Prepared on the Go?
Every-day carry (EDC) is a collection of useful items that are consistently carried on person every day.
What is your EDC?
I am assuming you have the common items with you like your phone, wallet, keys etc.
These things can easily fit in our pockets, but we only have a limited number of pockets. What about other potential useful items that you would like to carry but cannot because your pockets don't allow you to.
Simple answer to that is just carrying a small bag. The idea is to have everything you MIGHT need outside the home. I know that it is a simple and self-explanatory idea but how many of you actually do it? Has it ever happened to you that you had to buy a bottle of water from a shop just because you were too thirsty but did not carry one with you. You might have made a mental note to carry a bottle next time but did you act on it?
The inspiration for this post came from 4 places. Here come the (3) pop culture references. Get ready:
First one is “Hermione's Beaded Bag” from the book (and movie) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
She anticipated that they might have to make a quick escape in the event of an attack from the Death Eaters. The trio may be on their own for a while and will need all the supplies they can get. As a result she enchanted a small bag with an Undetectable Extension Charm. This allowed her to carry books, potions, clothes and numerous other things that came in very handy while hunting for the horcruxes.
She was prepared, that's what is important here.
Second one is from Friends S05E13 — The One With Joey's Bag.
Rachel gives Joey a Unisex shoulder bag for one of his auditions. Though skeptical at first, Joey finds it pretty useful after a while because he can carry a lot of stuff in it. In the end, he loses the audition when he keeps talking about the bag and unintentionally comes off as a salesman. He also was teased by Ross and Chandler because the bag made him look feminine. While there was some truth in that, it failed for Joey because of his execution and not the idea itself.
Third one is from The Big Bang Theory S11E06 — The Proton Regeneration.
Sheldon Cooper says a very cool dialogue: “It's better to have it and not need it instead of need it and not have it”. I think it's a famous quote also.
Fourth, the YouTuber mrwhosetheboss, recently made a video on his everyday tech. While the video is more tech oriented, I like what he said — “One bag keeps everything together. It means you know if you have the bag, you have everything you need”. Furthermore, I also liked his idea of carrying electronic items (earphones, charger etc.) in a separate pouch while travelling in flights. During security checks, it would be easy to slide the entire pouch in the tray instead of individually removing all items which increases the chance of losing something.
The motive behind writing this post is to give rise to the importance of carrying potentially useful stuff by showing you the things that I carry. There is nothing wrong in being prepared. Luck in a way, is defined as “Preparation meets Opportunity”.
Here is my EDC:
Phone — Right pocket of the Jeans
Wireless Earphones — Left pocket of the Jeans. Listening to songs is important. I have also been listening some audiobooks and podcasts lately.
Wallet — Back pocket of the Jeans. While most of the payments are done using UPI, carrying cash in wallet has saved me multiple times when either bank servers were down or some other error prevented the transaction. ID and Debit cards are also housed in the wallet itself. This is something that might come in handy for you. The following combination allows you to pay almost* any amount below and a little over 1000 INR in cash:
2 x 200 INR notes (total: 400 INR)
1 x 100 INR note (total: 100 INR)
1 x 50 INR note (total: 50 INR)
2 x 20 INR notes (total: 40 INR)
2 x 10 INR notes (total: 20 INR)
2 x 5 INR coins (total: 10 INR)
2 x 2 INR coins (total: 4 INR)
2 x 1 INR coins (total: 2 INR)
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| These things have their fixed places which never change whatsoever. |
The Bag:
The bag itself is a Quechua's 10L backpack. Very easily available in Decathlon stores for 300Rs. However, this bag is not completely waterproof. I did not see this when I bought it otherwise, I may have looked for other options. A simple solution for this is putting everything in a plastic garbage bag first and put that in the bag. The garbage bag is very thin so it does not add any weight and prevents water from touching the contents. Whenever I upgrade the bag in the future, I will look for waterproof options, so I don't have to do this.
Power Bank - Useful for charging phones and earphones.
Tissue Box - My sister gave me this small pack of tissues which is smaller than a deck of cards. I believe packs of such tissue boxes are available at Miniso stores for dirt cheap.
Water Bottle - Thanks to my previous organization, I have a very good insulated water bottle that maintains the temperature of the water.
Snacks - I have 2 options. A pack of Good Day biscuits for the sweet and Moong Mogar Dal for savory. Thanks to the office vending machine, I have multiple other options also if needed in the future.
Electral Pouch - Not needed but the small 5Rs pouch is so small, it doesn't hurt to keep.
Mint - Not a big fan of chewing gums. I got a small pack of mint strips for 35Rs from Wellness Forever pharmacy, and they are very strong. Tic-Tacs/Mentos/Polo are some good alternatives.
Shopping Bag - Impulsive people like me should carry this. I got a bag from my sister which folds in a palm sized strawberry when not in use and occupies very little space. Again, it was bought from Miniso.
Mechanical Counter - If you want to know why I have this, read my previous post Seeing more on the Road.
Handkerchief
Small Diary and Pen
Sunglasses & Cap
Hand Sanitizer & N-95 Face Mask
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| All this might look heavy but is very light |
Every person's bag will be a little different depending on personal needs. You might want to carry medicines if you take some regularly. These were the most general things I thought of. It might help you also. Nothing in the list is final. Things can be added/removed at any time. To add something that I may have missed, I asked ChatGPT also about this and this is what it told me.
While on the topic of bring prepared, lets move away from EDC for a bit and focus on some other aspects.
Did it ever happen to you that you forgot to bring an important book/notebook to school and faced punishment? It has happened to me, and I am pretty sure it has happened to you as well.
To purchase our class photographs, we were asked to bring Rs.15 every year which I forgot multiple times throughout my school time.
We were supposed to wear our house t-shirts on Wednesdays and Saturdays which I forgot a lot in the initial days at least.
The reason I am telling you all this is that these, and many other trivial things could have been avoided if there were lockers in the school. I am not bitching about my school in particular. I have never seen lockers in any school in my time. Not even the fancier schools had them. I really think this is something that could be adopted from the schools in the west.
It's been seven years since I completed my school journey and am not up-to-date with what features schools are providing now. Maybe some schools have already started it.
All these little problems can be avoided if each student has a locker (even a small one). A little money could be stashed up there for emergencies. Some of those bulky books too so that students don't have to carry them. Even though a lot of schools now are focused on e-learning, and students are carrying tablets to school instead of books, a locker would still be handy to keep physical items.
If you have completed your school life then you won't be able to enjoy the benefits of lockers even if your old school provides them now. However, something that can benefit you is keeping a set of clothes at a place that you regularly visit (a relative's place).
I am staying in Bengaluru but visit Pune after every few months. I have a set of clothes there at my sister's house. Even when I was in Pune itself, I had the set in place because I was at her place practically every weekend and impromptu plans were made which involved staying there for the night.
I have a couple of relatives in Ujjain where I have done the same thing. If I am going there for just 2 days, I don't have to carry anything because I know that the clothes that I am wearing coupled with the ones I already have there would suffice.
One does not have to buy new clothes for this of course. Instead of discarding your old clothes, just make a set and keep it at the place you want to. Best way to repurpose some old clothes. Let the people who live there know, obviously. No one would have any trouble in keeping a small sack of your clothes at their place (hopefully).
This brings me to the end of this post. I want to make this clear that none of the ideas discussed in this post should be considered smart or extraordinary. If anything they are old and mundane.
If by reading and acting on this, even if one person benefits, then typing 1734 (yes, I counted) words for this post are worth the time it took.
All the Best 👍
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