Get back home bag

[Emptymag]

Serious question. Have you considered a side-hustle where you buy out all the good clearance stuff you can find at your Walmart and any others you can easily get to and selling it at a profit on EBay or Amazon?

No. Seems like a lot of work. It's work enough just finding the deals.
I've been spending one of my 15 minute breaks each day just looking for clearance items that are useful and cheap - my work phone gets cut off during my unpaid lunch hour, so I can't use it to scan items then - only during my breaks.
I guess if I had the Walmart app on my phone, I could scan things, but... haha

Plenty of people do it though. All stores have a lot on clearance now because it's change of season time, but our store is also doing a total refresh, so even more items are being marked down to get them gone FAST. I've seen clothing go out and if it isn't selling fast enough, they mark it down to $1 and people come and buy it ALL - then they sell it on Ebay.

I'm sure it would be frowned upon if I were to buy stuff in that manner - one of the department managers said he isn't allowed to buy the items he's marking down. Not that it couldn't be done, but apparently there are "rules" about such things to deter employees from taking advantage of the way items are marked down.

Even though it's a chore, I'm definitely getting better at finding the deals. This year, I found a ton of things I can actually use, and saved a lot of money - items I never would have bought otherwise due to overall cost. I'll take a small victory every now and then.

[RLS]

saved a lot of money - items I never would have bought otherwise due to overall cost.

You saved money by spending money you would not have spent, huh?


Rick

[Emptymag]

You saved money by spending money you would not have spent, huh?


Rick

Something like that.

By finding deals, I was able to afford things I wouldn't have otherwise.
There were many, many things I would have loved to have picked up on clearance, but they were not items I had an immediate need for.

[CallinSIC]

Why....he'd wind up with more shit than Nancy!

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[Emptymag]

Back to the packs...

Earlier, when I was debating on the packs to buy, it was suggested to get the one bigger than I thought I may need.
I took that advice and upped my game by getting a 40 L pack vs the 30 L pack I had been considering. It was only a couple dollars more at $35 (reg $60) and it was the last one in the store, while there were still 5 of the 30 L bags on hand. Better to get the 40 and decide I need to return it for the 30 than to buy the 30 and return it for the 40 and it no longer be there.

ANYWAY...

Here are the two packs I picked up along with my tiny 13 L BLACKHAWK bag that was not big enough for all my stuff.
I should have removed the knife, the phone case, and the square BLACKHAWK 200 rd SAW pouch to better illustrate just how small the pack is.
I shoved some towels and stuff into the now packs to try and fill them out a bit to show how big they are. Could have used some more in the 40 L pack.

edit: I realized too late that I keep misspelling "Decathlon". Oh well.

[Emptymag]

[Emptymag]

This is the one I'm keeping.

Decathlon Quechua M100 40 L

[Emptymag]

All that said, it was still a tough call between the two bags I brought home.
I still prefer the "style" of the Vortex 30L with all of it's separate compartments, but I think I can get more into the Decathlon 40 L bag, AND it felt a little better on my back.

For a budget-minded truck bag, I think the Vortex 30 is hard to beat in terms of what you get for the money.
It's $32.44 at Walmart, which I feel is a fair price considering it comes with a water bottle (doesn't seem to be insulated, but flip top is nice) that would likely run $10 on it's own.

I see it for about $24 SHIPPED (new) from a bunch of Ebay vendors, so that right there is a no-brainer.
https://www.ebay.com

[ScaredOnce]

Excellent review and knowledge sharing, EM - thanks!

For some time, a lot of my EDC bags were nice, but way too "shoot me first" looking. I've been mostly rocking a Vertx Last Call pack for work and travel recently. Took this one to Greece and UK (x2) in the last three weeks: https://vertx.com/last-call-pack?gad...xoCtfAQAvD_BwE


I did get these rain covers for the more tactical bags I have... and keep them stowed on the top flaps. My thinking is they can be a little more gray-man, but then there's the hassle of getting under the cover too: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07176NM65/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1. They're pretty tough for the cheap price; I've used them on off-trail full-kit rucks up at Linn Run and Forbes State Forest and they haven't been damaged much.

[JCinPA]

Survival kit contents check. In them you'll find:

- One forty-five caliber automatic
- Two boxes of ammunition
- Four days' concentrated emergency rations
- One drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine,
vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills
- One miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible
- One hundred dollars in rubles
- One hundred dollars in gold
- Nine packs of chewing gum
- One issue of prophylactics
- Three lipsticks
- Three pair of nylon stockings.

Why does this sound familiar??? I wonder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfxcIGxedXc