You may remember last year when I took part in the Self-Reliance Challenge. I’m so excited because during the month of January I will once again be joining a dynamic group of bloggers in the Self Reliance Challenge – 31 Days to a More Self Reliant Life.
Join us as we challenge ourselves to live a more self-reliant lifestyle for the entire month of January.
Follow our Pinterest Board for Self Reliance Challenge posts.
Stop By & Visit The Self Reliance Challenge Bloggers…
Kathi – Oak Hill Homestead
Nancy – Nancy On The Homefront
AnnMarie – 15 Acre Homestead
Farmgal – Just another Day on the Farm
Candy – Candy’s Farm House Pantry
Kristi – Stone Family Farmstead
Marla – Organic 4 Greenlivings
Heidi – Healing Harvest Homestead
Victoria – Modern Homestead Mama
Shawna – Homegrown Self Reliance
Stephanie – Happily Homegrown
Bethany – Family Growing Pains
Dianne – Hidden Springs Homestead
Julie – The Farm Wife
Lacey – Home & Harrow
Robin – A Life in the Wild
Sheri Ann – Experimental Homesteader
Lisa Lynn – The Self Sufficient HomeAcre
You may wonder what it means to be self-reliant? According to Webster it means, “having the resources to be able to survive without outside assistance.” When we are truly self-reliant, we can use the blessings and abilities God has given us to care for our families and ourselves and find solutions to our own problems.
When we think of our grown children becoming self-reliant and we think of them being able to support themselves, pay their own bills and manage their money. When I think of my husband and I becoming more self-reliant I tend to think of self-reliant living. The ability to survive when times get tough. Sometimes we want to become self reliant and sometimes we have to. It is good to have a sense of being self-reliant before you are forced into it due to difficult circumstances.
Things can rapidly change in our world; you may have a good job today and be unemployed tomorrow. You can survive a flood or a terrible storm but then find yourself cut off from civilization because the roads are destroyed.
There are several steps you can take to make sure that you are just a little more self-reliant than you have been. It won’t happen overnight but with a little preparation you will be ready for what ever lies ahead. As my husband and I move into a new stage of life we are no longer living on a huge piece of property with massive gardens. We still plan to raise our own food but it will be on a much smaller piece of property. We still will take steps to be as self-reliant as we can.
The first thing is to get out of debt. This should be your number one priority. Being in debt costs you money. Taking care of your debt will give you an important sense of freedom. Money that was going to pay off your debt can be used for other things.
Learn new skills. Learn to grow a garden or bake bread. Take up sewing or knitting. These are skills you can use to help out the family and you might even be able to make a little money. I bake three loaves of bread at once, one to enjoy and two for the freezer!
Learn to preserve garden harvest, whether you have your own garden or are buying from a local farm market. You can have such a wonderful sense of security having a full pantry. Even if you don’t have a full walk in pantry you can still enjoy the benefits of a well stocked pantry.
Most important, have a plan. Spend a few minutes thinking about what would happen in a financial crisis, national emergency or weather related emergency. Make lists of what you would need, plan on what steps you would take. You may not need to think about a national emergency but being prepared for your next hurricane or winter storm is always a good idea. Better to be prepared and be able to help your neighbors than be expecting help from others. As we move into the month of January I will be sharing posts on ways to save money, starting your garden, preserving your harvest and cooking from scratch.
Nancy on the Home Front 
I took part last time as well and love we are doing it once again.
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Candy,
I think it’s a great way to start out the new year! 🙂
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So true, Nancy! My goals have been changing over the years too. In my heart I still want a huge farm, but I know that it would be more than I could handle in a few years. So I am learning to look at what I can do with what I have on hand. Best wishes with your self reliance goals in your new surroundings!
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Lisa L.
I would still love a large farm but I know it is not a reality with just the two of us!
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I love that you mention staying out of debt as a self-reliant skill. My husband and I are very much in favor of staying out of debt, even to the point of making double-and-a-half principal house payments so we can pay off our little hobby farm in 10 years instead of 30. I had never thought of that as being a self-reliant skill, but it made me feel good you mentioning it. Very smart!
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Kristi,
I think being out of debt s very important! Looking forward to going through this challenge with everyone!
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Hi Nancy,
I love how you explain the different ways of being self reliant such as preserving food. That one is important to me. I wanted to invite you to join our FB group Natural Living bloggers Helping Each Other that Lisa is a member of. If you are interested we are a group that support each with sharing and helping with problems etc for any one that blogs about natural living. Check it out and if you are interested just click on the invite or join and I will approve it. We are closed until January 2nd but I do go in and check regularly so I will approve it quickly. Just wanted to let you know. It has helped with my traffic and we have a good group that are very supportive. Have a healthy, happy & blessed New Years.
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Maria,
thank you for the invite! I’d love to join, will check it out asap!
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Nice to see you again and loved your list, paying off debt is very important, I find it interesting that so many of us seem to be pulling back and streamlining our homesteads. we have always only been two so that is not a factor for us,
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Farmgal,
After so many years of a family of six it’s taken me years to adjust to having it just be the two of us! I still love to grow and preserve our food just have to do it on a smaller scale!
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We are working on getting out of debt this year. That is important! People don’t think of that as a self reliant skill, but it is! I love that you mentioned it!
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Sheri,
We worked for many years to get out of debt and once we did it provides an amazing freedom! I think it is very important! 🙂
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Great ideas! Very encouraging to read others that are working on becoming self -reliant
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Paying off debt is such an under-discussed part of self-reliance! It really does free a person though!
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Lacey,
I agree, it’s often overlooked yet so important!
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Great ideas, Nancy! I’m planning my self-reliant goals out today! 🙂 You’re right about being ready for different things that can happen, and skills make all the difference.
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I’m in on the challenge, too! I hope it gets all of us off to a good start for the year.
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Robin,
Nothing like goals that are written down to get you motivated! 🙂
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Of course, I had to read this first thing in the morning and drool over your bread photos!!! I love the way your present your goals and show others how to make them. We have met most of our previous goals – now we either want to improve or add to the things we do already. No matter what, this is a life we love!
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Julie,
Congratulations on meeting your goals! It is a wonderful life!
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I agree with getting out of debt that’s why we plan to pay off over $12k in debt in 2019, hopefully around $20k. Then, we will be free!!
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Bethany,
That’s such a wonderful goal and so freeing when complete!
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I look forward to sharing and learning with all of you. Just because we are being self-reliant doesn’t mean we have to do it alone. Happy New Year!
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Stephanie,
I love that we are all in this together! Happy New Year!
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