If you would have asked me a few years ago if I would ever consider myself a homesteader, my answer would have been, “What’s a Homesteader”! HaHa

Isn’t it amazing how our perspective for our lives change!

But even though I am living the life as a homesteader, I guess most of the time I just don’t think about it that way.

Now when people ask me how I feel about homesteading, my reaction is, “Wait……I’m a Homesteader?”!

I think there is so many mis-conceptions about homesteading.

People think if you are a homesteader you must live in a shack in the boonies, with no running water, no electricity and bare-foot and pregnant all your life!

When in reality, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

My family lives in a ranch style house, and even though we live in a rural area, we actually live right in town!

We have a  store 3 blocks down the road, and a post office 4 blocks away.

Our local Police and Fire Dept is a 10 minute walk from my house.

So we have clarified that I do not live in the boonies, I do have running water and electricity, and even though I do run around barefooted, I haven’t been pregnant in fourteen years!

And even though I don’t like fixing my hair and putting on make-up everyday (hey my chickens don’t care what I look like!), I do enjoy getting dressed up and going out.  I don’t sew my own clothes, even though I would if I could, my husband can’t live without his Hollister Clothes and hairspray, but we try to always buy them second hand!

We define Homesteading as this:  Living a self-sufficient life (meaning not relying on others to provide our needs).

Be satisfied with what we have, and taking value in learning to grow, raise and make our own food, and other necessities.  It’s so important that our children realize that our food doesn’t just appear at the grocery store.

And most important for me is, not being wasteful.  Trying to preserve what you have.

Some ways I define myself as a homesteader is, I enjoy raising chickens.  I love going out in the morning and gathering eggs.  It brings me such a sense of simplicity.

We also raise meat rabbits and turkeys.  You might say, don’t you feel bad?  Yes sometimes I do, but my son is the one who raises the rabbits and if he didn’t he would just take his gun up the road and come home with a couple he shot anyway.

I make my own laundry and bar soap.  I do enjoy girly smells, but my skin is very sensitive and it cannot always handle what is added to soaps.  Making it myself guarantees I know exactly what I is added.

I love the smell of line-dried laundry.  It makes me think of my momma and growing up!  Sometimes it’s the little things that make you a homesteader.

We try to buy most of our clothing, decor and furniture second-hand or at least on clearance.  I’m not one for wasting money on things that I can get at a discounted price!  That money can buy more chickens!

I also like growing our own fruits and vegetables when I can.  And I love to can my own jellies, syrups, pickles and more.

Being a homesteader doesn’t make me different, it just makes me more aware of how I live!

And of course everyone has to have a Homestead Hound, Right?

I believe the definition for a homesteader is different for everybody.

Don’t think your a homesteader?

Take a look around your life and home.  You might be surprised!

The post Wait…..I’m a Homesteader? appeared first on GraceandGravy with a side of life!.

We all want our homesteads to be more organized, but what normally happens for me is I start thinking about the areas that I need to organize and I become overwhelmed and not very motivated to do any at all.

Since I am making a commitment to myself and my family this year, (you can read it here), I wanted a way to make sure I become more organized around the homestead, maybe not so much to have organization, but to make sure I have less stress and have everything done in a timely manner so I’m not rushing at the last minute.

And in reality, if we have a checklist of a project each week to complete, then we will feel more accomplished and willing to tackle the next one.

What I love about my “Homestead Organizing: 52 Weeks of Organization in 2015” checklist, is that I listed items that my whole family can tackle.

I might take weeks 1-7 and my hubby might tackle 13-15 but I know even my kiddos can tackle 24-25 and 30-36 without any problems.

That really takes pressure off of just me and gives everyone a responsibility around the homestead.

I hope you will take the time to download and print.

Happy Homesteading!

Homestead Organizing 52 Weeks of Organization in 2015 Printable

The post Homestead Organizing: 52 Weeks of Organization in 2015 appeared first on GraceandGravy with a side of life!.