33 Old Fashioned Traditional Skills that are Easy to Learn + Save Money

This post was most recently updated on June 1st, 2021

In this modern world we are losing touch with some old fashioned traditional skills that we really should preserve. You don’t need to even own land to embrace these back to basics homesteading skills! You can learn to homestead anywhere. Homesteading is a way of life, a mindset and it is very rewarding. These old fashioned traditional skills can be learned even if you live in an apartment or on an urban lot.

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Living the old fashioned way in a modern world is a growing movement, with more and more people interested in learning these lost back to basics survival skills.

These may seem like depression era household tips, but they are so much more. In a SHTF scenario, the people with the forgotten survival skills will be the ones that come out on top.

Why Should we Learn Old Fashioned Traditional Skills?

Traditional homesteading skills are great to learn for ourselves, as well as to teach to the up and coming generation.

These skills and methods will ultimately save you money in the long run.

AND they can stop you being reliant on big, greedy corporations for everything.

AND it is just so SATISFYING getting things done. Yourself. With your own two hands.

No matter where you live, there are some traditional homesteading skills that you can utilize. You do not have to wait until you have a big plot of land to get started.

In fact I would suggest that you are much better off starting learning a few of these traditional skills immediately and slowly build your tool box of abilities. This gives you plenty of time and space to practice.

How do you know what Old Fashioned Traditional Skills are best to learn first?

Pick something that interests you. Something that will be most useful for you and start there. Traditional skills don’t have to be boring!

My top 5 old fashioned skills to learn would be:

Gardening – growing a productive garden
Preserving your harvest
Make your own bread the traditional way
Keep some chickens or rabbits
Learn to live without plastic

Once you have a good handle on the first skill you choose to learn, when you feel confident in your ability, choose another traditional skill to work on.

The biggest thing is the shift in mindset, you gotta have the ability to punt. To give it a go, and run with whatever ends up happening.

Through this post I recommend several (many) books.

Why buy books when EVERYTHING is on the internet?

Because, in an emergency when inevitably you will want some of this information, the internet and power may well be down. Also it is so you don’t spill your milk/cooking/fermenting on the computer, mama will get mad!

Be prepared for anything, have a good, useful library at your place. Plus who wants to snuggle up with a good phone/laptop/tablet when you could read an actual book?! Books are great at teaching you the old timey skills that will get you prepared for any disaster.

Want to know all about raising rabbits in a colony?

Check out our very own book here:

Available on Kindle and in paperback

33 Old Fashioned Traditional Skills That are Worth Learning and will Save you Money.

The kitchen is the heart of the home, and without food we cease to exist. So why not start your traditional skill building here?

Cook from scratch

Get yourself a good quality recipe book and start there. These are a few of my favorites:

Bake bread
It is not as hard as you might think, and we have a fabulous ebook to show you how to make artisan bread at home like a professional.

Make Cheese
You do not need a goat, a cow or even farm fresh milk to successfully make cheese! Grab a starter kit and a good book and you are off!

Then you can make this delicious goats cheese tart!

Cook with a Woodstove
There is something so satisfying about cooking on or in a fire! Don’t forget the seasonal maintenance.

Make your own medicine
Using herbs for medicine is a lost art that is important that we learn! Benefits to herbal medicines.

Make Yogurt
Fresh yogurt is super easy to make, and so satisfying to eat. And all the probiotics in it are super fresh, active and optimally beneficial. There is however a knack to making thick and creamy goats milk yogurt.

Render your own cooking fats
Butter, tallow, lard and dripping are the traditional fats for cooking. They are the healthy, low inflammation option, and are super easy and cheap to render yourself.

Can Food
There are so many recipes out there for preserving food. You don’t even have to have grown it yourself. It might just be a super good deal that you got at the store, so you can buy lots and put it away to use later.

There are several methods to canning – Overflow, Water Bath, Steam and Pressure Canning. Get yourself a top quality canning book and you will be sorted.

You can even make vinegar from the canning juice!

Make Jam
What better way to enjoy last summer’s fruits than on nice hot buttery toast in mid winter while the snow falls….

Dehydrate Food
You can use a dehydrator, a solar dehydrator or even just your cooker on low. Fruit leather is one of my kids fave!

Practice Life Without a Fridge
You never know what life might throw at you, a power cut or a broken down fridge, these things happen.

Ferment Food
Fermented food is really good for you and you should be eating it every day. There are so many options to add fermented foods/drinks to your diet. Kombucha, Lemon fizz, Sourdough, Apple Cider Vinegar, Sauerkraut, Kimchi, Kefir, Yogurt, the list goes on…

Hunting and Foraging
Why be limited by what you can buy in the store, there are so many things out there to harvest for free! If you want to learn to forage the right way, the Foraging Course from Herbal Academy will get you started foraging wild edibles and herbs safely, ethically, and sustainably as they guide you through what you can eat and how. Check it out here

Make Apple Cider Vinegar
There are so many uses for ACV around the home, and you can make it for free from foraged apples or even apple scraps.

Make your own Maple Syrup
With your own maple trees and reverse osmosis system, you can have endless amounts of this wonderful stuff!

All sorts of crafty messes happen in our living room, so we now have a dedicated craft room. There are quite a few craft and craft-related skills that are actually very handy to know.

Crochet
Be it a fancy shawl or a simple scarf, crochet is the fancy little sister to knitting and it will keep you warm and gorgeous. Crochet hooks and yarn are super affordable, making this a great frugal hobby.

Tan a Hide
Tanning is becoming a lost art. Using skins was deemed horrible and terrible and they fell out of favor. Instead we chose to use synthetic plastic faux fur. Now we are realizing that actually we are killing nearly as many animals as before for meat, but we are wasting their hides while the synthetic ones that we chose instead will NEVER rot away. Ooops. Honor the animal, tan it’s hide and use it.

Make Soap
Making soap is much easier than you may think and you can use oils that you can buy at the supermarket! There are two different techniques – Hot Process and Cold Process. You can even make your own Lye!

Learn to Sew
I am so grateful that I learnt to sew when I was younger. I have fixed so many things, made costumes and dress ups, multiple ball gowns and bridesmaid dresses, even my own wedding dress.

Making your own personal health products ensures you know exactly what is going in and on your body. It will also hold you in good stead in any emergency or SHTF events.

Tooth Powder
Remineralizing tooth powder is a great alternative to commercial toothpaste.

Herbal Pain Relief Salve
I really like using liniment on sore joints especially my back. This is a totally natural herbal version.

Learn How to Make Tinctures
Tinctures are a way of extracting and using the herbal essence of a plant.

Body Butter
Nothing is more luxurious than an old fashioned body butter. Full of rich creamy shea butter and nourishing almond oil. Bliss.

Bee Balm
Bee balm is a natural protective barrier for scrapes, grazes and burns. It also works great for treating chapped lips and diaper rash.

Use Essential Oils
Before modern medicine there were medicinal plants. Essential oils are the super concentrated goodness of these plants.

Ditch the Shampoo
Since going No ‘Poo my hair is so much nicer to deal with. You can go for the ‘ol baking soda trick, or try my new and improved option.

Second to keeping ourselves clean, we gotta keep our clothes clean too. Here are four super simple but effective traditional skills for you to learn.

Line Drying
We have always used a washing line to dry clothes, I love the smell of sunshine in my dry laundry. You should try it! There is a right way to use a washing line, and if you don’t have an outside one, you can use one inside.

Laundry Soap
Making your own laundry soap at home will eliminate all the horrid ingredients that there is in commercial detergent.

Hand Wash Clothes
While it is not my first choice, sometimes you just gotta do what ya gotta do!

DIY Cleaners
Be it for reducing your plastic waste, reducing chemicals or saving money, making your own cleaners is a great choice.

If you are lucky enough to have a backyard (or even a front one, or a patio for that matter) you can have a garden. It could be as simple as growing herbs on your windowsill or as big as a couple of acres. Growing food is one of the old fashioned survival skills that you have to learn!

Grow a Veggie Garden
Growing a garden is one of the most frustrating and rewarding things in the whole world. There is so much information out there about starting a vegetable garden.

Grow Medicinal and Culinary Herbs
Herbs are generally quite resilient, easy to grow, useful and delicious. Even if all you have is a window box, get in some herbs! There are some amazing herbal courses available that are well worth the investment.

Build a Greenhouse
Not only is DIY a great skill to have, but a greenhouse will give you tomatoes in the summer and greens during snow.

If you have even a little space to call your own you can have a few animals. People have been know to raise quail (meat and eggs) and rabbits (meat, pelts and fiber) TOTALLY INDOORS!

If you have outside space, all the better. Then you can also have chickens, or maybe a couple of small goats. Learning animal husbandry is a big learning curve, but start with one traditional skill at a time and work your way through.

Make friends with a good vet, and keep them on speed dial!

Chickens
Chickens are great. There is nothing like the egg from a happy chicken. Make them a dust bath they will love. Find out about bringing home new chicks, making a DIY brooder, hatching chicks successfully and fermenting their feed to keep them healthy.

Rabbits
Rabbits make efficient meat producers, and they taste pretty much like chicken. They are faster and easier to process and breed like you wouldn’t believe. We love keeping ours in a colony and we have an ultimate guide here for you.

Goats
We love our dairy goats, they are sweet and gentle and productive. Taking care of the new born ones is a skill all on its own, especially if you have to bottle feed it. Goats are a different breed of animal, sometimes they take you by surprise.

So there you are, 33 old fashioned traditional skills that you can learn and that your wallet will thank you for.

Not just your wallet though, your health, your family and the earth will thank you. Every tiny bit helps. And you will feel super proud when you master an old timey skill. You will feel amazing. I promise.