DIY Planner - Review: The Levenger Circa System, Part II - Comments

Good point

jonglass — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:33:51 -0400

This is what I've always done--back in the days of my pocket spiral-bound Daytimer, one could only hold one month's worth of pages, plus monthlys. I used the monthlys for future scheduling, as well as for ticklers for the next month. Later, with larger Daytimers, I kept up the practice of having only the current or current plus next month in my planner, with future months only present in the monthly calendars. The first of the month was a good time for reviewing things, and the re-writing of upcoming events was also a good reminder of what was coming. I would never try to carry a whole year, or even half-year now. :-)

-Jon

perhaps

Sara — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:05:02 -0400

Have you considered only keeping part of the year in your planner at a time?

I have done that in the past to reduce the bulk I was carrying :)

my artwork | my blog

Depends

btrgrnmal — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 22:49:51 -0400

I use 1" discs in my Levenger junior zip portfolio. I have the entire year in 2 page per week, plus 5 tabbed dividers. It's a bit of a tight fit, but I don't keep other documents in the folio pockets so it works. However, it is too big and heavy to carry around, so I use it as home base and take my pocket calendar and 4x6 index cards in a mini photo album in my purse. The bottom line is I've ended up not using it much.

If you are committed to this as your main planner, you can save some thickness/weight by making your own dividers. Levenger dividers will probably last forever, but they are so thick and heavy they take up a lot of valuable real estate on your disks. You might want to consider cutting dividers from a light-weight plastic report cover, or even foregoing actual dividers and replacing them with a post-it durable tab on the first page of each section.

Good luck finding a combo that works for you.

But will it fit?

Patrick H. — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:20:59 -0400

I'm thinking about using a junior zipped folio as my planner-in-chief. But it only accomodates 3/4 inch discs. A key component for me is the 2-page weekly agenda, which seems like it alone would max out the discs. Is it possible to have an junior portfolio with an agenda section, AND a few other tabbed sections, like to-do lists, notes, etc.?

very true

immadoc — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 09:35:11 -0400

funny that you described desires for the circa system as illicit- I have been salivating over it for years, and finally decided to take the plunge four years ago-- and missed out when levenger pulled their starter kit I had been planning to buy (too economical?) now i'm finally off to buy my punch and junior kit since they're on sale (20% off with special code) cannot wait!

Clear rings

Chistopher Weuve — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 16:08:13 -0500

Honestly, for the price of the solvent you can order clear rings online. I think I got my clear rings from a reseller.

chrisw

Does your Circa Punch create

hi2125 — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 16:32:42 -0500

Does your Circa Punch create exactly the same holes as those on Levenger refills? If the hole is an umbrella, does the handle part have the same length? Does the umbrella part have exactly the same shape? I recently bought the Rollabind Punch PBS1000 and the holes it creates are different from those on Levenger refills. The handle part is slightly shorter and the umbrella part is a lot shallower. Staples Rolla notes have this shape and it makes folding over of pages and covers difficult. So I need to know if Circa Desk Punch holes and Levenger refill holes are exactly the same. Thank you for your help.

Seconded

Rollafool — Fri, 9 Feb 2007 10:41:54 -0500

I've been using a variety of Circa-Rollabind-Jotz products fairly heavily for the past 6-7 months, and my experience is that they are rugged, reliable, and useful. The whole process gradually becomes invisible and natural as you get used to using it. It also changes your workflow in subtle ways the more you use it -- I feel that it's made me more efficient. The flexibility and ability to customize are just so worth it for me.

Just one user's experience... ymmv, of course.

Cheers,
Paul

Now that's dedication...

rlaundry — Fri, 9 Feb 2007 09:52:08 -0500

A man need to have his priorities straight!

LOL!
Reese

Much Appreciated...

rlaundry — Fri, 9 Feb 2007 09:51:14 -0500

We've been down before and generally find plenty to do. The kids have meuseums they want to hit, got to do the zoo (early in teh morning) one day, gonna hit the Shobukan aikido dojo to train one night, and so on. We always have found great restaurnats and lot sof fun.

Thanks for the offer - I'll keep it in mind!
Reese

Invest in Levenger

Shoulung — Thu, 8 Feb 2007 20:31:30 -0500

I purchased the Levenger system while in Chicago on my honeymoon in 2005. I had been drooling over it for a while, and it exceeds all expectations. The quality of the leather far exceeds the leather Franklin planner that my company bought for me a few years ago.

I also purchased a bag of extra 3/4" rings, paper punch, and the sample planner. I have been printing my Outlook pages and custom forms for two years and I love it [more than my wife] a lot.

Do not waste $10 or $20 on an inferior product that you will not be happy with. The zipagenda is so worth the price...

Also the pocket briefcase, I have been using it as a wallet and note-capture device for almost four years, and I would not give it up for anything. No, not even that.

Tourist Guide

ygor — Wed, 7 Feb 2007 17:30:28 -0500

Drop me a PM if you need some local tourist info
I've lived in the area most of my live and love going to the museums and such.
-----------------------------------
"I think the surest sign that there is intelligent life out there in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." (Calvin and Hobbes/Bill Waterson)

Uh oh...

rlaundry — Wed, 7 Feb 2007 12:11:33 -0500

Taking the family on a trip to DC over the kids Easter break. I'm already trying to work in a stop at Tysons Corner ;-D

My wife won't know what hit her...

Reese

I have use polyclens to save

jpohl — Tue, 6 Feb 2007 11:38:28 -0500

I have use polyclens to save brushes from dried on oil paint, or you might even try some kind of sanding. Whatever you use remember to ventilate, and consider a mask for solvent fumes.

btw. and just in case I find that baby oil is one of the best ways to remove non water based paint from hands.

all the best, jp

--
www.spaceabovethecouch.com

Sounds about right

ygor — Tue, 6 Feb 2007 11:22:11 -0500

My opinion of the Staples stuff was tainted by the fact that I had seen "the Good Stuff" earlier the same day. I agree that it is a good starter for the cost.

Once you play with it for a while you will be primed to go to a Levenger Store.

Warning: Leave all credit cards with a trusted loved-one before entering the store the first time :)
-----------------------------------
"I think the surest sign that there is intelligent life out there in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." (Calvin and Hobbes/Bill Waterson)

Review: The Levenger Circa System, Part II

dougj — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 20:34:51 -0500

A little more than a decade ago, I was scouting out some venture capital for a possible multimedia project, and made arrangements to meet with a retired paint manufacturer at a cafe. Wanting to appear as professional as possible, I wore my best suit and tie, got a hair cut, and filled my slick black vinyl day planner with all the requisite calendars, to-do lists, expense sheets, project planning forms and special notecards that I thought might convey a good impression. I therefore felt a little awkward when he hobbled in through the door wearing a t-shirt and long shorts that barely skirted the top his knobby knees, toting a worn leather planner that looked like it might have been subjected to World War II. In fact, it had been: he had used the same planner for over five decades, spanning a wartime stint in the navy to the present day, and it was now a rich but scarred ochre brown, replete with years of yellowing papers brimming with ideas, random numbers, and a legacy of tasks undertaken and completed. During the conversation --not much was to come out of it-- I was at first amused, and then transfixed by the rustic nature and longevity of both the man and his queer little "catch-all," as he called it.

The necessity of quality workmanship was made all the more plain when the following month --while trying to stuff too many papers into my own planner-- the cover split along the spine from an errant stitch, and I sliced my finger open. By contrast, I can today hold all of my fatherâ€™s 50-year-old gear from his army days, from notebooks to sliderules to map cases, mostly still in excellent condition, and the value of investing in quality starts to really hit home.

In my last article, I looked at some items in the Levenger Circa line, and wondered if it crossed the boundary from form into function. Since Iâ€™ve already covered the system in general, this article will review the basic core of any planning or notetaking solution: the notebooks and folios that bring all the papers, forms, writing tools and techniques together. And then the big question: is the quality worth the price?

Itâ€™s all about perspective, young man...

By even bothering to pose the question that way, itâ€™s clear that weâ€™re talking about some fairly expensive gear. But letâ€™s put on the brakes here, and seek some context:

How much would it cost for, say, a medium-to-high quality Franklin-Covey or Filofax planner? Roughly $90-135 to start, and up to twice that.
How much does it cost for a higher-end one-time-use notebook, like a Moleskine? Roughly $12-15.
How much for all the gadgets one buys that become outdated and disposable after a year or so? I donâ€™t know about you, but almost everybody I know spends hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on cell phones, MP3 players, GPS systems, laptops, and other devices that are constantly being replaced by "next-gen" versions.

Given that reference point, a $12-18 notebook that can last for years isnâ€™t all that bad, nor a $70 planner that can last for decades. The question then becomes, would you be wasting your money if you purchase them? To that, Iâ€™d answer, it depends if you use them. (Ah, such a simple answer indeed.) This little review may help you decide that.

Yes, but can it make breakfast?

Last week, I wrote about the Circa Translucent Notebooks. In a nutshell, these are notebooks of various sizes --letter-size, junior (almost half-letter), compact, and index card-- that are bound by a set of Circa rings and contained by a stiff set of slightly frosty covers. The notebooks do indeed have their benefits. All but the letter-size covers are strong and stable enough to be used as a writing surface, even when held in your hand, and all can fold back around, like a spiral-bound notebook, and therefore take up less space in use. Itâ€™s very easy to insert and remove pages at any point in a notebook, and thereâ€™s no snapping of rings and awkward shuffling of pages.

Plus, Circa-punched papers of any size can also be used within a notebook of a larger size, meaning that you can mix-and-match several different note-taking and planning solutions. I use a few different sizes for various projects, and love this ability. Unlike a regular notebook, you can insert different styles and thickness of paper to suit your needs; for example, a designerâ€™s notebook may have lined pages, blank sketch paper, storyboard forms, and much thicker paper for ink and wash. You can vary the thickness of the notebooks by swapping ring sizes, effectively creating anything from a 20-page watercolour portfolio book to a 200-page planner. And lastly, a matter of aesthetics: the translucent covers will show any picture page laid under them, allowing you to customise the outside look to your liking.

This is not to say that the notebooks are perfect. Although the 60 lb refill paper at Levenger is high quality and thick, not to mention fountain-pen friendly, it is still rather expensive if you write a lot. You can however purchase compatible Rollabind paper at cheaper rates, or you can make your own (assuming you spring for the special punch). If you use larger rings, you may note that the "spine" tends to jiggle a bit vertically due to a slight give between the rings and the paper. Since there is no fixed spine, like in a planner, this is natural, and using a smaller ring size mitigates this somewhat. There is no loop for pen or pencil, and so youâ€™ll have to improvise for that. And finally, there may sometimes be an occasional â€œcatchingâ€ and bending of the perforated paper between the rings, depending on the paper-to-ring size ratio.

All told, these are minor quibbles, and the translucent notebooks are an excellent bargain, depending on how you fill them. (Ah, this is where we get all D-I-Y in the next article.) For a $10 starter kit and a punch --a Levenger or a cheaper Rollabind-- you could be using a completely customised notebook for many, many years.

In-between days

A quick note to elaborate on something I mentioned last week: the fact that Levenger is transitioning its middle-size notebooks and paper from their "Junior" size to the North American industry standard of Classic size. As you probably know, Classic is half of a letter-size page, which is to say 5.5â€ x 8.5â€. Itâ€™s fairly easy to find this size, or to make your own by chopping letter-size stock in half. Junior size is rather awkward, slightly wider and shorter than Classic. However, I do find that the current Junior sized gear does facilitate Classic pages quite well. I use a combination of both Junior and Classic, and the differences are small enough that I barely notice. True, the edges of the paper donâ€™t line up exactly right, but given my history of making my own pages by chopping and punching, Iâ€™m rather used to that anyway. The important thing is that Classic pages still fit in Junior notebooks and folios, as long as youâ€™re careful about how you punch the pages.

I should note that the newest colour "Junior" tabs produced by Levenger are in fact Classic size. The previous set seemed too thick, to the point of sheer bulkiness, and were (some would say) a tad too colourful. The new thinner ones offer rich, earthy hues that match well the green and gold Levenger colour scheme, and strike me as far more attractive.

A question of lust?

One of Levengerâ€™s top sellers is the Circa Leather Foldover Notebook. (The Junior size I tried is item ADS2280.) I can see why people like this product so much. Or rather, desire them, almost illicitly. Instead of a translucent cover, this model uses a rugged black plastic "skeleton" layer wrapped by finely-stitched leather. The inside front is plain, but the back cover sports three pockets: one full-length for tucking larger papers, and two that hold business cards or sideways index cards. A thoughtfully-designed pen loop with leather facing outside and elastic facing inside will accommodate almost any pen, although it will be pushed outside the notebook if one uses tabs. The covers are just thick enough to offer excellent support without feeling bulky, and the whole affair has a unique classic-futurist feel to it: classic because of the leather, futurist because of the Circa rings. Overall, itâ€™s quite pleasant to hold and use. The fairly high sticker price is $58-94, and thus any decision to purchase will probably come down to a matter of cost versus quality and longevity. Given the amount of money that people like me spend on office supplies, journals, notebooks, binders and other productivity paraphernalia, it strikes me as a good buy. In fact, I like it so much that Iâ€™m saving to purchase one in green, to match my planner.

Who needs a digital hub? Gimme analogue.

Oh yes, my planner. My Great Circa Experiment was conceived as a way of consolidating all my various bits and bobs of productivity gear into a collective whole, with the notion that a Circa system might be able to forge some semblance of compatibility. The core of it would have to be, of course, a planner.

Iâ€™d like to say that I donâ€™t switch planners lightly, but the sad fact is that I do. The constant tweaking, experimenting and designing of different size template "solutions" is what led me to this sorry circumstance. Was it truly possible to create a system where I could implement everything I needed to do to become productive, creative, and â€”wellâ€”- on time for appointments?

The dubious honour of my next planner falls to the Circa Zip Folio (item ADS2985 for Junior size). I refer to mine as my Levenger Lincoln Green Special Edition, because the only other time Iâ€™ve seen that specific colour was on Errol Flynnâ€™s costume in The Adventures of Robin Hood. Levenger, with a somewhat more staid market in mind, calls it "Evergreen," a limited edition colour. Whatever the case, I love the hue of the full-grain leather, as itâ€™s completely unlike any other planner Iâ€™ve owned, and it somehow reminds me of the nature I'm missing in this near-Arctic winter. (I'm also a decent medieval longbow archer, but take that as ye would.)

The folio meets my criteria quite well. First, the leather is rugged without seeming bulky, and the folio seems far slimmer than my Day Runner. The zipper enclosure helps keep my papers, cards and pen protected in the rugged clime I live in, and I can easily carry a Circa notebook with 1â€ rings inside (fitting about 150-200 pages). There are plenty of pockets on the inside of the front cover, including three full-length ones (that can carry a letter-size sheet folded in half), a see-through business card window, two deep pockets that can hold index cards, and four that are suitable for holding business cards. The planner is supple enough that it can easily open flat, and the pen loop is the same leather/elastic combination that works so well with the foldover notebook. The cost for the Junior version is $78, just $10 more than the foldover, but note that one has to purchase a Circa agenda or translucent cover notebook to go inside.

By comparison, my clunky half-leather/half-vinyl Day Runner retails for $85, and some (unused) Franklin-Covey planner binders in my possession retail for $120 plus. The quality of the Levenger Zip Folio is similar, if not superior. It feels like it could last for a long, long time.

Slip-sliding away?

That being said, the product is not flawless. First, I really wish there was a second pen/pencil loop. I carry around a mechanical pencil as well as a fountain pen, since many of my appointments and contacts change regularly, and there was no obvious place to store it. Second, and the source of many late-night oaths that would no doubt induce fainting spells in those of a more delicate constitution, was the infernal sliding of the notebook within the folio.

Some further context: only occasionally do I use a planner on a table or firm surface. Most of the time, itâ€™s in my lap as I muse at the base of a tree, scratch out mind-maps while leaning precariously back in a chair, or jot memos to my future self while sitting up in bed. My life is not meant to be lived solely in compartmentalised boxes, on stable surfaces, or in a perfect office environment, and thus my planner has to be yanked out at a momentâ€™s notice to catch whatever leaps wildly from my brain.

In a Junior Zip Folio, the back cover of a Circa notebook is meant to fit inside the pocket of the back folder to keep the book stable. But this only works on a flat surface. Holding the folio at an angle, I found that since the back cover didnâ€™t fit tightly inside it, the notebook would shift all over the place --usually declining to the left-- while I wrote.

Thankfully, thereâ€™s a happy conclusion to this sordid development. I carefully measured the inside of the folio and sketched out a little hack. Using a guillotine, some scissors and the inside of a plastic Levenger file folder (though any stiff report cover would do), I created the shape you see at right, then punched it with the desktop Circa punch. I rounded the corners, attached it to my notebook, and slid it inside the back pocket. Voila! No more sliding, and I can now easily clip my mechanical pencil below the notebook. A major pain, a simple solution. Score one for the flexibility of the Circa system, a modder's delight.

There are a few other hacks I pursued while turning my folio into a viable planner, but those will have to wait till next week, when Iâ€™ll review how I set mine up using a D*I*Y Planner approach.

Head in the clouds, feet on the ground

But the questions remain. Are these upscale notebooks and folios really worth the cost? Do they possess both form and function? Will you still be using them decades from now?

Back when I was twelve or thirteen, I told my father I wanted to buy a computer. (This was in 1981 or 1982, mind you.) He gave me a friendly whack upside the head and said, in his usual direct and indomitable tone, "Never buy anything you wonâ€™t use." I bought it, and twenty-five years later, Iâ€™m a multimedia producer. Of course, Iâ€™m not using the same old VIC-20 (would that I could), but Iâ€™ve invested in my equipment wisely over that time.

Likewise, it pays to consider carefully any path that involves time, effort or money. Itâ€™s folly to pay $60 for an attractive notebook or folio youâ€™ll use for a week. But itâ€™s certainly worthwhile to invest that money if you plan on using it for years to come. Many people ask me for advice when choosing a planner. I tell them to start cheap, perhaps with a $20-40 model, and then â€œupgradeâ€ to a high-quality one if their usage warrants it. (After all, many people purchase paper planners and never use them.) By the same token, if the Circa system interests you, Iâ€™d suggest buying their inexpensive starter kit and some refill paper. If you use it regularly, then consider a punch next, especially if you like to cut or print your own forms. Then, look at the pricier upgrades. All things told, itâ€™s still a heck of a lot cheaper than a comparable Franklin-Covey or Filofax solution, and more so if you use D*I*Y Planner forms or blank fills.

Really, itâ€™s all about investing your money over the likely lifetime of a productâ€™s usage, and then deciding if itâ€™s worth it. In the case of the Levenger Circa notebooks and folios, I certainly see its value for my own use.

In retrospect, the old man in the cafe no doubt found me just as amusing as I found him. Hereâ€™s a young whippersnapper, trying to impress me with his business wiles, and heâ€™s probably not written a single idea in that fancy black planner. Of course, he was right. Itâ€™s just taken me a decade to understand the emotional involvement he had with his catch-all, and the untold hours of quality time he probably spent with it. I think itâ€™s a safe bet that this wouldnâ€™t have been so, if it had been made of plastic.

Next week, the birth of a Circa-based planner, D*I*Y Planner style.

D*I*Y Planner - Review: The Levenger Circa System, Part II - Comments