Journaling:
1. Maglight and 2. multitool. Be prepared. I once chaperoned a high school debate tournament at which one of the kids came to the parents room because hed lost the key to his locked briefcase. Three women responded with tools that could pry his briefcase open. The men were useless.
3. Tungsten TX. On its last digital legs because it syncs only with legacy operating systems. But nothing beats Graffiti 1 as an input method. I suck at using the digital keyboards of modern devices such as iPads and iPhones.
4. Slide rule. I have a watch calculator and a calculator in the TX, but with a slide rule you can compare the unit prices of two items at the same time.
5. Pay-as-you go dumb cell. For emergency use only. I will never use hundreds of dollars worth of unused minutes that keep rolling over.
6. Chapstick. I recently read a cosmetic experts book which suggested that chapstick might blunt the signal that causes lips to replace their outer skin cell layer - just speculation, but the author wondered if chapstick addiction might be a real pheonomenon with biological underpinnings.
7. Nail clipper. My son had mild obsessive-compulsive issues, one of which involved fixing his periungual areas. I stashed nail clippers everywhere - in my backpack and purse, in our cars, at his desk and in his backpack, so he wouldnt freak because no nail clipper was available. Thank God the TSA allows nail clippers on planes.

Im on the second of three identical bags. Around a dozen years ago, a couple years after purchasing the first, I realized I couldnt live without it, bit the bullet and plunked down around $100 for a backup. A few years ago the straps finally gave way because I had a bad habit of flinging the bag on and off one shoulder whenever I picked it up or put it down. I panicked when I discovered the model had been discontinued, but was able to locate yet another spare on eBay for under $40. Good thing the third bag was cheap because the company used a crappy zipper in my second bag - it broke within a few months of use and I had to shell out more $$ to have it replaced.

Credits: OScraps Modern Art and 7th birthday collabs, Anna Aspnes

Edit: someone asked about the sketch - it's handdrawn with ink, pencil and a couple of grey markers. I scan it and apply a levels adjustment layer (usually bring both end sliders towards the middle until I get what I want), then set the art layer on multiply blending mode.