Purse Pack Every Day Carry

This is mostly for the ladies, but I can always use input from you experienced guys and gals, especially on anything missing or too much redundancy. The subject is every day carry items for the purse.  If any ladies are reading this and not familiar with this level of preparedness, this article provides descriptions of lots of types of preparedness 'kits.'  Not everyone needs each type of kit, but a few may make sense for you.  The purpose of the EDC is to get you to the next level of supply or safety.  If you have a kit in your car, home or office, your EDC should help you get to the closest one.  If caught in a 'shelter in place' situation, some of the items may make you more comfortable, but that is not the primary purpose of the 'kit.'

For a while I just dropped my basic preparedness stuff into my purse.  Occasionally I'd review it, usually I'd transfer it all if I needed to change purses.  I finally got organized when I realized the 'free' mesh makeup bags would be perfect to keep it all in one place and visible without adding lots of extra weight to my already lead-like purse. I had a choice of red or black.  I picked red.

 It is about 4 X 6 inches and was made to be about an inch thick when stuffed with cosmetics or whatever.  It is a great size for what I carry including my redundant items.  Writing this post gave me a chance to review what was in there, because occasionally I'd just stuff something in because it seemed like a good idea.

The contents pictured are: 2 Mylar blankets, 1 fire steel, 1 Bic lighter, 2 P51 can openers, 1cheap hotel sewing kit (augmented), 1 Princeton tec pulsar II LED white light, 1 small Victorinox pocket knife with pen and red flashlight, 1 small envelope with several silver coins, 1 tool logic card with red light, 1 Victorinox Swiss card and one pair of collapsible scissors. The entire collection and bag weighed 12 ounces. By using items lying around the house, picking up items on sale and buying at the military surplus store, the only thing in the kit that cost more than $10 was the pocket knife. The mesh bag and the sewing kit were free. The Mylar blankets were 4 for $5 at Sierra Trading Post.  Most other items cost between 50 cents and $5.

Two items I added late in the process were the tool logic and the pocket knife.  In reviewing the contents, I found more redundancy that I really need. I did not repack the separate scissors, as there are already 2 pair between the pocket knife and the Swiss card. Both the pocket knife and the tool logic card have can openers, but the one in the card seems easy to lose, so I ditched one of the P51's. I thought about leaving out the tool logic, but the additional light and the larger blade were worth the weight.

Next improvement actions will include adding duct tape or paracord to be able to attach the Ice logic blade to a make-shift handle, and re-evaluate whether the Swiss card adds enough useful items to keep it in the pack. What you don't see is a millennium bar because I go through those often enough that I don't keep one in the mesh bag.  I'll probably reconsider that decision as well.  We don't live anywhere near a source of fish, so no fishing gear.

By leaving the scissors and can opener out, the weight decreased to 10 ounces. By dropping the Swiss card, I can probably add 3 or 4 yards of para cord and some duct tape and stay under 12 ounces. What's missing? What's too much?