Be Prepared! What Are Some Items You Should ALWAYS Carry On You?

Wallet, keys, phone. We seldom leave the house without those items. What about emergency numbers? Some painkillers? Your medication? It always pays to be prepared. You never know when your good karma reverses and life starts unexpectedly sucking in the form of a delayed flight, a cancelled appointment, a bleeding blister on your foot, or (knock on wood) something even more serious.

And then there are things worth carrying in your purse, backpack or messenger bag anytime you leave the house–not so much for doom and gloom scenarios, but to simply make life more pleasant when a minor inconvenience gives you some extra downtime. A good book to read, for example. Or a spool of yarn and some knitting needles to kill time for long waits in doctor’s offices, train stations, and restaurants.Or duh, some breath mints or chewing gum because you never know when you’re going to have bad garlic and onion breath before a first date or an important meeting.

So what are your absolute essentials to tuck into your backpack, clutch or man-bag before stepping out of the house? Here is a very arbitrary list to get you possibly inspired to be more prepared in the humdrum of everyday life. Because for that next apocalyptic day when the trains stop running, a freak traffic jam gridlocks the entire city, and a gaggle of colicky babies within hearing distance decide to thow the loudest screaming tantrum fit ever,  you can be serenely zenning out with your nose in your favorite book, earplugs in.

PHYSICAL HEALTH

- Band-aids

- Painkillers 

- Medications

- Eyedrops

- Earplugs

- Extra contact lenses, contact lenses case, travel-sized contact lenses solution

- Glasses case

- Emergency phone numbers (because believe it or not, sometimes your cell phone can die and we are living in an age when people don’t memorize phone numbers anymore.) 

- Chapstick

- A bag of raw almonds for healthy, non-perishable munchies

- Travel-sized toothbrush and toothpaste

- Tampons (major duh for ladies) 

MENTAL HEALTH

- A good book

- Your portable digital music, podcasts and audiobooks

- A small notebook and pen

- A sketchbook

- Sudoku or crossword puzzles

- A flipcam or digital camera

- Knitting tools

MAJOR SAFETY

- An extra wallet with a very small amount of cash and coins in an immediately accessible pocket of your purse or messenger bag. (One public safety article recommended to have this at all times so that if you are ever mugged, you can hand this wallet to the mugger who demands for your wallet, as the majority of the times muggers leave you alone after they get something from their victim.) 

- If you want to be mega-uber-worst-case-scenario-handbook prepared, a spare housekey and ten bucks in your shoe

LOOKING GOOD

- Hairbrush

- Small compact mirror

- Breath mints

- Travel-sized deodorant

- Bobby pins

- Whatever else you consider a bare-bones make-up-and-beauty essential (I will not bother listing it all out here) 

ET CETERA 

- Reusable tumbler, mug or bottle

- Reusable shopping bags and totes

- Reusable chopsticks in a pouch (I have one of these, and I’m so excited to whip them out like a pro when I’m otherwise deprived of eating utensils) 

- Sunglasses

- A bottle opener

- A small zip drive on your keychain

- Lots of quarters

- A lighter

- Like, five ballpoint pens stashed in every pocket. Is it just me or is it just an etched-in-stone Murphy’s Law that you will always need freaking pen when you least expect it and you DON’T HAVE ONE?

Got other random essentials you can’t leave the house without? Share in the comments below! 

 PHOTO (cc): Flickr / Valerie Renee