I live my material life out of a single piece of carry-on luggage, so I guess I am well disposed to answer this question. I am always making tiny tweaks to what I carry to reach that one-bag global maxima. I'll excluded the electronics, which are all vastly more useful than just about anything that's ever existed before and are all 1-10 of my top ten items. Otherwise, I'll cheat and list 3:<p>1. A nice sleep mask. Light is terrible for good sleep and popping one of these on can help me get good rest no matter where I am. Currently: whatever I found at the last CVS I visited.<p>2. Wool socks. They don't smell and stay warm and comfortable no matter the weather. Currently: point6 merino lightweight ankle.<p>3. A wind and water resistant jacket that packs into an Avacado-sized pocket. Currently UNIQLO Pocketable Parka.
Great suggestions, everyone!<p>Here are mine:<p>1. Woolpower Zip Turtleneck, 200 g/m^2 version. Merino wool but unlike others it is made using a circular knit, which makes it light and stretchy. Great in the house in the early morning. Canadian Outdoor Equipment is a great source if you're in North America. Made in Sweden I think.<p>2. Pentel P205 0.5 mm mechanical pencil in green.<p>3. Letts Icon 5 year diary. Made in England. They invented the diary.<p>4. 9x12 dry erase whiteboard lapboards. You can write on them like a regular whiteboard, but I use them as little lap desks. 3 for $10 at Amazon.<p>5. My one inch tungsten cube from Midwest Tungsten (via Etsy). What can I say -- it's an objet d'art that is always a pleasure to pick up.
My venerable "Mr. Coffee" drip coffee maker. This thing is 15 or more years old now and still produces coffee for me like a boss. When it finally dies I will be heart-broken.
Assuming this excludes “modern-necessities” like an iPhone?<p>I have a hard time picking just one. When I was working in the office regularly I would’ve said my AirPods Pro or Sony noise cancelling headphones.<p>More recently a new mattress has made a huge difference in my sleep quality and I can’t believe I waited so long.
My Canyon Commuter 7 bike which is my primary mode of transportation to work, shopping and short trips. It has a belt drive with built in lights. Very low maintenance unless there is a flat. It saves me a lot of time and keeps me fit.
1. Knipex 12 40 200 automatic wire strippers. They strip 30 gauge stranded wrapping wire without cutting the strands. And 18 gauge speaker wire. And everything in between (in theory they can strip from 32 to 7 gauge (0.03 - 10mm^2) but I don't have any wire that big to try.)<p>2. Knipex 86 03 180 pliers wrench. Basically replaces a full set of inch & metric wrenches for anything below about 30mm (a bit over 1").<p>3. Bus Pirate. It's a little 2-way USB-Whatever serial protocol you want device. UART serial? It does it. I2C? Got that. SPI? Sure. OneWire? Of course. Etc, etc.
My Glerups slippers are the absolute best item I own. Extremely warm and comfortable, good-looking, and the wool never smells despite using it every day with bare feet.
DeLonghi bean-to-cup coffee maker with auto start.<p>Stumble into kitchen. Place mug. Press button. Massage beans*. Wait a few seconds. Consume perfect coffee (in my case, black and strong).<p>*Massage? The machine’s only flaw: the shallow hopper is too gently sloped, the opening to the grinder too small, so some massaging is necessary. But even I can handle that first thing.<p>Bought at CostCo on sale, pricey but worth every penny. Gets a lot of us, still going strong four years later.
My Snow Peak H450 titanium cup. It’s light and well insulated. It feels wonderful to hold and drink out of. I drink water and tea from it all day, every day. It’s entirely unnecessary but sparks a little joy every time I use it.
Outside of laptop & phone & earpods:<p>Fjall Raven KANKEN LAPTOP Backpack - Minimal laptop backpack that is comfortable and multifunctional<p>Apple iPhone Wallet - who needs cash anymore?<p>Hydroflask Bottle - which fits nicely in the backpack
A bit of a weird one, but I got a set of collapsible silicone funnels and found that they are excellent fidget toys. Gives me something to do with my hands so I don't touch my face, etc.
Leatherman tool. I use it for something just about every day.<p>I've had it for about 20 years, and (modulo occasional sharpening of the large blade) it's still as good as new.
Ohm Walsh speakers, for music, but also watching anything like lectures, random videos, and movies.<p>This company has been making the same omnidirectional / omnipolar speaker since 1971! Refining the same design!<p>It's a little frustrating because they have a great product, but not much advertising. It takes about 3 months to get them, since they are made to order. And it's mail order only, with a home trial of 90 days I believe.<p>But they are cheap as far as floor standing speakers -- $1000 each, which is less than you pay at Best Buy for similar products.<p>It seems like this is for audiophiles, but everyone who's visited my apartment has been able to tell the difference. Their eyes light up: "wow". You hear more things in songs you've listened to for years; they can be turned up loud without hurting your ears; vocal quality/timbre is unmatched IMO. (downside: they do reveal that some recordings are much better than others)<p>Anecdotally it feels like less effort to watch a long lecture on these speakers because the human voice is so clear; all frequencies are reproduced. IME listening to lectures on small tinny speakers produces a mild strain because your brain has to fill in the gaps of "missing words" (which it's very good at, but takes effort).<p><a href="https://ohmspeaker.com/" rel="nofollow">https://ohmspeaker.com/</a><p>I heard about them through Don Lindich, who previously recommended Mirage Speakers (now owned by Klipsch I believe):<p><a href="http://soundadvicenews.com/2015/12/20/week-11-2015-the-incredible-ohm-walsh-speakers/" rel="nofollow">http://soundadvicenews.com/2015/12/20/week-11-2015-the-incre...</a><p>Review reprinted on their website: <a href="https://ohmspeaker.com/reviews/walsh-3000-don-lindichs-sound-advice-blog/" rel="nofollow">https://ohmspeaker.com/reviews/walsh-3000-don-lindichs-sound...</a><p>If you have the room in your house, are patient, and have $2K, these are a no-brainer! It's a tremendous value. I use them every day, and put in an order for a second pair recently. I wrote this comment a year ago: <a href="https://lobste.rs/s/nt9kfo/writing_software_last_50_years#c_s68810" rel="nofollow">https://lobste.rs/s/nt9kfo/writing_software_last_50_years#c_...</a><p>History: <a href="https://ohmspeaker.com/about/#history" rel="nofollow">https://ohmspeaker.com/about/#history</a> (again their advertising and web presence leaves something to be desired; they put all the effort into the product)<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Walsh" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Walsh</a>