Welcome SuzieQ,
As you can see there are many people including women here that are willing to share thier experience.
Enjoy

First and formost do not panic if you don't have an elephant gun by tommorow. I did have an elephant gun once. Well, actually I carried it in Alaska for brown bears, but they never asked to borrow it. My L.A. raised, nicaraugan sister in law asked why I had an elephant gun. I said " Elephants keep walking on my roof at night." She became indignent. " You don't have elephants on your roof!"I said " SEE! it works!" A lot of survival kit is nice, but it's a lot like elephant guns. Do you really need a army surplus, field surgical kit in a web wallet or a dosimeter for fallout? First and foremost; take an inventory. $100 survival knife? Do you have a real nice HENKLES paring knife? Survival food? so buy a few extra cans of peaches and a can of coffee and sort of forget about them each shopping trip until you have this small cache.Toss a flashlight and some batteries back there. Possessions that are good enough for daily use are probably good enough in a pinch for a basic emergency. So DO NOT feel utterly unprepared.

If you are going to try camping, get a sleeping pad to put under your bag. The ground is hard and lumpy, the aches and pains in the morning can take the fun out of it real quick.

Everyone has their own starting point. I don't think mine is the best, but I'm slowly building my knowledge.

Personally I found this book to be a useful one to have around. Some of what is discussed is a bit too severe, and you wouldn't run into. But other detais, like "in your latrine, cover your poop so that you don't have contamination issues with flies" is something you slap your head and say "of course!". But maybe if I hadn't read it, it wouldn't be instinctive when needed.

And this kit is a really useful start to any bug out bag. Strangely, Amazon.com has them as part of their "subscribe and save" program, so I had them delivering them to me monthly for the shockingly low price of $21.25. I got 3, one went to my Dad, 1 went in my camping stash, and 1 went in my bug out bag. (in case I'm camping when my wife has to bug out). Right now they are out of stock but being reordered.

Both items are more engineered toward bugging out, which is my tendency because of my situation. but I don't have that much time to build these kits from scratch, so I am starting with some pre-made stuff and then when I've got my list complete I can start tweaking what I already have.

There are many books about surviving (check cody lundin) and sometimes they are best starting points, so you can get your thoughts organized. There is a lot of information to absorb before you start in earnest.

Plan your work, work your plan.

That's some solid advice Chris.

Far too often enthusiasts of any kind point folks toward a gigantic list of items that will take a good deal of time and a great amount of money to put together.

I can't speak for anyone else but I've noticed that since I've started preparing, over the course of about 2 years, I've accumulated enough stuff and gear to equip about 25 people. Just getting a little here and there really adds up.

Hi SuzieQ,

It's always nice to see other women on this forum! I'm glad you joined us.

My husband shares a bit of your husband's skepticism, so I know how you feel. It is a pretty natural response. What helps is just to keep going anyway, slowly buying supplies here and there, and learning what you can. Perhaps there is something you don't quite understand about your husband, but support him on it anyway? That keeps it in perspective for me.

Preparedness can be as simple as buying a few extra cans of food every week. The way I see it, if you're gearing up slowly because you're doing the research and buying what works specifically for you and your budget, then you're doing it right. We live in a small condo, so storage space is a concern. We can't possibly fit a whole year's worth of food in our place, but we can stretch out several weeks, at least. Don't look at things as "limitations," but rather as parameters for your own personal plan.

As far as moving your stuff, it helps to have a variety of gear systems. If we have access to our car, we can take our trunk of heavy-duty, robust gear and more supplies. If we have to proceed on foot, we have similar, but lighter "backpacking"-style equipment in packs.

Honestly, testing your skills and gear is a fun part of this learning process. It doesn't need to be "hardcore" at first, either (heck, I consider cooking in the wilderness to be an important skill), and I can't imagine any guy who wouldn't enjoy it. Just start camping with your husband and see how it goes from there.

Anyone miss Burt Gummer? Every now and then the news or Doctor Phil will spotlight some compulsive hoarder. You know; stacks of old newspapers, 12 microwaves and multiple sets of Nancy Drew mysteries to the point they sleep in the back yard with the 18 dogs.

If the ancient Anasazi god TEOTWAWKI ever blows past his brother KOKOPELLI's fake copper windchimes it should be fun. I expect half the survivalists to die in the first 5 minutes, likely crushed by falling boxes of black beans and rice MRE's. The other half will emerge thinking every nieghbor they've known for 20 years is a NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD zombie and start shooting. Once they've exausted the 10,000 rounds of chicom ammo ( defending the american way of life)the bricks of .22 and gold bullion come out of the buried PVC tubes to barter for chocolate bars. Trouble is, everybody is going to be standing there with more .22 bricks and gold bullion.

Makes note to myself: take recyclable earnings this week and buy more chocolate,catfood and rotate water.

Survival preparation is about preparing for crisis and how to come out alive and well.

It is risks management and identication.
1. what is the chance of each type of natural disaster(flood, earthquake, bushfire, etc) impacting your neighbourhood.
2. Prepare for the most likely disaster.
3. although the goverment advise to prepare a 72 hours / 3 days kit. The idea is that help will arrive within 3 days. You may want to prepare for a longer term such as 2 weeks or 3 months. Recent disasters, such as the flood in NO, earthquake in China, etc, help take longer than 3 days to arrive.
4. your survival kit should only contain essential items that will keep you alive.
5. Food - when you do your weekly shopping, you may want to spend 5 dollars to buy something extra for your pantry. eg. instead of buying 5kg of sugar, you may buy 7 kg. So that you can deposit the extra 2kg into your pantry. After sometime, your pantry will be well stock. To prevent food spoilage, I would suggest when you finish your sugar, take from your pantry. Then remember to topup the sugar on your next shopping trip.

Example - water for consumption & use, it is not necessary to store 2 weeks worth of water. It is more realistic to store a few litres of drinking water for your immediate needs. Then find a water source and process it with a portable water filter & water treatment kit for further ongoing water requirement.

Hi SuzieQ.

There are other women on the boards - myself included.

Sorry I can't really say what to do about your husband except - do not nag him about it. Go slowly. Camping is a good way to get some things you might need - there is a large crossover in things that work for camping and things that would be useful in an emergency.

Personally I pick up extra food when it goes on sale - pasta, batteries, rice, canned goods - etc. I also have some freeze dried because it stores long term so well and some MRE's for convienience. Most of the basic food is in the pantry being rotated for use. The rest is in large rubbermaid containers in a spare closet. I keep stored water in my laundry room, such as it is. Water is important. If you have pets don't forget about them.

I also save cash (on hand - some goes to the bank - but this is cash I'm referring to) from each paycheck - a little here and there. When we had the huge multi state black out a few years ago it was hard to access the bank - it would be good to have some money at home and not all in the bank.

A little bit here and there and soon you'll be ready for anything but an alien invasion.