62 Ways to Make & Save Money on a Homestead

If you are eagerly looking for Ways to Make & Save Money on a Homestead you are in the right place because in this post I’m sharing all the ways I’ve found through the years to make and save big bucks! In total, there are 62 Ways to Make & Save Money on a Homestead!

You can watch my video, 62 Ways to Make & Save Money on a Homestead, or you can read the article below! Please note, there are more tips in the video than below.

This article is about a 12 minute read.

Intro

I was just a child when my parents started learning homesteading, and although I was just a child I knew there was something really special about this way of life. It was 1985, and we were living in a camper, off grid, waiting for my step dad to finish building our home, which was also off grid. We had moved from the big city with a three other families, all who had bought sections of land on the same mountain. Those were some of the best years of my childhood! By the time I was a teenager my parents had started phasing out of many of the homesteading ways, but it was too late for me! I was hooked!

As a teenager I did as many homestead practices as I could. Of course I had no money so I was limited, but I knew that homesteading was the way I wanted to live my life. I knew I could have a healthier lifestyle by homesteading, but I thought it would also be cheaper to do things like raise my own livestock for food, grow everything, and can what I grew myself, raise chickens for meat and eggs and so on. It would be so much cheaper, or so I thought.

Skip ahead 15 years, I had a family of my own, and was growing and preserving at least 50% or more of our food, and we had goats. As I crunched numbers, it didn’t take me long to see that this way of life was actually COSTING us more than if we went to the store! Talk about a major disappointment!

Location Matters

Eventually I figured out that a lot of saving money while homesteading comes down to location and local resources. Some locations are better for some homestead ventures than others, and each area will have resources that are either scarce and expensive or abundant and more affordable. So it’s best to analyze your situation, location, and local resources before choosing which homestead ventures would be best suited for you.

For example, when we lived in the midwest, at our first home I was able to grow gardens because we had well water. At our second home, we had city water, and it was EXPENSIVE, like over .80 cents per gallon. Between seeds, water, electricity costs in preservation, I realized after crunching numbers one year that it was far cheaper to shop at Aldi then it was to grow a garden! Another thing was it was big ag land. If you are not aware of what that means, I’m talking ag sprays, like pesticides and herbicides. So if you are trying to grow and organic garden and it survives the farmers overspray, chances are extremely high that it will not survive the bugs. An organic garden in a land of Round Up is essentially a bugs promise land!

Also, overall our location did not have many homesteaders. Finding things like goats from a clean tested herd where we lived was not easy compared to where we live now. It took me 3 years to build up a herd there, alternatively, in my location now I could build the same herd in less than a week if I wanted. And if finding the right goats wasn’t hard enough finding supplies for them was even harder. Not to mention that land was an issue. We had a very small piece of land, not even quite two acres, and goats multiply and eat a space like that down quickly!

So again, location truly matters when it comes to which homesteading ventures will turn a profit and which ones will be for fun, or hobby.

If you are independently wealthy then you can probably do all the homesteading things you want regardless of location. But, if you are reading this I’m guessing that’s not the class you fit in.

Ways to Make & Save Money on a Homestead

Over the years I’ve learned there are many ways to save money on a homestead, and some of them are even universal. So let’s jump in.

25 Ways to Save on Farm and Feed Supplies

1. Shop around for feed. Ask around for farmers that are selling grains. It took me two years to find the hot spots for feed in my area but by not giving up and searching I found feed for HALF the price you find it for at farm and feed stores. Some of it is from established stores, some is directly from the farmers. Keep asking around until you find what you are looking for.
2. Ferment, sprout and/or soak your feed! Your animals will get a higher and more absorbable amount of nutrition from the feed and you’ll save money!
3. Plant extra food in your garden for your animals. This year I planted a bunch of sunflowers for the chickens, and extra beets and carrots for both the goats and chickens. Be sure not to give to much garden produce to your goats at a time though or you could cause bloat.
4. Make your own feed if you can get the grains for a better deal. Making your own feed can be tricky, but one of my new homestead friends showed me the way to calculate protein for livestock and poultry. I found a very helpful video on how to do this HERE. You can also get a FEED CALCULATOR APP HERE.
5. Rotate pasture area’s. Right now we have closed off half our chicken flock space and have some oats planted for feed for the chickens. The same can be done for other livestock.
6. Get or make chicken tractors for between the rows of your garden. This will decrease pests, fertilize the soil, and feed your birds at the same time!
7. If you have extra garden produce that you cannot sell and too much to eat, blanch or steam it gently and freeze it to take out and feed to the farm animals. Don’t forget to always feed appropriate scraps to your chickens to reduce feed! Somethings like raw potato are poison to chickens so be sure to look up what they can and cannot have.
8. Contact the produce managers at your local grocery stores for produce they are getting ready to toss, and/or seconds. If you can not use it or dehydrate it, then it can be used for animal scraps.
9. Contact the meat departments at your grocery stores for dog and cat feed. Also, when you make your bone broths save the scraps that you would usually toss. Run them through a food processor so they are a meal and it makes great pet feed!
10. Shop around for supplies. This takes time, but can save you a considerable amount. There are some things I have found for less on Amazon, and some things I found for less at our farm feed stores. For example, at our local farm feed stores a drenching gun was over $50, but on Amazon I was able to get two drenching guns for $13.00. On the other hand milk filters were $9.00 at our farm feed store and $20.00 on Amazon! So taking a little time to shop around can be worthwhile.
11. Always hit the second hand stores first! I had been buying new five gallon buckets for use around the farm until I realized there’s a second hand store 20 minutes away that has used ones for a buck (paper buck, not a goat buck, hehe).
12. Always shop classifieds. As much as I dislike FB I do love it for this! Join your local homestead, farm, or classifieds groups and search there before buying new. Don’t forget ot check your local Craigslist “free” section for farm supplies. Fencing is a common thing I see in these spaces often!
13. Speaking of fencing, you’ll likely be dollars ahead if you invest in the right fencing straight away. A story, when I was in my very early 20’s, my step dad passed away and it was just my mom, my brother and I. We were very, very broke. I decided to invest in around 10 chicks to raise for meat one spring and so I did. I fashioned a small pen to raise them in, but it was not predator proof. All was going well until about a week and a half away from butcher day when I started losing a bird a night. I cannot remember anymore if it was a bobcat or a raccoon taking them, but it was devastating! We had to butcher them early just to make sure we got some, and so they didn’t have as much meat on them. Once you have spent the money on the animals, and the money on the feed for weeks or months, it’s a bitter pill to see that hard work go to a wild animal though! So I learned from that how important proper fencing is to have in place before you get the livestock or poultry.
14. On that note, it really pays off to have a good idea of what you are getting into before you are waist deep. When we got goats the first time, we did not know what we were getting into. I talked about this in THIS VIDEO. It ended up being overwhelming and very costly. So it pays to do a fair amount of research prior to jumping when it comes to farm animals.
15. Before you buy something you need, look around your farm for things that can be repurposed. Example, we needed some new nesting boxes for our chicken runs, and after looking at the prices I decided to see if I had anything that would work. I realized I have dark, five gallon buckets and old planter bucket that would work just fine!
16. Think before you toss things! String, boards, feed sacks, even nails and screws, so many things that can be saved and reused. Save things like plastic containers, jars, etc…They can be used to store farm animal supplies!
17. If water supply or cost is an issue, look into ways to save water from your roof and gutters, or look into drip irrigation. Drip irrigation is expensive in start up costs but can save you in the long run.
18. Don’t toss old hoses, you can make drip lines with them!
19. Call your garden nurseries and ask them if they have sales coming up. Some have sales on specific things, especially as the planting season starts to close.
20. If you are not buying heirloom seeds, check out your local Dollar Store for the most affordable seeds.
21. Similarly, save everything you can from animals you butcher. You can make and freeze dog and cat food from organs and scraps.
22. Always cull “dead weight” animals on your farm that are not producing or bringing something to the table. Make sure each animal has a purpose. Chickens should be rotated every 2.5 to 3 years.
23. If you spend a little extra on top quality livestock, you’ll make more from their offspring and get more bang for your buck in the long run.
24. If you live near a Lowes, Home Depot, or similar store, frequent the garden sections for sales. Ask the associates if there are any annual sales that are coming up.
25. Keep records so you can see area’s you are bleeding or making money, and have a better idea of what to change up.

10 Way’s to Save on Food

1. Use free grocery pickup services instead of shopping in store. This will save you from impulse purchases, plus helps you to shop around for the best deals!
2. Menu plan after you shop sales! I know, this is contrary to what everyone else is saying. But I learned this from my Aunt Mary, it’s better on the pocket book to go shopping for the sales and then be creative and menu plan with the seasonal and sale items you found.
3. Shop your pantry and freezers more often.
4. Grow a garden if you can do so affordably.
5. Learn to preserve your own food by canning, dehydrating and freezing. I love the Ball Books for this, FIND THEM HERE!
6. Learn from scratch cooking if you haven’t’ already. It’s healthier and far more affordable!
7. Clean your fridge more often and use items before they go bad.
8. Look into buying in bulk. We like places like Costco and Azure Standard for this, but some grocery stores have a industrial size aisle that is often overlooked. We’ve got at least two around us that have these sections. They are often overlooked!
9. Look into baking your own bread, it is by far more affordable than buying bread!
10. Think outside the box when shopping for beans and grains, for example perhaps your family likes rice and pinto beans, but is quinoa or another type of bean cheaper or on sale this month?

16 Way’s to Save on Home & Family Supplies, Services and Goods

1. Always shop second hand first! This goes for everything from chairs, to dishes, to clothing and home goods. I think over 90% of our dishes are second hand, and most of the items in our home are thrifted or gifted!
2. Make your own cleaning supplies.
3. Make your own lotions and salves. I have a simple salve video here, and a lotion’s video here.
4. Make gifts instead of purchasing them. Soaps, lotions, salves, and even jams and jellies and breads.
5. Learn to trim and cut hair for your family.
6. Make soap from leftover animal fats from cooking. LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS IN THIS VIDEO.
7. Put word out for hand me downs for the kids among friends and family.
8. Always shop clearance racks, especially at the end of a season because that’s when you find the best deals. If you are shopping for the kids the trick is to shop a size up so that in a few months the clothing fits as the new season approaches.
9. Speaking of clothing, don’t throw away jeans with holes in them. Make cut offs, or save them for patching.
10. Make beeswax wraps (THIS VIDEO) instead of buying plastic wrap and ziplocs all the time.
11. Do your kids waste toilet paper? Before you put a new roll on, step on it. This will slow down TP usage!
12. If you use paper towels, consider just swapping them out for cloth. If that won’t work don’t get full size paper towels, get the half size!
13. Use bar soap instead of pump soap, it stretches further!
14. If you must use liquid soap, you can either water it down by half, or you can put a rubber band around the pump portion so that it doesn’t fully depress to slow down over use by kids! This works for shampoo bottles too!
15. When you go to boil water, always put the lid on to speed up the process and conserve energy/fuel.
16. Use cloth napkins instead of paper. Use real plates instead of paper.

10 Ways To Make Money On A Homestead

1. Find out what’s in demand in your area-what’s hot and what’s not? Is it food? A special breed of livestock or poultry? Grow that to sell!
2. If you are growing a garden, grow some extra to sell. Pickling cukes and green beans were our hot commodities last year!
3. If you have starts, like rhubarb, saplings, raspberries or other berries that need to be thinned, sell them.
4. If you make soaps and lotions as suggested above, consider making more to sell. Consider all the bath and body products, as well as cleaning products!
5. Host classes. If you are not comfortable hosting in your home or cannot for some reason, you can offer to go to other peoples homes.
6. Offer farm tours.
7. Are the items you can handcraft to sell, like hotpads, towels, or other needed kitchen or other items? Recently I purchased the neatest hand made scouring pads from a homesteading mama, are there things like this you can make to sell?
8. Save chicken feathers, wash them and see what you can make from them!
9. Save feed bags and see what you can make with them to sell. The other day I saw someone locally making shopping bags with them!
10. Can you sell milk or eggs or baked goods? Most states have regulations around this, so be sure to check into that first.