If you’re on my e-mail list, you got an e-mail from me last week asking what the goal of your preparedness is. I heard a lot of different answers containing both triumphs and struggles. And in some of those answers, I felt heavy hearts. One, in particular, touched me because I’ve heard it many times and experienced it myself. But that leaves us with a question. How do you help your husband get on board with prepping?
I will give concrete suggestions in this article, but I don’t want to give empty platitudes. Prepping when your husband isn’t on board is a hard place to be – not just physically but emotionally as well. Take heart – this problem is not unique to you. Many people have struggled with it in the past, and some of them have overcome it.
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So let’s delve into some concrete steps to take for prepping when your husband isn’t on board.
Way to Help Your Husband Get On Board With Prepping #1 – Prepare in ‘Normal’ Ways
What types of things look normal to everyone? What kinds of things look normal to your spouse? Consider some of these ideas that he may not object to:
- a clothesline
- a garden
- potted herbs on a windowsill
- water barrels – for watering the garden – of course, you can use them for emergency drinking water too!
- having a pantry decently full of staples
- making jams and jellies
- pressure canning vegetables and soups – for busy nights when you can’t cook
- going camping – of course, that means you need to pick up camping equipment which can double as preparedness equipment
- building a firepit so that you can have family fun and a place to roast marshmallows or hotdogs and cook using your pie irons
- gathering lots of firewood for your fireplace so that you’re continually supplied with wood for a romantic fire during the winter
Way to Help Your Husband Get On Board With Prepping #2 – Prepare in Unseen
Ways
We put so much emphasis on things we need to buy for preparedness, but there is a world out there of things we learn to do. These items are generally unseen – and if they are seen, they are easily chalked up to a new hobby – unless you’re practicing building an outside shelter from just materials you find on your property.
But how does that help you husband get on board with prepping? If you work on some of these areas suggested below, when the need to use it arises, he’s going to see – in a very real way – how your quiet ways of prepping have helped your family.
- learn to cook from scratch
- learn about water bath canning
- learn about pressure canning
- learn how to bake using sourdough
- learn how to ferment fruits and veggies
- learn about medicinal herbs – and grow them
- learn how to sew, knit, or crochet – and then make useful things with your new skills
- learn about composting – for your garden, of course
- learn about dehydrating
- learn about freeze-drying
- learn basic first aid and CPR
- learn (and practice) how to stitch up a cut
- learn how to make water potable
- learn how to start plants from other plants
- learn how to start plants from seeds
- learn about foraging for edibles in your area
Way to Help Your Husband Get On Board With Prepping #3 – Use Your Preps Regularly
If your husband sees your preps as a regular part of your life, he is less likely to balk at them. For example, keeping a more extensive stock of flour, sugar, brown sugar, butter, milk, and other baking supplies on hand makes sense if you are constantly baking. The same holds true with sewing or knitting, or gardening. When you are invested in a hobby of some kind, there is often less push-back than when you are just accumulating ‘stuff’ (in your husband’s eyes) that has no purpose.
Way to Help Your Husband Get On Board With Prepping #4 – Show Him How
Preparedness Saves You Money
Now, I’m not saying that you should sell it as preparedness. But there are ways that you can bring someone on board to the preparedness mindset in a simple, gentle way. For example, show him how growing a garden will cut your grocery bill. Demonstrate how installing rain barrels will save money when watering your garden. Explain that when you hang your clothes out to dry, you save money on your electric bill. (And who doesn’t want that right now, huh?) Feed your husband beautiful meals from scratch so that he sees the value in your kitchen tools and the ingredients you use regularly.
What other ways can you save money because of your preparedness efforts?
- learning to sew means you can repair many of your clothes, which you would need to throw away instead.
- learning how to can your produce means – not only do you not need to pay for produce NOW, but you don’t have to pay a premium price for produce during the fall and winter.
- looking for ways to cut your dependence on electricity saves you money on your electric bill
- making changes to your home’s energy efficiency means saving money on your heating and cooling bills.
- Show your husband how installing a wood-burning stove could cut your heating bill significantly.
- Shop sales – so when an item’s on sale, pick up a good amount. If your husband says something, just tell him you saved money because you bought it on sale. Explain to him that you’re trying to be frugal.
Way to Help Your Husband Get On Board With Prepping #5 – Prep for things that WILL happen
What types of things do you KNOW will happen to you likely? Do you live in an area that is often hit by hurricanes? Are you struck by snowstorms every winter? Is your subdivision prone to losing electricity? (I lost electricity more living in a subdivision than I do living in the country!) Do you live in tornado alley or near a chemical plant that has had issues in the past? Do you have a well that goes dry during a prolonged drought?
These are all things you should be able to reasonably convince your husband to help you minimally do something about it. Setting up a grab-and-go bag makes good sense if you live in a hurricane-prone area. Access to basic clothes, emergency meds, toiletries, and some food will help you if you have to evacuate, making HIS life easier. If you usually stay home, you must be prepared to weather several days to a week without electricity after a hurricane. What items do you need to sure up your house, to provide your family with their needs – battery-powered fans, solar or battery-powered flashlights, ways to charge your devices or power a CPAP machine, essential tools to help with clean up, a minimal amount of water for your family during that time. Especially if you have a high-risk or high-need family member, this makes all the more sense!
Our Real-Life Example
We don’t live in a hurricane-prone area, but we have winter snowstorms. If we lose power during a snowstorm, we also have to shut off our water unless we have an alternate way of heating our home. This house has had frozen water pipes in the past, and the bathroom has been completely redone. Because of this, we have to make sure that we have a way to heat our home even if we lose electricity. Even without electricity, we still need to cook, eat, and see. He will save money in the long run if we are prepared for these things instead of going to a hotel.
Can you speak to your husband in terms of – we know <insert your event> will likely happen this year or next. What are some excellent ways of taking care of things if it does? Get his feedback – his ideas. Make moderate suggestions. Don’t go for a whole-house solar panel system upfront. 😉 Then after whatever event happens, sit down and talk. Ask him what would have made the situation easier on him and suggest things that would make it easier for you and the family if it happens again.
Next Tuesday, I’ll give you some more suggestions on how to help your husband get on board with prepping.
What About You?
Are you prepping when your husband isn’t on board? Is he antagonistic or apathetic? What have you tried to do to get him to show more enthusiasm?
For those of you who are like me – your husband is finally on board – what did it take for you all?
Please leave a comment below and share your struggles and victories so that we can encourage each other and be better prepared. And remember, no matter whether or not your husband is on board . . .
You’ve Got This, Mama!
Pingback: How To Help Your Husband Get On Board With Prepping – Part 2
Not my husband (deceased) but my daughter and daughter-in-law; their question, what do you know that the rest of us don’t know and why do you need all this stuff? I know when we get snow (New York), it takes a while before the streets get plowed, sidewalks get shoveled, and people put ice melt or salt on their sidewalks. At my age (76) I really don’t need a broken hip, so I get ready or are almost ready before something happens. I will be clearing out cabinets and getting things I will need as not to have to try to go out in bad weather or do without. I keep up with the staples as they are needed and will resupply what I am missing. Laundry gets done (Laundromat) and I get out the heavy clothes. We can’t have washing machines in the building I live in (old pipes) hence the laundromat. So, it’s not only husbands, but also other family members you have to deal with. Thanks for the article, good information.
Thanks for that perspective, Mildred! It helps to remember it’s not only husbands who we struggle with helping to get on board.