My Missus Doesnt Take Prepping Seriously

[Laziji]

I started getting interested in prepping in China. After all, Beijing is right next to Tangshan the centre of the second biggest earthquake in Chinese history. Unlike Japanese highrises which are built with giant shock absorbers, Chinese buildings are thrown up at an alarming rate with no worst case scenario considered. If there was a quake in Beijing it would be a disaster.

I also started monitoring the sun using a solar monitor and noticed that the sun is really active at the moment with huge M class flares and the probability of an X class flare at any time.
The thought of 21 million people in Beijing going nuts panic buying and freaking out with no water left me with no alternative but to start prepping.
The way the world is these days anyway in its social downward spiral was the tipping point I guess.

I am also marrried and consider it my responsibility to look after my other half.
However, my attempts to stock up and start prepping were met with firm opposition

"Its too expensive" "You are wasting your money" and a look in her eyes that I am slightly nuts are what I get.
We have even had heated exchanges about it.
I started sneeking stuff in and hiding it around the apartment in strategic places in order to get the job done: that is to create an impregnable fortress with a months worth of water and food, light and black outs for the windows.

Now we have moved back into the UK and the problem is more apparent than ever. Its really expensive over here and I have to be really careful not to even mention anything to do with prepping (my family dont even want to hear it)
Luckily the new apartment has a lock up downstairs by the carport that I doubt she will ever go to.
I also have a large cupboard area that I have converted to hang up my 'outdoor and caving gear' in and also use it for prepping materials.

Its a shame to have to prep in silence though
I also really enjoy prepping including learning survival skills and do that single handed aswell, though I'm used to being solo out in the countryside.

If anyone else has family who hate their prepping please drop me a line and offer some advice.

Be lucky

Laziji

[tigs]

welcome to the forums , there are a lot of us that prep on the quite because the over half are not into it , try getting her into hiking or camping it will justify some of your preps

[unsure]

give her time and maybe she`ll come round .
it`ll be the silly things that`ll make her think twice , not an earth quake or cme . little things like running out of loo roll or teabags . i got mine into it when she could think of our preps as like having her own asda in the house .

[Laziji]

Keep the ideas coming

I like the idea of the 'Asda' buy in bulk idea and 'its cheaper that way'
Trouble is I need to stick up on cans and we never really use canned food.

BTW she hates camping and wonders why anyone would want to spend all that time, money and effort on making a little shelter in a frield
I personally love my tents and outdoor kit.

Any more suggestions on the power of persuasion welcome

[Rusty337]

give her time and maybe she`ll come round .
it`ll be the silly things that`ll make her think twice , not an earth quake or cme . little things like running out of loo roll or teabags . i got mine into it when she could think of our preps as like having her own asda in the house .

Haha nice:)

[nickdutch]

Fortunately I have enough loo roll to do the job for about a month of normal usage and about 3 days nose blowing for a lousy dose of the flu. Tea is a concern, but i stocked up on some Chinese that will be enough for a few weeks in case I run out of builders, but it is toothpaste that concerns me as my dental health is worse then my mental health and I rely on the highly overpriced "repair and protect" toothpaste in massive quantites to keep away discomfort and potentially agonizing pain.

Fingers crossed if the S does hit the F in whatever way, I will still be able to get the toothpaste that I need.

[Highlander]

I'm lucky in a way, I live alone and tell no one about my prepping, not even my closest family.

Don't get me wrong, they know I'm the sort of person who will have something if they ever run out but they put that down to the fact I lived a good few years in some pretty remote locations where you either had to be organised or go without!

Living with someone would make it a lot harder, I don't think hiding things is the answer, better to try and explain your ideas in a different way I think.

If you can show your other half that you're not actually wasting money but that all you're actually creating is a rolling stock of items you actually use then its half the battle.

If a situation arises where you actually use these items when you would have otherwise run out, then use that situation to your advantage and make sure they know about it!

thats the other half of the battle.

If you can also show her that you are actually saving money when buying in bulk that will blow the "wasting money" argument clean out the water!

My sister used to laugh at me storing diesel fuel until the fuel tanker strike when I kept her ridiculously thirsty 4x4 running for weeks and enabled her do do the 50 mile round trip to her work every day whilst everyone else was sitting in queues at the petrol stations waiting to buy £10 worth of fuel!

She doesn't laugh anymore, in fact she keeps 50 litres in her garage

I don't store fuel for years on end, I rotate it, every now and again I take 25 litres from the store and replace it with a new drum filed at the pumps.

Don't let your other half see a huge pile of tinned food that never gets used, that IS a waste of money, store what you eat and eat what you store

I think prepping has suffered from the Hollywood effect, people assume we are hiding in underground bunkers in cammo gear, armed with a huge stockpile of automatic weapons waiting on the Zombie Apocalypse or Alien Invasion..... (no doubt a few are)

In reality what we are doing is what people have always done since the beginning of time, luckily we're now in a situation in the UK where we don't have to grow our food in the summer then store it so we can survive the winter etc we can just nip down to the local supermarket at any time and buy as much as we like.

Here's a couple of ideas try her with..

Its reckoned that UK supermarkets hold approx only 3 days worth of supplies at any one time, say another fuel strike hit, a bigger and longer one, these supermarkets will be emptied in days.

Sit down with her and work out how long you could last with what you have in the house right now, food wise, loo roll, toothpaste, shampoo etc etc

Most people would be very lucky to last a month on what they have.

Show her some of the things happening in the world just now, countries having shortages etc

The toilet paper crisis in Venezuela sends most women into a panic!

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-a ... tage/5801/

We have become so accustomed to the fact that we can just go out and buy what we need when we need it that we don't even think about what would happen if that were no longer possible.

Even if we can get people to think about it, most won't believe it will ever happen.

I recently hit the 6 month mark mark for my prep stores, I'm continuing to increase on that but the 6 months figure was a eye opener for me, I made me feel relaxed, confident and secure.

Nice feeling!

[Laziji]

Hey Highlander

That is a sweetas post

Thanks for your time............

I agree what you say about the apocalypse mentality but I do visualise groups of people looting houses when the food runs out.

A: Yes I will sit her down and have a serious chat about it.
I'm in the city so I would have to do a runner as soon as something happens. I have a bug out location.
All I really need is enough to fill the car with plus roof rack and I hope in the not so distant future trailer. One months worth of supplies max.
So I need to explain that to her.

B: I love your diesel idea. How much can you store at any one time in the garage? I have surfed around but the trouble is with surfing is you rarely get one fixed definative answer. Rotate every 6 months......nice!

For me its about making survival from whatever I can keep in a linited space until I can get to the bug out location.

Be lucky

Laziji

[soutie]

The toilet paper crisis in Venezuela sends most women into a panic!

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-a ... tage/5801/

We have become so accustomed to the fact that we can just go out and buy what we need when we need it that we don't even think about what would happen if that were no longer possible.

toilet paper was one of the first things to disappear when tshtf in the former Rhodesia many years ago , i think i need to double my toilet paper supplies

[spindrift]

Hi Laziji, I read a similar post on a US website that im a member of. The response there was significantly more brutal than these good people. Im inclined to agree with both sides of the fence though. I suppose it all depends on what types of things your prepping for. If its just in case theres a minor interuption of the supply chain then I suppose your missus's refusal to see your point of view isnt too harmful. But if your thinking is along the lines of total interuption, and your prepping for your actual survival and not as a useful hobby. Then her point of view may well end up killing you both. Id certainly sit her down and talk about the less extreme consequences first though. But ultimatly you may need to make her see that it could be your very survival thats at stake. If she still wont come around to your way of thinking, id be inclined to show her the door. I know that seems harsh. But ive heard anecdotes from Hurricane Katrina. Where one half of the couple wanted to get out while they could. The other half poo pooed the idea and they ended up loosing everything.

Something to think about.