How to Afford Homesteading on One Income

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About a year ago I quit my full-time job, and Dusty and I began our journey homesteading on one income. I have a lot of people ask how we can afford to run our small farm with me staying home. Disclaimer: there’s not really a secret and it’s taken a lot of sacrifices!

Our homestead and farm business is something that is really important to us. I enjoy this lifestyle & day-to-day work more than anything else I’ve ever done, so I’m driven to make it happen. Here are some tips on how I save & make money to help us make this dream a reality!

Some background…

First off, Dusty works full time off the homestead. One day we dream to both work on our farm as the operation grows, but there isn’t enough going on here at the moment for both of us to work full time.

He also picks up odd jobs and works on the side for a couple old employers of his. He works HARD. Very hard. Like I said, this is not some miracle quit-your-day-job kind of blog post. I’m going to be real with you about our journey.

Ways to Save & Make Money:

Cutting Back:

This is not going to be a fun one, but sit down and take a long hard look at your budget. What can you get rid of? What can you cut back on? We’ve all chosen homesteading for some level of self-sufficiency, so cutting back on our modern conveniences is all part of the plan.

Phone bills, TV plans, car payments, credit card debt… They can all eat away at our hard earned money. For starters, NEVER buy something you can’t pay for in cash. Rule of thumb. It’s OK to put something on a credit card if you know you have that cash sitting in your bank account.

I do this often so I can get cash back rewards on my credit card that I later use to make my Amazon purchases. I understand there are emergencies you may need to put on a credit card, and that’s not what I’m referring to. Of course there are always unknown expenses ready to pop up, but that is why it’s a good idea to have an emergency fund.

Here are some examples of actions we’ve taken to cut back on our monthly expenses in the past year:

• No car payments (both our cars are paid in full)
• Sell unneeded items (just sold a $300 boat on Craigslist)
• Shop around for cheaper phone plans/internet plans
• Cancel TV plan
• Cancel gym memberships
• Cancel TV streaming services

There are tons of financial plans you can follow out there to put you on track for a debt free lifestyle. We just started following Dave Ramsey’s plan so that we can get rid of the last bit of credit card debt we have lingering, and to start tackling Dusty’s school loan debt. Dave Ramsey has free podcasts and YouTube videos to help you start this plan. Don’t feel like you have to buy a bunch of books and resources.

Cook at home!

One of the biggest ways we’ve cut back is cooking almost all our meals at home. This was fairly easy for me because I love to cook, but I understand it might be more of a challenge for those of you who don’t like to cook or have super busy schedules that prevent home cooking!

At the end of a long day it can be hard to dive into a recipe. The only way I combat this is by meal planning. I don’t do any crazy, in-depth meal planning, but I try to at least have a guideline of what we have on hand and what recipes I want to make. At the beginning of each week I pick out a handful of recipes I’m going to tackle, some easier some more involved, and then depending on what I feel like making I’ll go off that list.

We went from spending hundreds of dollars eating out per month before we moved onto the homestead, to eating out only 2-3 times per month. It’s made a HUGE difference.

Money Makers:

Here are a couple ways I make some cash on the side…

Focus Groups & Research Studies:

And I’m not talking about those websites that give you $0.10 to complete an online survey. These are real, reputable companies that will give you cash to complete online or in-person focus groups.

What is a focus group? Companies will hire a marketing research company to recruit small groups of consumers to come in and voice their opinions on new product ideas, branding, current events, consumer habits and more. You usually do not know what company you are voicing your opinions for, since the interviews are conducted by the marketing research company and not the actual contracting company itself. This allows the contracting company to get honest, raw feedback from consumers without being swayed by a certain brand’s presence.

These interviews can be in-person or online, sometimes on a website where each member of the interview can react to certain topics in a forum. They can last from an hour up to several days or weeks depending on the format of the group.

Some of them also require you to film short videos of yourself responding to certain topics or use a webcam to interact with the group’s moderators. There are plenty of focus groups out there, however, that don’t require you to film yourself or use a webcam.

I’ve done focus groups that paid $35 for an hour of my time to $1100 for two full days of my time. You’d be surprised at how quickly you can rake up cash completing a few of these interviews a month. It’s pretty amazing. Companies will pay a pretty penny for your opinions. You’ll get paid in cash, by check, or sometimes by PayPal or another online payment app.

How to find focus groups? My advice would be to Google “Focus groups in xxx (your closest large city)” if you want to look for in-person interviews. In my opinion, the in-person ones tend to pay out more.

Here is an example of a market research company in Austin Texas that I have done focus groups for. This might help you see what a reputable company’s website will look like: http://www.tammadgemrx.com/

Generally, a market research company will have a database for you to sign up for. They will have you provide your contact information and any additional demographic information they require. This will help them send surveys your way that fit your profile. Most research companies will have you fill out a survey prior to being accepted into the focus group. This helps them find interviewees that cover a broad range of consumers.

If you aren’t near a major city, don’t worry. There are plenty of databases you can sign up for that will send you surveys that can qualify you for online focus groups.

If you use Google to find market research companies near you, sometimes they will have reviews. This can be helpful to weed out any companies that don’t do quality focus groups. I would avoid any website that advertises doing online surveys for credits – these are not the websites you are looking for. You want to aim for the actual market research companies conducting in person focus groups that have a database you can sign up for.

The main online focus group website I use is Respondent. They make it very easy to go through and take quick surveys that can quality you for online focus groups or consumer surveys. Most of them pay $50 to $200.

There are tons of websites out there. Just be sure you are doing high-quality surveys. Don’t waste your time getting roped into completing hundreds of surveys for a $10 gift card.

Poshmark:

I have several closets full of clothes. Many are things I don’t even fit into anymore or would never ever wear. When I worked in an office and lived in Los Angeles I would actually ‘get dressed’. Now I wear Sloggers and leggings every day.

Poshmark has been a really awesome way to make extra money. It’s very easy to use and can be done all on your smartphone through an app.

Simply snap a few photos of the item you wish to sell, write a short description, and add a price. Users are able to offer less on your items or buy them for the listed price. They can even add multiple items from your profile to their cart and you can opt to offer them a ‘bundle’ deal if they make a multi-item purchase.

Users discover your listings once you share them to your followers or to Posh Parties. There are several events a day that highlight certain brands or types of items. You can share your items into these “parties” for extra exposure.

It’s very easy to ship the items too. Pick up several free Priority Mail envelopes and boxes from your local post office and tape on the free shipping label Poshmark provides after you make a sale. Drop the package in your mailbox or at the post office. Your funds will be available after the buyer receives the package.

I’ve been on Poshmark since 2017 and have made $1,424.64 as of writing this blog post. I’m always shocked at how quickly items sell once they are listed. Designer items and popular brands always sell faster, but I’m often surprised at what sells! Especially for the right price!

Cash Back Programs:

Ibotta, Rakuten, & Credit Cards

These are three main ways I use our necessary expenses, like groceries and vet visits, to recoup some funds.

Ibotta:

Ibotta is a really nifty app that has cash back deals on grocery store products. They tend to have cash back deals on new items, but they also have options like cash back on any item, or even cash back just for uploading your receipt. After you complete your shopping trip, hang on to your receipt. You will scan the receipt into the app as proof that you purchased the items then they will load those deals onto your account.

The best way to use this app in in conjunction with store and manufacturing coupons. There have been numerous times where I had a BOGO (buy one get one) deal through my grocery store in addition to cash back on Ibotta, making the products free. Ibotta also offers special bonus cash back deals for redeeming certain offers. For example: earn an extra $3 for redeeming 10 offers (or something of that sort).

Although it might seem the cash back is adding up slowly, if you make a habit of skimming through the deals before heading to the grocery store, it does make a difference. You can withdraw your cash back once you have $20 worth of redemptions.

Rakuten (previously Ebates):

I’m not a big online shopper these days, but sometimes I do find myself with a gift card (that I got through my credit card’s cash back program). I have the Rakuten toolbar extension installed in my browser so that anytime I visit an online retailer that offers cash back through the program, I will get a notification to activate the cash back offer. It’s a super simple way to save money.

My Rakuten referral… Get $10 when you redeem your first purchase!

This was especially handy when I was doing my Christmas shopping during Black Friday. Rakuten had crazy cash back deals for tons of popular retailers. I was able to save additional money through cash back on top of the awesome Black Friday deals I used. If you’re thinking of buying an appliance or TV online, definitely check if the online retailer has cash back options. You might be able to get back a large chunk of money.

Rakuten will credit the cash back to your account once the transaction has gone through. Each quarter they will send you a “Big Fat Check” with all of your cash back earnings for that time period. It’s a really handy way to get some money back on items you end up purchasing anyways!

Credit Cards:

Ok, don’t run out and sign up for a bunch of credit cards. Bad idea. But if you are in the market for a credit card, choose one that has a good cash back program. Both of the credit cards I use have a way you can apply your cash back earnings to Amazon purchases. This is my favorite way to use them. Sometimes I’ll need something random off Amazon, I’ll go in and I’ll have more than enough cash back to fully apply those credits toward my purchase. Free Amazon stuff!

Conclusion

I hope this post has inspired you with some new ideas on how to save and make money on the homestead! I decided not to go into selling extra ‘homestead’ items like eggs and produce, just because I feel like that’s pretty obvious. These are the lesser talked about methods I use to boost our income and save money.

Now get out there and hustle!