Probably the thing that I find gets the most use is an A5 art pad with a mechanical pencil in the binder rings. Bonkers useful and you can spill drinks on it.

A small bottle of isopropyl alcohol.

Microfibre cloth.

Those little fast food hand wipes.

Meds

Phone charger

Other things people have mentioned.

phone keys wallet. why would i need anything else

Death to America

One essential item I can’t be without that I rarely see other people carry- a nail clipper. I have constant hangnails and it can ruin my day if I need them trimmed but lack a clipper. And biting them off only makes it worse.

What does EDC stand for?

Mostly normal stuff (phone, wallet, keys, water bottle) but also pepper spray and narcan. My work is pretty cool about giving me free narcan in case we come across someone ODing, and I have ended up using it a few times. I also got this neat little flashlight with a really wide LED that a robot supply store sent me as a bonus thingy.

Uhh you know just 7 guns with different calibers, a hunting rifle. 300 yards of string, another gun, gasoline, several knives, a firemans axe (for emergencies), and my wallet. Sometimes my passport.

My “EDC” is a pocket knife, a sharpy, a lighter, and my gigantic key chain that has, among other things, a tiny spork, a tape measure, a tiny prybar, a tick removal tool, a ton of keys whose purpose I’m unsure of, my library car, a neat doohickey for holding a screwdriver bit, and an extra carabeener attached to the main carbiner.

SOG PowerLitre

Oh yeah and masks. Oh and phone. f

I generally have

• pocket knife(I have like 3) or a Leatherman Skeletool if I feel like it might come in handy.
• a small flashlight(I have 2 different rechargables and a backup AA battery Coast brand one)
• 2 or 3 small fidget things(slider, worry stone, etc)
• Loop ear plugs or bluetooth ear buds
• phone
• wallet w/ tiny pen
• car key if I’m driving
• Kindle e-reader

I also have a “micro” EDC kit made out of a Gerber Dime, a button flashlight, and a prybar if I’m going like super light. I’d like to replace the button light with a rechargeable keychain light. But honestly, the Dime is mostly only useful for opening packages.

I started my new job and we aren’t allowed to have a knife because it’s considered a weapon so I’m thinking about getting a decreet “knot puller” that looks like a sharpie for self defence if I need it since I’m delivering Amazon packages to shitty neighborhoods.

phone, keys, wallet, pocketknife, multitool, lighter, couple of usb sticks, one with files, one with a linux installer, tiny usb a-microb cable, usb microb-c adapter, fistful of allen wrenches with which I can fix my electric unicycle.

In my current living setup I don’t need to carry keys most of the time, but I always used my keys to open boxes in the past. So I picked up a clever little AliExpress “titanium” “8 in 1 crowbar” that has a wide, flat, unsharpened edge (so hopefully no airport problems), integrated bottle opener, one corner shaped like a phillips screwdriver, etc. Everything I would want most of the time from a folding multitool in the space of a key.

Also a tiny pair of tweezers and a decidedly untactical little pen. I’m auditioning USB-rechargeable keyring flashlights.

During the 11/11 sale I picked up a SOG PowerLitre folding tool to keep in my backpack. It looks chuddy as fuck with its skull-in-a-beret logo but I bought it based 100% on the corkscrew implementation. It’s the only multitool corkscrew I’ve seen with a bottle-lip knee on the opposite side for compound leverage like a waiter’s corkscrew (that is to say, it’s the only multitool corkscrew I’ve seen that is worth a damn). Gotta be able to get my wine on at a moment’s notice

i have this compact keychain bottle opener that has a swappable phillips and flathead driver on it. and the littlest gerber baby pocket knife.

My work is very mobile so I have a lot of stuff with me, but the essentials are: Backback with laptop, water bottle, pen, post-its, paper, snacks like nuts/trailmix, masks, disposable gloves, hair brush, chargers and their wires, a nose insert thingy that masks smells.

Pockets have: Keys and id card in my neurodiversity lanyard, phone, home keys

Lib balm

Pastilles (xylitol)

Nasal spray

A CPR mouth cover in my keychain

Pack of handkerchiefs

Bluetooth ear buds

A reflector or many in my clothes in the dark months

I’ve got a butterfly knife bottle opener that I carry around. Flipping it is fun and hey if I get a Mexican Coke I can open it.

Lotion, deodorant, hand sanitizer, umbrella (most days), water bottle, battery pack for phone, headphones, bike lights, Kindle, phone, keys, wallet, clif or lara bars, n95 equivalent masks, shopping bag for groceries, hair tie, fidget toys. I carry a backpack for all this stuff

I should get the presta to Schrader adapter

Real answer is that I’ve got a really cool keychain that I can spin around my finger for fidgeting. I’ve got a sort of multi-tool metal thing that fits in my wallet, which isn’t good for anything, but it’s fine enough for most things. A bottleopener in my keychain (for beers). A diary, a calender (I forget to use the phone one) whatever book I’m not reading at the moment, but feel like I should be. Water in a big bottle, but I just lost my big water bottle, so now I’m drinking out of random regular bottles like a peasant. Sometimes a camera if I’m feeling frisky.
It’s getting to the point where you can’t trust the weather, so I’ll put a rain parka in my backpack and then forget I have it when it’s raining.