Blog Archives
Making Money From Home
This is one of the most popular questions I get. How to make money from home so you can homestead or prep more or just feel safer in general. There are several ways, some of which I use myself, some that make minimal money and some that can make exponentially more. Let’s get started.
-Start a home business. In this day in age, just about anyone can start an online business from selling products like I do, to providing consulting, making websites or writing. Find something you like to do!
-Sell on ebay, etsy or craigslist. Many people have things laying around that they no longer need but don’t necessarily want to get rid of. Why not make a little bit of extra money for your clutter? I have a friend that sells her children’s outgrown clothes by the bag online and she makes a killing.
-Maintenance. Mow lawns, shovel snow, paint houses, whatever you can. This may seem juvenile but you can really make quite a bit of money helping out elderly neighbors or people with young kids that don’t have the time themselves.
-Pet sitting. Like animals? You can offer your services as a pet sitter on websites such as craigslist but it will look much more professional to design a website. Put up signs in pet stores, at your vet and in grocery stores in your area.
-Metal scrapping. In my city, several people drive around on garbage days, taking metal objects out of the trash, this may or may not be legal where you are so be careful, and please don’t steal, but scrap metal can pull in quite a bit of extra funds. Don’t want to drive around? Place a free ad online or in your local paper for free junk metal removal
-Online surveys. This is something I’ve been doing for years. You do have to be careful as some survey companies are pretty shifty but once you find the good ones, stick with them and build up your points. Most survey companies pay out via cheque or PayPal. I generally make a couple hundred dollars a year and cash out around the winter holidays. Not much, I know, but if you’re online anyways, its not a bad way to kill some time.
Have something that works for you? Be sure to share it in the comments!
Prepping When You Have No Money
Earlier this week, I realized I haven’t been doing as much prepping as I wanted to. I don’t have as much done this far in the year as I had planned and am far behind my goals. Money has become tight, as I’m sure is the case for a lot of people. I’ll be honest, it got me down for about a day.
But! There’s lots that you can do that takes no money at all. I started out by taking inventory of what I do have and looking again at my list of what I would like to have. Reassess and reevaluate your goals.
Next I spent hours watching videos on everything prepping and survival that I could find. YouTube is great for this, but make sure you take everything with a grain of salt. The people that make these videos could be anyone, just like you or me. So really think about the things that these people do and say but there really is a wealth of information out there, for free. So find the videos and take notes. There is also a lot of information on Facebook groups and hashtags on twitter (check out #preppertalk for one)
After that, I decided I could use to be in a bit better shape. If the S were to HTF, being in good physical condition would definitely make it a bit easier. So, I revamped my workout routine. Anyone can work out and you don’t need gym equipment and you don’t even need to run. One of the easiest things you can do is sit on the couch and watch an hour long program. Each time there is a commercial, do 20 sit ups or push ups. That should give you close to 100 in an hour! If that’s too much work, cut it down to 10 or 5 or even 1, anywhere is a good starting point. By doing the exercise in small sets, it doesn’t feel like as much of a work out. This is how I started a while ago, now I can just do the 100 sit ups or push ups in a row (which means it’s time to up my numbers or make it harder.)
The last thing I did was mentally prepare. I realized that I may not have thousands of dollars tied up in my preparations but at least I have prepared. That’s more than what most people have done. I thought about what could happen in my area (snowstorms, tornadoes, economic collapse etc) and thought about how my life would be affected. What would I do in _____ situation? What if _____ happened? And make your plans from there. What would it take to get you to bug out? Where would you go? What would you bring? Make your plans and constantly reassess them, always be willing to change them and be flexible!
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