How Often Do You Change Your EDC?

I wanted to do this post to talk about how much I change my EDC. I'm going to be talking about both my overall system and the individual pieces of gear in my carry. I'm not one that typically switches up my carry a lot, but I know some people are the exact opposite. I thought it'd be interesting to see how frequently you all change your EDC.

So let's talk about changes in my overall system first. My system is less likely to change than the actual gear in my carry. Naturally, the biggest changes for my system come seasonally (like going from summer to fall/winter) or when there's a big change in my life (like going to college). I can imagine that my carry will change a ton when I graduate from college and start working full-time. Seasonal changes are huge for me, because I get way more pocket space in the fall/winter/early spring months. No matter what season, the pockets on my jeans or shorts never have usable pockets. During those colder months, I finally get some usable pocket space on my person. I always have to wear some kind of jacket, so that opens up pocket space I normally wouldn't have. When it's hot during the summer, I wear lighter clothes and don't feel motivated to carry that much because of the heat. I'm sure seasonal EDC changes are pretty typical for everyone else in this community. Life changes also have a pretty drastic effect on my carry. When I was in high school, I obviously couldn't carry my knives every day. That led me to have a limited carry during the week. Once I got to college though, I suddenly could carry knives whenever I want. That change has made me appreciate my knives more, as well as making my EDC more well-rounded. Even just starting my second year of college has changed my system. Now I need to pack food every day, since I no longer have a meal plan. I'm on campus all day with no dorm to conveniently go back to, so my backpack has to hold a lot more in order to get me through the day. Occasionally I'll realize a certain thing that I didn't used to carry, like a pen or certain tool, would be useful for me to add to my EDC. That doesn't happen too often anymore though. I've been into EDC for years now, and I've been able to perfect my system over that time.

I don't change the actual gear in my carry much. I like consistency and like what I like. I have a greater piece of mind knowing that all the gear in my carry are favorites or serve exactly the purpose I need them to. I'll switch things up occasionally just for the heck of it or when I get new things, but that's about it. That's one of the reasons I don't like having a big collection anymore. I don't seem to rotate through things regularly, so I only need to keep the best of the best. That has also probably made my standards for new gear higher. If gear is not good enough to supplant my current carry, it's not something I'm interested in keeping around. One last point, sometimes I know I'll be doing a specific task in a day, so my carry may deviate from what it typically is. If I'm more going to be doing more yard work, I'd add a fixed blade. If I'm going to be putting a ton of furniture together, I'd add a full-sized multi-tool. For the average day though, my carry will always remain pretty similar.

I think I got to all the points I wanted to get to. Basically, now that I've been working on my EDC for years, I don't feel obliged to switch up my system or the gear in my carry that often. Every couple years I go through a refresh, but honestly I always end up back where I was. Like I said, I like consistency, and not having to think about what I need to carry every day is nice. Do you change up your EDC frequently? Thanks for looking!