I had to build a tree stand for hunting and was kind of too lazy to take a saw, a hatchet and a folding shovel from the car. A few days later wind threw a tree over the road. The tools came in handy and are car equipment ever since. In winter a snow shovel joins in. It´s much more comfortable than shoveling snow with a hub cap (modern day hub caps are not likely to survive that anyway).
I started preparing on other people´s experiences (if it could happen to me, I at least thought about changing my equipment). I aquired tobacco and Altoids tins and put in stuff that might help in case of mishaps. I decided to follow the advice to determine how much I would be willing to carry and taylored the kits accordingly.
A review on whistles on ETS inspire me to buy a couple and add it to various carry item (e. g. backpack, a lanyard around the neck, key chain).
Apart from that I attended courses that might give me valueable knowledge (e. g. first aid, fire fighting, vaious emrmengcy response topics). The courses had some influence on my carry items too.