What is everyday carry? (EDC) Do you need it?

Date: 2021-07-23

Everyday carry (EDC) is basically just simple stuff you carry every day, when you step out the door. It can be different for everyone, depending what you like to do in life, what's your job, etc. It can be as affordable as you want, or as expensive as much as you can spend on it.

Recently I was on holiday, first time ever in my life, and one of my goal was to get a good bag, which can hold stuff that I want to carry. I put stuff in it, which I want to have every day with me. I use a millitary style sling bag, which I don't need to take it off to take something out of it. Really practical as I can extend the bag, with different pouches. I regret that I didn't buy a bottle holder for it, but it holds a 0.75l bottle comfortable.

Even without this holiday I wanted to build my EDC collection.

I use one compartment to hold some health related stuff, like painkillers, my glass cleaners, a little bottle of hand sanitizer, paper cleaner, etc. Other parts hold a little multitool, pen, folded paper for quick notes, my keys, etc. There is a place for my ebook reader, and my little note book (the traditional kind).

This is review in German, but you can see the different parts of the bag very well

The whole bag is comfortable, it doesn't push on my neck even if it's full of stuff. And I really like that I can take out anything in a matter of seconds. What I like about this bag, that I can expand it, because it has Molle (don't ask me about the pronounciation) places on it, which are good for attaching different kind of pouches to it.

If you are from the USA, you can use this bag to hold your concealed carry weapon.

EDC stuff can be anything that fits into your pocket, or goes on your wrist: like watches, wallet, knives, multitool, sunglasses, etc.

My current ones EDC stuff (they are not big brands, probably couldn't find it in your country), in my bag:

• a pen
• folded paper for quick notes
• a simple multitool
• cleaners for my glasses
• painkiller
• hand sanitizer, paper cleaner
• a smaller handbag, if I want to buy bigger things
• my keys
• NOT IN MY BAG: a Tasmanian Tiger wallet, and a Casio watch, my trusty Samsung feature phone and Sony earphone.

It may sound a lot, but if you have a proper bag, you can put a lot of things in it, and your hands are free. My next items will be a simple flashlight (I am thinking of Olight I3T), and a lighter, because while I am not a smoker, it still can be useful.

For resources, I like the EDC subreddit, but I also search for stuff on youtube. I am pretty new to EDC stuff, but I like the minimalism aspect of it (but you can still go overboard, there are people who are knife collectors with dozens of different type of knives).

What's good about EDC, that while you can copy people, it's always will be unique, person to person. I saw people with a middle size bag with tools, because he needs it for their job. Or an emergency bag in the car in case anything happens (which is sensible anyway).