bottom line? what is it that you NEED to carry? I have a swiss army knife on my belt because I use it all the time [see username] it actually includes a pen, don’cha know. Wallet and keys… sometimes a cell.
Do you actually NEED anything else? What’s the 80% solution? If you spend a lot of time going between home and work, why do you need food? How often do you need chapstick? Truthfully I could rely on my wallet alone, since it has a spare key in it.
This totally used to drive my ex- crazy… but then she gloried in making me carry her purse like a sherpa. Actually I treated it with the disdain of roadkill, because that is what that bag of bricks deserves.
“I don’t want to worry that I don’t have something with me…”
Why worry, are you traversing the wilds of Mongolia? Sure, when I’m going to be traversing wilds, I carry a full pack with spares for any contingency, BECAUSE it’s the wilds. Where help is FAR.
Oddly enough my ex- and other girlfriends always complained that I pack too much to hike, and they don’t WANT to carry a purse then. Wha? You could actually break a leg, and be miles from help.
Meanwhile, when there is a starbucks on every corner, your are always close to shelter, so why worry?
