Friday, September 11, 2009

GREEN LIVING: Learning to Be Self-Sufficient

By Laura Griffin

Being self-sufficient can be liberating. Basically you don't want to rely on anyone for the necessities you need. Becoming less dependent on the grocery stores and the power companies will save you money.

Many people cannot become totally self-sufficient because of the lack of space. Living in the city you do not have the space it requires to raise your own livestock. There are still ways to save yourself money on the meats you will buy for the coming year to feed your family. You may be able to talk to a small rancher who is in the cattle business and make one of two deals with him.

The first deal would involve buying one of his cows before they went to market. The second would be to supply him with a heifer and the feed needed for a small price of keeping the cow on his property. As for raising your own vegetables, most people living in the city with the exception of apartment dwellers, have the space to create a small vegetable garden. This garden should produce enough vegetables for you to can for the next year.

Even with a garden producing your vegetable, you will still need some staple items from the grocery store. However with the vegetable garden supplying you with fresh vegetables and maybe some fruit, it should take a large chunk out of the money you spend at the grocery store.

You may not be able to become 100% self-sufficient, however, you can become less dependent on the electric and power companies by generating your own power. I know, the first thing you might think of is going to be the cost. The cost of solar panels is not feasible for the average American just yet, and neither is the wind turbines that can help generate power for your home. You may be aware of the products on the market today that will give you instructions on how you can build your own power-generating wind turbine, and on how you can create your own working solar panels.

You might think you need to be an expert builder or something in order to be able to do this, but you are mistaken. It may depend largely on the product you buy, but some of these products will give you step-by-step instructions on how to build a wind turbine or solar panel for under $200!

By making your own energy producing products you will have saved yourself tens of thousands of dollars! That is not counting the money you will save on your electric bills, plus you can feel good knowing that you are doing your part of help the carbon emissions being released everyday into the air that we breathe.

For more information on how to make your own solar panels and wind turbines click here.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Laura_Griffin
http://EzineArticles.com/?Learning-to-Be-Self-Sufficient&id=2825025

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