The age old question

[Jaeger48]

My wife lost her job while we were dating. Being without an income was a catalyst for her to think about being prepared for an emergency situation where she might need extra funds and food. We save more now because we have a charming little boy. Nothing would break us emotionally as to see him suffer or go without. She has a "go-bag" in her car as I have in mine. Sometimes the best lesson is a painful one.

[7 lives]

Nothing like a bit of a flood to focus the mind!
Once Mr 7 lives thought I was totally dotty squirreling away foodstuffs-then when we were cut off by water he had lightbulb moment.
Now he points out good deals when we are shopping!

[unsure]

for most people to `` get it `` all i would take is a really long bad winter . frozen water mains , no `` just in time `` in tesco add to that a bad case of flu .
for the here and know hide the loo roll , turn the water off at the mains , trip the main breaker on the fuse board any or all of those should do the trick .

[diamond lil]

Could I just say to the ones whose partners are not on board with this - it's not a lot of use stashing gold bars/tons of food/loo rolls under the floorboards if your other half doesn't know it's there. You might get hit by a bus/drop dead with a stroke/walk under a collapsing building at any time. Maybe best leave a note lol x marks the spot where the loo rolls are buried

[7 lives]

duh Diamond Lil hadn't thought of that!

[greyman]

How do you convince the other half its a good idea?
I have run different scenarios by her, what if there's a fire in the house? - answer, it's online and we can borrow clothes.
What if the power goes out for a uncertain period of time -answer we will just stay with family with power.
What if there's a terrorist attack? - answer the army will deal with it.
What if there's an economic crisis - answer we will sell stuff.

Now I understand these are standard responses to normal people but... A torch, extra batteries, a solar charger, a water store, some extra food, means of cooking it, some self defence items would these not help slightly.
What if it's UK wide what's the plan then? - answer the government have to do something it's their job.
That's when I realised she's naive.

How have you all convinced your loved ones, or are you a grey man within your own family?
I think the next problem is through my years of training I'm much more confortable bugging out to the back woods and hunting,fishing and trapping my way til judgement day but with little ones it's much harder.

This worked with my ice maiden,who usually pooh poohs my ideas.
Very maternal my other half,so I chose the kids angle.
There's 14 of us,kids,grandkids and other half's. And SHTF you can guarantee there'll be here,which I don't mind.
So explained all this to her and even threw "Blackout" (c4 documentary) into the conversation.which I put on one night ages ago because I knew she'd watch it.
Hopefully its a start...

[The-Mendologist]

I dont have to convince my OH that its a good idea, she is pushing me to do more and only the other night she was talking about ( could keep her quiet )where our bug out location is.
No real issues in the convincing dept.

I really have a good woman behind me ( cracking the whip and pushing me along), i thought i was the prepper and she was along for the ride!!!

Maybe it's the other way round . . . . .

[lincsprepper]

I've found a good start is to focus on the persons interests. My best friend is not interested in prepping but he's into fitness so I've convinced him to start coming to krav maga lessons with me. Next year hes going to start archery with me.

My sister enjoys gardening so I sold her the idea of growing her own food. She took to that really well and became a prepper a month or two ago.

No OH to speak of as of yet. We need a prepper dating app!

[PreppingPingu]

I am lucky as my OH has always said he like the idea of being prepared but just not done much about it. We both enjoy Sci Fi and fantasy books and films. Him and his mate, when kids, would plan all sorts of scenarios, - me, I would planning running away to the woods and what I might need, and what I could fit into my little brownie uniform belt purse and school bag! So I think it is an idea inside both of us from childhood. It's just me that joined this forum some years back, but he and his 2 close mates have had lots of long "What if..." scenario conversation that burnt the midnight oil. So I guess I am lucky in that he doesn't mind me getting spare things in and a bit of extra food etc. When he was made redundant it served us well. A story that I tell others when trying to suggest that having your cupboard full at all times is a good idea. We also have aims to have a better set up in our next house regarding heat and water security in a few years time.

It's my close friends and teenage daughters that I used to despair of. How ever, as I always have various things with me, just in case and my daughters see me using them or see them coming in handy, it is rubbing off on them now with out them even knowing it. My 16 year old knew how to cope with a medical emergency when all the rest of her teenage cronies had no idea on what to do, and she told me it's was coz of what I used to do with them and things I taught her. My 14 year old is the one in her friendship group that has the plasters, the spare bottle of water, or what ever and so both of them feel secure in basic self preparedness even tho they would never give it a thought. In fairness my neighbour, who used to always be over here borrowing things or not knowing how to do something, now has torches and batteries at her finger tips due to me helping out and gently suggesting things to her! Also when my mates see me fix/have a go at something, then maybe they will realise that they can too, rather than relay on others. How ever one of them still seem to think it was funny that this lass fixed the stop cock in the water header tank rather than call in a plumber. "Oh I would get someone in" she said. Demonstrating that you are ready in a crisis often prods them to being more ready then you can expand the conversation. (Though, for that previous friend of mine, even a winter of Artic conditions or a plague of biblical proportions still would not convince her to be ready of anything! - You can't win them all.)

[ForgeCorvus]

I dont have to convince my OH that its a good idea, she is pushing me to do more and only the other night she was talking about ( could keep her quiet )where our bug out location is.
No real issues in the convincing dept.

I really have a good woman behind me ( cracking the whip and pushing me along), i thought i was the prepper and she was along for the ride!!!

Maybe it's the other way round . . . . .

So, you're Her primary prep then ?