Somebody on Reddit asked how people are even getting by. I answered with what we actually do, and then I made this video explaining it properly. I am not going to pretend I did this on my own. I had family, and I worked 16 hour days for almost four years and 13 hour days for more than ten. What I did with that was get out of debt and buy a house in cash in a part of the country where that is still possible, so that the cost of everything going up has as little to do with my life as I can manage. The five things, in order: One, build an anti-capitalist mindset. Not against markets and trade, against consumerism. Buy quality once, buy it secondhand if you can, repair it if it breaks, and keep the spare part in the garage. Two, grow as much of your own food as you can, and start with staple crops instead of vegetables. Everybody says grow the expensive stuff. Do the math on what you actually eat all year and it is wheat and potatoes, not kale. Three, ration your energy. We keep the south facing windows covered, I drive my truck like a hypermiler and get 35 miles to the gallon out of a truck rated for 25, and we heat with wood from our own land. Four, use what you already have. The lean-to came with the property. We could buy wood and close it in. We hung the feed bags instead, because a tarp is useful somewhere else and the bags were going in the trash anyway. Five, make it yourself. We make our own mustard and mayonnaise. We bought $85 of potatoes and tomatoes at the Amish market, about 200 pounds of it, canned it, and it came out at a third of store prices. None of this is finished. Nothing on a farm ever is. It is an interest, not a privilege. Seed and full growing guides: https://loopfarmstead.com The ebook, Meditations for the Working Homesteader: https://loopfarmstead.com/meditations/ Subscribe if you want to see how the next one goes. 0:00 How are people even getting by 3:10 Self-sufficiency is a myth 11:52 Grow staples, not vegetables 14:58 Use what you have 16:47 Ration your energy 19:58 Make it yourself 23:57 An interest, not a privilege