I try to keep my focus on the things I use most, and the things I know I'm able to do, while still working toward increasing what that encompasses. When you produce the things you can in higher quantity than you need, the extras can be used for bartering, gifting, and creating/ strengthening community ties.
If (like us) your home & outbuildings are already built, there are almost always modifications that can be done to improve your expenditures. Harvesting water, using lower energy-use appliances, moving your thermostat as close to the outdoor temps as you can stand, limiting electricity use, etc.
Raise/ grow the things you consume the most, if at all possible. If you're raising animals, choosing multipurpose livestock over single purpose is a great idea. So things like poultry, that give both eggs and meat, as well as pest control (if they free range, which also makes feed far less expensive). If you feed them via
compost piles and bsf larvae that you grow yourself, their feed needs can easily be met, without buying it. As far as larger livestock, we've chosen a small, multipurpose breed of goat, that provides
dairy, a lovely fiber for textiles, meat, (if needed - these particular goats have too much to offer, to just harvest them for that, unnecessarily), brush control (which then also saves on fuel &/or the labor of doing it yourself - and in our case, it just might save my husband's life), and as pack animals. If you keep good quality, pure-bred males around, their stud services can go a long way toward bartering, to hire out. Many people and companies will hire goats for brush clearing/ control, which means they eat free, and bring in $$ at the same time. Many of these qualities can also come in the form of small
cattle, like Dexters or Highland Coo. Using those critters (goats and sheep, too), nose-to-tail will give you many products.
Shopping for good quality groceries is easier and often less expensive if you're near a Simple-Folk community (Amish, Mennonite, PA Dutch, etc), because they're not shipping as many things in, as the big box stores. That helps me keep my footprint- and bills smaller. Sticking to the outside of the regular stores, and staying out of the big aisles full of processed stuff will go a long way toward improving your health, empowering your budget, and lessening the time spent in actual shopping.
Shopping for home items can be greatly reduced, if you make what you need (knit a sweater from your own pet's or livestock's fiber, instead of buying one, carve or build wooden items from trees you've harvested from your own place or rescued from a trip to the dump...), recovering a bit of furniture in your own animal hides, instead of replacing the furniture, etc. Shopping as much as possible from resale shops (instead of retail) can greatly shrink an expenditure for almost anything, often with the proceeds going to a worthy cause - and I've found many brand new items with the price tags still attached. Make quilts from anything fabric you have on hand, including using old, worn blankets as the batting, sheets for the backing, and even the tiniest scraps for the top.
Start living as if you're dirt-poor, now. That will allow you to save whatever you do have, as well as getting you ready to live that way, if it becomes an actuality.