Whether you are becoming more disillusioned with the people in charge or you are trying to take the power back in your life, self-sufficiency covers so many different aspects. There are ways for us to stop being so dependent on everybody else to provide us with things like our basic sustenance, and we can all wonder about the best ways to become more self-sufficient. There are so many different things that we can do, and these include the following:
Monitor Your Energy Consumption
We’ve become more used to the modern amenities, but if we want to become more self-sufficient, we’ve got to get back to basics. This might not be music to most people’s ears, but there is a certain way we can get the balance just right. The solution could potentially come from investing in solar energy. Solar panels are something that most of us have considered at some point, but have heard horror stories that it’s too much of an investment upfront for very little return. But there is a balance to be had, namely with having an extra battery. When you have extra solar and battery systems, you can use this in your favour to power your home without relying on the electricity grid. This is also a very useful tool when it comes to navigating excessive utility costs. When you start to monitor your energy consumption and realise just how much excess electricity or gas you are using, you can start to pare this down so you can then find more independent ways of powering your home.
Starting a Mini Farm
Lots of people on their road to sustainability start by growing their own fruits and vegetables, but you may benefit from going one step further if you have the space. Ultimately, if you want to become more self-sufficient, growing your own livestock may seem like a pipe dream, but there are little things you can do to set you on your way, for example, raising chickens. Chickens live between five and ten years, and when you understand how many eggs backyard hens can lay (which is roughly up to 250 eggs per year), you can then divide this 250 by 52, leaving you with four eggs per week. Getting two chickens means you will have eight eggs per week and so forth, meaning that you can have eggs in abundance. But of course, there are other aspects of raising livestock, and starting your own farm requires a lot of time and effort, but if you could get the balance right with a few backyard hens and being able to grow your own fruits and vegetables, this could make a big difference in how much money you are spending on store-bought products.
Start Fishing
You could also start hunting, and while this may go against lots of people’s ethics, it’s something that’s definitely worth considering depending on where you live. Fishing is a basic skill that everybody should have, and it’s something that our ancestors had to do. People relied on it heavily to supplement their food intake, and when you are trying to be less dependent on store-bought items, you can start by going fishing on a regular basis and improving your fishing knowledge. You will need to have a specific licence in order to fish, and depending on where you are, there may be local laws that you have to abide by. There are also other alternatives, for example, foraging and finding edible plants, but you’ve got to be careful here in case you encounter poisonous plants. It’s something that requires a lot of time to become more knowledgeable in.
Fine-Tuning Your DIY Knowledge
The biggest problem most people have in the modern world is that self-sufficiency is a skill that cannot be attained because there’s so much to learn, but it is the best way to help you become a far more resilient individual. If you’re going to become more self-sufficient, you will have to embody the “make do and mend” spirit. We should all have those basic skills that were taken for granted by our ancestors decades ago, like knitting, woodworking, and so forth, and the more you can do for yourself, the more self-sufficient you will be. It’s about making sure that you have a basic understanding of DIY knowledge first. There’s nothing worse than having to attempt to fix something without any understanding of what it is you’re trying to do. Thankfully, there are plenty of great DIY courses available, not to mention numerous YouTube channels. This is also a skill when it comes to things like cutting hair. You might not be able to cut your own hair, but you can start to learn to cut your family’s hair, and no doubt you attempted it a couple of times during lockdown. But much like DIY, there are plenty of great YouTube tutorials that you can check out.
Becoming Debt-Free
Of course, one of the best ways to become more self-sufficient is to have a clean slate. While you may not have money to pay off your mortgage, if you have any other debts, you should focus on eradicating these as best as possible. There are fantastic resources online to help you become debt-free these days. People like Dave Ramsey provide so much information on becoming debt-free, with numerous tools and tactics like the debt snowball and debt avalanche methods.
Learn to Live with Less
This is the most important rule in becoming more self-sufficient. Most people have a lot in life and when we start to think about the things that really matter, living smaller and not needing as much in life can go a long way to ensure that you make your home more sustainable, but be much happier in the process. We can argue that having more possessions benefits our lives, but when there is just too much to think about this takes our attention from the things in life that really matter. As a species, humans have been happier living with less for thousands of years, so if you can learn to be happier with very little, it’s going to be easier to become more self-sufficient.
