Having shared this info/idea in a post comment I dropped over on the DTG blog, realized I hadn't shared this one here. Doh. And free Saturday post for me.
Some/many/most of you may have, do have, or will have, various and sundry kits.
Loaded, of course, with various sundries.
A couple of common themes with those are
How do I consolidate all the fussy bits of Kit X? and
How do I keep said fussy bits from falling out and leaving a breadcrumb trail of gear?
The answer, gentle readers, is found at The Container Store (80 brick and mortar US locations, and online for everyone).
Their tubs, tubes, tins, and other bits and bobs are some of the most fantastic collection and selection of problem-solvers available, some of them for problems you didn't know you needed to solve.
For one example: the Double-sided pill box (US$1.99@)
It can be used (Duh!) as a double-sided pill box. For personal meds, or your IFAK pill kit.
But it also works slicker than snot for making an O Sh*t! Kit, keeping the most frequently broken/lost pins, springs and little parts for the AR-15 series of rifle ready to hand.
Or as a mini FAK in itself.
Or for a survival fishing kit.
Or a mini survival kit.
Or a sewing kit.
Or a fire-starting kit.
And on and on.
If it rattles, pack the extra space with cleaning patches, Q-tips, toilet paper (for the obvious, or as tinder), thread/fishing line/dental floss wound onto index cards in plastic bags*, etc. If it ain't so full it's silent, you aren't trying hard enough.
This one is 2 3/8" x 4" x 1 1/8", so whatever you put into it, it fits in just about any pocket.
Then there are these: round food keepers (4 0z., US$1.26@)
Why?
Because medical tape rolls get grungy, dried out, and die left exposed to air.
But a standard 1" wide roll of tape fits inside this mini-Tupperware style tub, which keeps it factory fresh, clean, and not sticking to everything else in the kit. Brilliant.
(Bonus: you can find a smaller sealing tub to fit inside the tape roll central spindle, and fill it with sunscreen, Neosporin, etc.)
You can also dip 100% cotton balls into melted petroleum jelly, let cool, wrap in two flat pieces of aluminum foil, and then squash each one flat, and stack a bunch in this tub, and have a ready stack of combination firestarters/kindling/candles stored so it stays ready to light, unmolested, and without oozing Vaseline onto the rest of your kit.
I've used various containers they sell, to resurrect and restock gutted mil-surplus aircraft first aid pouches, with water-/crush-proof item boxes. I've found tubes suitable to keep IV catheter needles from stabbing me in the back while packed into field kits. And still other items just to hold my salt, pepper, and steak rub, as designed.
If one of their retail establishments isn't someplace you've visited, but you could, go.
Take money. Lots of money. They only have another 50,000 or so items to pack, store, carry, or consolidate all the crap you own, and some of them are genius.
If not, go online and browse, but remember to come up for air.
If you can't find something there you need, you're hopeless.
If you have an idea for something you need, and you can't find something close there, you haven't looked hard enough.
*(You should already have known about the little 1"x2", 2"x3", 3"x5", and 4"x6" wide Ziploc-style baggies for holding/consolidating/waterproofing all sorts of things, found at WallyWorld/Michael's Crafts/etc., right? Right??)
that little box looks exactly like one i use to hold my fly fishing flys. wonder if it too is water tight so it would float?
ReplyDeleteThe clear plastic medicine bottles are also a great resource. They are free when you finish a prescription or you can buy them at amazon etc.
ReplyDeleteI made a great matches kit by putting a small silica gel packet in the bottom of a pill bottle, filling with matches (head side near the silica packet). I cut out the striker piece from the matches box and inserted striker side out next to the matches. (You can leave that out if they are strike anywhere matches.) Screw on the lid and you have a strong and waterproof matches carrier.
Those little silica packets come with a new pair of shoes or you can also buy on the internet if you want to make these as a gift for your prepper friends or for long term storage of your matches.
For my med kit, I put each pill in a plastic baggie, labelled the baggie with a Sharpie of what it was and the directions for taking, and rolled them up in a plastic box like those above. I included meds like motrin, tylenol, diarrhea, constipation, antibiotics, benadryl and mucinex - at least 5 days worth.
I have found you have to weigh the weight issue of the container versus the need/desire for organization. You can find yourself adding a lot of weight just to be organized!