1. Redefine What “Homestead” Actually Means

Hey, I’m the biggest dreamer in the world. I would not have started Tracks and Roots if I wasn’t, but it’s important to remember many homestead bloggers and vloggers out there are NOT bringing in the big bucks or even treading water with their homestead. If they are online selling you something, most likely that is what is supporting the homestead, plus probably a second full-time job. Unless you want a full-blown farm or have a solid money-earning plan, chances are a homestead will absorb money, not provide it.

So, keep in mind, you don’t need 40 acres and a tractor. A homestead is a lifestyle, not a land size. Usually people start a homestead that is too big and either too expensive or too time-consuming.

• Consider suburban and even townhouse homesteads
• Utilize backyards, side yards, rented land, community plots

Reframe success as food security, resilience, and lowered expenses, not Instagram perfection.

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2. Buy the Worst House in the Best Location (or the Weird One No One Wants)

This is what we did… buying a ranch house on 1.2 acres in the middle of Short Pump, Virginia, 1 mile from the fanciest mall in the Greater Richmond area, every type of store, restaurant, and medical facility you can think of, plus within walking distance to $2 million dollar homes. When we walked into our house during the showing, it smelled like smoke, the kitchen and the bathrooms were all older styles, and the floor and tiling were all low-end – but we were able to put in a low-ball offer and get the house for $100,000 less than what a remodeled, fixed-up ranch would go for in Short Pump. AND, our equity grows faster, being in Short Pump than other areas.

We needed to deep clean the house,

Although, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend doing what we did, since we only did it to stay close to family, going to a cheaper location and buying a fixer upper is the smarter way to go.

Examples:

• Fixer-uppers
• Odd-shaped lots
• Houses with cosmetic damage that scares buyers

Tip: Make the house livable first and improve it slowly as more income becomes available.

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3. Use Sweat Equity Instead of Cash

I’m super grateful to have a husband who willingly jumps in and learns how to fix and build as much as he can on his own rather than paying someone else all the time. He does a lot of the car repairs and as many house repairs himself. For instance, he replaced the well pump last year and has replaced dishwashers, garbage disposals, sinks, and toilets himself. He built us a french drain himself and installed 4 rain barrels. We also save a bit by painting ourselves and hired companies don’t always do an ideal job either.

• Learning basic repairs
• Salvaging materials
• Bartering labor
• YouTube + library books = free education

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4. Grow the Highest-Value Foods First

One of the best things we planted when we moved in is thornless blackberries. They spread very quickly and then will still be productive years later. We simply have to mow around the bed to keep them in place.

We also have black raspberry plants we moved from a shady spot to the sun and we get a large salad bowl of them every day for 2 weeks during the summer.

Not tomatoes for $3 savings—think:

• Perennials (berries, herbs, fruit trees)
• Mushrooms
• Medicinal plants
• Eggs

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5. Start Where You Are—Before You Buy Land

This is huge and often missed. We started gardening in our first house in the city when we didn’t have loads of land and the experience we developed there helped us when we moved. The experience painting and repairing the house also helped tremendously.

Here are some options:

• Growing herbs on your alcony
• Growing indoor mushrooms
• Going to the farmer’s market and practicing canning
• Baking homemade bread
• Volunteering at a local, organic farm
• Keeping 2 backyard chickens

Homesteading starts before the dream house.

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6. Stack Functions to Cut Bills (Not Just Grow Food)

Homesteading saves money when systems overlap:

• Trees for shade + food
• Chickens for eggs + pest control
• Rain barrels for watering the garden
• Wood scraps for heat or projects

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7. Finance Creatively (But Carefully)

Keep all debt grounded in reality, not pipe dreams, because many times a homestead will NOT help financially.

Keep in mind anyone in the business of making money through housing or house repairs does not care about your financial stability.

If you are married, it’s best to pretend you only have 1 income and live off that – the second income should go to debt pay off, an emergency fund, or retirement, if possible, because inevitably there will be times where 1 spouse loses their job or unexpectedly needs to quit. If you have kids, the likelihood is even higher.

There is this thing called the “dual income trap” where many dual income households today are MORE in debt than the single income of the 1950’s. Some of that could be the gap between inflation and salaries, but not all of it. Part of the issue is nearly all of that second income goes towards childcare, communiting, convenience items to save time (like eating out, frozen meals, and a housekeeper), PLUS usually 2 incomes justifies a larger house, more expensive cars, and more expensive vacations. Pretty quickly, as far as money in the bank goes, a dual income household might have just as much debt or maybe sometimes even more than the single income ones. Plus, in a single income household, if the money-earner loses his/her job, the at-home spouse can likely quickly pick up a job, any job, to carry them over.

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8. Learn to Love Used, Free, and Ugly

Homesteads are built from:

• Craigslist
• Buy Nothing groups
• Farm auctions
• Curb finds

Normalize mismatched tools and patched systems.

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9. Build Skills That Replace Services

Every skill learned is money saved:

• Food preservation
• Basic carpentry
• Animal care
• Seed saving

This also builds confidence—which matters.

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10. Accept That It’s a Long Game

The first few years when you try gardening, your plants may all die in July during a heat wave. Your chicken coop may not have been fully raccoon proof and half of your chickens are eaten. But little by little, you’ll learn from each mistake and your ability to run a homestead will improve.

The reality is:

• It takes years
• Progress is uneven
• Some seasons you save money, others you don’t

But stability compounds—financially and emotionally.

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A shoestring homestead isn’t about doing everything at once. It’s about slowly trading convenience for resilience—and debt for skills.