Most of us are aware that we are becoming more and more dependent on external factors for our well being. Not only that, we all are consuming things that is putting a big burden on the environment. Then there’s always this doubt that whatever we are consuming (especially food), is it pure or is harmful to our health.
Haven’t we all faced this at some point in our lives? The frustration that comes with not getting something? The helplessness when we buy fruits and vegetables and realize it is pumped with artificial chemicals? We live in a world today where “organic” food, which is what we expect all our food items to be, costs more than the others.
So, what are we to deduce then? The rest of the food is adulterated? We pay our bills on time and yet, there are power cuts, we pay our taxes and somehow every year, we find our taps running dry. Makes me wonder if we will ever reach a stage where we can get enough to meet our needs?
That’s when the answer – self sustainable living stares right back at me.
Definition of Self-Sustainable Living
Self-sustainable living simply means providing for all your own needs and the needs of the household without outside aide or resource. It is definitely not an easy task, and also it sounds like going back to the stone age.
However, with easy access to information, and with lots of motivation, you can set out on the task of self-sufficient living. Self-sufficient living involves independently taking care of your own food, shelter and clothing, in other words, all your basic needs (almost).
And its not difficult to see the benefits; this kind of lifestyle will largely ease the burden on natural resources and do lots of good to our environment.
Reasons for Being Self-Sufficient
The rising costs, inflation and limited resources has put a strain on most in today’s world. I have often wondered and even joked occasionally about how nice it would be to move to the country side and start farming and enjoy a quiet life. However, the truth is that this seems to be a not far off reality for many of us.
Looks like with the way things are moving, very soon people will start moving backwards and start over with a very frugal lifestyle of self sustainable living.
More Benefits of Self-Sufficient Living
Being self-sufficient has many more benefits. It is believed that human beings were initially self-sufficient and independent and later moved to depending on communities, and gradually became a part of a dependent society.
Having a self-sufficient lifestyle has many benefits:
- Helps in reducing different types of pollution
- Restricts our consumption of nonrenewable resources
- Less impacted by local emergencies that may limit resources. For e.g. If you have your own power generation system, a sudden power cut due to heavy rains may not affect you.
- Helps improve your skill and a great way to teach your kids about being independent.
- It turns out to be much cheaper when you make your own things rather than buying it from the market.
- Keeps you positive, healthy, happy and satisfied.
- You help protect the environment by reducing the carbon footprint
- You can grow chemical free, healthy vegetables in your own backyard.
The benefits of self-sustaining living are plenty and it is not as difficult as it seems, if you’re dedicated to the cause. It is also a satisfying job at the end of the day, and you will be assured that you have made your life a little bit richer in the process of attaining self-sufficiency.
Tips on Leading a Self-Sufficient Life
You can try the self-sufficient life by taking smaller steps in your life. We already take some of these measures, without realizing they are a part of self-sustainable living. The key is to learn to live a frugal life, than be tempted to lead a luxurious life.
If you ask me to do away with my car or not depend on my handyman to fix my leaking tap or broken pipe, I would roll my eyes. That is the kind of dependency we have on things. However, with a little patience and persistence, we can inch towards a self-sustained living.
Trust me, there are many advantages to it, but it just takes some getting used to. The advantages of self-sufficient life is long term, hence keep that in mind before you start off. Here are some things you can do, as a small step towards self-sustained living:
- Build a rainwater barrel to store rain water and use it for irrigating your lawn.
- Grow your own garden and harvest vegetables and fruits. Nothing more enriching than eating what you produce in your own backyard.
- Make a composite bin. This will help you recycle your household waste and reuse it as fertilizer for your garden and flowerbeds.
- Recycle leaves and grass by adding it in the composite bin
- Reuse seeds from previous harvest
- Install solar panels for solar heaters and solar cooking.
- Use skylights and large windows to make use of as much natural light as possible.
- Do your own basic repairs like car, furniture, home repairs etc.
- Recycle paper products and reuse it to make your own paper, packaging material etc.
- Use reusable bags for grocery and reuse store bags as trash bags.
- Avoid using gas or electric dryers and use clothesline instead.
- Grow your own herbs for seasoning
- Use cloth for diaper. You can reuse it for multiple children.
- Learn to repair and sew your own clothes
- Use a bicycle or walk instead of taking your car.
- Learn skills such as canning or fruit preserves
- Conserve water by choosing a low flow toilet or composting toilet.
- Use energy saving appliances at home and work.
- Use manual lawn mover
- Have you tried having your own chickens and goats as pets?
- Work towards self-employment rather than depend on employment from someone else.
- Be debt free and say no to loans.
Self-sufficient Homestead
Self-sufficient living entails providing for your own basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter etc. You can develop your own skills by self-sustained homestead. You can create your own products and run a successful business even with it.
I always thought that a homestead is about a home with land surrounding it. At least that’s what the dictionary said. But in the true sense, a self-sustained homestead is actually about your lifestyle rather than where you live.
You can adopt the following measures to attain a self-sufficient homestead:
- Grow your own food. Use your backyard for growing vegetables and fruits. Use it to make your own jams and jellies.
- Find an alternative source of back up energy such as propane heater or use your fireplace to store wood and you can use them during power outages.
- Many people go into debt with the continuous cycle of buying something new each time. Instead make reuse and recycle your mantra, which will end up saving a lot of your money.
- Raise honeybees and use the honey for your daily use.
- Have farm animals like chicken, goats etc and you can use the milk and eggs. You can feed your family by raising farm animals.
- Grow your own herbs to use it for seasoning and medicinal purposes.
- Make your own bread by using wheat flour. You can even add your favorite nuts to it, if you like.
- Make your own cheese and yogurt at home
- You can make homemade beauty products using natural ingredients like gram flour, yogurt, milk etc. It will save a lot of your money and you can be assured that it is free of any harsh chemicals too.
- You can decorate your house by stitching your own curtains and making beautiful quilt with old cloth pieces. You can basically reuse rags and make it into something beautiful and creative.
The best part about self-sustaining homestead is that you can easily master at things and convert it into a business of your own. For instance, if you are good at making jams and jellies, use your recipe and sell it to gain some money out of it. If you are really good at a craft, you could easily turn it into a money making venture from your own backyard.
Final Thoughts
Life has become much faster and everybody seems to be in the rat-race. We all wish that we could leave everything and live a relaxed life. The only problem is that we all have got accustomed to a life where we are dependent on lots of external factors and are also spending way beyond our means. Embarking on the path towards self-sufficient living will definitely help you to be more relaxed and at peace with yourself. So take a small step right away (you may start by getting a small solar lamp/light).
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