I carry way too much stuff, and I could use to carry a little more. It’s been the “EDC” (Every-Day Carry) dilemma forever. I’ve seen the stuff in Otzi the ice man’s kit, I suspect he felt the same way.
When I go out the door on a typical out-and-about day, I have my wallet (with some unusual items inside but no cash), a folding knife, a lighter, spare car key, money clip with bills, a Chawley Changer pocket coin dispenser (okay, that’s a little weird, but it’s fast, convenient, and I hate having loose change sloshing around in a pocket), a full-sized multi-tool, one of many folding knives (occasionally two), a lipstick-sized flashlight around my neck on a stainless dog-tag chain .. and of course my phone. That’s not counting the stuff on my key chain, miscellaneous keys, a tiny titanium peanut lighter, the tiniest ferrocerium rod I’ve ever seen (Boy Scouts of America, smaller than a house key), a photon lighter, a P38 can opener, and the car-door opener/alarm remote control.
The really ridiculous part is that, obviously, there’s a fair amount of redundancy between the pocket contents and the keychain. That situation evolved over time, I used to carry the keys everywhere but as they got steadily heavier and heavier I noticed I had an increasing tendency to leave them behind, say, when I walk away from my desk at work. Or go out on foot to lunch at work. That left me feeling a bit nervous, but not enough to carry the wad of stuff around, and then it turned into a real problem in one instance. In that one case I needed the keys, not the EDC stuff, but still, it shows the downside of letting it get out of hand. Carrying too much stuff was actually making it less likely that I’d have what I needed in unexpected circumstances, not more likely. As a result, some things got duplicated.
Still, there are things I don’t carry that I’d like to. One that keeps coming to mind is a compass, I don’t have a great sense of direction (on cloudy days, though I can often work it out with the thumbnail trick) and I often get disoriented in the city. Not so bad out in the open, of course. Since I am very reluctant to add one more thing to my collection to keep track of, I’ve toyed with the idea of creating a combination money clip/compass. Might even do it some day. I also have a very nice, small titanium-encased ferrocerium rod kit that I’d like to figure out how to wear around my neck instead of the flashlight someday, but the fact is that I use the flashlight all the time, and have a serious need to make a fire without other resources almost never. Someday the lack of that capability could kill me, but I’d really miss the flashlight constantly.
I’m thinking that this might relieve the situation somewhat. I’ve got some belt pouches, never wear any of them, they’re just too bulky. I like the minimalist concept here. The lady of my life finally convinced me that it’s terminally unfashionable to have my shirttail tucked in when dressed casually, this is thin and small enough that it shouldn’t even “print” through a polo shirt or t-shirt. It won’t hold much, but I shouldn’t need much extra capacity, we’re just talking a few small items that I don’t want to track individually. I’m thinking a lighter and small ferrocerium rod, a button-sized compass and P38 can opener (which makes a decent striker for a ferro rod) and maybe the Photon micro-flashlight. I always carry a knife where legal anyway, sometimes a knife and a multi-tool with a knife blade as well, I don’t really need tiny options there.
This is not anything close to an endorsement, I haven’t seen one in person much less used one yet, but I’m interested. Looks like there are several ways to wear this thing, so it should, or at least might work okay with different modes of dress. That’s a “must” for me, I dress far differently for different occasions, social circles and activities.
Deep Cover Clip Pouch By Maratac ™
(countycomm.com)
– Robert the Wombat