Homesteading is a way of life that comes from a desire to live more simply.  There are so many simple ways to start homesteading, many of them can be done from your home, whether you live on a farm or an apartment.  Here’s a list of skills that you can start working on to become more self-sufficient, no matter where you are!

• Learn to cook from scratch.  It’s often cheaper to cook foods from scratch and you’ll feel good knowing what you put into the food you’re eating.  Cooking from scratch is a lost skill but you can learn how to do it easily with a good cookbook and some time in the kitchen.
• Make bread from scratch.  This might seem silly when it’s so convenient to purchase bread cheaply from your local grocery store.  Baking bread is really simple and requires more patience than skill.  You can create really special and delicious bread at home that you and your family will enjoy much more than the bread from your local grocery store.
• Learn to make cheese.  No, you don’t have to own a cow or a goat to make cheese at home.  You can make your own cheese at home with whole milk and a cheese kit.  There are a bunch of recipe books out there to get you started cheese-making.
• Can foods.  Did you purchase too many tomatoes this year from your local farmer’s market?  Don’t throw them out, can them!  Canning foods is really simple and only requires a few items that you may already have on hand.  Use quality items and trusted recipes.  Ball is the leader when it comes to canning equipment and safe recipes.
• Dehydrate foods.  Create delicious dehydrated foods at home.  If you have a dehydrator, you can make delicious jerky, fruit leather and other dehydrated foods. 
• Make soap at home.  Making soap is really simple, much easier than it was 100 years ago!  You can purchase most of what you need at hobby or craft stores.  Melt and pour bases make it easy to make soap in less than 10 minutes.  Choose add ins, oils and scents to create soaps just for your family.
• Use essential oils.  Before modern medicine was a thing, people used plants to cure illness.  Today, the abundance of medication has led to the creation of more infectious disease and essential oils are becoming more popular.  Essential oils are effective and easy to get. 
• Dry your clothes without a dryer.  Before appliances were available, there were clotheslines to dry wet laundry.  Hang your clothes on a line outside and let the sunshine dry them.  You can also hang wet clothes inside over a clothes rack to dry.
• Make your own household cleaners.  You can make DIY laundry detergent, dishwashing liquid, floor cleaners, Clorox wipes and more at home.  Ditch some of the harsh chemicals and one-use plastic for safer, more eco-friendly options. 

Any of these skills will save you money and help you ease into the homesteading lifestyle.  The goal of homesteading today is to return to simple living.  Cut out the unnecessary parts of life and focus on what’s important to you and your family.

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