Did people think youwere crazy when you started prepping?

1076 Views 28 Replies 24 Participants Last post by wy_white_wolf, Nov 14, 2008

nrst

Discussion Starter · Nov 13, 2008

I have to admit when my mil came to me and dh with the idea of prepping I kind of thought she was a little ringy.

But then I started looking around on the net and boy were my eyes opened.

I dont know where my head has been (been having health issues for several years) but what I was finding scared the living daylights out of me.

So now mil and I have a deal. She buys what is needed if I "manage" it - keep it circulated and use and rebuy as needed and keep track of all of it. (Thankful for my "notebook").

I did tell her this fall that I thought she was a little crazy about all of this and we had a good laugh about it but got me to thinking. If I was that blind about all of this and thinking like I was, is everyone else thinking the same about other preppers? Do people make fun of you or give you "the look"?

I do tell people that I have growing teens at home when I go on my buys but still get the funny looks from people. :gossip:

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Bonnie L

· #2 · Nov 13, 2008

Never a funny look. But then, I'm not paying attention. :rock:

I started prepping for bad weather & Y2k & still prep for whatever emergency comes down the pike. Have you been to the Survival & Emergency Prep forum yet. Lots of good information.

highlands

· #3 · Nov 13, 2008

nrst said:
I have to admit when my mil came to me and dh with the idea of prepping I kind of thought she was a little ringy.

You tell them? I wouldn't. Of course, I'm not prepping...

colemank

· #4 · Nov 13, 2008

The only people I tell I am prepping is my family (mom and 2 brothers back in Michigan). They all think I am absolutely nuts. My mom says that there will never be a great emergency that would cause us to need to prep. I remind her that there was a great depression once and she reminds me that she lived through it once and can do it again (this is where I give up because reminding her that she was just a little girl during that time and not a grown woman trying to take care of a family, she just doesn't get it).

I wouldn't dare mention prepping to anyone where I live, Las Vegas, NV. I would probably be the first house raided in a time of emergency.

wy_white_wolf

· #5 · Nov 13, 2008

Did people think youwere crazy when you started prepping?

Nope. I didn't let anyone know we were prepping.

If SHTF the less others know what I have the better.

farmergirl

· #6 · Nov 13, 2008

This is a timely thread, as my MIL from my DH's horribly disfunctional family is coming to stay for a few days around Thanksgiving. We normally keep alot of distance between us and the rest of his relations, but 5 years ago he did invite her to visit our farm "someday" and she has decided to take him up on the offer. I do not want her to have any idea that we have more than a simple pantry, but alot of our extra supplies are kept in the room she will be staying in. Any advice for hiding stuff? Should I put a lock on the door to the closet where most of the stuff is kept? That seems like it would invite questioning and I would rather just fly under the radar.

Just to clarify a little, she will not be abusive to us during her visit, but would share any and all personal information she discovers with the entire extended dysfunctional family. They are toxic; I will leave it at that.

Bonnie L

· #7 · Nov 13, 2008

farmergirl said:
farmergirl said:

Just to clarify a little, she will not be abusive to us during her visit, but would share any and all personal information she discovers with the entire extended dysfunctional family. They are toxic; I will leave it at that.

Click to expand...

Ouch. I've got a couple of relatives like that. Can you move the supplies into your room or the kids - just for the visit? If the majority can be hidden away, what's left won't look so much like prepping. You could say there was a sale that was too good to resist or something.

Good luck. :grouphug:

MariaAZ

· #8 · Nov 13, 2008

I never really gave it much thought, but prepping as you all call it is a family tradition. My mother lived through WWII in Germany as a young adult and has very keen memories of severe food shortages during and after the war. She vowed back then that she would never ever worry about food again, and has always kept large stores of edibles stashed in the pantry and closets. Dad grew up in a home for homeless boys here in the States, and he was quite supportive of my mother's habits. They never talked to anyone about their spending habits, so no one ever had the opportunity to comment.

I've always taken advantage of good deals at the grocery store, stocking up on things I know I'll use when the price is right. With prices going up the way they have, I've been buying larger amounts but am no where NEAR as well-stocked as many preppers are. However, I know we could go several months without buying ANY groceries if we had to, and like my folks I've never discussed it with anyone (except my folks of course.)

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G

· #9 · Nov 13, 2008

Well, it didn't take me long not to bring it up outside of a very small circle of people.

And eventually I learned to never, ever debate about it. Either they are interested or they are not.

.....Alan.

plumbersfriend

· #10 · Nov 13, 2008

Sounds like some of my family. I'd get it out of the house even if you had to rent a storage room for a month. Might be worth the cost in the long run.

farmergirl said:
This is a timely thread, as my MIL from my DH's horribly disfunctional family is coming to stay for a few days around Thanksgiving. We normally keep alot of distance between us and the rest of his relations, but 5 years ago he did invite her to visit our farm "someday" and she has decided to take him up on the offer. I do not want her to have any idea that we have more than a simple pantry, but alot of our extra supplies are kept in the room she will be staying in. Any advice for hiding stuff? Should I put a lock on the door to the closet where most of the stuff is kept? That seems like it would invite questioning and I would rather just fly under the radar.

Just to clarify a little, she will not be abusive to us during her visit, but would share any and all personal information she discovers with the entire extended dysfunctional family. They are toxic; I will leave it at that.

Farmerwilly2

· #11 · Nov 13, 2008

Why tell anyone anything? Seems that'd be the same as painting a big target on your roof.

fordson major

· #12 · Nov 13, 2008

Farmerwilly2 said:
Why tell anyone anything? Seems that'd be the same as painting a big target on your roof.

zigaktly!:rock: we don't prep here either!

DQ

· #13 · Nov 14, 2008

prep? whats that?

Murron

· #14 · Nov 14, 2008

Prepping... Never heard of that one.

DH, of course, knows. He does, like, *live* here, but in the beginning, even he shook his head a bit. Now I just put him to work "building things" to hold/store our preps and all those kinda things.

He still thinks I'm whacko.

menollyrj

· #15 · Nov 14, 2008

When I first started prepping, DH thought I was a little nuts. Now, he just jokes about "The Store" in the basement, but he accepts that prepping just makes me feel better. My parents think I'm normal (which means they're as nutty as I am), with both of them coming from larger farming families where a freezer full of food and a pantry full of canned goods was the standard. My coworkers don't know I prep, per se, but they do know that I keep track of what is a "good" price. They just think I'm cheap, not crazy. My MIL thinks I'm a little overboard, but she also keeps a full freezer and a pantry full of canned goods, so I tend to grin when she asks, "Why?" And my kids like knowing that we always have a stock of pop-tarts in old popcorn tins SOMEWHERE in the house... (I have to keep moving them so they don't disappear when I'm not looking...the pop-tarts, not the kids.)

-Joy

nathan104

· #16 · Nov 14, 2008

highlands said:
You tell them? I wouldn't. Of course, I'm not prepping...

Exactly. If you tell people you prep, you better store enough for all of them to because when something happens and they dont have anything, guess what theyll remember you telling them. Id tell everyone that you have told that you have changed your mind and dont feel like you need to prep anymore.

kasilofhome

· #17 · Nov 14, 2008

Farmgirl, if you are involed with a church or group--boy scout or girl scout or even the kids school simple mention to MIL that this year you are the "chairman of the food pantry drive for the local (very local) food bank and you are sorta forced to store the items at your home until the big event.

It is true - the big event is your family's need, the local food bank is your family's food bank. Play it down and as you are sorry that it might or does take up so much room. and leave it at that. She is not about to go around checking it out is she (with the neighbors I mean)

Quint

· #18 · Nov 14, 2008

Never tell others about your stockpiles of food, fuel, weapons, ammunition etc. It just makes you a target for legal or illegal confiscation in times of crisis and a target for theft during normal times.

Make sure to stress to everyone in your family especially children that these sorts of things are NEVER to be discussed outside the home with anyone else.

A family member once found out that I had supplies and spread it all over creation because he can't keep his mouth shut. Not being malicious but brought it up in conversation. "Yeah Quint has a bunch of XYZ stored...". Sure enough when someone had discovered I had left town and had rented a large a storage locker it was broken into and I had tens of thousands of dollars with of supplies and possessions stolen.

Spinner

· #19 · Nov 14, 2008

nrst said:
Do people make fun of you or give you "the look"?

You tell people? I never get "the look" because only other preppers know that I prep.

TundraGypsy

· #20 · Nov 14, 2008

I tried to tell my stepson and his wife to prep years ago and they chided me and rolled their eyes alot. My DH isn't much better. He yelled at me one year when he hunted through all our credit card bills for an entire year and found I'd been buying prep items. I stopped for a year, then hid the credit card bills the following year.

I don't tell anyone outside of my twin sister about my prepping. DD just 'got it' this year; she's now seriously into prepping and she should, she and her hubby have four great little kids to feed.

Hubby says we have plenty of food put aside, but one never has enough food on hand. I don't think anyone is ever fully prepped either.

1 - 20 of 29 Posts

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