Friday, June 4, 2010

100 Things Challenge: Survivalist Edition

For quite a while, the 100 Things Challenge has been floating around the web. A guy named Dave challenged himself and others to live with only 100 things, and whether you reduce the stuff in your home to 100 things or you live a location-independent lifestyle and carry all 100 things on your back, the idea is to have no more than 100 things that you absolutely need to survive. Since I have been traveling so much over the past month or so, I really think this is doable because I have been living out of my backpack and still find that I don't use everything I have packed for my trips.
If I was going travel, or for survivalist purposes, I was going to bug out, here are the 100 things I would absolutely want to carry with me:
  1. A good bag to carry my stuff in
  2. Water
  3. Food
  4. Tent
  5. Sleeping bag
  6. Sleeping pad
  7. Portable stove and fuel
  8. Mess kit
  9. Utensils
  10. Flashlight
  11. First aid kit
  12. Toiletry kit (soap, shampoo, comb, razor, deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, suntan lotion, floss, mirror, nail file/clippers, lip balm)
  13. Office bag (wallet, id, passport, important papers or copies, pen, paper, contact list)
  14. Duct tape
  15. Matches/lighter
  16. Toilet paper
  17. Tissue
  18. WetWipes
  19. Knife
  20. Firearm/ammo
  21. Sneakers
  22. Flip flops
  23. Underware/t shirts/socks
  24. Pants
  25. Shirts (short sleeve, long sleeve)
  26. Fleece jacket
  27. Rain jacket/pants
  28. Hat/bandana
  29. Personal stuff (glasses, dentures, hearing aids, feminine hygiene, etc)
  30. Laptop or netbook
  31. Camera
  32. Memory cards
  33. Thumb drive
  34. Cell phone
  35. iPod or iTouch
  36. Plastic bags (big black trash bag, assortment of ziplock bags)
  37. Sunglasses
  38. Sewing/repair kit (including rubber bands, safety pins)
  39. Watch
  40. Daypack
  41. Playing cards
  42. Medications
  43. Vitamins
  44. Money
  45. Scissors
  46. Swim shorts
  47. Towel
  48. Wash cloth
  49. Bleach
  50. Water filter
  51. Book
  52. 550 paracord
  53. Battery charger
  54. Extra batteries
  55. Whistle
  56. Space blanket
  57. Radio
  58. Compass
  59. Fishing line and hooks
  60. Magnifying glass
  61. Gloves
  62. .....

Well, I tried to get up to 100 items and maybe by breaking out each part of the first aid or toiletry kit I would get there but the bottom line is that you can survive on not much stuff. I try to keep the stuff that I carry to a minimum because, well, I have to carry the stuff and I would rather be light and fast instead of bogged down and hyperventilating halfway up the trail. Plus, in an emergency survival situation, you may have to move quickly, you may have to hide or defend your stuff, you may only be able to bring one bag with you...there are a number of reasons why it just makes sense to bring the basics and skip all of the extraneous junk.

2 comments:

  1. CNi: I like your lists. I would add binoculars.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello,

    Great information and also a great list you provide. I really appreciate your post.

    ______________
    Repair Credit Score | Bad Credit Repair Advice

    ReplyDelete