Everyday Carry List

I’m a big fan of MacGyver’s ‘the bag isn’t for what I take with me, it’s for what I find along the way’ approach – to packing, to my work bag, my hand bag, you name it. I do have a list of essentials I keep in a little zip up bag (the size of a make up bag, say). I guess that makes it my EDC – my everyday carry.

It’s a little list of everyday items that I’ve found handy to have – for myself and others.

Toiletries:

Period products (just one or two)
Small deodorant (optional – I usually only carry this in warmer months)
Small mouthwash or breath strips/spray
Wet wipes
Lip balm

Medicinal/First Aid:

Paracetamol
Ibuprofen
Hayfever medicine (a couple tablets only – I don’t have hayfever)
Bandaids (big enough for blisters)
Face Mask
CPR shield

Miscellaneous:

Small torch
Paracord bracelet (mine has a compass, flint and whistle)
Pen and small notepad
Powerbank (small) and cable (I have a 3 in 1 cable that attaches to USB C, micro USB and the older i phones)
Small pocket knife (optional, and no good if you’re flying carry on only)
Mini window breaker/seatbelt slasher
A few safety pins, a hair tie, hair clips or bobby pins
Mini nail clippers
Alcohol wipes (screen wipes)

That’s my basic list, and it changes a little seasonally. If I’m going out somewhere nice, I might add my mini perfume spray in, with whatever perfume I’m using. If I’m flying, I take out anything on the no-no list.

It’s all packed in a super cute little bag, and I have a few of them – one for my handbag/tote, one for my work bag that never leaves that backpack. I also carry a mini first aid kit – which just has the basics, that I edit by adding a snake bite bandage, a CPR mask and a couple saline vials, small, eyedrops (single use), and little cotton tips with iodine in the stick bit. I have one that lives in my work bag, as I travel by road a fair bit, and one for my normal life bags (handbag/tote/whatever).

I’ve used almost every item in this article, for myself or for someone else, multiple times (thankfully, except for the more serious first aid items). It’s not about a zombie apocalypse, EMP event ‘one day maybe’ type situation. It’s for the everyday.

My most recent addition? Spare bluetooth earbuds. Just a cheap set (I don’t go in for the expensive ones anyway), but I’ve found a number of times I’ve forgotten my normal ones and wanted to listen to something or have a phone conversation discretely.

Do you have an EDC? What o you include, and what do you leave out?