20 Ways to Start Homesteading in an Apartment TODAY

If you’ve got your heart set on homesteading, but you’re currently cooped up in an apartment, it’s easy to feel like your dream will never come to pass. Without land of your own and space to do all of the things you need to on a working homestead, you might as well give up, right?

No, not right. Homesteading is just as much a way of life and a mindset as it is a pasture on a property.

However much space you have in your apartment, there are things you can do right now, today, to start getting into the flow of homesteading and reaping very real rewards. Keep reading, and I’ll tell you about 20 of them in this article.

Catch Rainwater

Yes, you can always just turn on the tap at a sink or tub faucet to get all the water you want in your apartment. But you shouldn’t “cheat”; keeping an emergency reserve of stored water on hand will come in real handy when municipal supplies are interrupted.

You can set up a simple rain-catching system with a bucket or a wide, pan-style diverter on your balcony or even on a windowsill and store your water in buckets or other containers. Plus by doing so you’ll be saving water and reducing costs every month.

Set Up Solar Panels

Self-sufficiency is the name of the game for most homesteaders, and for some homesteaders who live off-grid, there’s no such thing as electricity unless you make it yourself.

Once again, apartment living means you’ve got all the electricity you could ever want, but it’s still good to practice implementing your own power supply solutions.

A small solar panel, converter, and battery arrangement can easily be set up on an as-needed basis by a sunny window, on your balcony or patio, or in your backyard area if you are lucky enough to have one. Knowing the basics of solar power generation will pay off big time later.

Fix It Yourself!

When I lived in apartments for a few seasons of my life, I got really lazy when it came to DIY and home repair. After all, I could always call the landlord or the maintenance men!

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t, or that you should pour money into a property that isn’t yours, but it’s good practice to get into the swing of fixing things yourself.

Leaky faucets, running toilets, loose trim, and all sorts of other minor issues are easy to take care of with a few basic tools and a little bit of know-how. Treat these things like practice and take care of them yourself.

Repurpose Old and Broken Items

Repair, reuse, recycle. Make do or do without. Use things up. Maxims that our great-great-grandparents used to live by. In our culture of disposability and worship of gadgetry, we’ve gotten very far from this ancient and worthwhile wisdom.

Force yourself to start repurposing broken items for new and useful tasks to reduce waste. Likewise, don’t ever be in a rush to replace old and shabby but otherwise functional possessions.

Hang Clothes to Dry

Whether you have an in-unit dryer, an on-property laundry room, or you are forced to haul your clothes to a nearby laundromat, apartment dwellers always have access to electric clothes dryers.

As you might have guessed, this won’t always be the case on a homestead. Even if you generate your own power, most clothes dryers are just too power-hungry to be worth it.

Do it the old-fashioned way and hang up your clothes to dry. Even if you don’t have a porch or balcony, you can still make do with an indoor clothes drying rack (just mind the extra humidity which can result in mold in the long run).

Start a Vertical or Container Garden

One of the biggest features of the typical homestead you’ll see is a nice garden. Well, if you don’t have land you can use for your purposes, that means a garden is off the table. Or is it?

Apartment life does not preclude a garden if you use vertical or container gardening methods. A balcony, deck, or patio is a bonus here, but you don’t even need that; you can go all indoors with the use of grow lights.

Grow Kitchen Herbs

A little intimidated about starting an indoor garden? Go micro-scale and improve your cooking at the same time by growing some herbs near or on a sunny windowsill.

Fresh herbs like basil, mint, thyme, oregano, and more are all very prolific, very easy to grow, and incredibly easy to use in your favorite recipes. Truthfully, it requires next to no real effort as long as you follow instructions for their care.

Forage for Edible Plants

This is bound to sound strange to some folks, I’m sure, but you can get out and explore the area around your apartment
and nearby areas in your town or city for edible plants.

Foraging, as it’s called, is not only a fun pastime but a great way to improve food security and practice for when you have access to more bountiful land. Dandelion, wild carrot, various nuts, and a whole lot more are nutritious and easy to find.

Just take care that you don’t harvest from any area that might have been treated with herbicide or pesticide or exposed to hazardous runoff.

Cook a Proper Meal

If you live on takeout and processed food from the grocery store, it’s time to put an end to that. Start cooking, no excuses.

I’ve got news for you — cooking is easy, and not only will your health and mood dramatically improve from good, wholesome home-cooked meals, but you’ll save a fortune, too.

Start Canning

Preparing your food is one thing, preserving it is another. If there’s just one skill that I can say most homesteaders have, no matter what else they do, it is canning.

Canning is easy and a great way to prevent waste and be prepared for lean times. Plus, pressure canning and water bath canning can easily be done in any kitchen, including apartment kitchens!

Learn to Pickle and Ferment

Two more great methods of preservation that are super simple to learn, super versatile, and produce tasty results that you and your family will love.

Pickling can be used as a part of the canning process or with the refrigerator only, and fermentation requires only that you store the finished product in the refrigerator for best results.

Make Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)

Every homesteader knows that apple cider vinegar is your very best friend. Not only is it a healthy component of many recipes and salad dressings, but it has potent health-boosting properties, too.

Better yet, it can be put to use to make cleaning supplies and for all kinds of household chores and tasks. It’s great to have around and, accordingly, something you should learn to make yourself.

Learn to Sew and Mend

Working hard invariably results in ripped clothing, blown stitches on gloves and harnesses, and various other kinds of damage to textiles and fabrics.

It would behoove you to learn how to repair this incidental damage yourself. And fellas, it’s not girly: we aren’t crafting lace here, and most of our forefathers knew how to do this. Replacing a button, zipper, or patching a tear will save you money and time because you’ll avoid a trip to the seamstress.

Make Your Own Cleaning Supplies

It’s alarming how many chemicals we all get exposed to in our day-to-day lives. Many of them come from the products we use to keep our homes ostensibly clean and healthy!

Happily, you don’t need to mess with any of that stuff if you don’t want to. With simple ingredients like white vinegar, borax, and distilled water, you can keep your apartment sparkling clean and fresh. Many folks make their own cleaning supplies to maintain the health of their land and animals, not to mention their families, so you should too!

Start a Compost Bucket

Compost is the best stuff on Earth for keeping your plants happy and healthy, whether ornamental flowers, herbs, veggies, fruit, or anything else.

Normally, it’s made in a big pile or bin, but you can make it on a much smaller scale in a bucket or small compost pod in your own apartment — and all without any nasty odors. All you need is some soil, kitchen scraps, and some yard waste you can pick up right outside your front door.

Raise (Small) Chickens or Quail

It’s no surprise that most livestock is out of the question here. Most, but not all! If your apartment allows you to raise birds, you can potentially sneak in a few small chickens or, better yet, quail.

A simple indoor run for one or two birds won’t be much bigger than a playpen, and if you play your cards right, you can enjoy a steady supply of eggs from either.

Help Out in or Start a Community Garden

Not all towns and cities are fortunate enough to have one, but if you live in a place that does, you should definitely check out and help out in your local community garden. It’s a great way to make connections, find a gardening mentor, and contribute to the well-being of your community.

All of those things benefit homesteaders, and you’ll have a good time to boot!

Practice Frugality

It never fails that people who take to the homesteading lifestyle change. You feel a lot more connected to your life, a lot more grounded. Things that used to matter so much to you won’t matter as much anymore.

You can start cultivating this attitude by practicing frugality. There are so many things we buy that we simply do not need and that won’t make us happy. It’s better to save that money for a property of your own anyway!

Be Prepared

Not every homesteader lives way out in the country, but many do. When emergencies happen, this changes the course of events. People won’t necessarily be a phone call away when you are in trouble, and even if you do reach someone to ride to the rescue, it might be a while before they can get there.

You’ll be on your own, more or less. Don’t be scared, but do be prepared! An emergency kit and contingency supplies consisting of food, water, shelter material, clothing, tools, and the like, along with a good contingency plan, goes a long way toward lowering stress and keeping you and yours safe.

Be a Good Neighbor

Last and certainly not least, be a good neighbor. Life is hard enough, and bad or indifferent neighbors just make things worse. You might feel skittish about introducing yourself, or you might have second thoughts about the quality of the people who live on either side of you and across the hall…

Screw that: be brave and at least try. Help your neighbors and, just as importantly, when you need help, give them an opportunity to help you — but don’t begrudge it if they don’t. People generally feel good about helping others, and that goes both ways!