The Beginning

Hello and welcome back, with this being my first real post I thought I would quickly talk for a bit about what led me here into creating this blog and what my plans for the future are. I have touched on some of this briefly with my introductory post but I think a bit more of an explanation is needed before I get stuck in.

Homesteading and self-sufficiency have been a passion of mine for some time now. And although at this moment I don’t have the land to work or practice on, I still wish to maintain and learn skills that I could one day use while working towards getting my own block of land. A few years ago I was fortunate enough to live and help out on a small hobby farm outside of Hobart, back in Australia. From that, I learned a lot from its owner about what was involved and I got a small taste of some of the challenges that homesteaders or hobby farmers encounter. I was also able to practice and develop new skills that only increased my drive to get my own land where I could test them out.

“Do what you can, with what you have” is a phrase I’ve been hearing repeatedly recently, mostly from the homesteading books and podcasts I’ve been reading/ listening to. Even though, right now I live in a studio apartment in Vancouver,  it got me thinking about using my spare time to practice the skills I have learned and pick up some new ones. Not only would it be fun and a great way to pass time, but it could help save money and get me closer to my end goal while helping to keep me focused on the bigger picture. “I don’t have any land” or “ I don’t have space to grow anything” are common phrases you hear when people talk about the hurdles of achieving their homesteading dreams. Well, I thought I would “do what I can, with what I have” and start my homesteading dream early, a few years early and without a homestead or urban backyard. Hopefully, I can prove that you don’t need half of what you think you do to get started. And even though you may not have chickens, goats or a garden you can still find ways to make small changes in your life that can help you reach your goals or a new hobby.

I plan to spend each month focusing on a single project with updates being posted every week showing my progress. At the end of the month, I will do a bit of a debrief and discuss what I think the pros and cons are. Now given how I will from time to time (especially this month) discuss money and frugal living ideas, I just wanted to do the whole I am not an expert in anything statement. This will not be the last time I state this. I have chatted enough about myself, for now so it’s time we move on to my very first project and the project for this month.

Being the first month, and considering that my end goal is to purchase land. The obvious place to start at this point is to asses my money habits and create a sustainable budget.  To do this I will spend the whole month recording all of my spending and earnings. As I am out shopping I will request and collect all my invoices or receipts. Then at the end of the day, every dollar spent as well as earnt will be jotted down into a notebook or journal, each entry will be categorised as clothing, entertainment or transit or any category you need to help gain a better idea where your money is going. A lot of bank apps will have this as a feature, and if collecting and writing down receipts is too much of a hassle you can easily set up one of these apps to do the same. For myself, I will stick to the paper method.

At the end of the week, I will assess my spending, and try to determine what was an essential purchase or what was a want. Then for the following week, I will keep the previous week in mind when It comes to my shopping choices.  As the month goes on and I make my weekly assessments hopefully I will notice a difference in my spending and start noticing a few patterns. When I reach the end of the month I will sit down with the information I’ve gained and plan a budget.

So until next week, cheers again for dropping in and have a good one.