You don’t have to drop off the grid to get a good thing going! Becoming more self-sufficient at home starts with small – REALISTIC – steps that anyone can make.
South Africa (11 March 2026) – We’re not here to tell you the world is falling apart. But it is shifting, and the truth is that some of the best habits we can build aren’t born out of crisis at all. They come from a decision to do things a little differently…
To be a little less dependent on systems we can’t control, and a little more rooted in our own resourcefulness – you’d be surprised at just how much you might be holding back!
I first cottoned onto the idea of becoming ‘self-sufficient’ a few years ago, when I interviewed Tracey Michau, who after a career in corporate decided to change her life and become more independent doing so.
Tracey escaped the ‘rat race’ and now lives on her homestead in Cradock along with her husband, Toby, and their daughter, Savannah. She makes her own cheese, stores her own seeds, presses fresh juice straight from trees in her garden, and is a constant source of inspiration for people like me – and probably you, if you’re reading this – learning toward living a simpler, more independent lifestyle.
Our conversation sparked something in me. It made me realise that the greatest gift you can give yourself is independence to survive – and that, my friends, is a long game that demands you take small, thoughtful steps. Not big leaps.
You don’t need a farm and 20 chickens and 40 cows. You need a good mindset, and the willingness to start with small changes. Here are some ideas that have worked really well in kickstarting that journey for me!
Grow Something – Anything!
You don’t need a garden. You need a windowsill, a balcony, or even just a wall that faces the sun (vertical gardening is a thing!) Your go-to herbs like basil, parsley, mint, and chives grow happily in recycled yoghurt tubs, and they’ll save you money every single week. Spring onions regrow from their own roots in a glass of water on your kitchen counter. Lettuce and spinach can grow in old buckets on a balcony. If you have outdoor space – even a small stoep – tomatoes, peppers, and baby marrows are surprisingly easy and produce abundantly in our climate. And if you own your home, even a single fruit tree (a lemon, a fig, a guava) becomes a gift that keeps giving for many years.
Treat Water Like the Precious Thing It Is
You don’t need a borehole or a tank to be more water conscious, (though if you own your home, a Jojo is one of the best investments you can make). Slow and steady habits win the race, like keeping a bucket in your shower to catch the cold water while you wait for it to heat up can be used to flush the toilet or water your plants! Just the other day, I discovered that using a simple spray/mist bottle to clean apples or fruit can conserve loads of water while still rinsing away the nasties! Then there’s the age old toilet wisdom – ‘if it’s yellow…let it mellow’ – made even more effective by a spritz or two of homemade toilet drops – recipes are available all over the internet. None of these take more than a moment of intention and over time, they add up.
Save Seeds Like You’re Starting a Farm
Start saving seeds from what you eat – it builds food security for the future! This is a simple one, but you need to be informed before you start. It might be tempting to scoop the seeds from a tomato or pepper you’ve just bought at the shop and pop them in a pot, but this often doesn’t work the way you’d hope. Most produce sold in large supermarkets is grown from hybrid seeds which are bred specifically for commercial farming. The seeds inside those fruits and veggies may sprout, but the plant that grows from may be weak, unpredictable, or produce a very small yield. For seed saving to actually work, you need fresh produce grown from open-pollinated or heirloom varieties. For that, your best source is a farmers market, a small local grower, or a specialist seed supplier. Once you have the right source, saving seeds is simple! Rinse them, dry them on a paper towel, and store them in a labelled envelope somewhere cool and dry. Over time you build up a seed bank that costs you nothing.
Make Friends with Your Pantry
A well-stocked pantry is one of the most solid forms of security because you depend on food for survival. You don’t need to become a full-on ‘Doomsday Prepper,’ but it does help storing staples that a week of unexpected expenses or a shortage at the shops doesn’t send you into a spin! Plan your meals weekly. Shop with a list. Freeze bread before it goes stale. Freeze overripe bananas for baking. Learn to make one or two simple preserves – a chutney or a tomato sauce – especially when tomatoes are in season and cheap. Cook nose-to-tail! Broccoli stalks, cauliflower leaves, and potato skins are all perfectly delicious, beef and chicken bones make good stock and broth. Using every part of an ingredient is one of the easiest ways to stretch what’s in the fridge.
Make Friends With People!
Some of the most powerful self-sustainability isn’t actually about self at all, it’s about community. Getting to know your neighbours. Swapping surplus produce with your family or friends. Sharing a skill or starting a community garden. Buying staples together in bulk. The stokvel model has existed in South Africa for generations because collective resilience works!
Learn a Simple Skill
Learn one practical skill you don’t currently have. It could be sewing a button or hemming a pants, unclogging a drain, propagating plants, baking bread. YouTube has made this so accessible. Every skill you have is one less thing you have to pay someone else for, and one more thing you can offer someone else.
Pick one thing from this list. One tiny shift can make you feel so much more capable and a little less at the mercy of things outside your control. That’s not scarcity thinking, it’s wisdom and it’s always been available to us and we’re just choosing to lean into it.
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