Prioritizing Spending

Progress at our homestead in the city is going swimmingly! We’re finally getting into a groove as my confidence and experience grow. Because there is so much to do, I find myself wanting to buy lots of useful things on Craigslist and other places. However, we’re working with the low end of a shoestring budget, so buying lots of supplies at once isn’t a possibility.

I stressed out about money for a few days until I realized that my solution is to prioritize and focus on one project at a time. When I focus on one project at a time, all of my energy and resources are applied to that project until it’s done. If I don’t have much money, I work on a free project until I have more resources to devote.

Collecting Fence Posts

Now that we are working inside of our house, our first priority is security. Our security plan has several layers, and the first layer is a fence we’re building out of salvaged materials. We’ve been collecting pallets out of which we’ll make pickets. We also need posts to install in the ground every six or eight feet and beams to connect the posts. I price checked Lowe’s (out of curiosity) and a salvage yard to get an idea about how much all of my posts would cost. Finally, I found an ad on Craigslist advertising 4′ x 4′ fence posts for $1.50-$2.00 each — a fraction of the cost of the other places I checked. The gentleman selling the fence posts, Tony, owns Superior Fence here in Jacksonville, and he sells the materials he salvages from fence replacements. I’ve already purchased a dozen fence posts from him and will buy more as my budget allows. Tony cut them to the size I need and, along with his son, loaded them into my trunk.

Calculating Water Usage for Our Homestead in the City

Because I plan to collect water we’ll use around the house, I wanted to find out how much we’ll use in a day, month, and year. I wanted to calculate how much water we’re likely to use, so that I can determine if a water catchment system is realistic and, if so, how many water barrels we’ll need in our system. There are several water usage calculators online, I chose this one from Glendale Water and Power. After inputting our usage of water both indoors and outdoors, I was shocked at the amount of water a family uses in a day — hundreds of gallons…even a thrifty family of two like us. As we do more at our homestead in the city, we’ll see how accurate these calculations are, but using a water usage calculator was a great exercise to see how making small changes to our daily habits affects our overall water usage.

Inspired by Other Renegades and Ecolutionaries

Yesterday, we took the day off. We didn’t really plan to, but I felt burnt-out and ready for a break. Even on our break days, I find myself doing research on homesteading, green living, and alternative housing. It turned out to be a great day! I watched video after video of amazing people with stories, passions, and experiences similar to ours. Here are four videos that really inspired me:

• California DIY, shipping container tiny home and a cargo trailer bedroom
  This woman’s story and gutsiness inspires me so much!
• Living small: when home is a 150-square-foot RV
  This gentleman’s home is comfy, and his outlook is refreshing.
• How to Set a Corner Post WITHOUT Concrete!
  I found this video helpful while planning our fence installation. The authors of the video also offered detailed instruction when I contacted them and told them about our project.  — thanks, Tommy and Patti!
• DIY home for less than $3500
  This little house is amazing, and the builder had very little experience before embarking on the project.

Fundraiser

Wanna support our project? All proceeds from my shop Awaken benefit our urban homestead project. Visit Awaken for handcrafted, eco-friendly gifts for all occassions!

Learn more about our homestead in the city, and learn about our sponsorship packages.

Our homestead in the city is sponsored by MedKeka. Visit them at www.MedKeka.com.

tag: homestead in the city
water image by Danjaeger, piggy bank image by Asterisco