Whats in your pocket? The Ins and Outs of EDC or Every Day Carry Survival Preparedness.

Ode to the obsession of a Survival Key Ring.

We have all heard the famous “What’s in your wallet?” commercial. It has a different meaning when it’s said around Preppers and Survivalists. The gleam they get in their eye reminds me of Gollum’s thoughts about JRR Tolkien`s Bilbo Baggins character with “What’s hasss it got in its pocketsess nasty little hobbit, yes my precious what hass it got in its pocketsess "or something to that effect.

Unlike Gollum, the average gentile prepper observer generally has no ill will towards the person they are curious about, they just want to know what preps someone else might have thought of, or compare thoughts on pocketknives. Kind of you show me yours Ill show you mine sort of mentality. Folks of our preparedness bent ilk are also predisposed to taking an almost peeping Tom approach to watching and anticipating the opportunity for brief glances at other peoples key rings. What marvelous differences in makeup or manipulation might we spy?

Most people have a keychain, their wallet, and some drier lint, and not much else except a bit of change in their pockets. However, the average prepper or survivalist well… they are just lets say a bit different. It can look like a magic show to the uninitiated as things are miraculously produced for inspection out of various pockets and nothing more is so intriguing than what is on a key ring with its wealth of prepper possibilities. I am not talking about a lot folks common everyday key rings you see that seem to be a bizarre combination of teenage years collections of faded out plastic animals and such, including and part and participle of along with every key they ever owned for the last 10 or so years that mostly fits nothing they own now, and they just shrug when asked about the conglomeration, because they never got around to removing the useless weight. No, I am talking about the holy grail of prepperdom and survivalist preparedness thoughts and wisdom, the key ring. Oh, glorious and transportable wonder. To some of us diehards its an extension of our personality and beliefs, to others it takes on a almost mystical or religious reverence.

The ultimate, always with you, don’t leave home with out it; pinnacle of the evolution of the micro mini survival kit, yea that’s it, the arduous quirky quest for the ultimate survival key ring. Well some of these are not so micro in size for us as a personal carry, the survival gear I have on my key ring is quite a pocket full and gets reconfigured or added too all the time as I rearrange, replace or multitask with the upgrades I constantly seek. The thing is I Neeed all this stuff, every last bit!!! It gives me comfort and usefulness and it’s a hobby shared by us all to challenge and compare personal preps.

Bottom Line: if it's so small it can go on your keychain or be thrown in another pocket well, us prepper packrats probably have it with us as part of our EDC and possibly might use most items included regularly or be called upon by others to borrow a bit of gear because we are known to have it

. It does become an obsession to collect those things or odd innovations that you always might have just in case, but forget about until you really need it. It’s expensive too, but by slowly adding to your survival key ring over time to spread out the costs or a big jump in because of a inkling, eventually, you’ll have just about everything you need for survival right on your keychain, and with you at all times.

Whether you're facing a stubborn shipping box that needs opening, lost your lighter, became homeless from the economic collapse, or bugged out of the A.O. (area of operations) because of a dirty bomb attack, some handy keychain gizmo can be there for you.

The art of putting together a survival key chain sounds simple. I want you at first to just think of survival key chains as a miniature, portable survival kit with pocketsize bare necessities to get you by for the short term, about as long as you feel necessary. Gather your collection of unique mini-sized emergency supplies always available at your fingertips with thoughts of basics first.

The first thing you will need for your personal survival kit is a keychain, you already have one most likely for your car and house keys, but also consider purchasing a new one that is easy to take things off and put things on as well as one that isn't too bulky. A Keychain Survival Kit is a minimalist survival kit that requires some thought so it doesn’t get cluttered and disorganized or uncomfortable to carry.


This key ring version is a backup, a “what if readiness prep” to a full-blown survival kit, but this it is something you will have with you for the unexpected and find yourself walking down the street with the clothes on your back and not much more, what’s in your pockets and the skills you have in your head, that’s it.


I will do the second installment to our key ring survival soon
Just remember, you can’t fly with something like a survival key ring, so leave these types of things at home when traveling by air. We are going to talk about our alternatives, and that deep sense of loss we feel losing our daily carries lol in my next posts.