I like to think of the EDC (everyday carry) concept as prepping light. It’s the first small step towards being prepared for different situations.
There are endless forums for seeing people’s kit but this page aims to give some context to the decision making behind the items rather than just a consumerist show off. My kit is in a constant state of flux the page will be updated as changes are made.
On My Person
Home-made Pocket Pouch
I got fed up with having to cull a collection of disparate items every time I left the house because I would sometimes put them in different places. Not finding any everyday-carry pouches that would fit the items I wanted to carry, I made my own from Cordura fabric.
It contains a few essentials:
- Kershaw tanto blade folding knife
- Zebra Z-01F pen
- Lip balm
- Olight S Mini CU flashlight
WANT Essentials de la Vie wallet
It isn’t any kind of life hack sort of thing, it was bought purely for fashion purposes. It’s not the kind of wallet that goes in a back pocket which is what I like about it. Zipping up securely is a feature I prefer in a wallet than folding varieties.
Multi-tool
On weekends or during the week when I know I’m going to be doing something that would warrant it, I carry a Leatherman Wave multi-tool on my belt.
On My Keys
FreeKey keyring
Every time I’d add or remove something from my key ring, it was a frustrating exercise. When I found the FreeKey system, it was a breath of fresh air by comparison. In addition to being easy to add and remove items, the design of the master ring plus small accessory rings is a cleaner setup than a bunch of random daisy chained rings.
CountyComm Micro Widgy Pry Bar
Small enough to not take up much space but with enough leverage to help pry open things, tear open boxes, and pick up gross things.
Remove Before Flight tag
The tags are legitimately used at airports to denote things that need to be removed from their place before a flight takes off. I decided to put one on my keychain after being inspired by Adam Savage describing how they’re useful for pulling keys out of your pocket and serving the function of a soft key fob without taking up any space.
Tiny flashlight
The Olight I3E EOS flashlight was free with another purchase and is surprisingly powerful. The brightness is shocking for it’s size and plenty for situations where you need a quick splash of light such as walking to your car at night.
Weekday Bag
My Peak Design Everyday Backpack 20L is a prized possession due to the amount of things I can keep in it while still being considered a small backpack. I can store double the contents of a former cheap backpack without the organization that this bag has. The high cost is well worth it for something you will use every day.
Weekend Bag
Porter Heat waist/sling bag
Keeping a backpack with more kit in my vehicle, what I end up wearing on my person for the weekend is this cross body bag. It’s from the Japanese luxury brand Head Porter and was bought on eBay due to poor selection of Porter in the US. (Technically this is a bum/fanny pack style bag but the Japanese and I only wear them cross-body.)
It features a main pocket which is a lot smaller than it looks so it forces me to fill it with just enough that I’d want to be with me at all times.