tips to help you live the simple life:
*It may look like you may never get to that homestead you have dreamed about but you can start working towards it right where you live now. We live in town but most of the house and yard are set up as a homestead. We use kerosene lamps whenever we want and cook most food from scratch using recipes we have collected. Laundry is done with a wringer and wash tubs, we put up by canning most of what we get out of our small garden, buy some food we need from an Amish bulk food store and shop in a bent-n-dent store. We have learned to save money wherever we can to keep things simple.
* Try and save gas by combining trips with your car/van. For us we're lucky that living in town most things we need are just a short drive away and sometimes we even walk to get what we want and get good exercise as well.
* Read all you can about homesteading. We do buy some books (mostly second hand) and we do a lot of reading by using our local Library.(FREE) Magazines are another great way to learn and sometimes you can get a good deal on a subscription and the money spent on that will save you money by what you learn and put to use at home.
Making a budget will save you money:
This will really help you see where the money went and where you can cut back. We did this a few years back and was surprised seeing it in writing! Make or get online budget sheets for the month. EVERY day enter what you bought on that day on the spreadsheet under the day you got it. YES the first month it seems like a lot of work but keep at it (we get/keep receipts for everything from the paper to gas).Then at the end of the month total each line up to see what you really spent and then you can find ways to save. We still do this to keep an idea of our budget.