20 Ugly Homesteading Truths No One Ever Told You

For so many of us, ditching or transitioning out of our current lives and into one that’s on a homestead, a simpler lifestyle that’s so much closer to those of generations past, is a dream. Many of us, the fortunate ones, make the dream a reality.

I hate to say it, but the truth demands it: for so many of those folks, the best part of the homesteading lifestyle is the day they started and the day they quit it. Homesteading is, frankly, not at all like what many blogs and fashionable influencers try to sell you on.

Homesteading entails many challenges, and if you discover them too late, you’re going to be in for a very miserable time. In the effort of saving you a lot of pain, money and misery, I’m going to tell you about some nasty homesteading truths that few people will below…

You’ll Be Way, Way Busier Than You Are Now

Let’s get one of the major ugly truths out of the way. I know lots of homesteaders, and if I’m honest it included me back in the day, who thought a change in lifestyle would equal a lot more free time. Let’s call it a more sedate way of life…

My friends, nothing could be further from the truth. You’re going to have so much more to do, all of it entirely dependent on you if it’s not a family affair, that free time, much less leisure time, will be a thing of the past. You’ll be moving and busy from sunup to sundown, and make no mistake.

The Lifestyle Can Be Expensive

Another blind spot for most people when it comes to homesteading is the idea that it will somehow be a much cheaper way to live. Again, it just isn’t so!

For starters, you’ve got to buy or lease a property and then improve it if you’re starting from scratch. That means a home or some kind of other dwelling, installation or development of utilities, preparing the land for agriculture, space for animals and all the rest.

This stuff is always expensive and it’s usually a lot more expensive the farther out you go. Then there’s all the tools, equipment, livestock and all the rest that goes along with it…

Existing Money Troubles Don’t Go Away

Speaking of money, keep in mind your financial troubles don’t just go away when you start a homestead. Any debts you’ve got are still your own, however you came by them.

If you struggle to afford your current lifestyle, unless you are dropping off of an upper-middle-class or upper-class situation, your month-to-month expenses likely aren’t going to change. Like I said, they will probably get worse, and that means the servicing of existing debt is going to get even harder.

You Can Buy Most Things You Need Cheaper

Everyone loves the idea of having the healthiest, tastiest farm-fresh veggies and eggs you can get and all for pennies on the dollar, but is this really true? Honestly, in most cases, I don’t think it is. I didn’t say that I don’t think it’s worth it, but I don’t think, when all is said and done, raising your own food and other necessities yourself is a cost-saving move.

If you want fresh eggs, you’ve got to get the chickens. Chickens are cheap, but they’ve got to be fed. They also need a place to stay, and that means a coop. Then there’s your protection from predators, and that means fencing and a run. Chickens need health care, which means medicine, supplements and the like.

All of this adds up and factors into the cost of that free egg you grab out of the nesting box every morning. Unless your family is eating a metric ton of eggs every month, you’re far better off just buying a carton from the grocery store. By the way, if you want to learn more about the pitfalls of raising this bird, I wrote a separate article right here.

Your Neighbors Might Still Be Raging A-Holes

One of the things that first attracted me to the homestead lifestyle is the idea of living more self-sufficiently and being a lot closer with my one or two neighbors.

I’m blessed and fortunate to say that my neighbors have been absolutely wonderful people that I count among my closest family, but that’s not been universal among fellow homesteaders I’ve talked to.

In fact, you are likely to find that your neighbors are still just people with all of their flaws and peccadillos. You might not like them, and they might not like you. But now you are even more dependent on the people around you, and this can make for real friction far worse than living in suburbia. Remember that the Hatfields and McCoys fable is entirely real and still talked about for a reason…

Your Days End When the Work Is Done, Not at 5 O’clock

If you are anything like me and enjoy ordering your life on a very set, rigid schedule, homesteading just isn’t for you. The only constant is that you will be getting up early and staying up late.

Said another way, you don’t get to clock out and just take a load off at 5:00. Things are always going to go wrong. Animals will get out, get sick or get hurt. Weather will threaten your buildings and your herds. All kinds of emergencies great and small are yours to deal with, and crucial deadline items must, absolutely must, be done, hours invested be damned.

Some Relationships Will End

One of the most painful truths regarding homesteading is that many of your relationships will end because of it. Moving out to a homestead means you’re going to lose touch with a lot of people you talk to regularly right now. The divergence of lifeways is just too much to overcome.

Something else to keep in mind is that many people will not understand or even become hostile to your new way of life. They won’t understand it, won’t agree with it and won’t support it. Regrettably, this includes your immediate family. Sadly, I know two couples that divorced because of homesteading!

It’s a serious thing, and you should consider this carefully before committing.

Less Time for Family and Friends

Assuming you do keep in touch with your existing family and friends, owing to everything I talked about above, you must make peace with the fact you’re going to have a whole lot less time for all of them unless they live on the homestead with you.

Most of your friends will not come visit, straight up. Your family members that do come visit will visit a lot less for reasons you’ll understand here in a minute, and you yourself will not be able to get away from the homestead to visit them for any length of time.

Isolation and Loneliness Is a Real Risk for Some

This goes hand in hand with the previous two items we just talked about. If you just have a spouse living with you, or if you’re making a solo run at this, you’d better be acquainted and comfortable with loneliness.

It will get lonely and isolating in a way that most people haven’t experienced. The constant work and drudgery, the demands of a lifestyle, and the lack of social contact that is typical of living as a component of society will add up quickly for some, and it can become debilitating.

Vacations Will Be a Thing of the Past

Do you take vacations yearly? Maybe two or more if you are lucky?

Well, you can kiss all that goodbye if you’re going to homestead. Animals especially demand constant oversight, but it can be the same way with crops, too. Your daily chores must be attended to religiously with no excuses, and that means, unless you’re going to hire a farm sitter, there will be no vacations in your future.

You’ll Find Out How Many Skills You Really Lack

It has been said that the best way to find out what you’re made of is to jump into the deep end of the pool. Well, unless you grew up on a farm or in a similar setting, jumping into homesteading is like jumping into the water over the Challenger Deep.

However handy and crafty you think you are, homesteading will quickly reveal what skills you are sorely deficient in.

The Learning Curve Is More Like a Learning Cliff

On a similar note to the skills check I just mentioned, learning as you go is almost always a valid strategy, but I’ve liked to say for years that when it comes to homesteading, the learning curve is extremely steep.

That’s because your outcomes, your personal outcomes, are directly tied to your competency. Mishandle a pregnant or injured animal? You’ve got a death on your hands. If you have a dead, big animal on your hands like a horse or cow, now you’ve got a very real problem concerning how to move it. Don’t have a forklift or a hoist? It’s not going to be pretty…

More than most other things, failing to meet the mark with homesteading is going to make for even more demoralizing, backbreaking work. Prepare for it now.

Better Get Used to Working Sick and Hurt

If you come down with a bug or get hurt and have a normal job, you can always take sick time. Even if you don’t have official sick leave as part of your employment contract, most bosses understand an occasional day out of the office for these sorts of things.

Your animals, crops, fences and all the rest won’t understand and won’t wait. Working wounded, as I like to say, is just a normal day around any working homestead. If you don’t have true grit, if you aren’t made of sterner stuff, don’t even think about it.

You’ve Got to Become Your Family’s Own “First Responder”

Consider also that the likelihood of illness and injury on a homestead means you’ve got to be Johnny-on-the-spot concerning your wellness and your family’s wellness. Basic first-aid skills and supplies are a must, as is a working knowledge of home remedies and treatments. This is especially vital for folks living on remote homesteads far from civilization.

Services You Take for Granted Will Often Be More Expensive

The farther away you go from society, the more expensive everything gets. Water, electricity, waste disposal, internet, deliveries and on and on. Since most people aren’t homesteading on the edge of town, you’ve got to be prepared for this hidden price bump before you sign on the dotted line.

Check Your Expectations Concerning Property Aesthetics

I’ve got to level with you. I have only ever seen a truly pretty homestead on the internet. Most homesteads, even ones that people love and enjoy and have made into real homes for their families, look like crap.

Mismatched, improvised and jury-rigged materials everywhere, slap-layouts and the general air of post-apocalyptic chic are the rule of the day. This is simply because people cannot spare the time, effort or money to focus on aesthetics. Many have promised they’ll be able to beat the odds here, but almost no one does.

Everything Is Dirty. So Dirty. Always Dirty…

Another truth piggybacking off the last one. Homesteading is simply dirty. Dirty is part of the lifestyle. Everything is going to become dirty and stay that way pretty much forever. Even the most careful and fanatical housekeeper around the homestead is going to be hard-pressed to keep their home and its surrounds clean.

Almost everyone just gives up. I have one friend that’s a compulsive cleaner, and she and her husband started homesteading some years back. They started strong, and Lord knows she tried, but eventually the endless, unwinnable battle damn near drove her to psychosis. If you are like her, see to it that you don’t end up like her.

Regulations Will Always Be There to Rear Their Ugly Heads

Homesteading is a simpler way of life only concerning the trappings and entanglements of our personal lives and work lives… but the government, at the county, city, state and federal level, cares not one iota for this, and all remain just as invasive as ever.

You’ll have to deal with property codes, taxes, enforcement concerning habitation, crops, animals, and a whole lot more. Don’t kid yourself if you think otherwise.

You Can Do Everything Right and Still Fail

One of the very ugliest, and penultimate, truths of homesteading is that luck will always be a factor. You can do everything correctly and still fail to achieve a good outcome.

The weather may conspire to knock down everything you’ve built or sweep away everything you’ve grown. Sickness may confound every cure and every preventive measure. You may be faced with every kind of breakage and setback for other tasks. It just might not matter how good and how diligent you are. Prepare for this and accept it.

Homesteading Might Not Fulfill You

The very ultimate truth should be a sobering gut check for most readers. Most of us turn to homesteading because we feel some itch that we can’t scratch. Some desire. Some kind of yearning for something we can’t quite articulate but think we understand.

You might go through all of this and more and understand, to your horror, at the end that homesteading just wasn’t for you. It might not fulfill you or make you feel whole. It might make you feel worse!

And if you figure that out at the end after it’s cost you your job, friends, family, sanity and finances, you’ll be in a very dark place. Have a heart-to-heart with yourself now and potentially avoid disaster.