My Everyday Carry

submitted by Jack

The hard plastic wallet and money clip (on back side) is from Quiklet bought from a Denny’s Car Wash in Phoenix for $4.95. It hold just six cards, no more. The cards will not accidentally fall or slip out as the wallet is hard plastic and holds the edges firmly, unlike every leather wallet I have had. I have my drivers license face out visible on the back side money clip area. I can visually see that my credit card has been returned to the wallet, something a leather wallet does not allow. Not a great money clip, but much slimmer than all other money clips, and it does allow several bills to be attached. For the rare times I am carrying more cash, I use the clip on an assortment of folding knives, not shown.

The watch is a Victorinox Swiss Army Active Night Vision II Mens Watch 241131. The LED battery has already lasted over a year. The white LED is perfect for simple close-in tasks and is always instantly ready. A blue LED on the watch face is also good for night time viewing of the watch face or softly illuminating surroundings in total darkness. This watch has replaced a few SureFire lights in my EDC, but if I am doing work outdoors at night, I bring a SureFire along. My wife wishes the watch were more attractive, but none of them have a light.

The iPhone 4 is purposely white as I got tired of putting a black phone down on a black table and losing track of it. The black trim avoids the white phone blending into a white table. Yes, the phone can be a light too, but the watch is more handy.

The Inka pen on the car key improves car key visibility and I find there are times when I really need a pen. Yes, I can write on the iPhone, but I can’t leave that note with someone.

No knives for EDC but those are laying around the house and vehicle. If someone is wondering where my house key is, its a proximity sensor card in the $4.95 wallet. If anyone is wondering why I have a black wallet, that was the only color they sold, and anyway, I keep the wallet in my pocket or hand, never on a table.

Thanks for your site. It inspired me to trim down what I carried everyday. I had a wallet the size of a brick. It was loaded with other peoples business cards. Now I just use the iPhone and a card scanning app to scan the cards and return the card to the person. Same action done with receipts.

Editor’s Note: Hi Jack, I’m glad the site has given you some inspiration. I can immediately see from your pocket dump that you appreciate both minimalism and visibility. A lot of other submissions feature “murdered out” all black everything type of gear, but in many cases and for many people, keeping things bright or colorful can help with visibility and retrieval. That LED watch is pretty interesting, I’ve never seen anything like that. If that’s all the light you need, then you have a good way of carrying an illumination tool without adding extra bulk (same with your phone). Your way of streamlining your carry using that affordable wallet and phone together is a great example of the EDC mindset at work, albeit it isn’t for tactical or survivalist situations. I’m sure others can learn from this post, so I appreciate the thorough explanations. Thanks for sharing and keep it up!