Hi All,

I carry a shouler bag every day, It is always with me weather I am going to work, play or travel. Lately I have wanted to use a smaller bag so I need to downsize what I carry.
What do you all think should be carried on a daily basis? I want to make a small kit that can just live in my bag. Thank you all!
Todd

What do you carry now that you think you could get by without. If you have a large bag full of stuff you obviously think that each item in there will help you under some circumstance or another. What circumstances are you going to consider soo remote that you don't need to carry that item anylonger? Do you have more redundancy than you need for some area or another? Are you able to store supplies conveniently along your routine daily route? Such as in your desk / car / locker?

Try to re-align along a modular setup either based on scenario or function. Basing on scenario you will be prepared specifically for each day but it takes more thought when getting dressed and you will still have a bunch or redundancy as many scenarios will have overlaping needs you might pack two scenario bags with the same fire starting stuff. Basing on function allows you to completely leave out functions like "fishing / snaring kit" and add modules like "escape / extrication"

Hmmm?

What size is small? Are you thinking something smaller than an altoids? Are you thinking that the altoids PSK is not urban enough?

Basics:

Water, fire, blade, cord, shelter, FAK(an entire discussion can be held around the contents of a FAK later)

Urban additions

Escape / Evacuation / Extrication gear, SAR tools, Comms gear, Self Defense training / tools

Detail the above by your scenario profile. For example if your bag is large enough to carry a generic PSK + urban addons then stuff your Altoids tin in the bag and then start working on the urban additions. If you don't spend much time in high-rise or overly large buildings then you probably will be able ot ignore the EEE gear. OTOH if you work in a large building you might want a face mask / gloves / big bandana as a minimum escape setup to get through dust / smoke. A small prybar may seem overkill until you have to lever your desk of your broken leg in order to hobble out of the burning building. A spring loaded center-punch is de-rigor for any road travel including public trans. For comms gear you probably have the cell phone covered, consider adding FRS / GMRS / CB or HAM radio. If you scenarios include self defense then look into the training first and acquire only those tools that you have the time / money / inclination to train for the use of. Please, for my safety, don't go out and get a handgun without also training at the range atleast once a week and a course like those given by the lethal-force institute would be real helpful. Deploying and using such a tool is extremely effective but only if you are ready to do that. Same goes for any self-defense tool. Not saying you shouldn't get trained and equipped just that you are probably increasing your danger if you become equipped and not trained. (BTW, IMHO, this applies to all tools, the danger / effectiveness / training correlation is linear. Think matches and scorched fingers, knives and shortened fingers or guns and (accidentally) dead wives)

Good points all. I think my main problem is really just feeling silly carrying all the gear you mentioned and never using it. (yes, I do know that you never need a survival kit until you NEED a survival kit) I do work in the city and these days getting into any building with anything metalic is a chore and air travel is worse. The bag I carry now is not all that big, and the PSK its self lives (mostly) in a small Alsok bag so I am probably whining about nothing.
I am really just looking for examples of wjat some other folkes are hauling so I can justify my own personal parinoia gear:)

This thread help set me at ease. (and geve me a bunch of good ideas to make my pockets heavier.)

From that discussion I came to this TBC (total body carry) outfit which generally goes with me everywhere. I don't face metal detectors daily tho...

MiniMe's post reaches back into the mists of the forum before the upgrade and his link to my junk is broken. Here is what I used to carry and consider "normal"

http://www.equipped.org/ubbthreads/showt...o=&vc=1

I have revised and slimmed my list down considerably but it still revolves around a core set of items in my pockets, belt and vest (never without a vest), and a shoulder bag. My shoulder bag is now almost exclusively a Ham radio station for my emergency worker role. It also includes shelter building options.

Carry what you think is reasonable given your probable emergencies, and keep tuning and revising. The absolute key, in my view, is to have the absolute basics---as defined by you---on your person at all times. For me, this is shelter, water carrying and purifying, knives, leatherman, firemaking, small first aid, leather gloves, whistle, flashlight, house and car keys, money, ID, bandana, and a decent repair kit.

All I carry daily is a cell phone with charged battery, a Victorinox "classic" tiny knife, a Photon II LED light and a Scripto cigarette lighter. I also carry a water bottle in the car and clothing appropriate to that days potential weather changes. in a backpack or in the car. That is it. I am not far from civilization and the worst situation I can think of is to have the car quit on a freeway with the exit far off. That has happened recently and the cell phone and water were the items that were really handy. I have had to leave the little knife at a few metal detectors when entering some government buildings, always remembering to retieve it on the way out again! In my daily life I see no need to carry a big knife, stobe, PLB or a cabin tent in a pocket! Just useful items to use at work and that could be handy in a building fire or power failure or some unforseen incident while at work. Keep in mind we have security, trained medical personnel and the latest fire suppression within our buildings, all one story high. Floods, tornados, hurricaines are all nearly impossible in this part of the world also. I can get by with what I have...I hope!!

Still about my favorite thread on this forum, so far.

Unfortunately, the your knives and Leatherman are exactly what The Powers That Be do not want you to have.

So what do you carry now, since you've weeded out your gear?