Getting your Wife on board...

[Tofu]

As an old Eagle Scout I try to live my life prepared for most things. I've been doing what I could for almost 2 years now, made some plans, stowed away some gear, own some firearms, have some food storage (not nearly enough), and the 550 gallon cistern is ready to be installed. Up to this point I have been able to get my wife to go with me on most of what I've been wanting to do by using the guise of getting ready for that big snow storm.

Did an inventory of our food situation and honestly I'm good for 4 to 6 weeks. Better than most of America I know, but not nearly enough for SHTF. Keep in mind she never watches the news, never reads anything outside of some murder thriller, and can tell you what is going on with every pop star and movie actor. But when it comes to the wheels coming off our national wagon, I'm the one that is over reacting and taking all this stuff too serious.

I need to know if I'm alone in this. Because I know what's going to happen is that its going to hit the fan, and when it does she's going to be the first to say to me, "What are we going to do?"

[Matt In Oklahoma]

[QUOTE=Tofu;7415]As Up to this point I have been able to get my wife to go with me on most of what I've been wanting to do by using the guise of getting ready for that big snow storm.Keep in mind she never watches the news, never reads anything outside of some murder thriller, and can tell you what is going on with every pop star and movie actor. "
Keep using the weather and other natural events such as earthquakes etc. Use the movies scenes to strike up conversations such as the book of eli, red dawn, tremors, war of worlds or whatever.
oh and good luck changing a wifes mind, sometimes we just gotta do what we gotta do and take the buttchewin with it LOL

[610Alpha]

You are not alone. I got the 'ol "I have faith that God will provide" line from my wife. I have faith too, but I also have wisdom, these 2 are not opposing forces, they work hand in hand to my understanding. Noah and Joseph understood this. Also why else would God devout a whole book in the bible to wisdom and in it it says to seek wisdom. Can't imagine that the Almighty would devout a whole book and have us ignore it. God gave us a mind and freewill to choose him or not and the same goes for being prepared for an ice storm or a flat tire.

I think my post was something about "Faith vs Wisdom", check it out for some other suggestions from other members.

[WiseOwl]

I think my wife understands why I have started this new "hobby". She probably doesnt like it but keeps that to herself. She did start getting a little uncomfortable when I got the .40 last year and the 12 gauge 2 months ago, but she lets that be known and then shuts it. She didnt grow up around guns even though they lived in a country town. Her folks are weird like that. I think after I made her watch Red Dawn, The Road and even Jeremiah Johnson(100 Times) she realized where I am coming from. She is so caught up in school, reality TV, my wild 3 year old and the New child on the way that she doesnt think anything can happen. When she came in my room one night and all my camping/ bug out gear was in the floor, she started to realize I was for real. Even as I told her I am making her a "survival bag" to keep in the trunk of the car. After she has child #2 I am going to finally teach her how to shoot....hopefully. So as I have compiled my 1 week supply, she didnt ask too many questions, just said " I guess so". See our problem is we are on a very limited budget for the time being and any extra money I can spend I try to, like $20-40 per pay period. Anytime we go to Wally World, I snatch up a box of shells or .40 Rounds, or a few cans of Chunky Soup. She is coming around though. We are buying a dehydrator this spring and going to start canning my garden. I am looking to get a Ruger 10/22 with either some Christmas money or if a pawn shop will trade me for my guitar and amp. She is going to flip when I get a .270 and an AR before summer.....LOL

[Monel]

Get her a copy of "Patriots" and "One Second After".

[protus]

dont pay your cable bill....problem solved. ;)


getting your SO on board is a major issue it seems.
From what i have seen it breaks down like so.

I prep a little bit my SO thinks im nuts- so i sneak it in past him/her.
SO lets me do what i want long as i dont talk/depress them with all the bad news
SO lets me have my "hobby" and i let her have her shopping sprees....i buy a 600$ AR she buys a 600$ purse all is well.

Neither works.

My wife was on board for what most would consider good to go. Similar to you. 1-2 months of stuff. Most of it a combo of our camping gear, my gear and our hurricane boxes.
Then i ramped stuff up around 02-04. We would argue in the store as to why i would want to buy 10 cans of beans. I stopped going to the store with her all together. But i kept prepping. Then we went through the hurricanes of 04' down here. Made it out ok considering all that we lost ( both cars, 1/2 of our "junk" ) and we didnt suffer, and were ahead of the rest when it came to comforts,food, and other items ( we had hot meals, lights, radios, while others were in the dark, eating cold can goods etc) for over 14 days.
Then for some odd reason. During Katrina, she was on the couch and said
" i do not wanna be like that...." Pointing the the TV showing folks on roof tops and the bridges.

At that point she went 100% on board with our food preps, and other preps. She was already a camper,hiker..now she's a canner, bread maker, recipe maker/cooker...and can shoot pretty decent when she wants and puts her mind to it.
The important thing is that while i may be the one that pays mind to the craziness of the world...and she may know who is on what TV show,she hasnt slacked in keeping up in important areas of preparedness. She thinks through things, reads books like we do ( one second after etc) watches the shows we all talk about ( colony, jerhico etc) and questions what she see's/reads " why would they do that when they could do xyz,honey?!"

All i did was to stay steady with my preps..and not give up. I did NOT try and scare her into prepping. She saw the benifits for herself and made up her mind.


Some people cant or will not do that. Some out there no matter how much food,water,guns,gear,toys they have will never have an SO thats on board. The main problem is when a real event happens things on their end will fall apart pretty fast.

[WiseOwl]

Good point Protus. That is an excellent idea.
And the Purse vs Toy analogy would work wonders around here!
I will use that strategy


I have Patriots and left it on my night stand for a few weeks hoping she would read it. She did let me read her portions of Behold A Pale Horse a few years ago and thats what started opening up her mind to the world that is not reality TV and Facebook.


And as for the cable bill......man I love my ESPN, NFL, and History Channels...hehe

[protus]

Good point Protus. That is an excellent idea.
And the Purse vs Toy analogy would work wonders around here!
I will use that strategy

I have Patriots and left it on my night stand for a few weeks hoping she would read it. She did let me read her portions of Behold A Pale Horse a few years ago and thats what started opening up her mind to the world that is not reality TV and Facebook.


And as for the cable bill......man I love my ESPN, NFL, and History Channels...hehe

you need to do what you feel is best for you marrige/family.
It is not something i would personally do. Communication is key. You may have to have a face to face on what you want to do.
At times the SO will think your gonna drop major cash so is leary, and once they see it isnt they open up.
This is why i say dont try and scare anyone into prepping, or hide stuff from them. Then they feel lied to and well ...you can add in what ever dear dr.phil analogoy you wish LOL...

communication....works.

[WiseOwl]

I stated that because its funny, I bought her a Coach purse and Wallet for Christmas and that bought me 3 Backpacking Trips this year...or it will once Santa Arrives....
And I have a feeling santa is bringing me some items to accompany me on my walks through the woods....

And you are right about scaring people into prepping. I tried to do that to my dad and he thinks I am nuts! hehe

[road warrior762]

i agree with protus you cant scare anyone into it.slow and steady will get you where you need to be one day,. and with all the movies that are out she will start saying to her self i dont want to end up like that.

[arcangel911]

Since I cannot seem to find a SO at this point in time, I keep my activites to myself and others who are like minded.

I wish I could have someone to help who would be on my side. But with, as mentioned above, those of us out there are not exactly portayed well in the media.

Its funny to me, and I know it is a quote out there, but I can't remember where it is; "What is crazy about wanting to survive?"

[-06]

I share your grief. My wife of 37 years still scoffs at my preps. She has "allowed" me to stack cases of MREs in the bath hallway temporarily. My office is my domain and she has no concept of the stores there and in the basement. She too says that God will provide--she is right, God has allowed me to put up a modest amount of stores so in effect--He will provide. My by-line on another site says: Joseph prepped for seven years. Some of mine are nearly three times that old(dried grains/etc) and some have not been put into storage containers yet.
Getting someone online with you is a slow tedious process. It has taken me a long long time to even get to the "putting up with you" stage--lol. Keep on working and dropping vital tidbits of info here and there. Don't overwhelm them with stuff but do the "frog in the pot" trick on them.

[Tofu]

Found this today:

shtf blog article

[Mikeg175]

I actually was able to get my point across a little yesterday , just enough to open my wife's eyes just a little . I used the little wimpy snow we got as a great " I told you so " kind of thing . I had to work , so I was out and she didn't want to head out because of all the non-drivers out there and asked me to stop at the store . I then started into the if we had a larger pantry and kept the amount of cans of soup like I asked her to keep for emergencies and she hadn't let the levels fall below a certain level I wouldn't have to risk my life to get some soup and lunch meats . Now the snow was really wimpy and I was laying it on think enough , that she knew I was stretching it , because I have the vehicles and skills to play in the 3 feet of snow we got last year , but she got the perspective that I was going with , she also knows I have about a yrs supply of food and drink in my workshop ,so she wasn't too traumatized but it wasn't the quick and easy Chunkys soup and grill cheese's she wanted !! It wasn't a huge deal , but I figure by doing little things like that , she will start to get the bigger picture .

My next move is going to be to take all the phones , keys to vehicles and lock the breaker box with the power off , I figure one night of being a major @dhdsk@$^$ is worht it so she can feel what it will be like if it lasted more then a few hours of major downtime . I know it sounds harsh , but I think even dealing with a pissed off wife , who can at least know the feeling , would be better then a happy oblivious wife who doesn't have a clue what it will be like when SHTF . My wife is pretty cool with my buying what I want and need , but just takes it all for granted that she can pick up her phone and get what is needed , so I figure a night of no power/cell phone/tv/internet would be helpful in showing why I have the items I have atm , and not like when we camp and that is the reason for doing it . I think I will pick up a calender toss it up , what ever month it is open to , will be the month , then blindly throw a dart and let that be the day . The problem will be in me keeping it normal , so I don't stockpile for the day lol , as in keeping my cooler filled with ice/beer and goodies .

[billm75]

My wife is slowly coming around to the self sufficiency thing I'm trying to work around here. The garden, the learning new techniques for food prep and storage, etc. She's still reluctant to do any canning with me, preserving meats, etc, but in the context of saving money I can get her to go along with some of it. I'm slowly and surely introducing things so that when I spring on her that I'm preparing for survival IF we need to, it won't be as hard of a sell.