How to convince your spouse/partner/whatever to become a prepper

[Sun195]

Knuckle Head, in another thread, suggested the following:

Hopefully some of those who have converted their spouse over to a prepper can help, maybe you should a new thread asking how to convert or convince your spouse,

So... how did you convert your spouse/family member/partner/whatever to become a prepper?

I'm not sure my wife is a "prepper" yet, but she puts up with it & lets me use household money to improve our supplies. I've gradually moved her in this direction - here's how I did it (in theory):

1) I was into "prepping" before we even met: not hard-core prepping, but 3-day disaster prep type of stuff. We met shortly before Y2K and I started getting supplies ready "just in case" - nothing fancy, and not as comprehensive as I am today, but I set the tone early in our relationship to prepare for disasters - natural and man-made. So, later additions to our disaster supply kit - MRE's, Water Storage, #10 cans, etc., weren't frowned upon.

1a) This goes for firearms too: she knew I was into firearms before we got married, so additions to my "armory" for prep purposes weren't necessarily frowned upon; just an expansion of my existing hobby.

2) Use current events to make your point: never let a disaster go to waste - every time something happens somewhere in the world, use it as an object lesson on what you don't want to happen. Katrina? Law-and-order breaks down, so what would we do in that situation? Nisqually Earthquake? What if things got really bad & we didn't have help for more than three days? Ice Storm? What if power was out all week & we couldn't get out of the house because of the storm? All of these conversations lead to: what can we do to improve our odds in X situation, and then some kind of purchase to increase our supplies.

3) Changing Mindset: this has been the hardest part for me. She's been "ok" with stockpiling various items that may be used for disasters, but getting her to fundamentally change her attitude is a work in progress. For example, keeping the gas tank full - she's getting much better with that, but still isn't as religious about this as I'd like. Our friend was out of gas after the Nisqually Earthquake & had a hard time getting any because gas stations were ka-put or didn't take credit cards; she barely made it home. I keep reminding my wife about this, and it's slowing sinking in... but, it's a work in progress. The use of firearms? I have no idea where she'll land on this. She's actually a pretty good shot - bought her a G19 because she shot it so well. However, would she pull the trigger on someone in a time of need? Hard to say - fight or flight, I'd guess that she'd choose "flight".

So...that's where we are in my family. We have probably 70+ days worth of food, an ample supply of guns/ammo/useful-tools, and some recognition that we're on our own in a bad event. This, coming from maybe 3-days worth of food and a few firearms ten years ago. Still have a ways to go, but not bad progress.

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[mrknot]

Thank you,
That's a great starting point.
It's going to take some doing, but I think I can bring the Mrs. around.

Just have to put it in the proper perspective for her.

 

[Just Jim]

A Conspiracy of Counterfeiters - HUMAN EVENTS

"By November 1923, the German currency was worthless, hauled about in wheelbarrows to buy groceries. The middle class had been destroyed. German housewives were prostituting themselves to feed their families."

Might make her think a bit....

jj

 

[knuckle Head]

maybe by showing them how it will help feed the family a year of flooding along the Missouri raises, crop and beef prices, how people knew the upper Missouri has been flooded since late May, as a result of the Army Corp of Engineers holding back the water from spring rains and winter snow melt for months and then just opening up the gates all summer smart move corp.

Google

 

[unionguy]

Octavia Butler's "Parable of the Sower" helped open my wife's eyes to how bad things can get once order breaks down.

 

[lowly monk]

My wife is doing great, I let her do her thing. She subtly does hers. All we can do is show by example.
Be well.
Shawnzai!

 

[GunNoob]

My advice is to just be open, use examples (personal or stories youve read), have a balance in your life (Dont forget to live while preparing to survive). If you are with someone that doesnt respect your interest, let alone well being, then what is the point really, right? Im 22 and I have included my gf in my efforts since the start of my efforts. I wanna do and learn as much as I can to be a good leader and teacher if and when (and I pray it never does) the time comes. Also be open to how the other person feels about it, it can be very scary to someone that lives in the very sad and unreallistic digital world many of us have created. Sometimes you have to remind them that the world is a scary place and it wont just go away.

 

[Riot]

My suggestions...

My wife is the type pf person that never wanted to touch a gun until someone tried to break in our home or carry one, daily, until she was robbed (thus leading me to the conclusion that everyone is a Liberal until they become a victim, then suddenly they're a Republican overnight). Preps with her had to go slowly, heck I STILL get grief for buying ammo and supplies over other provisions. But I digress...

I recommend making it as interactive as possible. Got some space for a garden? Why not suggest a planting some fresh herbs for cooking? Before you know it, you might have a small vegetable and herb garden in your lawn.

Does she like the outdoors? Try seeing if the two of you can start a fire without matches or build a shelter from the surrounding environment.

Do she eat meat? See if you can surprise her with some squirrel stew (i.e. don't tell her it's squirrel until after she says "mmm, what's in this?!"). A good friend of mine all had us try some BBQ meat and stew he cooked before he told us it was coyote. Fun times.


One thing the wife and I have planned to try is a 48hr period without electricity or running water. Basically we're going to be BBQing on the grill and showering with stored water. I think it will be an eye opener, especially when she has to keep the phone off!

 

[Roxy2711]

I started prepping almost 3 years ago, right after my husband and I started dating. At first he thought it was just a phase and that I would get over it, but he let me do my thing without much notice. Every so often something would happen, the tsunami in Japan for example, and I would say "Honey, aren't we lucky that if something happened here we at least have enough food, water and TP to get us by until help came?". Usually the reply would be "Yeah." It hasn't been until the last month or so that he can finally see that the economy isnt doing well and it doesnt look like that is going to change any time soon that he seems to finally be coming around to my way of thinking. He has had a pistol for as long as I have known him and he is perfectly happy with getting new guns and ammo and it isnt hard to get him out for target practice, but the whole prepping aspect has been hard for him to grab ahold of.

Now, I tend to be a teensy-tiny bit obsessive over things and prepping has been one big thing in my life in the last couple of years and my husband let me know one day that he thought that my life (and in return his life) had become over run with prepping. So I layed off a little bit, told him that I would use only X amount of money each month to put towards prepping and try to only bring up the subject when the subject came up casually. So far that seems to be working well and he is gradually coming around and he actually told me that he was glad that we have enough food and supplies to live comfortably for several months if something were to happen!

 

[knuckle Head]

I read this with interest because I do not have problem with mine, but a gal i work with has been asking me a lot of questions telling me her boy friend is a lot like me and is wandering what it is she is not getting, I am trying to explain it to her a good way, because she is really smart and dedicated to what she believes, the only thing is she is just out college and has been brain washed by the socialist professors and is now seeing full of sh!t they are.

Keep up the good postings it helps me explain things to her

 

[kenno]

A Conspiracy of Counterfeiters - HUMAN EVENTS

"By November 1923, the German currency was worthless, hauled about in wheelbarrows to buy groceries. The middle class had been destroyed. German housewives were prostituting themselves to feed their families."

Might make her think a bit...."

Women are not men, they are the solar oppisite of men. 99% of women do not THINK, they FEEL and proceed on thier emotional reactions. Tell her about the Wiemar Republic and she will go into denial, repeating the same behavior everytime you broach the subject.
The Feminists of the 70's-80's are the worst because they were taught to FEEL that They were just like Men and many still believe it, even though nothing in thier lives has ever supported this Feeling, they marry non-men and then blame mankind because they are stuck with a non-male. Most of those women still have a Kerry Edwards sticker on thier bumper.
Trying to make a woman see common sense is a losing proposition.
Tell your woman that you have two hobbys; collecting food, medicine, clothing, shelter and security is the first hobby.
The second hobby is drinking yourself into stupor and losing your job.
She gets to pick which hobby you should persue.
She may FEEL angry at you but she will be forced to make the correct decision and FEEL empowered that she did. Of course it will give her several months of "Talking Points" to discuss with her friends so never tell her that you have already made preps. OPSEC is a different subject.
This may take several years/decades to sink in past her FEELINGS but she will eventually stop pouting about it

 

[mat33]

Teamwork:

Step 1) Stop buying golden eagles and junk silver
Step 2) Put your wife in charge of hoarding the PMs

Trust me, your wife likes gold as much as you like guns.

 

[cbzdel]

All it took for me to get my wife into it was one day when I was working on the house, I needed to shut off the water, and as always it was not as easy as I had thought and ended up taking all day to finish up. The wife went crazy having no water, and she broke into my (our) emergency supply of water

 

[knuckle Head]

OPSEC can be hard to explain, I find it is one of the hardest things there is to explain. It is very, very simple 99% of the people in this country are sound asleep.

I see it every day. I try to explain it the best I can but, it just blows my mind how badly people do not want to accept it.

Treat everyone you do not know as possible threat until you know differently and you will make it, other wise you fill fall victim especially when SHTf

 

[knuckle Head]

this may help convince some spouses on why to prep
Power Out Into the Night | NBC San Diego

Here are a couple of video links the full length ocasionally show on tv, if the governemnt is going into so muh trouble to co-operate with hollywood to make these videos maybe we should take note

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmig-xOMDeA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doQY4xRXJJ4

 

[Burt Gummer]

Getting past the normalcy bias is difficult. I find that if you share facts with people over many months they slowly accept that their 3-4 day supply of food won't cut it. People believe what brings them comfort only. Statistics, facts, numbers - their own eyes and what they see - will take a back seat to the economic propaganda preached from their TV by the banker media. They slowly will start to realize that dependence on government is a bad thing and that conditions are and will get much, much worse.

Good info to share -- http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

 

[knuckle Head]

Yeah have actually got a few people to start read the drudgereport daily, they said it scare the SH!T out of them.

 

[ragermack]

Personal examples work the best.My wife was coming home from Portland and found the road blocked with a landslide a while back. She had to drive all the way around to Seaside and down 101. I just made the point that it is certainly not a stretch to have found another slide after turning around. We must have had 14 or so wash outs at once on highway 6 back in February of 96. 2 or even 3 are way more common.

Waking up to the Japanese earthquake and Tsunami warning helps to make the point as well.

 

[knuckle Head]

I though i would revive a couple these forums, I was wandering what kind of new input people had.

Personally, I had a couple of more people approach me and ask with my military, hiking and outdoors experience what i thought, I told them and suggest some read this site and a few others along with watching the news a week later they said, "crap one little burp in this country and there is a good chance with our debt, crime and societal problems we are going to have a mess" now their spouses are wanting to move out of the cities and build bomb shelters.

I guess they convinced their spouses

 

[Stomper]

Normalcy bias... is the enemy.

It didn't take too much nudging to get my wife on board to be a prepper. I started with accuiring more weapons and vastly increasing my ammo cache. THAT was the hardest hump to get her over as she figured THAT was a "man thing" gone out of control. I kept telling her that I promised when I achieved "certain goals" that would be that. She accepted that and I kept my promise... no more "copious" spending on weapons and ammo, because now I don't need to.

The second phase of my prepping is building up emergency food stores that will last AT LEAST for 6 months (preferably a year). That was an EASY sell to my wife, because all one has to do is watch the news and do a little math to figure out things can't keep going the way they are without MAJOR upheavals. When (not if) the government runs out of money and the welfare, social security, and unemployment checks stop coming people will make runs on the food sources... which is where the guns and ammo come into play so we can keep what we have. Right now I have abot 400 lbs. of canned and dry goods, and plan to increase that six-fold at a minimum.

Medical supplies and large container drinking water storage will be the next phase coming up shortly. Again, that is an easy sell to the wife as I've found females (mothers in particular) are keen on that particular subject... prepping issues or not.

I have also cultivated "mutual defense" alliances with other people local to me that have character, skills, and access to other "resources" that would prove invaluable during a SHTF scenerio... of all the prepping we're doing, this may be the most important aspect of it all.