Practical Self-Reliance at Home
Self-reliance content has an aesthetic problem. It sells an image — chickens, sourdough starter, a shed of beautiful hand tools, a pantry of matching jars — and that image has almost no relationship to what actually reduces your dependence on things going right.
The honest version is more boring and much more useful. Ranked by hours and dollars returned per hour invested, the highest-value self-reliance skills are unglamorous repairs, a deliberately stocked pantry, knowing how to cook without power, and being able to shut off your own water, gas and electricity.
Nobody photographs a stop tap. It is still worth more than the chickens.
The 10-minute version
- Learn where your shutoffs are today. Water stop tap, gas meter, switchboard main and safety switch. Ten minutes, free, and it is the highest-value thing on this page.
- Five repairs cover most household call-outs — a leaking tap washer, a running toilet, a tripped safety switch, a blocked drain, and a door or window that has dropped. Each is an hour to learn once.
- Stock the pantry you already eat from. Depth in the food you actually cook beats a shelf of emergency rations you will never open.
The ranking
By hours-and-dollars returned per hour invested.
1. Knowing your shutoffs and switchboard
The cheapest competence in the house, and the one that turns a disaster into an inconvenience.
- Water stop tap — usually at the front boundary near the meter, sometimes needing a key. Find it, turn it, make sure it actually moves. A burst flexible hose under a sink empties into your house at mains pressure until someone stops it, and those hoses are a leading cause of household water damage.
- Gas meter shutoff, if you have gas.
- Switchboard — which is the main switch, which is the safety switch, and what each circuit does. Label them.
- Test the safety switch every few months with the test button. It is a mechanical device and it can fail silently.
- Water heater isolation — knowing how to drain it also gives you 100–300 litres of drinking water in an emergency.
2. The five repairs
Details in The Five Tools and Five Repairs. In summary:
- A dripping tap — usually a washer or cartridge, under $10 in parts.
- A running toilet — usually the inlet valve or flush washer, and a running cistern wastes a startling volume of water.
- A tripped safety switch — isolate the offending appliance by turning circuits back on one at a time.
- A blocked drain — a plunger and a drain snake before any chemical.
- A dropped or sticking door or window — hinge screws, a strike plate, or a track that needs cleaning.
Each is a one-hour skill. Together they cover a large share of what people pay tradespeople for and, more importantly, they mean a small failure at 9pm on a Sunday does not become a flooded room.
3. A pantry with depth
Not a prepper shelf. The food you already eat, bought two deep.
The mechanism is simple: when you use the second-last one, the next shop replaces it. Nothing expires, nothing is wasted, and you end up with two to three weeks of normal food without ever “stocking up”.
Focus on: tinned protein and legumes, rice and pasta, long-life milk, oil, salt, sugar, coffee or tea, tinned tomatoes, tinned fruit and vegetables, and long-keeping fresh items — onions, potatoes, pumpkin, carrots. Details on shelf life in a hot Australian pantry: Food That Lasts Without Refrigeration.
4. Cooking without power
Blackouts are the disaster everyone eventually gets, and the cooking question is where households discover their whole plan was “the oven”.
The critical rule is a safety one: camp stoves, barbecues, patio heaters and generators are outdoor equipment. Carbon monoxide has no smell and no warning, and people die every year using outdoor appliances inside or in a garage. Full detail in Cooking Without Power.
5. Water storage and capture
Storing 9 litres per person is trivial and covers three days. Beyond that, a rainwater tank has genuine value if you garden or live regionally, though the payback for a suburban household is measured in years rather than months. Know your tank’s pump requirements — most fail with the power.
6. Basic sewing and mending
Replacing a button, fixing a seam, patching a knee. Twenty minutes to learn, and it extends the life of things you already own — which is what self-reliance mostly is.
7. Growing food
Enjoyable, genuinely satisfying, and much further down the list than the genre suggests. Kilojoules per square metre is a demanding measure, and most suburban gardens produce garnish rather than calories.
Grow it because you like it. The things that do repay a small space are herbs, salad greens, silverbeet, chillies and tomatoes — high value per square metre, expensive to buy, and picked fresh they are genuinely better. See Growing Food in a Small Space.
8. Preserving
Freezing is the low-effort, high-return option. Dehydrating is straightforward. Water-bath preserving is a real skill with real food-safety consequences if done carelessly — worth learning properly rather than from a video, particularly for anything low-acid.
What is not worth it (for most people)
Naming these saves weekends.
- Chickens, unless you actively want chickens. The eggs do not pay for the setup, the feed or the fox-proofing, and they are a daily commitment that constrains travel. A fine hobby; a poor economic argument.
- A large tool collection. Five tools cover most household jobs. The rest can be hired for the one weekend you need them.
- Bulk grain storage for a suburban household. It requires equipment you do not have, and you will not mill it.
- Off-grid solar as a first step. Rooftop solar with a grid connection has a real payback; going fully off-grid in a suburb is an expensive lifestyle choice, not a resilience one.
- A generator, unless someone is power-dependent. Water, light, food and a power bank first.
- Learning to butcher, tan, forge or forage as preparedness. These are crafts. Enjoy them as crafts.
The honest cost-benefit table
| Skill | Time to learn | What it returns |
|---|---|---|
| Finding your shutoffs | 10 minutes | Prevents thousands in water damage. The best ratio in the house |
| Tap washer / running toilet | 1 hour each | $150–250 per call-out avoided, plus the water bill |
| Safety switch isolation | 20 minutes | Turns a dark house into a five-minute diagnosis |
| Pantry depth | Zero extra time | Two to three weeks of food, no waste, no separate cost |
| Cooking without power | 30 minutes | Makes a multi-day outage ordinary rather than miserable |
| Basic mending | 20 minutes | Extends the life of clothing you already own |
| Growing herbs and greens | Ongoing | Real savings on expensive items; pleasant; not calories |
| Preserving | Several hours | Worthwhile with a glut, marginal without one |
| Chickens | Ongoing daily | Eggs, company, and a constraint on travel. Not an economic win |
What actually goes wrong
Nobody knows where the stop tap is until water is coming through the ceiling.
The safety switch is never tested, so nobody knows it has failed.
Emergency food is bought separately and never eaten, so it expires and gets thrown away — while the everyday pantry stays one deep.
A camp stove gets used indoors during a blackout.
Tools are bought instead of skills. A full toolbox and no idea which end of the tap the washer is in.
The garden is scaled to enthusiasm rather than time. Six beds in spring, a weed patch by February. One bed, maintained, beats six abandoned.
Rainwater tanks with electric pumps are installed without any way to draw water when the power fails. Fit a gravity tap.
Everything is stored in the shed at the back, in the dark, behind the mower.
The Australian specifics
- Water restrictions and tank rules vary by council; check before installing anything plumbed in.
- Plumbing and electrical work is regulated. Washers, toilet valves and resetting a safety switch are homeowner territory. Anything involving fixed wiring, gas, or altering plumbing requires a licensed tradesperson, and doing it yourself can void insurance.
- Renters can still do most of this. Knowing shutoffs, pantry depth, cooking without power and mending are all portable and permission-free. Report faults in writing — see How to Survive Your First Rental Inspection.
- Flexible braided hoses under sinks and behind toilets are a leading cause of household water damage. They have a service life; check their age and condition.
- Summer is the constraint on food storage. An uninsulated Australian pantry gets hot, which shortens shelf life considerably.
What it costs
| Tier | Spend | What it buys |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0, one afternoon | Locating and testing shutoffs, labelling the switchboard, testing the safety switch, starting pantry depth with your normal shop |
| Solid | ~$80–150 | Five tools: adjustable spanner, screwdriver set, pliers, plunger, tape measure. Plus thread tape, a washer assortment and a drain snake |
| Comfortable | ~$300–600 | The above plus a camp stove and fuel for outdoor use, a chest freezer if you cook in batches, herb pots and one raised bed |
| Only if it fits your life | $1,000+ | Rainwater tank with a gravity tap, solar, a serious food garden. Enjoyable, slow payback |
The drill: the two-hour afternoon
- Twenty minutes. Find the water stop tap. Turn it off, check a tap runs dry, turn it back on. Do the same for the gas shutoff if you have gas.
- Twenty minutes. Open the switchboard. Identify the main switch and the safety switch. Press the test button. Label every circuit with a marker.
- Twenty minutes. Look under every sink and behind the toilet. Check the flexible hoses for corrosion, bulging or age.
- Twenty minutes. Look at the pantry. Write the ten things you would hate to run out of. Buy the second one of each on the next shop.
- Twenty minutes. Work out how you would cook with no power, and confirm the equipment exists, has fuel, and is used outdoors.
- Twenty minutes. Show everyone else in the house all of the above. A skill only one person has is not a household capability.
Frequently asked questions
What are the most useful self-reliance skills?
Knowing your water, gas and electrical shutoffs; five basic repairs (tap washer, running toilet, tripped safety switch, blocked drain, sticking door); keeping genuine depth in the pantry you already eat from; and being able to cook safely without power.
Is growing your own food actually worth it?
For enjoyment and for high-value crops like herbs, salad greens and tomatoes, yes. As a calorie strategy for a suburban block, no — kilojoules per square metre is a demanding measure and most home gardens produce garnish rather than staples.
Should I keep separate emergency food?
Mostly no. Buy the food you already eat two deep and rotate it naturally. Separate emergency rations tend to expire unopened, while your everyday pantry stays one deep — which is the wrong way around.
Can I do my own plumbing and electrical work?
Tap washers, toilet valves and resetting a safety switch are homeowner tasks. Fixed wiring, gas work and altering plumbing require a licensed tradesperson in Australia, and unlicensed work can void insurance.
What is the single cheapest thing I can do today?
Find your water stop tap and test that it turns. A burst flexible hose empties into the house at mains pressure until someone shuts it off, and those hoses are a leading cause of household water damage.
Are chickens worth it?
As a hobby, often. As economics, no — the setup, feed and fox-proofing cost more than the eggs, and they tie you to daily care. Keep them because you want chickens, not because you want resilience.