The best step to start with living self-sufficiently is to prepare natural meals. For preparing natural meals you only use natural foods that are unprocessed, such as vegetables, fruit, meat, fish and eggs. For the production of these foods less chemicals have been used. It is also important to choose fruits and vegetables that are in season, because this is fresher and they have to be transported for shorter distances. Sometimes it can be quite difficult to prepare meals with only natural ingredients, but on the internet you can luckily find enough delicious recipes.
You can simply grow your own vegetables or fruit in your garden or you can place a few plants on your balcony. To do this you are best off making your own compost. In this case you will know exactly what composition the compost has. This also means that your garden and kitchen waste does not first have to be transported to a particular organization to be processed into compost and then in turn have to be transported back to your house for your use.
A next step to living self-sufficiently is the making of natural cleaning solutions and care products. You can make a sort of cleaning product for everyday uses by dissolving some freshly squeezed lemon juice into water. Vinegar is a good product to remove fungus, to clean the toilet or to clean the windows. Every chemical cleaning product can actually be replaced by a natural one.
In a lot of grooming products there are all sorts of ingredients that are actually not so good for us. Shampoo for instance is not good at all for our hair and it often makes your hair weaker. Instead of shampoo you can use apple cider vinegar. To use apple cider vinegar as a shampoo you have to add a spoon of apple cider vinegar to about 2 cups of water, then after wetting the hair you rinse your hair with the created solution and massage it into the scalp. After letting the solution soak for a couple of minutes, rinse your hair thoroughly with water. For some people starting who are starting to wash their hair with apple cider vinegar it takes a while before the hair get used to being washed with this solution, but after a month or two you will never want to use regular shampoo again! One benefit is also that you only have to wash your hair once every week, or even only once every month, depending on how quickly it gets dirty.
Most toothpastes contain fluoride and this is not good for tour teeth. You can make tour own toothpaste by grinding a couple of mint leaves and mix it with a spoon of coconut oil and a spoon of baking soda. Coconut oil can also be used for a lot of other personal care purposes. You can use it as a lip balm, body lotion and if you mix it with sugar you can use it as a body scrub.
A next step in becoming fully self-sufficient is using as much green energy as possible. This energy is coming from solar power, biomass or wind and water power. The easiest way to do this is to switch your household to green electricity or green gas. If you really want to be self-sufficient, a much better solution is to install solar panels on your roof.
If you really want to be self-sufficient, you of course also have to make your own clothing. Clothing that is made in the factory is often processed with harmful chemicals. Besides this your clothing also has to be transported. If you make your own clothing yourself this will be much better for the environment.
You can also take a good look what you have lying in your closet. Perhaps you can repair several pieces of clothing or use the fabric of these pieces to make new pieces of clothing. If you want to make new clothing, you are best off using sheep wool to knit or weave (preferably of sheep that you own yourself). You can however also choose to make your own clothing from responsible organic fabrics.
Are you still eating animal products and you still want to be self-sufficient? In that case it is the best to keep your own animals. Chickens and geese is a good start, because you can directly start eating their eggs. Besides this you can keep rabbits and pigs for their meat and cows and goats for milk and later also for their meat. If you keep sheep or goats you also directly have access to their wool which you can weave into clothing.
Often we are running directly to the shops to buy something new when a product is broken. It is however much better to repair those products yourself. Have a good look yourself if you can fix the product on your own or ask a friend or family member who is handy in fixing this particular type of product. Perhaps you can ask someone to teach you how to repair this product or look on the internet for solutions.
If you want to live completely self-sufficient you of course also have to make your own furniture. Not everyone is a real handyman, but you can of course learn this. Start with something simple, like a small table. Perhaps later on in time you can make a whole closet by yourself! For materials you can use wood for instance or materials that you have left from other furniture or products.
You probably do not have access to all the products that you need and not everyone has the time to learn how to keep animals, to sow and to make furniture. Therefore you can try to trade products with others. You can for instance trade clothing or books, but of course also other products. If you can sow very well, you can also make a few pieces of clothing for someone else and trade this for a sofa for instance. If you are creative enough and know exactly what someone else has to offer, you can easily collect all the stuff you need!
Living completely self-sufficient is of course not for everyone. Some people just can not find the time for this or do not want to put in so much effort. But as said earlier on: every step is one and has a positive influence on your way of life and on the environment. In this 10 stepped plan there surely are a few things that are not too difficult for you to apply in your daily life, and you can thus start with this today.
