This is going to be a shorter guide without a lot of fluff. Having an EDC (every day carry) isn’t necessary but it makes your life much easier. As opposed to carrying a bunch of items and tools for no reason this guide is going to be focused on items that you’ll actually use that’ll fit in one jacket pocket. I don’t know about you but I’m not a huge fan of carrying a bag everywhere I go. I’ll try to update this semiannually but if there are any dead links go ahead and shoot me an email at juansloan@damnfire.com and I’ll get to fixing them.
As always, none of these links are affiliate links. I’m a Personal Stylist, not a blogger or affiliate author. No sponsorship or kickback nonsense is involved here either.
1. Breath Mints
Having breath mints on you at all times is so important, doubly so if you’re smoking or drinking. You’re going to want to make sure you get a breath mint without sugar. This is because sugar will actually feed the bacteria in your mouth that gives you bad breath. While technically not a breath mint I’m a huge fan of Listerine Pocketpaks. This is because they not only make your breath smell better but they also kill the bacteria in your math that gives you bad breath. I’m not going to leave a link to purchase them online because you should be able to find them at any grocery store.
2. A Mature Looking Buy It For Life Wallet That Can Fit in Your Front Pocket
I’m not a huge fan of novelty wallets. If it’s your cup of tea go ahead and use one but let’s be honest we all need to grow up eventually. I use to have a textile Herschel wallet but I felt ridiculous pulling it out wearing less casual clothing. The color on the textile also started to fade and look… dusty? A leather wallet will age gracefully and develop a beautiful patina. The patina will be way less noticeable on a black wallet so if you’re into that sort of thing go for any of the other colors. I highly recommend the Saddleback Leather Front Pocket Leather Wallet. One thing that’s really cool about Saddleback Leather is that they have an 100-year warranty. Also apparently this was voted the #1 front pocket wallet for men on the Lifehacker forums.
3. A Swiss Army Knife + Flashlight
This one you can probably pass on but it’s nice to have around when you’re mobile. My philosophy has always been it’s better to have something around and not need it than to not have something around when you do need it. Below are great entry level options for both. You can either keep these in the car or your jacket pocket but I highly recommend keeping them in the pocket. A lot of people don’t carry flashlights in their car and if someone’s battery dies in the middle of nowhere at night while driving you somewhere you can make their life a lot easier. These aren’t very big or bulky and at all and you can easily keep them together by connecting them to your keychain.
4. A Watch
A lot of people think a watch is just jewelry but I beg to differ. Why take two seconds to pull out your phone and press your home button to look at the time when you could just turn your wrist? Also what if your phone dies? Another thing I notice is that everybody carries a phone on them but STILL asks other people for the time. Watches still have utility, ignore the naysayers. Also, it doesn’t hurt to look punctual. Seiko is a great entry level watch brand and the Seiko 5 (pictured below) is a great entry level watch. I’m a huge fan of date complications on watches (Complications are any features on a mechanical watch besides telling the time in hours and minutes.) If you’re not super excited about dropping $90 on a watch Casio also has some great options. Automatic watches are charged mechanically through kinetic force (In laymen’s terms: Your movement charges the watch.) Their hands also usually have beautiful sweeping motions. The only downside is automatic watches don’t keep time nearly as well as quartz watches. Either is fine, horology is sexy but watch-snobbery is gross. Fun Fact: if you’re a doomsday prepper automatic watches will still work after an EMP if you’re far enough to survive the initial nuclear blast!
Thank you for reading!