How much $ do you save being self-sufficient?

[me&thegals]

Hi--when summer drags on and I'm getting exhausted from all the gardening and other work, it perks me up to think of how much money I have saved my family! How about you?

It's hard to figure sometimes. For example, the only blackberries I see are in the store and cost about $6 for maybe 1/2 pint. So, I figure those 3 gallons I picked are worth $288 Plus, walking each day to take care of the chickens rather than driving the 1.5-2 miles saves about $1 in gas weekly. We rarely eat out, saving about $35 per week compared to eating out a decent meal per week or 2 fast-food meals. Making our own butter, yogurt, buttermilk and ice cream saves about $10 weekly, possibly more, etc. Making my own beans, bread, desserts, salsa, applesauce and everything else saves about another $10/week. Plus, there is much, much more. Cutting our own firewood saves 1000s per year, making our own syrup, getting free honey from the guy who crosses our land to get to his hives, picking things from the wild...

So, all this hard work saves my family a very rough $100/week, easy! All right--I'm ready to get back to work!

 

[Beekissed]

Could never calculate the dollar amount, as I do too many things of that nature, me&! I just know that I've been living more and more cheaply as the years go by and, according to the economy, this should not be happening. I've just cut so many things down to the necessaries, recycle items, make our own stuff...all that adds up to "a lot"!

 

[FarmerChick]

I am the same way...I can't put a dollar amt. to it like that...wish I could..LOL

I am cutting costs at the grocery store when others are paying more, I am finding ways to just be more green which saves money in the end for me, I farm for income so I know I have plenty of food stuffs etc. available.

I barter with my farmer friends at the farmers market I sell....I traded 2 bars of my soap for some handmade delish granola......Tony traded some sausage for a new fishing rod (?--go figure)--LOL--but I do less things with high dollars now, just being careful big time.

I rely on my farm to feed me basically but I know I still need to be vigilent cause the bills I can't cut seem to kill me, like property taxes on alot of land, diesel for tractors and such, vehicle and registration tax on all my equipment and major repairs to trucks and tractors, etc......UGH.....

I control what I can and do fairly well...

 

[heatherv]

For us, and where we live... it's a feast or famine thing... and if you don't prepare (while feasting) you WILL famine.. and most people do around here. The winters are a huge struggle, most people are seasonal workers. Our tourist season (which is where most of our money comes from around here) is summer.... and then if you work at one of the ski areas... you get the ski/snowmobile season. A large percent of our population live in poverty throughout the winter.... and party all summer. They blow their money (when they have it) at the casinos and on booze 'n smokes and/or drugs.

We, personally, don't get much of our revenue from tourists... though it does make up for a small amount. It just so happens that during the tourist season is when we're busy. Through the winter we can pick up a little bit of business to JUST get by... I"m talkin' paying rent and maybe just maybe if we're lucky, a few extras from that. So every bit of money I can save through self sufficiency, every bit of food I can stockpile now, will give us that extra $$ needed through the winter to pay our gas/electric and other essentials. We've had a slower summer than expected.... we are JUST to the point right now (nearing end of the summer season) to save up for the winter. (should've had a month under our belt already).

Every penny saved counts!

 

[FarmerChick]

heatherv
do you work for yourself? just wondering....

that type of situation sounds hard on people, but if they blow their money in the summer while they have it.....you know, the ant and grasshopper story..LOL

 

[sweetproserpina]

The ant and the grasshopper I was thinking about that yesterday at the u-pick when I was paying for all my goodies.

It seems like a lot of up front costs sometimes when you're being self-sufficient, doesn't it? Jars, canning lids, chicks etc. We picked 6 quarts of tomatoes, 12 of green bell peppers and 5 quarts of hot chili peppers yesterday. I shelled out 18.00$

But if I get ten jars of salsa out of them I've made my money back and then some. Plus all the rest of the peppers will be chopped and frozen for winter stir-frys and casseroles. The hot chilis will be strung, and dried. Some used and some given away as gifts.

However, a lot of things don't cancel each other out like the salsa will. If I didn't pick and jam my own strawberries, I don't think we'd use nearly as much jam as we do. And I wouldn't have bought the same amount of strawberries from the store that I do when I pick. So technically I'm not really saving money because I wouldn't have bought the pricier alternative in the first place. Does that make any sense? Same goes with the amount of eggs we eat, and the amount of baked goods. If I didn't make cinnamon buns, we wouldn't just buy them from the store. So am I saving? I'm not sure. But we're certainly enjoying things we couldn't have if not for being self-sufficient.

 

[enjoy the ride]

I know with gas, garage saleing is not as profitable as it use to be- but when I was working there was a thrift store right on my way home and I would stop there a couple of time per week- I picked up things like canning jars but also odd packages of screws, or hinges or ribbon or whatever took my fancy as potentially useful and cheap.
Then I would use them as needed. The trick was to resist the cute and cheap but useless. lol

 

[patandchickens]

I have no idea how to guesstimate that -- it would depend pretty totally on how much money I wanted to *waste* by being *less* self-sufficient, wouldn't it?

I am certain there are people out there who would feel that going down to the yuppie gourmet-foods store for a pint of California raspberries in January is saving money by being self-sufficient, 'cuz THIS time they didn't send the butler or have them flown in by private jet.

So I have no idea how to answer. "More than if I did less around here; less than if I did more things myself or went without more things"


Pat

 

[enjoy the ride]

If I was a focussed person, I proabably (read certianly) would save more. But it's just that I can't stand to see something being a nuisance rather than useful. So I use the old roots of redwood trees for raised beds- irregular in shape but will probably out last me.
Hate to throw out packaging so I use corregated cardboard as a weed barrier- it works better than anything I have ever had- but the next year, it has rotten into the soil, so I just pull back the mulch on top and put another layer down. If I chose to plant, all the grass and weeds are gone and the manure I put under the cardboard is now part of the soil- all without much work.
I use the ashes from the pellet stove to spread in the fields, grind up egg shells to add to the composted horse poops and a small amount of the ashes to make my own potting soil. I constantly wish I had more of both products to do more. I have no other fertilizer for the in-ground plants.
I have recycled old trees whose fruit I did not like by grafting- as the person said to me who got me started with this said "If you don't like the tree, change it."
A lot of plants can grow just fine from cuttings. Or can be divided- I use them as gifts.
I can remember spending a thousand dollars over a couple of years on my first house for landscaping (trees, plants, wood for beds, etc)- now if I spend $100 in a year on everything from seeds to plants and pots, I'd be surprized.
So I'd say I had thousands of dollars in stuff that I couldn't have afforded otherwise over the last few years.

 

[Nuggetsowner:)]

It is funny but I was just thinking about this the other day. I was trying to put a dollar amount on my savings from canning and freezing food for this next year. I was thinking of vegetables I grow and can or freeze. I have not purchased any canning jars in the last two years, only lids. I was the only one interested in Grandma's canning supplies when she passed so I am set for quite a while!! I also thought of the jams and jellies that I make from the fruit I grow and or forage for. Once again only the lids for the canning jars. And last but not least I was thinking of the meat we get from hunting. We have the cost of the hunting licence and the bullets or the arrows that kind of thing but we process our selves so only the packaging materials for the hunted animals.
So basically all I have paid for is the cost of seed, the cost of lids, and the hunting licenses. That is a HUGE savings for my family!! I don't think I could say an exact amount because, like some others it would be hard to figure what I would buy if I did not have my own or could not find them growing wild. I also have not considered the amount of ime we spend doing all the work involved. Either way, I think we are coming out way ahead!!