He's just not into prepping!

[Heatherness]

He thinks I'm crazy for stocking up on water. He's ok with weapons and ammo, but pretty much nothing else. I've slowly been collecting items and putting them in my closet. How do you get someone on board with prepping? I don't want to feel naked if disaster strikes!

 

[jimLE]

point out the natural disasters of where yall live.like earthquakes.tornadoes.harsh winters.what happened this last winter? what if the pipes freeze up?how are you gonna flush the toilet? cook foods that require water? there's a topic in the teens section that might help out on this topic..and after you've made the needed progress on this.take it one step further,maybe pointing out the diff laws thats being passed.

 

[Marv.Schmitz87]

Look at it as an chance to safe up for bad times. Buy water and preserved food now and tell him its for bad days and money is tight. Everything you buy and pay for now doesnt have to be paid if u need it. Its always good to have a safety cushion.

 

[jontte]

yup,it's better to prepare now...not when something bad happens, that safety cushion what Marv.Schmitz87 above mentioned would be nice to have any way, guns and ammo is good, but but you can't eat that stuff and you make poor judgements on a empty stomach.
take your time, it might feel an up-hill strugle sometimes but eventually you'll get him abord

 

[DrHenley]

My stock answer to people who think prepping is crazy is just to point them to ready.gov and tell them I'm just doing what the government says all responsible citizens SHOULD do

www.ready.gov

OK so I may be exceeding their recommendations just a tad...

 

[Maverick]

Being in Oklahoma one would think he would be aware of disasters, these are the most devastated tornadoes to strike Oklahoma; Woodward, Snyder, Peggs, Antlers, Pryor, Bridge Creek-Newcastle-Moore-Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City, Cleveland County, Newcastle-South Oklahoma City-Moore, Bethany, then point him to Andrew Katrina and Sandy, If he still thinks it is a waste of time then don't bring it up again and do what YOU think you need to do, I know it make for a tough situation, just remind yourself the challenging situation now is no where compared to the challenges in a disaster.

 

[Brent S]

Follow your own gut instincts. If you think it's wise to save and be prepared then do so. Don't ever let other people make decisions for you.

 

[jontte]

Brent S,
so true my friend, if I was listening others about prepping in Fin, I wouldn't do anything 'cause nothing ever happens here...but I don't listen,my gut instinct tells me to prep

and hey, say to your guy; it's my female intuition so you better trust it

and that extra food and other could come in handy when pay-checks been used, we all make sometimes mistakes with our calculations and the unexpected could pop-up

 

[alabaster]

My wife and virtually every woman in our family thought we were all a little nuts. Even after having power go out for almost 3 days, they still didn't see any real point in prepping. Candles, ramen noodles, board games.... That was their idea of making it through. Even the ramen noodles need heat, though!

I'd say start with natural disasters in your area or... This is my personal favorite... Are you ready for it?.......


CAMPING!!! Seriously. What guy doesn't like going camping? Many of the goodies needed for camping are the same needed for survivalist(Or Bug Out type) prepping. Those goodies also work at home if you need them, of course. Fire making materials, first aid, sleeping bags, cots(If you like living the high life!), entrenching tools, saws, paracord, tarps, bungees.... The list goes on forever because these are the same things needed to hit the sticks without hating life. Once you get more comfortable, suggest trying to start a fire using primitive methods. After that, suggest making a shelter from naturally occurring materials and some cordage you have in your pack. Next time, purify some water. Eventually, you can trap an animal for dinner and surprise him! That may sound like I'm kidding, but that's really how I got my wife into it. She started coming around after some major storms & natural disasters, but if I tell her something is for our camping kit, she just says, "Buy it!". Works for me... Also, men are usually the ones that are trying to talk our wives/girlfriends into camping. If you bring it up to him then I would imagine you're golden!

If he doesn't respond to camping or the natural disaster approach(Which is a primary reason for almost all of us), then keep calm and carry on. Do your thing. He doesn't have to love it, but if things happen(And they always do), then you'll be able to offer assistance to him. You may have to take a leadership role, but if you're the one pressing this issue, that's bound to come up when there is a crisis. Preparedness is part of leadership.

 

[jimLE]

great points there alabaster....i've been slowly working on rearranging my camping stuff..i added my rechargable lantern to it a lil bit ago.and i'll be adding other stuff to it as well..and i hope we have a power outage so i can have a reason for bring that tote into the house and use some of stuff in it..in hope that i get my point across to my mom about prepping..

 

[Heatherness]

Thanks everyone for the advice! He's seen the stuff the CDC puts out about prepping, but that doesn't help. And it's not a matter of money either. I've been buying extra water every time I go to the store by myself, but if for some reason he goes with me he doesn't want me buying water. My community was actually hit by fires, really bad, a few months ago, several people I knew had to evacuate and many people lost homes. He's definitely not into camping, but that's a great idea, I should probably buy more camping supplies. I may never get him on the same page as me, but he knows I'll keep prepping and we don't have huge fights over it or anything. He just calls me crazy. The biggest problem I've ran into is figuring out where to store everything. I would store the water in the garage, but I'm afraid it might get too hot out there. Thanks again.

 

[alabaster]

I here ya on the storage issue! That's a never ending issue for a lot of us it seems...

I guess the good news is that yall aren't having BIG fights about it. Disagreeing is par for the course, IMHO. Male + Female= disagreements... At least in our household. Even if we agree on prepping, we disagree on what to do first, or what to set up first when we're camping, or what route to take somewhere... Blah, blah, blah. I dig your strength. Some folks let things like that drive them apart, and that's definitely not going to accomplish the goal.

 

[Gazrok]

Temperature really isn't an issue with sealed bottles. Like others said...The natural threats of the area should provide enough reasons. I'll bet he changes his tune after a long power outage when you can still cook a meal. My wife was the same way...until we had a water issue (hole in a pipe) and my alternate water solutions got us by until fixed.

 

[jontte]

hmmmm, a warm meal,when everybody else eats cold tuna from a can...wonder which is more edible?

 

[Tyler]

What you can do is create a small situation where you turn the power off for like a week at your home and use only your preps. Kinda worked for me.... There were some small things I didn't account for like my brother's ipad

 

[jimLE]

heatherness...might try walking through your home and look everything and every spot over..and when you see a cabinet/closet or something else thats not in full use.think.what can i do with that.or what can i do to fill that in.and when you see unused wall space.ask your self can i put there to help with my prepps.theres wall space between doors and ceiling.and where you already have stuff stored or whatever.what can you do to make more space.

 

[DrHenley]

I was storing gallon containers, and running out of room. I switched to the 2 1/2 gallon containers. Those have much less air space around them and stack well. Plus they have a handy pull-out spout.

 

[realisticdude]

He will come around to your way of thinking.................................. or turn his water off

 

[Gazrok]

I switched to the 2 1/2 gallon containers

Problem is, sometimes those spouts don't work so hot. That's why we switched to just cases of the individual bottles as stored, bottled water. They stack well too. (as long as still packaged). We have other water storage too, but the bottles are convenient.

 

[realisticdude]

www.drillyourownwell.com

 

[Dani]

www.drillyourownwell.com

Already done. . . we ended up laying pipe down to flow out to the garden (with sprinklers) and critters. Hunny had found a hand pump for $39 bucks in case we lost electricity for a long period. It is well worth the cost if money to have one drilled

 

[Gazrok]

We have a well too, but I do need to get a manual back up pump installed. $39? What a steal.

 

[Dani]

We have a well too, but I do need to get a manual back up pump installed. $39? What a steal.

If interested, it is on sale right now for $34.99. http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200624889_200624889
With our well, it doesn't allow the water to fall back down and is on the surface at all times.

 

[Gazrok]

I need one that will work right alongside the electric one. Can't remember, but I think they were around $150 or so.

 

[Clyde]

He thinks I'm crazy for stocking up on water. He's ok with weapons and ammo, but pretty much nothing else. I've slowly been collecting items and putting them in my closet. How do you get someone on board with prepping? I don't want to feel naked if disaster strikes!

I had the same issue!
What helped me was a couple of minor incidents, i.e., a couple small earthquakes, and then we had to be evacuated due to some idiot from the road crew (CalTrans) striking a gas main with a back hoe.
Now she is on board.

 

[QuietH3art]

Let him think you've become one of those crazy extreme couponers (and start collecting coupons, too) and stock up on things as you find them on sale. Don't tell him it's about prepping. Tell him it's about saving money on things you're going to need anyway.

 

[tc556guy]

My ex thought I was completely nuts to want to be prepared.
She thought there would never be a day when the stores are closed for more than a single day due to stuff like winter storms

 

[QuietH3art]

My ex thought I was completely nuts to want to be prepared.
She thought there would never be a day when the stores are closed for more than a single day due to stuff like winter storms

My ex thought it was stupid that I wanted to "save a few pennies on groceries" because I wanted my own garden. He would adopt every new fad, like drinking garlic juice to keep his heart healthy, but wouldn't listen to me talk about GMOs, pesticides and hormones in manufactured foods.

 

[Ginger]

I am married to a fossil fuel addicted ostrich! And, yes, he thinks I am crazy for collecting water, etc., then the lights go out and he is thankful for a minute and then the lights come back on and it starts all over again!

 

[jimLE]

my mom thinks im nuts for prepping.and though its not really necessary to coupon.then i lost my part time job.now shes all for couponing..now for me to work on prepping..