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If you dream of homesteading but can’t even imagine how you could afford to begin, here are some ideas that will help you fund your dream.

Walking into a local feed mill and choosing chick breeds the way some people choose donuts might be just a dream for you right now.

But that dream can totally become a reality!

One of the most important personality traits for a homesteader is knowing how to live frugally. And you don’t have to be surrounded by corn fields to become a savvy frugal thinker.

In fact, it’s waaay better to learn how to live frugally before you ever think about purchasing that old farmhouse.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could learn some homesteading tricks right where you live now…and also save enough money for that down payment?

Let’s do it!

Frugal Living Tips For The Homesteader

1. Buy the Best

This very simple tip works for nearly every aspect of your life. You’ve probably experienced the expression “You get what you pay for” first hand.

There’s nothing worse than thinking you got a huge bargain on the thing you’ve been shopping for…only to have it break the second time you use it.

So now you have to buy a better version of the same thing, plus lose out on the money you already spent!

Anything you hope to use for years is worth the investment.

Good quality items last longer, work better, and they free your time for more useful projects.

2. Fix It

A friend’s grandpa always used to say, “If a man built it, a man can fix it.”

With the invention of YouTube, that’s as true now as ever!  Fixing old things is probably more worthy of your time and energy than fixing something you spent a few dollars on last year.

But more often than not, it’s better to fix it than to replace it.

That’s because you’ll save money on the cost of the item…PLUS you’ll learn a valuable new skill that you’ll continue to draw on throughout your life.

3. Shop Antiques

Older things are just made better. 

A few years ago, we went to an antique show and flea market.   I found an old pitch fork.  After looking it over, I decided it was worth $8.

As I paid the man, he said, “That will make a nice decoration for your garden!”  I laughed and said, “Oh, I’ll be using this in my goat pens!”  That got a funny look!

But you know what?  That old pitch fork works better than the new plastic ones they sell!

drying clothes on a clothesline

4.  Line dry your clothes.

You could be a rock star and dry everything all the time! 

But honestly if you just dry one load of clothes per week, you’ll see savings on your electric bill.

If you don’t have an area outside (or the weather isn’t cooperative) try a simple drying rack like this one.

5.  Wear Twice

At the end of the day, if your clothes look and smell fine, hang them to air out overnight instead of automatically tossing them into the hamper.

clothes shopping thrift store

6.  Hand Me Downs

Any good circle of moms creates a group of women with more clothes than any of you can stand!

Ask around to see if anyone would like to swap clothing instead of doing the constant buy/sell/donate dance.

Especially for those clothes that hardly get worn, like little dance shoes, holiday clothes, etc.

7. Patches

Little girl leggings are cheap, comfy, and so cute!  But they also get holes in them after only being worn a handful of times.

If you already have loads of leggings (or got them as a hand me down), keep patches on hand.

These easy iron on patches are adorable and have great reviews!

8.  Eat Leftovers First

How do you eat leftovers first? Haha, very funny.

Finding food in the fridge that’s well past its yummy stage is such a bummer!  It’s wasteful, and no frugal person likes waste.

Whenever you are thinking about your next meal, begin with leftovers.  Use up last night’s grilled chicken in a soup or casserole.  Have potato pancakes with leftover mashed potatoes.

I was surprised to find that my kids love it when I set a bunch of bowls of leftovers on the counter and tell them to warm up whatever they want for supper!

(Probably because usually they have to eat whatever I put on the table.)

Here are some things I’ve done to encourage my family to eat leftovers without grumbling.

9.  Double Up Ingredients

If you’re worried about buying a bunch of cilantro for one recipe, be sure to use two or three recipes this week that call for cilantro. 

Then you can use it up before it goes bad!

-or-

10.  Shop the Salad Bar

It can be pricey to make a salad at the grocery store.  But if you just need a little of one thing it might be cheaper to buy exactly the amount you need by the pound.

11.  Save on Meat

It’s much cheaper to purchase sides of meat from a local farmer by the pound. 

See if a family member or friend wants to split the cost of a hog or a side of beef!  (Plus, the flavor of fresh from the farm can’t be beat!)

12. Stock Up

A freezer filled with meat is great for the budget (and piece of mind), but a stocked pantry is also your friend.  Frugal favorites include beans, rice, oatmeal, and flour.

If you aren’t sure how to stock up on food when you have such a tiny grocery budget, you can learn how I frugally feed my family of 8.

13. Batch Cook

If there’s still room in your freezer, make ahead recipes are a life saver! 

For those days when you’re too sick or tired to cook, a meal in the freezer can save you from pizza delivery or the cost of convenience foods.

14.  Slice Your Own

Lunch meat costs a fortune!  Plus, most of it has nitrates and things we’d rather avoid.

Slicing your own meat is cheaper, fresher, and tastes better.  If you already have a freezer filled with meat, a stainless steel meat slicer like this will pay for itself in no time!

15. Water Bottles

If your family is often on the go, you can’t have too many water bottles! 

It might be worth the splurge to get a nice water bottle that will keep your drinks cold for a long time. But it’s not worth spending extra for a brand name.

I have found nice water bottles at the thrift store. A run through the dishwasher and they are sanitized and good as new!

It’s so nice not spending a fortune on drinks when you are out and about.

ibotta

16.  Cash Back

Use your Fetch app!  Pay attention not just to what you bought, but also to how many things you bought.  Lately they’ve had offers to redeem an offer for, say, 5 bags of cereal on one receipt!

If you don’t have Fetch yet, you’ll get 3,000 points (you can redeem those for Amazon cards and more) for free just to start by using my code, PEWR4!  It’s one of my favorite ways to make my smart phone pay for itself.

17.  While You’re Looking At That Receipt…

…check for errors you might have missed at check out.  It happens more often than you think.

18.  Plant Something

You don’t have to start an elaborate garden to save money on food. 

Grab some cheap seeds from the dollar store and a wide pot from a thrift shop and you can have fresh lettuce for months.

It’s amazing how many things you can come up with to plant your seeds in.

19.  Perennials

You’ll get far more bang for your buck if you spend those dollars on perennial plants. 

Go for berry bushes or fruit trees. 

Asparagus, rhubarb, and other plants will come back year after year without extra expense.

20.  Share

Whether you love to grow food or garden with plants and flowers, many perennials will sprout more plants than you need. 

Why not find out if a friend wants to trade?  You’ll love the variety (and the price!).

21.  Save Parmesan Cheese Bottles

Save your empty Parmesan cheese bottles! 

Fill it with baking soda for cleaning.  Or pack cookies or smooshable snacks securely for travel.

22.  Waste No Water

Catch the water you use to warm up your shower and use it to flush the toilet or water plants or animals.

23.  Fewer Paper Towels

Use old t-shirts and socks as rags instead of paper towels.

Buy Reusable

24.  Coffee filters or kpods (I’ve been using these for years and love them!)

25.  Furnace filters  (A reader says these are well worth the cost!)

26.  Drinking straws

27.  Snack bags

28.  Yogurt/popsicle/applesauce sleeves

29.  Diapers and swim pants

30.  Batteries

31.  Less Car

Travelling by car seems necessary, and it often is.  But when you can get away from it, do! 

Using a car is expensive.  Whenever possible, carpool, bike, walk, or take simple public transportation.

32.  Drive the speed limit.

Booooring.  Maybe so, but you’ll save on gas and speeding tickets.

The Quick Trick to Get the Best Car in Your Price Range

33.  Keep tires inflated properly.

Another one of those gas saving measures.

34.  Maintenance

Cars, homes, your bodies…keeping up with maintenance can be a pain.  And it does cost money.  But it’s far cheaper to maintain what you’ve already got than to buy a new replacement!

35.  Cheap Stays

If you have the chance to camp instead of getting a hotel, try it!  Borrow a camper or a tent.

Or try a cheap cabin at a state park.  You’ll save all kinds of money and your family may enjoy the down time.

36.  Buy Gas Cards

If you plan to travel, start accumulating gas cards ahead of time.  Grab them from a grocery store that offers points for buying gift cards (like Kroger).

Or grab them from Sam’s where you can usually buy a $50 gift card for $48. (Every bit helps!)

How to save money on travel

37.  Go Off Season

We enjoy going to the beach from time to time.  By going one week earlier than peak season, we save hundreds of dollars on the same house others will pay much more to stay in!

The weather is usually beautiful and the smaller crowds make it an even better deal.

38.  Enjoy the Hotel

If you’re going to spend money to stay in a hotel, don’t pack your days full of expensive activities.  Our family gets a kick out of getting the full hotel experience.

You can get a lot of mileage from a hotel with free breakfast and an indoor pool!

39.  Use Less

From toiletries to cleaners to condiments… use less each time and you can wait to buy more.

40.  Save on Soap

We like to use bars of soap for the best price, but that doesn’t work well when you have little ones that squish it or throw it away. sigh

When we switched to liquid soap I worried about so much of it going to waste.  So I wrapped a rubber band around the spout a few times.  Since it doesn’t pump as deeply, less comes out with each squirt.

Or grab a bottle of foam soap.  After it’s empty, refill with half water and half liquid soap for a cheaper cleaning foam!

You could also wait for Hobby Lobby to have a half off sale and grab some castile soap for big savings on your foaming pump.

41.  Glasses

Kids are really hard on glasses.  Don’t spend a ton of money on them!    (And I freak out less over them getting lost or wrestled to death.)

Check out Zenni Optical. We’ve been using glasses for years! I’m so happy with the quality (and price!).

durable backpacks

42. Durable Backpacks

Sure, you can get that cheapo bag with the picture of their favorite character on it.  But it will probably break before Christmas break.

Luckily, for just a few dollars more you can find a backpack that will last them for yearsHere’s a list of our favorite durable backpacks.

43.  Lunches

Pack your lunch for work and school.

And for homeschool co-op.

Also for those days you’ll be out and about all day.

If you remember to do it the night before, you’ll be that much ahead.

Spending the day together as a family? It’s easy to drop a jar of peanut butter, honey, a knife, and a loaf of bread into a bag to take along. Make sandwiches on the go!

Here’s some more simple school lunch ideas.

44.  Temperature

You know you’ll save a chunk of money for every degree to the less comfortable side of your heat or air conditioning. 

Try a programmable thermostat like this one. (I’m honestly surprised by how affordable this one is.)

If you don’t want to spring for another thermostat, just do it yourself!  You probably walk through the house before you leave to make sure all the lights are out and nothing extra is plugged in.

Just remember to turn down the temperature control so you aren’t excessively heating or cooling an empty house.

Do not, however, turn it so far that you risk damaging your home.  You’d be penny wise and pound foolish to let your pipes burst because they froze!

45. Appliances

Can you tell that I’m about tired of buying dishwashers from all of these pictures?

Try to buy used when you can.

If you must buy new, do a lot of homework to find the best deal (which doesn’t mean the cheapest appliance, but the best quality one in your price range).

Also look for energy star ratings to save on electric and water.

45.  Solar Lights

Cheap solar lights can guide your steps outdoors without costing anything to run.  Line them near steps and other places you’d rather not trip in the dark.

Check the dollar store!

46.  Invest In Your Home

Use a bonus or other windfall to invest in something that saves a lot of money over time. 

This might be a wood stove, solar panels, a whole house fan, etc.

47.  Bank for Free

It’s harder to find a free bank account than it used to be, but it can be done!  Online banks are especially friendly for this purpose. 

48. Get Out of Debt

I always hate seeing this one as a line item on a list.  It makes me do this:

via GIPHY

Dumping a bunch of debt is no simple matter.  But you can’t consider yourself a frugal tip master if you don’t have an awesome plan in place to get rid of it.

Don’t worry, because I can totally help you learn how to get out of debt!

We paid off way over $20,000 in credit card debt in just over two years time.  If you really want to read all about it, be sure to check out the book of 500 Ways to Save Money: Build a Cash Jackpot for the Best Things In Life.

49. Take It Along

This list of snacks for trips helped our family break a bad fast food habit!

50.  Embrace the Potluck

Whether your hosting or attending, a potluck is a fantastic way to enjoy time together without anyone having to spend a fortune to pull it off.

Be sure to save this list of summer potluck recipes so you’re ready for the next gathering!

51.  Bonus: Be Content

Our family lived two entire #yearofnos.  That meant we didn’t buy anything that wasn’t essential for living.  We told the kids no a lot.

It was super hard!  But in the end, we learned how to just be content with what we have.  It was really good for us.

While we couldn’t sustain that lifestyle forever, we’ve reentered regular life with a new perspective.  We hate to spend money on things that aren’t worthy of our time and energy.

Does that sound like something you’d like to try?  You’re going to need a support system!  Try our Facebook group, Living That #YearofNo Life.  It’s a group of amazing people who love the frugal life…just like you!  (And, of course, it’s free!)

That’s 50 frugal living tips that just make everything better!

Whether you have always loved frugal living, you’re coming out of that rebellion stage, or you are discovering the frugal lifestyle for the first time, these tips will get you on the right track.

You’re clearly a savvy saving superhero, but I bet you wouldn’t turn down extra money saving tips!  I know you would love the Medium Sized Family newsletter.  It comes out once per week and it’s packed with new ideas for saving money in your frugal life.  Get signed up here: