Budget Homestead Hacks: Sustainable Living Without Breaking the Bank
Homesteading does require a bit of investment, but it doesn’t have to break the bank. With resourcefulness and creativity, you can save money while caring for your garden & livestock. These practical budget homestead hacks will help you maximize your resources, save cash, and move closer to your sustainability goals.
Budget Homestead Hacks for the Garden & Livestock
Everything costs so much more money these days. Inflation has skyrocketed and products that we are used to buying for our homes now cost double what we are used to. This makes investing in items for the homestead that much harder. Learning how to homestead on a budget is necessary for many of us right now, and homestead hacks like these come in handy.
1. Make Use of Trash
Think about the items you toss into the trashcan each week… then, think about the waste your animals leave behind. Are you able to use any of these things to benefit your homestead? Let’s walk through some ideas.
Kitchen Scraps
Food waste should never end up in the trash. They can always be added back into your homestead’s food cycle instead. Add scraps to your compost pile to increase nitrogen content, use them to make garden fertilizer, feed them to your livestock, or make a nutritious bone broth.
Household Trash
Instead of tossing milk jugs, coffee cans, feed bags, newspapers, and other common household trash items, consider repurposing them into something useful.
- Make planting containers out of milk jugs, coffee cans, and feed bags for container gardening.
- Control weeds naturally with cardboard and newspapers.
Livestock Waste
Manure is an excellent free homestead resource that you can use to improve your pastures and your garden soil.
Cow manure, rabbit droppings, and chicken litter make ideal compost & fertilizer. Rabbit droppings can be used directly on the garden, but cow manure & chicken litter require composting first.
Manure can also simply be left in the field if you want to improve the pasture for the next rotation.
- Compost chicken litter to make fertilizer.
- Use composted manure to make Compost Tea.
- Use rabbit droppings to make rich potting soil
Commercial Waste
Another good idea is to reach out to local grocery stores, restaurants, and breweries for their food waste and spent grains for livestock feed & compost. Businesses like this will also often throw out buckets and totes that you can make use of.
2. Repurpose Materials
Look for ways that items can be repurposed before tossing them. Old pallets, mason jars, buckets, etc can all be used to create free or low-cost structures and supplies for your homestead. Look for creative ways to make use of materials that you already have available!
- Use 5-gallon buckets for many projects like rabbit-dropping catchments, nest boxes, and compost bins.
- Use pallets to make vertical garden planters, fences, compost bins, pig training pens, and firewood storage.
- An old trampoline frame can be used to make a chicken coop, garden arch, hoop house, or a run-in shade shelter.
- Need a garden trellis? Use an old crib or mattress spring, a section of lattice fence, or a cattle panel.
- If you have towels or clothes that can no longer be used for their intended purposes, turn them into cleaning rags
3. Learn to DIY
Basic DIY skills can be a huge money saver on the homestead. You can learn to do repairs and maintenance on your home and farm infrastructure- like fixing a clogged drain and repairing a fence. You can also learn to make DIY homestead projects instead of buying all new items.
Homestead DIY Projects
- DIY Chicken Tractor
- Raised Gaden Beds
- DIY Goat Milking Stand
- Make a Gutter Garden
- Compost Bucket
- Gravity-Fed Water System
- Nesting Boxes
- Worm Bin
- DIY Entrance Reducer for Beehives
- DIY Polytunnel
- Chicken Feeder
- Container Garden
- Butchering Cones
- Compost Bin
- Homemade Natural Weed Spray
- Gravity-Fed Drip Irrigation System
- DIY Bag Balm
- DIY Beeswax Wraps
4. Cook From Scratch
Another great way to save money and become more self-sufficient is to learn to make staple ingredients (and substitutions) and other food items from scratch.
Pantry Staple Recipes
- Homemade Brown Sugar
- Homemade Sweet Cream Butter
- Homemade Cultured Butter
- Pie Crust Recipe
- Sourdough Starter & Bread Recipe
- How to Make Buttermilk
- Homemade Whipped Cream
- Make Your Own Flour
- Homemade Cream Soup Base
- Bone Broth Recipe
Pantry Staple Substitutions
Egg Substitutions
- ¼ cup oil per egg
- ¼ cup applesauce per egg
Sour Cream Substitute
- 1/4 cup greek yogurt = ¼ cup sour cream
Baking Soda Substitute
- ¼ tsp baking soda=1 tsp baking powder
Cornstarch Substitute
- 1 tsp arrowroot powder= 1 tsp cornstarch
Lemon Juice Substitute
- ½ tsp white vinegar = 1 tsp lemon juice
5. Find affordable alternatives
When you are looking to add something new to the homestead that is out of the set budget, look around for a more affordable option. It is a good idea to search local discount & thrift stores and Facebook Marketplace before purchasing new supplies & equipment.
Example 1- I have had my eye on a Greenstalk Garden Tower for a while, but I can’t justify the investment just yet so I found a tower option that isn’t as high quality, but it is one that I can purchase without busting the budget ($1.25/tier at Dollar Tree) and I can use for the next few seasons.
Example 2- Instead of purchasing new large cell seed trays or pots to repot your starts, use paper or plastic cups. These can usually be reused for a season or two and they cost a tiny fraction of what seed trays cost.
6. Make Your Animals Work Together
Running your livestock behind each other in a strategic succession can help improve your soil and the health of your animals. Rotating animals in this way doesn’t cost anything except the fencing & infrastructure costs (which are inevitable).
Multi-species rotational grazing can help to reduce parasite loads, improve pasture health, and increase pasture carrying capacity.
When you use techniques like this, you can save yourself a good amount of money in soil amendments, livestock medications, and infrastructure (since animals will be sharing the same paddocks).
7. Utilize Natural Resources
Make the most of the resources that are already at your fingertips. This is one of the best ways to save money over time and reduce your reliance on outside sources.
Some ways to use natural resources on your homestead:
- The sun’s energy can be harvested to power electric fences, lights, generators, etc. Solar power can also be used to cook, dry clothes, heat your home, and charge electronics.
- Rainwater can be collected for garden irrigation, aquaponics, and watering livestock.
- Learn to identify the native plants that grow on your property. These can be used to feed livestock, make medicine, attract pollinators, make natural dyes, provide shade & windbreaks, improve the soil fertility & structure, and feed your family.
- Natural water sources- like ponds and streams- can be used as a livestock watering source. Just check laws and potenial effects of animals drinking from flowing water sources that run through other properties.
- Make lumber from trees the grow on your property for building shelters and other infrastructure needs.
- Grow trees in areas that need more shade.
8. Build Community
One of the best budget homestead hacks is to get to know your neighbors! When you build relationships, you can begin to barter and trade goods & services with those around you. This could be the most valuable of the practical tips shared in this post.
Homesteading may not be the cheapest lifestyle, but it is more rewarding than I can put into words. By implementing these budget homestead hacks, you can save cash, improve soil & animal health, and increase your sustainability. Use your creativity, resourcefulness, and an adaptable attitude to build your homestead without breaking the budget.