un-prepping environment

Some of the most joyous videos I see on YouTube are those when a prepper, bushcrafter, outdoor enthusiast, or family handyman is joined by his spouse and kids doing things together. On the other side of the spectrum, there are people who do their thing alone, and their surrounding people are neutral or even negative.

Take for example, a person surrounded by people arguing about the bathroom and kitchen tiles not being fashionable these days, and having to replace them, when the guy's brain is grinding thoughts about how small their pantry is and having to scan the house (almost like a CT-scan) to find any space for another secondary pantry to prep for the supply chain mess. This is not to mention how the additional (unnecessary) home improvement projects they want are putting extra burden on the finances ...

As a prepper, do you have support from surrounding people?
If not, does it add a burden on you ?
Do it affect your prepping efficiency/effectiveness ?

And, how do you deal with it ??

Both Mom and I are preppers.

Jeanette Isabelle

I don't think of myself as a "prepper," but more as "prudent," being aware of likely events, and being ready for them. My darling wife, to whom I am completely devoted, spends less time on readiness affairs, and we don't always have the same priorities, but we always work things out. After all, we live in earthquake country, where planning is vital.....

I've had to combine both. For example a place where my son kicked holes in the wall that it was so bad it was easier to just replace the whole wall and instead of finishing it, I put a piece of paneling and made an accent wall.

It’s taken some time but I have pretty full support from my immediate family.

Beyond that, I don’t talk about being a prepper much. Close friends, EDC Forums (where I am also known as chaosmagnet) and here.

I'm not a "prepper." To me, emergency preparedness is just common sense. I don't really talk about it except on a forum like this. I don't hide it, but it's just that there are far more interesting things I could be talking about. I mean, we prep in case there is an interruption to our lives. But until that happens, we live our lives, right?

I have seen a family where a member sabotaged their preparation. The wife took preparation seriously, but the husband would destroy her work because he got such a kick out of hurting her. Perhaps this is the sort of situation that Chisel has in mind?

Thanks everyone. I am not exactly a prepper either, but I use these labels loosely to indicate mental and psychological inclinations. I watch videos of bushcrafting and homesteading because I like that way of life. Homesteading seems closer to what I am , but I don't raise chickens or rabbits. LOL. So, only I may best be described as "marginal prepper". LOL

In our coming house project, we are installing 8 air conditioning units around the upper floor of the house , and I am putting my brain in turbo mode to come up with a plan to harvest the expected "artifical rain" from those AC units , and use it for gardening.

This is the kind of McGyverizing and homesteading I am mostly interested in.

I am happy for you.
We always need someone, and if that someone is mom, it is an ideal situation. The bond with our mothers is like no other bond.

Well, Bingley, I do have an interest in reading about personality types like MBTI 16 types , and narcissists.. etc, so I feel tempted to ask for more details about the husband and his reaction. But this may make a detour in the thread.

I agree with you about living our lives and not taking prepping into addiction mode. What I meant is that the prepper may not even have enough space left to apply his simple ideas of prepping (a pantry , a small garden, a small workshop .. etc.) because others never think of any lifestyle exists outside of the blind consumerist lifestyle.

So there is a conflict here. They may ridicule the purchase of some tools, but will not blink when they ask for changing the living room sofas or painting the whole house; not because of anything dysfunctional, but because it is not fashionable anymore, or maybe just feeling envy of other who have done it.

I've been slowly, methodically and deliberately cutting toxic people out of my life. So far, it feels great.

While Mrs. Magnet and I have our disagreements around prepping, we've always been able to solve them amicably and without this sort of toxic behavior. I'm very grateful for her.

Of course. In addition to preparing for things such as a food shortage or a kink in the supply chain, I'm engaged in Bible study, yardwork, and gun club meetings.

Jeanette Isabelle

I don't have the space either. I essentially turned my bedroom into a storage closet with a bed in it. For example, I have boxes stacked in front of my shelves, blocking access to them.

Jeanette Isabelle

We have an opening from the basement into a crawlspace, its maybe 3' x 5'. There was just some scrap chipboard leaning over it when we moved in. I took that scrap and cut it to the size of the opening and attached hinges and a latch and then framed it inside. Then used 1x2's and made one of those can rotators on the inside of the door so when you open the door a little bit of storage is there. Then build a second can rotator and hung is on rails just inside the opening so we have a second row of cans there without taking up much space.

Yes, Eugene.
We have to utilize every cubic inch of space for supplies .

When you think about it, "things" are much easier to deal with than people. If you have a hammer, screwdriver, and a few pliers, "things" can be changed in the way that serves your prepping vision.

People, on the other hand, may have conflicting views and distract you from making a prep plan. Some people do not take life seriously enough, and may, for example, look at what you do superficially and laugh at it. Presenting your philosophy of prudence as a joke will expose everything you try to keep to yourself. Yes, they mean no harm, but they do more harm than good.

By the way, yesterday, I was reading something and among those who commented was a person who has a page dedicated to FLAT EARTH. Out of curiosity, I visited his page and read a few posts. It helped me see clearly how people can rely on twisted logic and wrong understanding of basic math and physics. So, if someone doesn't believe in prepping, it is no big deal.

take a tip from the "pros"... LDS recommends that a years worth of vacuum sealed or canned food can be stored under your bed... after watching the Wendy DeWitt LDS video, I started vacuum sealing staples (with jar adapter to my food vacuum sealer) in quart large mouth Mason/Ball jars, and storing in their original packing containers under my bed... I do maintain a month's worth of canned supplies (I try to donate to food banks as their best by date approaches)

It's hard when no one else in your family thinks in this direction, especially for food. Trying to figure out ways to keep food on hand when you have 2 teenage boys is a pain.

For many other things I can "leverage" the boys; having two scouts make having gear that counts as "camping" gear can finesse this.
We both agree on many of the basics, having folding ladders in all upstairs bedrooms was HER idea

My wife gripes at my choices in some cases, but as most of the supplies I buy are long term ones and not crazy expensive she just rolls her eyes.. Over the years several of them have proved useful.

AMAZING how having 6 or 7 spare wool blankets can be in a 48 hour Power outage can be...LOL...

I still remember a work colleague invited a number of friends for dinner. Cooking gas was suddenly interrupted, and cooking was virtually impossible. A few of his friends brought their camping stoves and everything was cooked on them. He was happy telling us what happened the next day.

So, yes, prepping items can be sneaked in under different labels. And it is prudent to do so.

Boy, this could be my post. Though my kids are < 10.

I've got a half-shelf in the basement store room with about 10 #10 cans of Mtn house, along with about 10 cans of fruits and 10 cans of meats. Also about 6 MRE's and about 30 lifeboat ration types. Plus 6 cases of water.

It's not much, but it's stable.

Our camping stuff also fills dual roles. Both cars have a few blankets, which come in pretty handy in fall when the temps drop quick as the sun goes down and we're STILL at some sort of God-awfully-long-kids-practice ...

I used to have a friend that was uber-prep, but TBH he was kind of "jump from one good idea to the next." Suddenly he was into guns and buying the cheapest thing that went 'bang' that he could, then he was a gunsmith with a dremel and wood-burning kit... His food preps were ok, but he was big into cast iron (I guess that makes you a mountain man?) and I had to talk him off the ledge about gas masks for the entire family.