On My EDC Kit
I am into everyday carry or EDC. My fascination with the hobby came when I went to the mall and found myself wanting to poop real bad. It should be noted that public bathrooms in the Philippines usually do not have bidets or worse, no tissue paper. You have to bring your own or buy one of those rickety one ply ones from coin-op dispensers. That day, I found a bathroom with no bidet, no tissue paper, and no coin-op dispensers. All I have is sheer force of will not to poop right there and then and went to another bathroom which thankfully, has tissue.
Ever since that day, I vowed to always have tissue paper or better, wet wipes on me whenever I leave the house. And then it hit me, why stop with tissue? It's either very sunny or very rainy in Manila where I live so an umbrella is a must as well. And how about those times when I found myself with my phone having low battery? That's right, I need a power bank.
And that went on and on, until I have the following:
My primary bag is a Pacsafe V Tech 10L. It's quite expensive, but worth it in my opinion. I bought it before I went to Japan and it helped me carry me a lot of things on the go during that trip. As an everyday carry in the Philippines, it's even more phenomenal. Everything in the picture above fits on the bag and more. Apart from the above items, I can still carry an iPad Mini or a Kindle inside the bag.
My secondary bag is the Smart Fit Organizer Carrying Pouch by some company called Lihit Lab. I bought it to carry the more essential items such as my umbrella, wet wipes, foldable eco bag, pen, post-it notes, and multitool. I only carry the secondary bag when I go downstairs my condo unit since I do not need to have my power bank, portable fan, medicine box, and random trinkets inside the tin box for quick errands. If I do need to use the Pacsafe bag, I just put the entire Lihit Lab bag inside. Very convenient!
My power bank is the Anker 733 and though it's not in the picture, I also have a short USB-C cable inside the Pacsafe bag and a small Lightning adapter since my wife still uses Apple devices before the great USB-C conversion. The Anker 733 is cool since it also serves as a 65W charging brick apart from being a 10000 mAh power bank.
One other item in the picture is the Jisulife Life 7 portable fan. The head can tilt so I can hang the fan on my neck and still get constant breeze up my face. Otherwise, I carry one of those foldable fans ordinarily given away during election season. Mornings in the Philippines can be quite hot and a fan is a must.
It's very rare when I come across a situation requiring a dedicated knife. I always do find myself looking for a nail cutter. This nifty tool I bought from an online store with a combined nail cutter, knife and scissors is a good compromise.
My umbrella is a small foldable from Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club. I regret buying this one since it's not as nice as my previous umbrella which was a Fibrella. I lost the latter during one rainy excursion to the mall to meet a friend over dinner. When I came back to the restaurant the following week, the umbrella was no longer there.
The foldable eco bag is from Orbitkey. There's really nothing special about it except it folds very nicely, is sturdy, and fits inside the Lihit Lab bag. I always carry an eco bag with me because most cities in the Philippines already did away with single use plastic bags and I just can't with paper bags since they rip so easily especially if you're buying something wet and heavy like drinks or meat.
My earphones are the JBL Quantum Air TWS. It has a dedicated dongle for low latency Bluetooth, a need whenever I play games in my phone. Otherwise, it's OK without the dongle for usual music and video playback.
My phone is the Samsung S24 Plus. I'm an Android boy. It has a couple of bandaids and a SIM ejector pin at the back, inside the phone case.
My wallet is a company giveaway but it's awesome. It's similar to a Ridge wallet except it has this mechanism where you click it and the cards fan out. It can carry seven cards and has space for some cash.
I have two small boxes. The transparent one is for medicine. I usually carry painkillers such as Advil or Alaxan (a combination of paracetamol and ibuprofen), antihistamine (since my wife has severe allergies), meclizine (since I usually suffer from motion sickness during long trips), and loperamide (for those moments when I have to shit and just can't find a bathroom).
The other small box made out of tin is for random trinkets that might come handy during urban emergencies. Inside I have paperclips, a lighter, a magnet, toothpicks, cotton buds and a portable sewing kit (a needle, some thread, and safety pins).
So yeah, that's my EDC kit. Although some items can be quite unconventional (I rarely see people in the EDC space boast about their umbrellas), all of them are - for me - useful and practical, shaped by my own experiences with Manila’s unpredictable weather, long commutes, and tiny urban surprises. Anyway, if you’ve got your own must-haves or weird origin stories, I’d love to hear them. What’s in your bag?
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