I got annoyed recently when I wanted to leave the house and noticed my bag was half full just with stuff to deal with weather. In Tokyo, I usually carry an umbrella with me, maybe sunscreen, sunglasses, a mini towel etc. Others have fans, “neck fans” (not sure how they are called). Maybe a water bottle also counts.
All of this is “weather stuff” for me. I asked a friend what she carries around, and we started to think about some other categories as well. So I wondered how much of the stuff we carry around is actually about the thing we want to do wherever we go, and how much is just to cope with the environment? Also, I would be curious how this looks like in other places around the world. Things probably vary by gender, age, season as well.
Some categories are:
- weather stuff
- personal hygiene stuff
- safety stuff
- not being annoyed by others stuff
- infrastructure fail stuff (e.g., preparing for when trains get delayed)
I have a “mom” sized pocketbook that I carry around and it always has the following:
If it’s sunny I’ll bring a sun umbrella and a hat, both of which can fit in the bag in a pinch. If it’s raining, just the umbrella. It’s not a perfect system but some things (especially the band aids and fidget) come in handy pretty often