I’ve always hated carrying stuff around. My pockets are big, but I really don’t like carrying anything in them thicker than a thin wallet - even my mobile phone seems thick when I sit down. What’s the solution to this? I don’t know, but I’m not the only one with the issue on my mind.

The inventory of my pockets is typically:

  • Wallet
  • Cell phone
  • Keys (carrabeaner + 2 keys)
  • HPDA
  • Pencil

This is quite a bit, and is only alleviated when I have a backpack and/or jacket on. Here are my problems with this setup.

  1. My cell phone is slightly on the big side. I strongly prefer a cell phone with bluetooth (Mac/iSync friendly please!), but brand does not matter so much for me.
  2. My wallet is a good size as long as it doesn’t hold too many receipts, but smaller is better. Any ideas for a day-wallet (like a day-pack)?
  3. The keys do not need the carrabeaner, technically. However, I have found it to be useful on enough occasions to warrant carrying it around. I’ve shrunk from four keys recently to two keys, one of which is quite small. Unfortunately I added an Albertson’s card to it today (damn marketing).
  4. The HPDA is about as small as it’ll functionally get, I believe. Using the D*I*Y template has caused the size of my HPDA to expand slightly, but it does increase the usability of it.
  5. The pencil is useful and good, but it has a sharp metal point which pierces clothing and skin if pressed hard enough. It’s the Pentel Techniclick, and it’s nice except for that metal tip. I’ve always used pencils due to their erasability and the fact that I majored in math, but recently the idea of a pen has intrigued me (especially since the HPDA pages facing out will smear when written on in pencil).

I’ll follow up on this when/if I find better solutions.

Update: I hadn’t read the article linked from that one when I wrote this, so the coincidence of our having the same items listed in almost the same way with almost the same link is just … a kinda freaky coincidence and a sign that perhaps there really is a baseline for the stuff you have to carry with you.