Pants as EDC instead of external bag. Determine weight of equipment and clothing. Winter jacket and poncho added. Freed from external speaker and broom. Idea for weight distribution. Can instead of cup?

November 13, 2024.

EDC stands for Every Day Carry and originates from the survival and prepper community. The EDC is used to help yourself and others in emergency situations. I got to grips with this in spring 2024 and learned a lot from these communities. Many survivalists and preppers carry their EDC in a separate bag or even a large backpack. I find that it makes more sense to use your pants pocket as an EDC. An external bag can be forgotten or lost more easily than pants, because if you lose your pants, then you have another problem - causing a public nuisance.

However, most of us have several pairs of pants, which is why this EDC system is out of the question for them. Because as soon as we put on a different pair of pants, we would have to move the EDC gear into the new pants, which would make this pants EDC system more cumbersome than carrying an external bag. So using the pants pocket as an EDC is only an option for those of us who have a single pair of everyday pants, like me.

How did I adjust the carrying system so that the pants also count as EDC? The trousers have two leg pockets. The left leg pocket is for everyday items such as keys, cards and money. The right trouser pocket is defined as an EDC. It contains foldable scissors, a mini compass and a ziplock bag containing a rescue blanket with plasters, a needle with thread and a lighter.

I would probably take an ultra-light pocket knife with me, e.g. useful for cutting the seatbelt. I need to find a good compact pocket knife first. If it has integrated scissors, that would be great. Do you have a recommendation?

Important data is written on the ziplock bag in slightly encrypted form using a waterproof pen. They help me if I lose digital documents, cards or smartphone. Having important data available in analog form is important, as the small incident on October 22, 2023 showed me.

I do get quite cold on days when the temperature is approaching 0 degrees and I'm not moving. If I live in the car, it could get cold if the heating fails. That's why a black jacket arrived today, which should keep me warm down to -5 degrees Celsius. The hooded jacket weighs only 370 g and can be stowed very compactly in its own left pocket. I also received a rain poncho today, which I want to try out as a lighter alternative to the rain jacket. I probably won't need the winter hat as the new jacket has a warm hood. Let's see if I can do without the winter hat.

Ultralight trekking for hiking means that the equipment (without food) weighs less than 5 kg. In the book on ultralight trekking, the most important step is to get a kitchen scale and measure all your equipment. At first I didn't like the idea, because I can feel whether item A or B is lighter. Unfortunately, this is not the case. For small items or items that weigh almost the same, I have to rely on a scale. So, out of curiosity, I measured all the items in my rucksack and on my clothes.

Items in backpack and in Pants pockets:

• Backpack - 720g
• Book by Eckhart Tolle - 500g
• Stainless steel drinking bottle - 262g
• Merino long underpants - 255g
• Merino Longshirt - 234g
• Replacement merino T-shirt and replacement underpants - 198g
• Smartphone - 134g
• Knife - 105g
• Pad with three pens - 81g
• Plasma lighter - 70g
• Rescue blanket with needle and thread spool - 65g
• First aid kit - 65g
• Wound disinfectant spray - 59g
• Coins - 58g
• Cards, banknotes and keys - 54g
• Russian passport - 50g
• Cloth bag - 49g
• Merino sock pair - 40g
• Scissors - 21g
• Fire steel - 38g
• Power supply - 38g
• Other apartment key - 37g
• Crank flashlight - 25g
• A tealight - 15g
• Dental floss - 8g
• Charging cable - 7g
• Adhesive tape - 6g
• Mini compass - 5g
• Bamboo comb - 5g (Plastikkamm wiegt dagegen 3g).
• USB flash drive - 3g
• USB-C to Lightning adapter - 2g
• Tooth cleaning cloth - under 1g (no toothpaste and toothbrush - that's what I call ultra-light!)
• Total weight in (and with) backpack: 2697g.
• Total weight in pants pockets: 512g.
• Total weight in backpack and pants pockets: 3209g

Sleeping bag, cooking system, sleeping mat and tent are not included. In order to hike ultralight (on cold days), these missing items must weigh a maximum of 5000g - 3209g = 1791g. That seems impossible. Eckhart Tolle's book will definitely have to stay at home (i.e. in the car?). Then there's the clothes I've put on and the food. However, food and clothes are not included in the definition of ultralight luggage.

Clothing that I own:

• Rain jacket - 543g
• Warm merino sweater- 464g
• Midlayer jacket - 370 g
• Pants - 358g
• Rain poncho - 348g
• Merino long underpants - 255g
• Merino longshirt - 234g
• 2x Merino T-shirt and underpants - 198g
• Merino winter hat (Beanie) - 86g
• Merino gloves - 77g
• Merino sock pair - 40g
• Total weight of the clothing: 2973g (so if I put on all my clothes, I would have over 2 kilograms on me)

Apart from the sleeping bag, cooking system, sleeping mat and tent: If I were to put on all my clothes and take into account the rucksack and the items in my trouser pockets, I would end up with a weight of 6182g. So in winter I could never hike ultralight with the current system.

I won't need the big wooden broom I bought on October 12, 2024 when I'm living in a car. There's not that much space to sweep there. A hand brush with a dustpan is enough. I would still prefer the hand brush in the future for the following reason: everyday life is so convenient these days that we are forced to exercise in order to stay fit. I find that totally unnatural. Physical activity in the form of sport should not be necessary. Physical activity should already be naturally integrated into everyday life. By using a hand brush instead of a wooden broom, I introduce physical activity into everyday cleaning. After all, sweeping the home with a hand brush is much more strenuous than using a broom. I also train various muscle groups and, in particular, the flexibility of the body. And if I even live in a car, I don't have enough surfaces to sweep anyway. So I sell the broom or give it away.

The shelf was finally picked up today. I also put the external speaker up for sale and it was picked up a short time later. The speaker of the smartphone is not much worse. The advantage is: I don't have to turn on Bluetooth on the phone every time I want to listen to a podcast on the Bluetooth speaker. And the phone's battery doesn't run down so quickly either.

At the station, I was inspired by the policemen standing in a circle. (Why are they actually standing in a circle?) They have a belt at their waist with various objects distributed around it. This gave me a flash of inspiration for better weight distribution when (long) walking and for everyday life. It makes no sense at all to carry a 10 kilogram backpack on your back with other modular items, such as a sleeping bag or a tarp, attached to it. The strain on your shoulders and back will be too great. The body's center of gravity also shifts further back, which makes it much more difficult to keep your balance. Why don't I distribute what's in the rucksack around the body like the police do?

I have already taken the first steps towards better weight distribution: I ordered a lighter backpack with less capacity. The EDC, which was previously stationed in the backpack, has been moved to the right leg. I would distribute another part of the backpack contents on the chest - similar to carrying the backpack on the chest. I'll keep this kind of weight distribution in mind.

I have found an ultra-light option to replace a rather heavy cup. The titanium cups are extremely expensive. A virtually free alternative would be to take a soda can, remove the top part with a can opener and I have an ultra-light cup that costs nothing. It weighs even less than a titanium cup. I'm going to try drinking from the homemade cup soon. :) Making your own things, whether cups or clothes, is certainly fun. I want to be able to do that, because that way I can make things that are perfectly tailored to me.

I am grateful today:

• For coming up with the idea of weight distribution.
• For the fact that I now know how much the things in the backpack and on me weigh.
• For the fact that I quickly made up with Julia.

Continue Reading