would your family agree to your escape plan if the [censored] hits the fan? would the wife disagree because she thinks all of this stuff is all macho BS. I am just wondering out loud here. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

My lady and I share a common vision on this topic, as well as many others. But then, she was well prepared prior to meeting me. She is just more well prepared now. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

It is funny....my wife use to kind of think that some of the 'planning' was a little much. For the record, yes I did prepare for Y2K. Nothing massive but we were prepared.

We live in Florida. We've been through the hurricanes. Yes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne. Yes this last years too. So many names I've lost track. Now she is more knowledgable than I am on most subjects. As she says, "Did you ever think you'd see the day when I drive by a house and ponder the load capacity of the gabled end or wheter or not there are enough hurricane straps holding the trusses?"

Her parents were worse than she was....even they are now asking for preparedness help. 3 years ago a gift of a battery operated TV would have been laughted at by them. Now they are profusely (and honestly) grateful for the 12 pack of D batteries we gave as a gift.

They're getting better.

I've just been through this in the past six months with a few family and friends. The first thing you have to do is create a logical reason that demonstrates a need for an emergency preparedness plan. Sceptics should have a look a Ready.gov Fema or Homeland Security (dhs.gov) . These official government sites are giving those interested persons, not-so subtle cues to get prepared and they're doing it in a casual manner that avoids creating a panic.

My family, including my grown kids, are cognizant of the writing on the wall.... Not only from watching natural disasters, post Katrina chaos, living through two California earthquakes and a mid Illinois tornado, but also the dangerous situations our government has created by bullying certain extreme religious factions.

Do what you can to get loved ones involved.... There's nothing wrong with planning and being prepared. While it's a bit unnerving at first to read all the web disaster scenarios, becoming well prepared has given my family some piece of mind.

I think I'm okay. My family has been in the path of Hurricanes, Tornados, Earthquakes and Blizzards (my family is spread out all over the country) and my my father was working a few blocks from the WTC on 9/11. Most of them plan and prepare more than the average person. The problem I foresee with them is that in a situation that required voluntary evacuation (hurricane for example) they will wait too long to decide if it's "really" necessary.

In my more immediate situation, it's just me and maybe my son (who lives with me 50% of the time). My son is only 2.5 years old though so he has no choice. My ex wife doesn't take emergency preparedness lightly. She did live with me for almost 10 years after all and her father is a retired firefighter so if my son is with her when the SHTF she will most likey come to me (we only live a few city blocks from each other) in an emergency and if that is not possible, she will know what to do.

Would I (since I am "the unprepared wife") agree to DH's escape plan?

Hum. Several years ago, I'd let DH do all the emergency planning that he wanted as long as it didn't affect my life. So, he couldn't spend extravagent sums of money on supplies, but he could choose to use his personal discretionary money on whatever supplies they would buy. He could stockpile whatever supplies he liked as long as they didn't get in my way. He could plan whatever escape routes he wanted as long as he didn't make me scout them out with him. Etc. I think you get the idea.

I thought that DH was a bit extreme; however he didn't impose his preparedness on me. So, you could say that I thought the stuff was BS and I didn't buy into any of it. I suppose if TS ever HTF, I would have been grateful for his planning; however, we'll never know as we never experienced a major calamity before I was at least partially converted.

How was I converted? Slowly and quietly. I could see that DH liked the preparedness stuff. He would reorganize his BOB in the living room where I could see and ask what the heck he planned to do with all that stuff. I was (and still am) skeptical about most of the stuff, but eventually I saw how his techniques could help maintain my comfort and convenience in less extreme situations. That slowly but naturally let to me being more prepared for more dire circumstances.

IMHO it doesn't matter whether your family buys into your escape plan before TSHTF, as long as they let you make the plan. If TSHTF, they will probably be grateful for the plan. If your family has problems with you even making plans, you might want to do some soul searching about how your relationship functions.

-Kuovonne

I'm not being sarcastic or anything, but for most of my family, that is a funny question. We've always been into camping and traveling, so we naturally are in the habit of carrying certain types of things with us: water, changes of clothing, tent, stove, food, etc. I don't even know where the line was between "just" camping and survival/self preservation.

My Dad was a ham from the age of 16 to 78. My Mom grew up in mining towns (like Aspen, CO). Both spent their twenties in the Great Depression (they always said "Great"), which was something of a survival situation for what, 11-12 years?

After my Dad died, Mom came to live with me. And my sister came, too. We lived through quite a few CA earthquakes. Up here, we have earthquakes, two volcanoes and flooding. I bought my house carefully: we wouldn't flood, we wouldn't slide, although we could be marooned for a while (which is just camping at home!).

Once here, the three of us just kind of naturally fixed things to deal with the possibilities. We stored food and water, have a wood stove. My sis and I worked about 20 mi from home (on the other side of the flood plain), so we kept smaller pieces of dry wood in a rack outside the back door, so Mom could keep the stove going for several days, if necessary. We kept dog and cat food ahead. Stored water. Extra of Mom's meds. We have good, like-minded friends. We would be welcome there, they would be welcome here (and they would bring their "stuff" along).

If we needed to evacuate, my sis and I both have trucks, mine with a camper shell. We have collapsible wire dog cages we could put the cats in if we had to leave. We have tarps, rope, stakes, a tent.

There was never any question of whether or not to prepare for trouble... it just seemed stupid NOT to. I have a job now, where a couple of my coworkers have shown interest in preparing, so I've given them some info and some lists. One just bought a largish tent in case their MH was knocked off its foundation. Another is beginning to store water and food. Both are thinking ahead, they just weren't sure where to begin.

I always kind of laugh when people ask if they should have some kind of preparations. Why would they NOT???

Sue