I like that tote, it reminds me of Mary Popin's magic carpet bag.
-Blast

I prefer not to think of an urban survival kit as a single "kit," but rather as a continuum of choices. I carry phone, SAK, photon flashlight (actually, a fauxton), whistle, and money on my person pretty much at all times.

I think it would be a poor choice to have these items tucked away in a self-contained kit because these items are daily use and/or need to be immediately accessibe.

I keep additional resources in vehicles and in the house.

At work, I keep a waist pack in my office in the event of an emergency evacuation. It inclues dust masks, water, knife, OTC pain medication, benadryl, adhesive bandages, sun block, flashlight, energy bars, whistle, paper, pencil, duct tape, super glue (liquid wound closure), moleskin, compass. Based on comments in this topic, I intend to add a map, immodium and a pocket radio to the waist pack.

Jeanette

Survival itself is not a "fashionable" experience.

Under mild circumstances, survival helps you to avoid serious discomfort.
Under extreme circumstances - survival is a bitc*. It's the last thing you do ... before you die or live.
My suggestion is to save "fashionable" for the good things of your life.

The tote bag is not a bad choice, esp. if you can avoid carrying heavy loads and walking a lot of miles.

A backpack is convenient because: 1) It's strong, 2) It may have a lot of compartments which allows better organization (it's faster to find things), 3) It spreads the weight evenly on both of your shoulders, 4) It allows you to keep the load centered on your body - making long-distance walks less tiring, and 5) It allows you to keep both hands free in a personal emergency.

But the important thing may simply be - that you have some kind of bag set aside with a few essentials in it. Everything else is just gravy.

Pete

As I look at Doug's "Don't Leave Home Without It" gear, I more or less carry what he carries when traveling in the local area. Notable exceptions are differences in preferred tools and I don't carry a firearm. Nevertheless, I continue to look for ways to be prepared for reasonable contingencies.

Jeanette Isabelle

The smaller bag which I have with me is more useful than a larger bag which I don't have with me. Any gear I have in a backpack would not do any good if I don't have the pack on me. I carry a purse. Therefore I need to be prepared while keeping weight and volume down.

Jeanette Isabelle

Purses are an advantage women have. Even a modest-sized purse is a lot bigger than a pocket. I could carry at least six of Doug's PSK's in my everyday purse. And I have bigger purses that could hold quite a lot.

My purse has stored a headlamp for several years, which came in very handy walking home from work one night when a blackout hit my zip code.

With a long enough shoulder strap a purse can be carried very comfortably.

They don't look tactical, which I think is also an advantage.

And there are purses designed for concealed carry. I won't do that in DC but it would be appealing elsewhere.

I don't know how many women post on this forum but we could have an endless thread on purse options.

Just a couple of thoughts:

"Fashionable" might sound petty, but I suspect it isn't in this case. For a 20 something year old woman, looking sharp is part of being taken seriously in the business world. That's not petty, it's smart. For older folks such as myself, it doesn't matter as much, but it still matters a little. (Ok, for me it means not having holes in my clothes, but that's not the point here.)

UPSK - The whole point of the pocket survival kit is that this is what you have if you lose whatever bigger kit you had with you. It's SOP for traveling in the wilderness, and makes sense for an urban situation, too. I believe that's the premise of the thread.

Jeanette

I have a business satchel ... which be the male equivalent of your purse. I keep a number of simple survival items in the satchel, incl. useful day-to-day items such as my cell phone, keys, wallet. I usually also have a small multi-tool or a knife, and a small emergency flashlight (depending on where I am going). So yes, there's certainly the possibility of a small carry bag for a few daily essentials.

But I also keep a medium wilderness backpack behind the door in my office. No-one can see it there. It contains the essential stuff that will be really important in a natural disaster.

So perhaps it's possible for you to store a larger emergency bag in some location where you could access it during the day? You don't need to carry it continuously - you just need to be able to get to it if there's a real problem.

Pete

A backpack is better suited for a survival situation and in a survival situation I would want a backpack. How often would I face a survival situation, one day out of seven years? For the sake of this discussion, let's say seven years. There are 365 days in a year and 2,556 days in a seven-year period assuming there is one leap year in that seven-year period. Yes, for that one day, a backpack will come in handy. What about the other 2,555 days in which I have a 0.039% chance of needing a backpack? On those days how I present myself is more important than preparing for an event with a 0.039% chance.

Should I avoid any sort of preparedness because there is a 0.039% chance that something will happen? No. I buckle my seat belt every time I get in a car though I have never been in anything beyond a fender bender. It's called being reasonably prepared.


I don't remember what SOP stands for; I think we are on the same page. Should anything happen to my purse, I still would have a pocket kit in my pocket. I've got some good ideas for an Urban Pocket Survival Pack and I have room for a couple more ideas.

Jeanette Isabelle

SOP = Standard Operating Procedure