If you’re new to prepping like I am, the thought of who to tell has probably already crossed your mind. General advice is to tell as few people as possible to reduce the chances of people trying to take advantage of your readiness when the SHTF. But what about immediate family? How close should you keep your inner circle?

Common sense says your inner circle starts with your wife/husband/partner and then spreads out to parents and children/grandchildren then further out to friends. It doesn’t take long before a LOT of people know about your prepping activities. If the people wider out from your circle aren’t told by you, chances are that someone you have told has brought it up in conversation,. After all, it is an unusual thing to be doing! So, if you’re not careful, WTSHTF you could have dozens of unprepared people knocking on your door requesting your help, assuming it stays that polite!

Personally, I have not currently told anyone. Having approached the subject with my lovely wife, she sees the idea of prepping as quite strange and although not necessarily thinking all is well in the world, she cannot foresee how easily it could all change so much for the worse. She is a worrier about the small things as it is, I think worrying about a much bigger picture would stress her out entirely! For the time being, my prepping activities will be limited to those I can carry out without requiring significant explanations. It is not ideal, but it is for the best at the moment and hopefully as things progress it will become a bit more ‘normal’ and bigger changes will be accepted. So I will deal with my prepping alone but for the both of us. I have no plans to let anyone else in on my preparations including any wider family.