The 5 EDC Essentials

So, what are the 5 EDC essentials?

For me, they are the things you can’t leave the house without. Doesn’t matter if you are going on a 10 minute grocery run or a 10 day road trip, these things should be right there by your side for whatever life throws at you. However let me clarify that these things don’t include the even more basic things that you need for daily life whether you like it or not which are: phone, wallet, and keys.

The 5 EDC essentials are an extension of those 3 basic things and they will help you on those random days when the unexpected happens (I’m talking more “your phone ran out of battery and you need to search for something in the dark” instead of “zombie apocalypse”) and they are comprised of:

• Watch
• Flashlight
• Lighter
• Knife or multitool
• Pen & paper

In my case I have a leather “thing” that I use to carry them all (except for the watch, that one goes on the wrist). It’s pretty small so it fits in one of my front pockets and it keeps everything together so they don’t go bouncing around.

The leather thing I carry in my pocket

The things that go inside my leather thing

So lets go one by one to see the logic behind them. Also I want to clarify that the links contained in this post are NOT sponsored or affiliate links, they are simply there so you can go to the shop and check the full specs of whatever I’m linking to, and the things I’m recommending here are simply because I like them.

Watch

I know, I know, why do I need a watch if my phone already tells time? Well a watch is a way better version of your phone for telling time but it is also so much more than that. A watch tells you the time instantly by just looking at your wrist without the need to pull out your phone, turning on the screen and getting distracted by a ton of notifications.

Don’t tell me you haven’t taken out your phone to check something and ended up doing something completely different only to remember once you’ve put it away that you didn’t even do the thing why you took it out of your pocket in the first place.

Also a watch, as I mentioned, is so much more than a time piece. It can be a fashion statement, a conversation starter, a family heirloom, a unique gadget, a reminder, and so much more. There are thousands of watch brands, each with their individual style so there are tons of options for you to choose something that matches your vibe. And that is without mentioning other characteristics like the different watch types: mechanic, quartz, solar, etc.

I’m a fan of the Seiko brand with their amazing Japanese quality for affordable prices and the watch I’m currently wearing is the Seiko SPB253, which is a remaster of an old 1965 watch: the first dive watch by Seiko called 62MAS which was issued to the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition.

The Seiko SPB253 watch with 2 strap options

Flashlight

Flashlights by themselves are an entire world. You can go to places like the flashlight’s subreddit and you are going to be overwhelmed by the amount of different flashlights you can find. However, carrying one should be an essential part of your EDC. And I know, just like with the watch there are people who are going to ask: Why do I need a flashlight if my phone already has one?

Well, for starters, as a backup. Smartphones generally get drained during the day and by the time it’s night you might be running low on battery, so when darkness falls and you need your flashlight, you won’t have it.

Also, smartphone flashlights suck. You might be able to shine a light less than a meter away (or 8.74 hamburgers for my USA friends) but there are times when you need to light something further away than that and you’ll be happy to have a flashlight with you.

Same as watches, there are tons of models with different features so the one you choose might depend on your needs. For example if you bike a lot you might want one that has a red light feature so you can clip it to your back so cars can see you in the dark. Or if you live in a zone where there are lots of scorpions, you might want one with UV light so you can spot them at night.

The one I carry daily is the Rovyvon A8 because it’s small, has 450 lumens, UV light and red light as well. But there are tons of options out there and some brands I recommend are: Rovyvon, Nitecore, and Olight.

The Rovyvon A8 flashlight

Lighter

A lighter is something people don’t usually consider because its associated use is usually smoking, but even if you don’t smoke there are tons of uses for one.

Some of it’s uses could be:

• Burn the ends of those pesky loose threads
• Light some impromptu birthday candles
• Light non-birthday candles
• Burn the ends of rope if you cut it
• Sterilize a needle
• Turn on a gas stove if the button stops working
• And tons more

With lighters you can’t go wrong with BIC, those are available everywhere, last a ton, don’t leak and are pretty cheap. The one I carry is a refillable no-brand lighter I got on Aliexpress that is small enough to fit in my leather “pouch”.

The lighter I bought from Aliexpress

Knife or Multitool

Knives are another whole world by itself, there are tons of options and tons of styles to choose from. Just like watches which are not just a time telling tool, knives are not just a cutting tool. For some people they are family heirlooms or their everyday companion tool, some people even usen them as fashion accessories.

For me, knives are a tool and depending which knife you have, you might be using it daily. The one I carry is the Victorinox Compact which has all of the following tools as well:

• Blade, large*
• Corkscrew
• Mini screwdriver 1.5 mm
• Bottle opener*
• Can opener
• Screwdriver 5 mm
• Wire stripper
• Scissors*
• Multipurpose hook
• Nail file
• Key ring
• Pin*
• Tweezers*
• Toothpick*
• Pressurized ballpoint pen

The items with an * are the ones I use on an almost daily basis. And some of them are used for things that I usually didn’t need a tool for, but having a tool for each task is way better than having to just wing it.

The Victorinox Compact

Pen & Paper

These go hand in hand but you can also just carry the pen without the paper. Pens are something that in the past you were guaranteed to use one daily, now with a lot of stuff migrating to digital they are not that necessary anymore but I still think carrying one has its benefits.

For example, you can take notes if your phone dies on you, you can also write a note and tear it from your notebook to give it to someone, you can sign documents or make a drawing. The possibilities are endless and also the options for pens and papers (or notebooks) to carry are endless.

You might have noticed that the Victorinox already has a pressurized pen but I don’t use that as my main pen and leave it more as a backup.

My main pen is the Fisher Space Bullet Pen which has a pressurized cartridge so it can write on any surface with any conditions. It has taken a beating and it is still going strong. As for the notebook I’m currently carrying the Kurzgesagt pocket log which was a gift from my best friend. That notebook is called my “dirty ideas” notebook because I write anything and everything that comes to mind without filtering it, it’s the first stop for my ideas before migrating them somewhere else which could be my Obsidian or my Bullet Journal. In total I have 3 notebooks serving different purposes but that can be a post for another time.

[pen and notebook picture TBU]

One brand I recommend for notebooks is Field Notes, there are a ton of options to choose from there should be something that matches your vibe. As for pens, I like the Fisher Space Pens but there are also good pens from Lamy, Parker, and Pilot.

Conclusion

I’m not saying you NEED to carry all of this stuff with you every single day if you don’t find it useful. I just want to share something that has worked for me so you can see if it also works for you.

These things live in my pocket (and wrist) every single day and they help me tackle whatever life throws my way on any given day. And there are some days when I use them all but also there are some when I don’t even use 1 and that is ok because I just like carrying them. Not everything has to be useful 100% of the time, you can also just have things because you like how they look or because you feel a certain way having it.

So anyways I hope you liked this post and that it made you consider carrying at least one of these essentials if you think it might be useful for you. Thanks for reading!