In order to decide if you want to live a self-sufficient lifestyle, you first need to know what it is and where you might fit in. 

If you were to look in a dictionary, the definition of “self-sufficient” would be something along the lines of “able to supply one’s own needs without external assistance.” Your most basic needs would be food and water, clothing, and shelter. Maybe you consider electricity, communication and transportation real needs in our day and age, too.

However, self-sufficiency is much more than just that simple definition.  It is a more complex web of ideas and thoughts about where you are comfortable on a whole spectrum of possibilities for living self-sufficiently. We are here to help you work through those thoughts and ideas.  You need to discover your own version of self-sufficiency.

Is being self-sufficient different than sustainable living or subsistence living?

Yes and no. All three of these have something to do with providing for yourself, but each has a different focus for doing so. If you look around the web, you will find that these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but there are subtle differences.

Sustainable Living

Sustainable living is providing for all or some of your needs while minimizing the impact on the Earth’s resources. Concepts like recycling, composting, energy efficient appliances, alternative forms of energy and transportation, and minimizing waste are examples of sustainable living. People who are trying to reduce their “carbon footprint” or who are trying to live “green” would be people who are into sustainable living. Some of these ideas do cross over into the ideas of subsistence and self-sufficiency, but the main focus here is the environmental impact of our lives.

Subsistence Living

Subsistence living is providing for your own needs, but involving minimal resources necessary for survival. Basically it means providing food, clothing, water and some sort of shelter. Your time would be spent in continuing to provide for what you would think of as just the basics. Because minimal resources are involved, subsistence living could also be considered sustainable living. And guess what? Subsistence living also means you are self-sufficient.

Self-Sufficient Living

Self-sufficient living is providing for your own needs, but the focus is on being independent of commercial establishments, grocery stores, etc.  Living a self-sufficient life, by nature of what is done to accomplish that, could also be considered sustainable living. For example, recycling of materials and composting organic waste to fertilize a garden are involved in self-sufficient living and are also sustainable. Those seeking a self-sufficient life are also generally wanting clean living that in turn takes care of the environment.

If you are here, I am fairly certain you are interested in living some sort of self-sufficient lifestyle. Maybe you are wondering how you can do it or where to begin. I get that – that was and still is me. Maybe you are already on your way, but looking for more ideas or information.  That is also me.  Self-sufficiency is a journey and once you are on the path, there will always be something new to learn or a new idea to begin working on.

Should you be self-sufficient?

Let’s take a personal inventory and think about your current potential for being self-sufficient. If the world were to completely change and there were no corner grocery and convenience stores, no modern technology, no power grid supplying electricity or water treatment plants.. basically taking us back to where society was more than a century ago, would you have the skills necessary to not just survive, but thrive? Would you be able to meet your most basic needs without assistance – food and water, clothing, shelter? Being self-sufficient means you know how to provide for those needs without any assistance.

Fortunately, we don’t currently live in a society where all modern conveniences are gone. But we do live in a society that through clever marketing has made us think we need a lot more than we actually do. One that has made us think we are somehow less than acceptable if we don’t have the latest fashion, the fanciest car, or the most advanced cell phone. 

We are a society obsessed with money and things. As a result, most want to make more money to buy more things.  This makes us dependent on commercial establishments for not just our goods and services, but also our income. Seeking to be more self-sufficient means finding freedom from this dependence. It means knowing that you can take care of yourself and your family if all of our modern conveniences and toys went away.

That said, self-sufficiency does require skills and knowledge that you might already have, or that you might need to learn. That is where this site comes in. I want to help you, but also learn from you. If you are like-minded, you have found your place.

How self-sufficient do you want to be?

Have you really thought about it? How far do you want to go?

In my book, your personal level of self-sufficiency means finding your happy place. It is the level at which you are comfortable. If that means you want to hermit yourself away in a cabin in the woods, by all means make that your goal. If that means you just want to be able to provide most of your own food, that’s great! Find a level that makes you happy. Some really, truly enjoy their job. Maybe you just want to be self-sufficient enough to only work part-time.

My personal level of self-sufficiency means being able to provide for our own basic needs without sacrificing a huge amount of time and quality of life. In our modern world, I would add for myself transportation and communication to basic needs. I also want time. I want to eventually work completely from home. I want quality of life and to be able to thrive if the world as we know it takes a massive dump. 

I am also realistic about a time frame to reach my goals. It’s not going to happen by tomorrow, or next month or even by next year. Self-sufficiency is a journey and we are on a path. I don’t believe we will ever reach a destination that we can say we’ve officially arrived at self-sufficiency. We are constantly learning and doing – and that’s one of the most rewarding aspects of the journey.

I also believe that you can work within a network of like-minded individuals to somewhat divide the work load. For example, you might have chickens and a surplus of eggs. A local farmer might have milk cows. If the farmer is willing, you could make an agreement to trade eggs for milk. 

What does your perfect picture of self-sufficiency look like?

What are the most important aspects of being self-sufficient for you? Do you want to provide for some or all of your basic needs? What do you want to achieve by being more self-sufficient?

Take a few moments to think about that and then you may want to write down your personal level of self-sufficiency as I did above. You might think it’s cheesy, but writing it down somehow makes it real. If you want to take it a step further, put it in a place where you will see it often and make it your goal. Keep your goal at the forefront of your thoughts so you can make it happen.  You don’t have to do this alone – we are in this together. 

I want you to have that perfect picture, so it’s time to make a plan. Head over to Self-Sufficiency Plan in 5 Steps to make it happen!