Minimalist Everyday Carry Essentials

Have you ever stopped to think about everything you carry with you every day? If you just go out with the pockets on your clothes to carry everything, there might not be all that much. But wait, have you looked in your wallet? How many receipts and useless cards have you saved in there? And what if you carry a bag or briefcase around with you? If you really start to unpack it all, literally, you might be surprised by how much stuff you carry around every single day that you just don’t use. If you want to literally take a load off, it’s time to start looking at a more minimalistic approach to your everyday carry items. So how do you go about putting together a more minimal everyday carry?

Daily Essentials

Start by identifying your daily essentials. Everyone has things that they never leave without, no matter where they’re going. These form the core of your minimal everyday carry. They are items and gadgets that you use regularly and often, things that you would struggle without having. Daily essentials include things like your phone, keys, and wallet, maybe even a knife or watch. If you happened to make it out the door without them, you’d notice within a few seconds or be reminded of their absence constantly throughout the day.

Grouping by Purpose

So what’s next once you’ve got your daily essentials sorted out? You likely have other useful everyday carry-type tools, gadgets, and items that don’t see use quite as often, but still have a time and place when they come in handy. For these types of items, start grouping them by purpose. For example, you might group together things that you would take if you were to go on an outdoor excursion. Things like a multitool, flashlight, compass, first aid kit, and duct tape might be categorized together. A pen, notebook, and charging cords might be placed together in a grouping for when you go to work. By compartmentalizing your everyday carry items, you minimize how much you have to carry with you and increase your chances of only taking what you actually need for any given outing.

No Redundancies

Can you really achieve true everyday carry minimalism if you have redundancies in your gadgets? If you notice while you’re going through the things you carry with you every day that you have multiples of the same thing, getting rid of such redundancies is one of the easiest places to start. You probably don’t need more than one knife, pen, or notebook. You definitely don’t need every charging cable you own. Pare it down to one of each item as much as possible. That alone should be enough to cut down on how much you carry around with you every day.

Size Matters

No really, when it comes to minimal everyday carry, size actually does matter. The whole point is to conserve space and minimize how much you have to carry around with you. That means that you need to have containers or bags that are the right size to hold your everyday carry items if you aren’t fitting everything into the pockets of your pants. Once you’ve gotten rid of all the extraneous stuff you’ve been carrying around, you might be surprised by how much empty space you’re left with. That may mean downsizing your bag to better fit what you have or finding new ways to carry your things. If some of your items have a belt clip, you’re definitely going to want to check out our Groove Belt. This tactical belt is strong enough to keep both your pants up and your gear close to hand without having to be adjusted all the time.

Of course, there’s also the matter of the size of your everyday carry items themselves. In order to achieve true minimalism with your everyday carry, you need to take this into account as well. Your everyday carry items should be small enough that they are nice and compact. They shouldn’t take up a lot of space. At the same time, they shouldn’t be so small that they are difficult to use. Usability is a big deal for everyday carry items. Why would you carry them around if you can’t use them?

You don’t have to feel like you’re packing half your house with you every time you leave, especially once you’ve embraced a more minimal everyday carry approach. Take an inventory of the things you take with you everywhere, figure out what you actually need, and eliminate anything you don’t. Once you’ve fine tuned your list of minimal everyday carry items, you may be surprised by how light everything feels and just how much faster it is to get out the door, especially if you keep everything in a single designated area.