compost or bury in the garden.
After freshly squeezing lemonade, use the lemons to clean your cutting board or sink.
Lavender Lemonade recipe
3. Tiny gardens
No matter where you live, be it: lots of land, little land, or no land; where there is a will, there is a way.
Raised beds, row gardens, Hugelkultur, Back to Eden garden, container garden, micro greens in mason jars, or grow towers inside… you have growing options for fresh foods!
Tiny gardens are wonderful. And produce a lot of food! Tiny gardens are easy to maintain and companion planning is still available.
If Back to Eden garden beds are more your speed, often local tree services will bring you free wood chips for top dressing garden beds.
4. Soup pot chickens
A soup pot chicken is an old laying hen or rooster. One that needs to be slow cooked.
I see rehoming needs for aggressive roosters all the time in homesteading Facebook groups. Acquiring roosters or spent hens for free or cheap is an option if you are ready to process your own meat birds to feed your family.
Here’s how we process a meat bird at Johnson Home (graphic warning of chicken harvesting).
5. Free items on marketplace/join homesteading FB groups in your local area
Marketplace is teeming with free things as long as you can pick it up, generally. If you’re diligent about keeping your eyes open for things around your homestead that you need or for animals, you could score big.
Our family has given away decking materials when we tore ours out. There were plenty of deck boards, 2×4, screws, steel plates, and more that were salvageable. All for free. We had several people come look and take what they wanted. The rest was repurposed in our chicken run, made our roadside produce stand cart, and two sets of patio stairs.
Waste not, want not.
Free bricks and cement blocks can make a great border for a raised garden bed. Free fencing can help create a chicken run. Scrap wood can built a coop. Just be on the lookout for such things.
6. Learn to make meals at home.
Did I hear you groan just now? Well, probably not. If you’re reading this post now, you probably already are or kind of dabbling in homesteading or very interested.
The G.OA.T. of homesteading has to be the homemade meal.
I’m not talking assembly meals: pour the jar sauce on the box noodles, add the beef to the seasoning packet and pasta.
Those will feed you, sure! But the real savings come when you have pantry staples (see number 7 below) and commit to playing around with flavors and new recipes.
Homemade meals do not need to be 100% from scratch, nor do they need to take all day to cook. Some of the best recipes come from sprinkling a handful of different spices and homegrown herbs onto some seared meat served with green beans!
Homemade meals also don’t need to be a meat, two veggies, a starch, bread, and a dessert neither! We shoot for protein, fiber, carbs, fats in each meal. Most of those 4 can be mixed in to one or two dishes to create a meal.
7. Pantry staples
Whether you are just starting to make more homemade meals or you are diving head first into becoming an ingredients home, you’ll want to stock your pantry.
These items make many, many meals! Keep these pantry staples on hand to create endless, flavorful meals for your family.
8. Buy in bulk
Buying in bulk or wholesale can save you BIG money in the long run as a beginner homesteading skill to have.
I know– at first it’s a lot of money to buy a beef share or 25 lb of rice.
We aren’t preppers but we do love a well-stocked freezer and pantry.
Many items you purchase in bulk can be properly stored in food-grade 5 gallon buckets with gamma lids and stacked. I have heard you can ask places like Dunkin Donuts and Wal-mart’s bakery for their buckets for free.
In spring 2025, we finally started using our nearest Azure Standard drop location. It’s about 40 minutes away but worth the drive for quality foods in bulk purchasing. If you are interested in trying your nearest Azure Standard drop, here is my Azure referral link.
This list doesn’t scratch the surface of beginner homesteading ideas and money savers!
There are plenty more ideas and suggestions for free and cheap ways to learn beginner homesteading skills. This list barely scratches the surface but they are things that got our family going in the right direction.
These new skills take time and energy.
- Where is your time best spent?
- Where does it gain its worth best?
These things don’t cost a lot of money to get started.
Another great resource to have when learning beginner homesteading skills is The Encyclopedia of Country Living is worth all $22 plus way more to have in your library.
We are committed to this lifestyle of working with our hands and learning new but actually old skills.
Are you?
More beginner homesteading inspired pieces
3 Ways to Start Homesteading Today (written in 2023)
One Stop Guide to Raising Your Own Meat Birds
5 Groceries You Can Stop Buying
10 Kitchen Tools for an Efficient From Scratch Kitchen
Building and Filling Raised Garden Beds
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