this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2023
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ultralight

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Overnight backcountry backpacking/hiking in the spirit of taking less and doing more. Ask yourself: do I really need that?

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Tip #1 Get a scale (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by miles@lemmy.world to c/ultralight@lemmy.world
 

Step 1: Get a kitchen or postal scale. Yes, you need to do this!

You don’t have to buy one, use what you have. If you don’t own a scale, borrow one, or purchase one locally at a thrift store or other store. If you want to buy one online, consider the AMIR Digital Kitchen Scale, it’s readily available, inexpensive, accurate, easy to use and light!

Step 2: Test it!

Test your scale with objects of known weight. For example, coins (U.S. nickels weigh 5 grams, quarters 5.67 grams), a full SmartWater bottle, or look up the weight of your phone.

What kind of scale do you have? What's the last thing you weighed? What's the next thing you want to do?

Illustration by Mike Clelland from Lighten Up! by Don Ladigin

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[–] miles@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I just use an old kitchen scale we already had. For larger items that don't fit neatly on the scale I throw them in a bowl or cardboard box, tare, then weigh.

[–] SolacefromSilence@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

Just to keep giving kitchen scale tips... if your single item is too small to register on the scale, add multiples until it registers and divide by the quantity.

It's an obvious tip to me in retrospect but helped me and hopefully someone else.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

For big items like your loaded pack, you can weigh yourself with and without the pack and subtract the lower number from the higher number. The difference is your pack weight.