M.D. Creekmore

Hello, I’m M.D. Creekmore. I’ve been interested in self-reliance topics for over 25 years. I’m the author of four books that you can find at Amazon.com as well as Barnes and Noble. Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about prepping, homesteading, and self-reliance topics through first-hand experience and now I want to share what I’ve learned with you.

Homesteading and Preps For The Week: May 5, 2018

May 5, 2018 M.D. Creekmore

Well folks, here we are again. It’s been a beautiful week here in Tennessee with plenty of sun, however, according to the local weather forecast rain is on the way. I love the rain but not the grass mowing that comes after that last drop falls to the ground and the sun pops back out from behind the clouds. Growth rate looks like three or more inches in only a couple of hours after a rain.

As you all know I recently had trouble with my tiller but thankfully got it fixed and this week I managed to finally get my garden area tilled up and ready to plant. Next year I’m going to go with raised beds instead of row planting though because it’s less work once set up and in my experience more productive.

Another thing that I’ve been working on and plan to release next Saturday is my new product “The Bulletproof Survivor – Homesteading and Prepping for Troubled Times and Beyond”

The Bullet Proof Survivor is a complete prepping, homesteading, and survival library all on one awesome CD. It is an anthology of the best hand-picked articles from my old blog site TheSurvivalistBlog.net.

Plus the CD has hundreds of bonus articles, reports, and books to complete your prepping/survival/homesteading library – mostly in PDF for easy printing for personal use. Again, look for it to be officially released next Saturday!

However, if you want to preorder your copy at the special discount price of only $37 (normal price will be $47 starting Saturday) then you can do that now via the button below.

Well, folks, that’s it for me this week. What about you… what were your homesteading and preps for the week?

Start Saving Today and Live Your Homesteading Dream Tomorrow

May 2, 2018 M.D. Creekmore

Your dream of owning your own homestead is closer than it appears.

It might seem like you’ll never be able to purchase a homestead. But if you have a plan in place to save, you can be harvesting fresh eggs and vegetables on your own property before you know it.

It will just take a little work. Are you ready to begin saving?

Start with a budget

The first thing that you need to do is start with a written budget and put your money to work for you. When you are living without a budget, you often have little idea of where your money went at the end of the week or month. Even if you are making good money.

Attach a name to each dollar you spend. You’ll probably feel like you received a raise.

There are a couple different ways to get started, depending on how basic you want to go. That would just be a pen and paper. A computer program like Microsoft Excel is well suited for a budget. Or you can go for an online budgeting program like Every Dollar.

What I love about Every Dollar is that you don’t just list what you are planning to spend, but you include actual expenses for that month. You can do this with other budgeting formats. This just makes it easier.

So the first step to getting your finances in order is to know where the money is going.

Prioritize your expenses

Having a budget will allow you to do two important things: set realistic goals and prioritize spending.

Is there anything frivolous you can cut out of your budget? Maybe for just 12-18 months? With the goal of purchasing a homestead I would say it’s worth a shot.

Once you’ve made a budget, figured out where your money is going and cut unnecessary expenses, you can outline goals on how long it will take to buy your homestead.

One of the first things you will need to do is price out comparable properties. It’s not quite as easy as pricing comps in a subdivision, but you can get a general idea on land value and quality of the house.

This is also a good time to figure out if you need to move to make this happen. Either way, you need to know what you plan on spending.

And trust me, it’s a lot easier to save and sacrifice when you have a reason and you know how long it will be.

Pay off debt

At the same time, work on paying off any consumer debt you might have. Your homestead will feel like a cursing if you buy it when you are still paying off debt.

Because something will come up. And when it does, you don’t want to wonder how you are going to pay to repair it.

Once your debt is paid off, take that money and put it toward your homestead.

Get a second job

If you’ve cut your budget as much as you can, but you still have a ways to go, you need to work on the income side of the equation.

Take a second or third job to make the homestead happen. Remember, this is just temporary until you hit your goals.

Here’s a tip: if you work in retail or fast food, you are going to be working a long time making very little money.

Rather, work for yourself. Cut grass, shovel/ plow snow (if you’re in that part of the country), freelance, drive for Uber or Lyft. Even though it’s small, these entrepreneurial style jobs will go much further to hitting your goals. And you can work on your time.

Sell stuff

Most people have extra stuff laying around their house that they never use. They probably don’t even realize it.

Now would be a good time to go through closets, attics or basements and see what you can do without. You can always have a garage sale, but eBay, Facebook, and Craigslist make selling items so easy that you almost don’t need to if you don’t want to take up half a Saturday.

Beyond small items you hadn’t seen in 10 years, maybe you have a larger item you are willing to part with. A motorcycle? A boat? I’m not saying you need to get rid of anything you love, but it’s something to think about.

Is it worth it? That’s for you to decide.

Understand the sacrifice

This ties in with budgeting, cutting out unnecessary expenses and working extra jobs, but understand there will be sacrifice.

You might not be able to eat out as much. Maybe you cancel a vacation and choose to stay around town this year.

That’s okay. It will be worth it when you remember what you are sacrificing for.

A homestead is not that far off. When you make these decisions to begin saving today, are intentional with your money and plan for the future, your dreams of living off the land will soon become a reality.

Now is a great time to get started.

Homesteading Progress and Preps For The Week

April 27, 2018 M.D. Creekmore

Hello everyone, I hope that you’ve all had a good week and managed to get some stuff done this week… we’ll get into homesteading progress and prep in a moment but first I want to ask you all a couple of questions…

First, what type of content and subjects would you like to see more of here at MDCreekmore.com? As you’ve probably noticed I’ve been writing and posting a lot of different ways to make extra money and or become totally self-employed.

I’ve been doing this because “a lack of money” has always been the number one response to the question “what is your biggest obstacle to prepping or setting up a homestead” so I’ve been doing everything that I can to give you ideas and ways to solve the problem that you told me that you had.

However, from the lack of responses, it doesn’t seem like readers are very interested in the subject of making extra money and being self-employed… Have I not been covering the topic correctly, or in a way that’s actually helpful to you? If not, then what can I do differently to help you more?

Okay, now on to the next question for you…

I’ve been playing with the header subtext and would like to know what you think… take a look at the samples below and let me know which one that you think fits the blog best and that I should use via the poll below…

homesteading and self-reliance — Header 6

[poll id=”2″]

Okay, not that we have that out-of-the-way let’s get on with Homesteading Progress and Preps For The Week…

This week I…

I filled with survival gear and buried this waterproof cache tube in a secret location. If you want to buy one of these then you can get one here.

I got my garden tiller fixed and now I’m ready to till my garden area for planting…

Okay, that’s it for me this week… What about you?

Homestead Income: The Wonderful, Chaotic, World of Freelance Writing

April 27, 2018 M.D. Creekmore

by Sawyer S

Whether you’re looking for a full-time career or a side hustle to make ends meet, freelance writing can offer anyone with a unique voice and strong work ethic a flexible, diverse, and engaging way to make money. Being a freelance writer means making your own hours, choosing your own projects, and working from anywhere. It can provide creatives with more financial freedom and can help aspiring writers cultivate a portfolio and platform for their future careers. That being said, being a freelance writer isn’t easy, and getting started often proves more difficult than people realize.

I have been working as a freelance writer for over a year, and while I now find the job to be fulfilling and financially stable, I didn’t always. It took a lot of time and resilience for me to find my footing along the rocky road of freelancing, but now that I have, I can share some of the important lessons I learned and tricks I picked up along the way.

The first thing you have to consider before you even begin working as a freelancer is whether or not you’re going to use a platform. There exists a multitude of online forums which help connect freelancers with possible clients. There are free platforms, like Upwork and Blogmutt, and there are ones with membership fees like Contena.

These websites can be incredibly helpful for freelancers who are just starting out, and my not have any connections or experience. That being said, some of these platforms take a substantial cut of your earnings, and some make it near impossible to get jobs without paying for a premium account. Upwork, for instances, takes a hefty 20% of all your earnings, and BlogMutt’s free account option is really limited.

If none of those platforms sound appealing to you, maybe you need to carve your own path. While creating your own website can also be costly, and very time consuming, at least you have complete control and will get to keep 100% of the money you make. A few tips for starting your own website – make sure you know how to use social media (or hire someone who does), this will be your most effective outlet for reaching potential clients.

Also, ask around. Chances are you have friends who own business, or who are in need of some writing assistance. Let everyone know that you’ve become a freelance writer so that they think of you next time they need a new press-release, grant proposal, or are maybe just looking to spice up their LinkedIn bios.

Once you’ve decided how you’re going to approach freelancing, you have to learn how to promote yourself as a freelancer. Whether you chose to join a freelance platform, or want to create your own website, you’re profile/bio needs to be eye-catching and engaging. This is how potential employers are going to get to know you, so let them! Don’t suppress your personality for the sake of sounding professional.

Trust me, these employers have read thousands of professional sounding bios, and yours will not stand out. When you’re competing against the entire internet’s worth of freelancers, you have to take every chance you get to separate yourself from the herd. Don’t be afraid to start out your bio with a funny tagline, or your favorite quote – draw your reader in, and then outline your skills and experience.

Promoting yourself doesn’t end with your bio, however. You also need to know how to promote yourself when you’re applying for jobs – especially in the beginning. If you’re just starting out, chances are, you don’t have much of a portfolio to pull from when applying, which can be frustrating when every job you look at asks you to “send links to previously published work”. You’re going to run into that request a lot, but don’t let it discourage you. There are ways to get around it.

When applying for jobs for which you have no previous experience, you should start out by humbly admitting it. I have found that not only do employers respond well to honesty, but also lying and/or stretching the truth when it comes to getting freelance jobs can quickly land you in hot water. On most freelance platforms, there is a rating system, which is used by both freelancer and employer to evaluate each other after a job is complete. When you’re just starting out, one bad rating or comment can plague your entire profile, and make it very difficult to get any future jobs.

After you’ve admitted that you may be a bit underqualified for the job, you should always offer to send either inapplicable samples of your writing, that way they can at least gauge your raw talent, or, if you’re comfortable doing work for free, you can offer to send them a spec piece. A spec piece is something you write specifically for the project you’re applying to, but without any expectation of payment or compensation.

Unfortunately, not every employer is going to give you the benefit of the doubt. A lot of them will see that you don’t have any experience and immediately delete your application. It took me over a month to get hired for my first job, but once I did everything changed. With one good review and some well-needed experience on my resume, suddenly almost all my applications were being considered, and I was even sent unsolicited job offers!

After you’ve successfully completed a few writing assignments, and have padded your resume a bit, you can start being more discerning when it comes to applying and accepting jobs. The freelance writing world is notorious for being financially insecure, and as you will probably notice once you start looking for jobs, most clients pay astonishingly little. That’s why it’s imperative that you understand what kind of writer you are.

If you’re a quick creative writer who can pump out prose for hours on end then it might be worth it to you to get paid $300 for 30,000 words. But, if you’re a slower, more methodical writer, you should consider applying to long-form article jobs, possibly in the academic field. If you know how you write, and more importantly, know your worth, it will make sifting through the thousands of daily job proposals much easier.

Working as a freelance writer will be difficult, unstable, and frustrating at times, but you can rest assured, it will never be boring. There are countless job opportunities available for those willing to put in the effort, so stay committed and keep applying. Remember, even the most qualified writers once started out experience-less, portfolio-less, and begging for a chance. But they made it, and so can you.

Using Coupons To Save Money When Stockpiling Your Homestead Pantry

April 25, 2018 M.D. Creekmore

Using coupons offers an opportunity for huge saving on food that you should take advantage of.

According to Wikipedia.com, a coupon is “A ticket or document that can be exchanged for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product. Coupons first saw widespread use in the United States in 1909 when Post conceived the idea to help sell their breakfast cereals”. So the concept is nothing new.

When I was in my early teens, I remember my mother clipping coupons from the Sunday paper; she would organize them in a small purse that she kept just for the purpose. She would wait for double or triple coupon deals to be advertised, and then she would go shopping.

I remember one time she managed to get over $260 worth of stuff for less than $10 – I was impressed.

I’ve used coupons to save money and stock up on survival supplies and food for several years and the saving can really add up fast. I’ve used coupons to save when buying everything from canned foods, tissue paper and toothpaste to dog food.

Now with the age of the internet, there is no need to clip coupons from the Sunday paper (but you still can). Now you can easily find discounts for virtually any product by simply going online and printing them off with your home printer – two of my favorite places for this is Coupons.com and MyPoints.com.

No, using coupons doesn’t emit the typical perceived image of a survivalist, but it sure makes a lot of sense from a financial stand point.

I think the main reason a lot of people avoid using coupons is that they are afraid of looking poor (even if they are). This is nonsense, and really, who gives a rat’s behind what the person waiting in line behind you thinks. I don’t. If they don’t like it they’re free to move over to the next checkout lane.

Stop worrying about what other people think – trust me your life will be better when you do.

Before you can start using coupons to save on your survival supplies, you’ll obviously need coupons. Coupons are all over the place you just have to know where to look.

The bulk of mine are printed off from the web or clipped from the Sunday newspaper. I’ve worked out a deal with a local store owner, where I get the papers they don’t sell for free. I often get ten or more all loaded with coupon inserts.

The vendor only has to send the header of the papers that didn’t sell to the publisher to get credit for unsold papers because the newspaper doesn’t want the old papers back and could not care less what the vendor does with them.

If you don’t want to buy the paper and getting a local vendor to give you the leftover papers isn’t an option, you can often get the paper and the coupons for free by asking friends, neighbors and relatives who buy the paper to pass it on to you when they are done reading it.

It’s common knowledge among couponers that some of the best coupons are found in print magazines, coupon mailers, food packaging inserts, and grocery store receipts.

Once start clipping and using coupons you’ll need to a way to stay organized. You’ll need to be able to find what you’re looking, when you need it, and to know what you have so you can avoid letting your coupons expire without using them.

I use a recipe box with dividers and sort by date and coupon type. For example; canned foods, deserts, over the counter meds, staples such as beans, rice, and oats, dog food, kitchen supplies such as dish soap, bath supplies, such as soap and toothpaste etc.

Working out a system to stay organized isn’t difficult, but it will go a long way toward maximizing savings and lessening your frustration. You can buy ready-made coupon organizers but I prefer my box because it was free. I go through my coupons once a month and weed out coupons that have expired or that I no longer want to use.

When using coupons you’ll be tempted to buy stuff that you really don’t need or never intended to buy, just because you have a coupon for it. Don’t do it. Unless of course, you can get it free. If you start buying stuff you don’t need just because you have a coupon for it, you’ll end up losing money.

Be sure to check prices before you buy – keep in mind that even with coupons, some brand named products can cost more than generics with coupons. Never buy a more expensive product because it has a brand name on it, many of these are from the same companies as their generic counterparts.

Watch for sells and stock up on items that you use that are on sale, especially when you have coupons for those items. Remember; some stores offer “Double Coupon Sales” or even “Triple Coupon Sales” that actually doubles the value of the coupons you have, such offers can lead to huge savings on the items you need.

And don’t overlook rebates and refund opportunities that are sometimes offered by-product manufactures – most manufacturers require you buy the product then mail in the cash register receipt along with the UPC barcode from the product. Keep these organized and send for the rebate or refund asap so you don’t forget and possibly let the offer expiration date pass.

This Week On The Homestead

April 21, 2018 M.D. Creekmore

I have a new and FREE homesteading course for those of you who are interested you can get that here – Free Homesteading Course. Also, two other free courses that you might be interested in – Free Prepper Course and my Free Blogging Course. Yes, they are 100% free with no hidden catch attached!

Well, folks, it seems that my switch from a “survivalist blog” to a “homesteading blog” was a great decision! The response has been overwhelming in support of the change and most have said it is a great improvement.

One concern that many readers of my old blog (www.thesurvivalistblog.net) did express was about the loss of the content on that site when it is taken offline and asked for a CD or thumb drive with that content archived.

Well, that’s a good idea, however, I think that a better idea would be to pick and choose the very best articles and then combine those into an anthology and make that available in paperback! What do you think about that idea?

Let me know what you think of that idea in the comments below and also if you have favorite articles from www.thesurvivalistblog.net then, please mention those with a link to the article in the comments below.

Also, let me know if you have any ideas for other free courses that I can put together for you all, article ideas and or any other improvements to this site. I want this to be the best homesteading blog with a prepper twist that’s online…

Okay, now what happened on the homestead this week…

I cleared up an old dead tree that fell on my property, repaired some fencing, planted some roses, organized my tools in my shop (still not finished with that), and a few other small jobs.

Unfortunately, my biggest plans this week were thwarted by a garden tiller that refused to run.

Now, that the threat of frost is over (I hope!) I had planned to till my garden area and start planting, unfortunately, my tiller which is only three years old refused to run long enough to get the job done. So I’m taking it to have it repaired today.

Hopefully, it will be fixed by next week and I can get to moving some dirt and planning some seed.

Okay, that’s it for me this week… what about you?

Homesteading and Preps For The Week: May 5, 2018