Buy three, get three mothers-in-law free...I guess I don't need that many...

Wives are trickier than camp stoves, although they, too, can explode. They are also a lot more expensive, but you knew that..

While suggesting rules here is like herding cats, let me propose that we deal in this thread with items generally commercially sold and of the type you would expect to fit in a BOB.

Whatever wishful thinking prompted the suggestions aside, wives appear to be generally outside this category.

I almost always have two or more of the following:

flashlights
first aid kits
pocket knives
hats, gloves, etc
backpacks
duct tape
rope
whistles
lip balm


It's interesting, because I've given "extras" away to people when they've really needed it -- and then went out and bought replacements to keep on hand.

All I know is I need to find out what I don't have 3 of and then get myself to the store...

Pull yourselves out of the gutter guys. I'm talking about wives buying shoes, purses, etc. ;-)

I buy multiples for convenience and because I'm always forgetting things. I bought 2 extra power supplies for my netbook so I can have one at the office, one at home and the third in my travel bag. I was always forgetting to take the darn thing with me.

Because I have two work bags (one for the car and one for public transport, (size and weight differentials)) I also have two PSP's, multiple FAK's, flashlights, Ham HT's, etc. so I just have to pick up and go and not worry about moving stuff from one bag to another.

My dad was great at misplacing common tools and buying another one (usually blaming us kids for not putting them back where they belonged). When mom sold the house we found multitudes of the same tools scattered all over the place.