Including your neighbors.....

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shoot, love my family, wish I could take care of them but I know when the SHTF I can count only on friends that have the same mentality as me. You don't need to be a prepper if you come over but you do need to know how to use a gun :)
 
The only people who know are my family and my boyfriends family. We've planned to come together when SHTF. no one else knows. They prep, too, so more supplies, weapons, food, etc. But if we were to get others involved, like you said, they wouldn't take prepping seriously and the come SHTF they will want to be with us, but won't be able to hold their own. So yes, while more people can be good, it's bad if you are losing supplies because of it. Also, like you said, others know about it and when the time comes people will kill for food and water... and they'd know we have it...
 
I agree including your neighbors is not a good idea unless you really are great friends with them and you go about discussing it with them the right way. I wouldn't include too many people as that's just a recipe for disaster. Unless you have military Vets or retired military, everyone will want to be in charge and no one will listen. Keep your groups small 6-12 people max and you will be able to defend yourselves and keep supplies replenished without too much difficulty. Myself, my neighbors are mostly idiots or the family 2 houses down with the grandparents who are oblivious to the grand kids smoking dope and drinking all the time. So no I keep to myself and my prepping partner is in my bugout location. He was in the military with me, fought next to me and will have my back until we are dead.
 
I believe it's safer to keep your mouth shut on what you do in your own home (stocking food and water). It's better to let the neighbors think you're starving along with them if/when the SHTF. What can be worse than starving people knowing you have a food stash?
 
Ya know..I'm kinda torn on this one...I was watching Doomsday Preppers last night and the "experts" always recommend including your neighbors in your prepper plans. I get the idea of having more people therefore more skills and supplies and resources and such. BUT...then there's the idea of telling your neighbors about your preps in an effort to get them on board...and they just think you're the goofy paranoid type and ignore it. THEN...when the SHTF...guess who knows about YOUR stash and will come looking. Ya know?

Do you guys include your neighbors in on your prepping?

My neighbors are included in my plan in that I want to prep well enough that I can help them but I don't tell them that I am prepping or what resources I have. This is not an entirely altruistic gesture on my part though. First in an emergency situation where there is some breakdown of the rule of law there is some safety in numbers, but only if you can somewhat trust the group. Neighbors are a known quantity for me in this context and mine are pretty decent people. Second my neighbors all have resources and are capable of contributing in an emergency. Really the only thing I need to do to keep them on board with me is put enough food away that I can afford to feed them too. They are pretty well prepared for many things just because they live a similar lifestyle to me.
 
My neighbors are included in my plan in that I want to prep well enough that I can help them but I don't tell them that I am prepping or what resources I have.

How will you choose which neighbors to help and which not to? How many will you be helping? There is no way I can hoard enough food for us and the neighbors. I can't afford it and there is no place to store it.

This is not an entirely altruistic gesture on my part though. First in an emergency situation where there is some breakdown of the rule of law there is some safety in numbers, but only if you can somewhat trust the group. Neighbors are a known quantity for me in this context and mine are pretty decent people. Second my neighbors all have resources and are capable of contributing in an emergency. Really the only thing I need to do to keep them on board with me is put enough food away that I can afford to feed them too. They are pretty well prepared for many things just because they live a similar lifestyle to me.

You must be quite comfortable, unlike a lot of retirees, to be able to hoard enough for them and yourselves. ;) Another thing, and it would be a PIA, is rotating all those hundreds of cans and jars and boxes of food etc. I'd get tired of that fast.
 
"I'm a prepper, he's a prepper, she's a prepper,....wouldnt you like to be a prepper too!?"

Sorry, couldnt resist that!! Like many of you I dont tell my neighbors anything. I have talked with family and I am finally getting across to them.
A few friends I have tried to talk to just say they are coming to my house if somethings happens. I tell them if they dont have their own stuff
dont come looking here. They know I am pretty self sufficent. I hunt, fish, trap and can butcher about anything. I also have a nice garden and
my wife and I can our veggies. I know Im a target just cause people know of who I am and what we do. Word would spread fast in a SHTF situation.
 
Like I stated before, there is one neighbor and her 2 kids that we'd work with, maybe another family down the way a piece, the rest are city imports and couldn't find their ### with a map and a flashlight. I think they'd skedaddle as soon as they could get out, they might come here, but they think I'm a bit... eccentric. I help the opinion along by butchering something in the front yard every so often. Dead things in trees make a nice deterrent for folks who are used to their food wrapped in plastic.
 
Like I stated before, there is one neighbor and her 2 kids that we'd work with, maybe another family down the way a piece, the rest are city imports and couldn't find their ### with a map and a flashlight.

I know plenty of rural and semi-rural people who couldn't find their ### with a map and a flashlight either. Some of them don't even know who the president of the US is, and couldn't grow weeds if they tried.
 
People talk ...too much ! your neighbor (prepper buddy) tells their best friend who tells their brother -in -law who tells his cousin ,etc. First thing you know ,everybody knows all about the fine prepping job you have done. An old ww2 swabbe I knew said ( loose lips , sink ships )
 
How will you choose which neighbors to help and which not to? How many will you be helping? There is no way I can hoard enough food for us and the neighbors. I can't afford it and there is no place to store it.



You must be quite comfortable, unlike a lot of retirees, to be able to hoard enough for them and yourselves. ;) Another thing, and it would be a PIA, is rotating all those hundreds of cans and jars and boxes of food etc. I'd get tired of that fast.

I don't really have to pick and choose on who I will include, I only have 4 close Neighbors and I know them well.They tend to be like minded people. I don't tell them what I am doing because like was mentioned further up in this thread people tend to talk and you can only help so many. As far as food rotation goes I hate it too, that is why I buy a couple cans of the 25 year stuff every payday. I wouldnt say I am all that comfortable either it's just that I already live in the kind of area like many people talk about bugging out to, so I plan on staying in my house and hunkering down where I am at when the SHTF and it makes perfect sense to me to be able to keep people that I know around to help me take care of our area. Storing a few extra cans of food every payday is real cheap insurance for me if it buys a couple of helping hands when things go bad and I have the space for it at my place, so why not?
 
I was the Neighborhood Watch Block Captain for my street. 38 houses, 3 times a year for 3 years I composed letters, check lists, and all the other stuff that goes with that position. SO kids, here is a math question for you, 38 x 3 x 3 =....... 342 handouts, 3 pages each.

"Hey my name is Ozzy Ozborne, I am your Neighborhood watch dude,
we need to keep an eye on our stuff, blah blah blah... Let's get together at my place,
BBQ, swimming, dunking small children, ya know, the usual fun stuff and plan this out"

not the real letter...

So for today's final Jeopardy question, how many returns do you think I got out of 342?

The number is slightly larger than my shoe size

12 ! 12 effing responses ! 4 were from people who live in Canada half the year and their house sitter forwarded the info !

So as far as my neighbors go.... You will get nothing and like it !

I do know what these people have, because I tend to wander around my 'hood' with my dog and I appear harmless, I really am ! I swear !
So I lurk, watch, shoot the poop when they get home from work and the garage is open. Some people are Sofa King stupid with the stuff they leave in the open.
 
Ya know..I'm kinda torn on this one...I was watching Doomsday Preppers last night and the "experts" always recommend including your neighbors in your prepper plans. I get the idea of having more people therefore more skills and supplies and resources and such. BUT...then there's the idea of telling your neighbors about your preps in an effort to get them on board...and they just think you're the goofy paranoid type and ignore it. THEN...when the SHTF...guess who knows about YOUR stash and will come looking. Ya know?

Do you guys include your neighbors in on your prepping?
I agree that if you can get other people on board with skills you do not already have, than it would be good. If they are neighbors, I would approach soflty and get a feel for what they believe. I am in the country, but right outside a major city in Texas. I only have 2 neighbors and I know that neither one has prepped for anything, but I also know that one is a Sherriff's officer, so that may come in handy. The other one, no. I am only willing to help, if they are willing to help themselves, or can benefit me. And just an FYI, those who didn't prep will be helping with crops or harvest or whatever else. If not they can leave, one way or another.
 
Clyde: Ya I'd love to say I'd take anyone and everyone in who needs help. Back when I was a kid, that is what you did. If your neighbor was in need, everyone pitched in and it built a stronger community. We just don't live in that world anymore. Today, people are used to hand outs. Now they come to your house expecting you to give them everything for nothing in return. Not a helping hand or even a thank you. Case in point: My old neighbor had a good for nothing boyfriend who refused to work. He totaled her car. She had to walk to work 3 miles every day one way. She had 2 small kids. Her landlord decided he wanted her to start paying the water bill. She was dirt poor (so I thought). She couldn't do it. Landlord had the water shut off on her. I felt really bad for her. I let her come over as often as she wanted, take as much water as she needed for her and her kids for drinking, cooking and bathing. She stopped paying the landlord rent for months (I wasn't aware at the time that the landlord was trying to get her out because she hadn't paid rent in over 6 months). Landlord after a few more months evicted her. Come to find out she was living pretty high on the hog; free rent, no car to make payments, she was sacking away a ton of money, stiffed me with a water bill of up over $600. She told me she'd give me a little towards it. Before I knew I was being scammed, I didn't want it. All I cared about was that her kids were suffering. I was a FOOL. She got free rent, free water, free rides to work (yep me and my family took her all over). She had no bills what so ever. Come to find out, this was her little scam. She was good at it. This happened a couple of years ago. Now imagine what people will be like when the SHTF? My top priority for prepping this year is security. I've erased "sucker" off of my forehead. Lesson L.E.A.R.N.E.D.
 
Lissy, I've been there, done that and I have the blessed t shirt. My helping hand is now in my pocket. I don't offer jack to anyone anymore all because of one person and her family. They wanted to move up here to make life better for their kid, he worked on an offshore oil rig and made good money, so they just needed a place to stay until they found the right place.

We forcibly kicked them out of our house 18 months later because they didn't even attempt to live up to the agreement we'd drawn up. Thousands of dollars that they owe us that we'll never see and because of them, I'm very reluctant to help anyone else with anything.

There was a time when you just didn't make a living out of screwing over the goodwill of nice people, now though, it's a booming business.
 

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