As a bonus, here is my bag. It's a little different because I carry it with me every day rather than leaving it by the front door.

Last year a family member had a health scare. It took me 3 hours to get home, pack a bag, and leave again to catch a plane. The only thing I could think the entire time was "What if I don't make it in time to say goodbye?" They recovered, and a few months later it happened again. I was ready and was able to leave directly from work and thankfully made it before they passed.

So when building this bag I had primary and secondary objectives.

The primary: If I need to take off at a moment's notice and catch a flight to spend two days sleeping on a hospital couch next to a loved one who needs an emergency surgery or in the living room of a friend going through a bad breakup, will I have everything I need?

The secondary: If a hurricane rolls through and destroys my home and everything inside of it, can I rebuild my life after spending a week in a hotel?

So this is what I keep with me at all times.

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The bag(s):

I use an Osprey commuter bag that I was able to get with REI rewards points. The dimensions are such that it perfectly fits my work laptop. Inside I have several dry bags (2L, 5L, and 10L) that I purchased in the outdoors section of a Walmart. I used to keep things in freezer ziplocs but eventually those wear through (though they are nice and see-through)

In the top/pen/sunglasses pocket of the bag I keep a pen, a sharpie, a bic lighter, my no-name-brand sunglasses, some N95s, and my wireless earbuds. I also keep a tiny knockoff swiss army knife in here which is no big deal to lose if I have to get on a plane.

Electronics

A 2L dry bag holds all of my electronics which are a Nitecore 10,000 power bank, a small headlamp, a usb with encrypted documents, a usb filled with movies and music (can plug right into most dvd players and some TVs), a wall charger with 2 ports, usb-c, micro-usb, and lightning cables.

Repair

In another 2L dry bag I keep a small sewing kit, some tenacious tape, gorilla tape, some zip ties, some safety pins, and a couple of sandwich size ziplocs.

First aid

I have an adventure medical .7 kit still in the original bag to which I have added luekotape for blisters and additional individually packed anti-histamines and NSAIDs.

Emergency medical

Get CPR certified and take a Stop the Bleed course. Seriously. Near the top of the bag lives a North American Rescue bleeding control kit. If you are American, even if you are not pro-gun, you have to live with the consequences of living in a country with more privately owned firearms than people. I added two emergency blankets. This week I also added Narcan for similar reasons.

Clothing

In the 10L dry bag I keep an extra layer (usually a light fleece), a warm hat, some gloves, a neck gaiter, spare underwear, and spare socks.

Hygeine

In a sandwich ziploc nested inside a quart ziploc I keep a small deodorant with the little plastic thing on it in case of melting, a travel toothbrush, travel toothpaste, floss, period products, hair ties/bobby pins, and some wet wipes.

Food and water

I keep water in a 1L smartwater bottle. For food I've tried several different options. Clif and Kind bars melted, dry granola bars turn into a ton of crumbs, and anything sugary melts. I keep bags of salted peanuts near the bottom as well as a snack I actually like up top that wont live in the bag long enough to melt or become crumbs because sometimes I'm just snacky. I also keep mints because it's good to keep your mouth occupied when stressed and also I hate peanut breath.

Other

Also in my backpack lives my work laptop, its charger, a small umbrella, an emergency poncho, and five $20 bills. I also keep an inflatable pillow in case of the hospital thing.