For those of you who are fans of Mead's Flex binders, I saw a two-hole student planner at the drugstore last night. I didn't measure it, but it looked about classic sized. The planner pages themselves were geared toward students and a bit busy. I thought the cover or planner pages might be usuful to some DIYer.

At Staples, I got two notebooks from a new line called EcoEasy (it is a Stable's Brand). The paper, which is made from parts of the sugarcane left over from the sugar extraction, is very thin. I tested and nether the fountain or the two roller ball pens had any bleed threw (I do use fine nibs/points). What really sold me is that the lines are tan colored. I got the composition book ($1) and a spiral notebook ($3). The spiral is nice because the cover is thick, no table or desk is needed to write in it. They also had filler paper.

A link in the notebook sent me here:

Stables EcoEasy

But the products in the store don't seem to be on the website :-(

Hi all,

At my local Big Lots last night I found pocket-sized Markings Notebooks for $2.50 each. They're very similar to Moleskines (same size, covers, elastic strap, pocket in the back) with nice, smooth paper. They retail at Target, Barnes and Noble, and other stores for around $9, I think. I couldn't find a website for them, but I've found some blogs talking about them (e.g.: http://meredictum.wordpress.com/2007/07/18/moleskine-alterna...). If you have a Big Lots near you, look in the school supply and notebook section.

-marmoset

I have started my diary (journal/private notes) in a medium ciak notebook. Normally I use spiral bound notebooks but fancied a change. I have a moleskine pocket notebook and week/page datebook. But with the ciak I am finding the spine quite stuff, its hard to keep the pages open. I have not noticed this on the pocket sized moleskines. I also find that there is hard to write on page 2 (erm not sure how to describe this - second side of the first page), as the spine is stiff there is too much of a height difference between the two halves of the book I end up using a paperback to even them out to lean on. I am not that far into the book so I am happy to move over now while its easier. The paper is quite thick so it is good for my ink pen.

Has anyone found this with moleskines, or does anyone use ciak and have a view?

Thanks!
Amber

How can I cut and punch Letter size down to Junior size Circa and get the pages to line up evenly in the Circa Junior cover?
One side the page is up high, the other side is lower. Sorry I am anal enough that it is bugging the hell out of me

I was looking at Levenger's website this morning and saw they have some new things listed. (They have some GORGEOUS new pens, but that isn't related to my question.) I swear I saw a new Circa notebook and refills listed with no pictures showing for either. They were a Circa steno pad and refills. They had disappeared off the website within a couple of hours.

I thought maybe they were in the process of adding them and they'd be available later today, but apparently not. Has anyone heard that Levenger is adding steno pads? Was it just a figment of my imagination?

I'm starting law school next month and was wondering if there are any lawyers and/or law students in the DIYPlanner community who have used Circa for notetaking. I've been using Circa for work and personal stuff for several years and plan to continue using it while I'm in law school. Would love to learn how folks have organized their notes, outlines, etc.

Call me fickle, but I'm thinking about using a 3-ring binder. Do seven-hole punched pages fit in three-ring binders? Thanks.

Hello.

I am new. I am also glad to have found a place where people take "working writing" seriously. It's been great browsing the templates and forums.

I saw Circa when it was introduced and thought it was a gimmick. I noticed that Levenger had Circa around for over a decade and still thought it was a gimmick. Reading the posts here, however, convinced me to spend $4.95 on an agenda book.

It came yesterday. I took it out of the wrapper, went upstairs, and threw it down the hallway to hit the wall on the far end, where it slid off the telephone table onto the floor.

I then picked it up by three or four open pages, so that the covers hung down on either side, and carried it to the top of the stairs. I tossed it high up, so that it crashed down on the stairs and slid to the bottom.

I picked it up by a cover and flung it from the landing down to the entry room floor, where it smacked into a bookshelf and hit the carpet.

Not one page came loose. A 3-ring would have been broken. I'm very impressed.

Hi Everyone,

I've been looking for a LONG TIME now for the perfect organization/notebook system. Ideally, I'd like to combine a note-taking section with a to-do list and in my dream world, there would also be a phone message log....I've been using the Behance Action Book with some success. I'm not interested in a Moleskine or any other blank notebook option....

Does anyone have any suggestions??

Cheers,

Jim

For those of you who like standard American school "filler" paper, Mead makes a really nice reinforced version that's better quality than the usual stuff. There's also quad paper. I have both kinds. And, amazingly, I can write on them with my fountain pen with no bleed-through. (Lamy Vista extra-fine point, loaded with Levenger Amethyst ink.) If I hold the page up to the light, I can barely make out the writing on the other side. It's nice.

The "reinforced" part is the glossy strip down the left side. Keeps the page from tearing out of binder rings easily. The only problem is that the strip says "reinforced" on it in very light red and could annoy some people. I'm not really bothered by it, though.

I'm impressed with the paper quality. It's the best filler paper I've ever run across. My Lamy Vista likes it, as does my Pilot G2 Pro (XF blue refill).

I got both the college-ruled and quad paper at my local Office Depot, in the Flex NoteBinder display. (And I'm still digging my NoteBinder, by the way. Awesome toy. Uh, notebook. I'm using it daily for my studies, plus taking notes in it on books I'm reading.)

The MSRP is $4.95 a pack (100 count for the quad, 110 for the college-ruled). Definitely a little more expensive than most filler paper, but I think the quality's worth it.

Can anyone comment on how the Circa covers (Zip Folio, Foldover, and Jacket) fit the Compact size? I have the Junior Agenda and the Zipfolio, as someone mentioned in another post, is a good 33-50% bigger than the agenda so it cuts down on the portability significantly. I keep my new Compact Agenda in my purse -I'd like to put it in something nicer than the plastic covers, but don't want to end up with the same issue I have with my Junior.

Thanks in advance!

I've got a couple of them, and I just noticed the corners on my letter-sized notebook is starting to fray. I've only owned it about 3 months, and the notebook has been used very gently. It's never been taken out of the room, and it spends most of its time stored on a shelf.

Do any of you have them? Have you had problems with them? Maybe I just got a lemon...

I have just spotted c.over notebooks online. They seem to allow you to refill (like mood notebooks) but you can have upto 3 refills. So you could have the diary refill (whole year = 2 refills) plus one or two other refills. There is a choice of covers that seems to go from about £10 to very expensive. Anyone tried or seen these about?
Thanks!
amber

Have you guys seen these? They're basically 3 ring binders where the cover folds around to the back like a Circa notebook. I've seen them in the school supplies at the drugstore. I want one, but I doubt I'd actually use it because all my school stuff's in Circa notebooks at this point. Still, they look cool. Brilliant idea on the part of Mead. I would have loved one back in high school.

Levenger's CIRCA notebooks are pretty cool and one thing that is touted as cool is that yuo can remove pages and re-arrange pages. Here's the thing: you can also do that with three ring binders that we probably all used in school. So what is the deal about Circa?

Second, who wathces Law and Order Criminal Intent? The male detective has a three ring notebook that he uses a lot. Does anyone know what kind it is and where I could get one like it?

Thanks

How do you categorise and sort your notes in your notebooks?
I keep two notebooks for work right now - one keeps an orderly, daily account of the tasks I should do and the tasks I did.
The other is a notebook for general notes, and here I employ a variety of formats to keep my notes separate and well-defined.

For one, I highlight my phone numbers in yellow; it was a major pain to find a particular number when I had to do it snappy.

After I finish a note, I tend to put a line across the page for it, just to keep things from mixing. I am not a big fan of coloured ink when it comes to quick jotting down of orders, so it can be a little hard to differentiate unless I kept them in their separate lined cages.

As well as doing that, I put a highlighted-green date on the top left corner of the page so I can find my way around.

I am still figuring out a satisfactory way for adding information to an older note. So far I resorted to using loose sheets of paper to include more information there, but it's a hassle, since I always keep those in the office, they're not always with me. Leaving space seems wasteful to me...
I thought maybe I could leave an index at the back, like I did with my old school notes, and refer to the subject, leave a number, then come back to it to add more numbers when there's a follow up.

So, I want to hear your know-hows in the noting department!

Moleskine fans might like to know about the Moleskine Volant that seem to be quite new out.

They come in extra small, pocket and large sizes.

What's different?

Well they're a bit like cahiers but have lovely coloured jacket rather than traditional moleskine black or the brown cahier finish.

The colours are black (can't give it up completely), blue, pink and green. They come in packs of two with two shades of green, blue etc.

The extra small is 10.5cm x 6.5cm and all the pages have a perforation. This is the gem of the collection for me as it really does fit in any pocket!

The pocket size and large have perforations on the last 16 pages. They come in lined or plain.

Of course they are overpriced and you pay extra for colour and perforation but they are very tempting ( particularly for female notebook junkies I suspect.

I'm looking for narrow ruled filler paper (notebook paper) but I'm looking for it in 28 or 32 lb bond (at least something heavier than 16 or 20lb). Has anyone ever seen anything like this?

My wife is a teacher and for some of her students headed to college we are going to make them journals with a personal touch. In the English class my wife teaches they have been doing their journals on normal filler paper, so we figured it would be a small joke to make their journals with filler paper.

I've used some of the forms that you can get off the internet to print my own, but it got me thinking and wondering: "Did someone make this already?" I did some Googling (See Ygor I've been listening!!) and couldn't really find anything that was already lined and heavier than 16lb.

If you can think somewhere that might do custom printing like what I'm looking for let me know as well. I'd rather spend the time and effort building and personalizing the journal as opposed to printing out paper for it, so I'm willing to spend a buck or two on this part.

Thanks all

Foxkeh

The Japanese Firefox blog Foxkeh dot com puts out an amazing desktop for each month for download. I've been pasting a copy on the cover of my datebook notebook every month for a while and it sure cheers things up! Just occurred to me that others might like the idea. You can dl as .jpg as from the view. I put in my graphics program to fit to the size of my notebook then print, trim and tape it on. At the end of the month, I dl and get one ready for the next month while getting the desktop. Attached is June. Get it at www.foxkeh.com

Hey - they haven't advertised it yet - but the big sale must have just started - stocked up on jr/letter agendas at 4.95 each and compact at 2.95 each. Other stuff on sale too. Plus, 20% coupon code still working.

Is there anywhere that explains what the difference between these systems are? I know some do hole punches. Who do people choose one over the other? I am in the UK so I cannot see them IRL and have to decide by web pages.

thanks
amber

So I love my Circa, but can't justify the expensive paper. What cheaper options do you guys use for high quality writing paper?

If I give up on Circa/disc binding, do I have to give up my DIYPlanner membership?

++

Levity aside, have any of you tried using Circa because it looks so seductive, then realized that it just wasn't meshing for you? I don't know if I'm quite ready to put my gear on the bazaar, but the punch sitting in its box in my floor looks so lonely.

My most recent endeavor was top-bound 3x5. I had been using the index cards in a pocket protector but found that I didn't like writing on them in the PDA format because I never could find the one card out of 25 or so that I needed. I could use it for an inbox, but then I'm left with carrying that plus something else.

Summer is coming on and I find that I have too many things in my pockets. As a woman, you'd think I could just toss the extras in my purse -- I hate carrying a purse. When I'm ready to go, I'm ready to go. And if I can leave anything behind, like my son's diaper bag that lives mostly in the truck, I will.

Rolla paper pops out of rolla bookcloth and circa. Circa paper is expensive but the DIY route didn't work too well either. Cutting is laborious, plus it bothered me that the plastic tabs of my sections stuck out past the edges of my junior cover.

I might try again -- bring everything to work and use it for my project tracking, though I'm leaning toward 4x6 index cards for that. The 3x5s were a good start, just not enough room.

I don't know -- I guess I'm just wondering if I'm alone in feeling like the system isn't all that its cracked up to be. Like writing in a moleskine pocket cahier -- it should work, but everything looks so junky in there.

Has anyone tried this new product from Levenger? You can find pictures/description from their web site by clicking on the "What's New" link on their home page. It looks to me like I could swap out their 1/4 inch discs for maybe 1/2 inch discs, but it would be a really tight squeeze. At $16USD for 4 portfolios, I think they would make great project notebooks, especialy since I DIY my own notepaper anyway. Any feedback is appreciated.
Jenn

SO I got my new levenger catalog yesterday and noticed on the back (has it always been there???) that you can get a free circa notebook if you visit a physical store? Anyone done this? Anyway, I thought I'd write customer service and see if they might like to provide us with a coupon code for something like this seeing as most of us live nowhere near a store yet spend gazillions of dollars on the stuff. If there is a new levenger person watching this thread - perhaps they'll consider?

I just successfully used the method described below to create my own pad of paper. It's cheap, easy and fast!

On the downside, the website where I originally saw this is now charging $7.00 for their instructions. On the upside, I'd copied them into Evernote long ago, when they were free. On the downside, I don't have their nice pictures to show how it's done. On the upside, it's easy enough that simple descriptions will be enough. Believe me, this will take longer to describe than to do, and if needed, I can take photos and load them later.

I also didn't follow the instructions exactly, more about what I did different at the end.

What you'll need:

Stack of paper
Cardboard pad backing (optional)
Clipboard (optional)
Gorilla Glue
Cotton ball or cotton cosmetic pad

Woodworking clamps and a length of thin wood longer than the edge to be bound
*-*-* or *-*-*
Straight table edge and a heavy flat weight (like a telephone book)

Note: I needed the cardboard backing because my pad slips into a portfolio. Not having anything handy, I trimmed down a double thickness of file folder and used that. It's big enough to slip into the slot of my portfolio and hold the pad securely.

1. Get the paper and cardboard backing nice and even along the edge to be bound.

I was able to use a clipboard to hold the paper, leaving the edge to be bound hanging over the side of the clipboard by about 1/2 inch (1.25 cm or so). Next, I clamped a length of 1x2 wood across the paper, along the edge of the clipboard, to hold the paper tight for binding. The idea is to compress the edge of the stack together before applying the glue.

Alternately, you can carefully place the stack of paper on the edge of a flat surface, leaving that same sort of overhang. Put a heavy book on it, right along the edge of the table, to hold the edge of the stack tight.

2. Take a wet cotton ball and run it along the edge of the paper to be bound. It doesn't have to be dripping, but make a couple of passes to make sure it's damp.

3. Squeeze the cotton ball dry, then apply some Gorilla Glue to the cotton ball and run that along the edge of the paper. Give it a couple of careful swipes to make sure you get the entire length. You don't need much glue!

4. Take a nap. Oh wait, that's me. You can just do something else for an hour or so.

5. All done! When you unclamp/remove the heavy book/whatever clever thing you did, you'll find that you now have a pad of paper! I test tore a sheet free from mine, and it seems to work pretty well. Perhaps a bit of care when removing a sheet to prevent tearing the paper, because that Gorilla Glue is strong.

I now have a beautiful pad of Cornell-style gridded note paper, with my name printed in the upper corner of each sheet. And now that I know this works, I can do it with some better quality paper too.

I spent less than $5.00 for the glue, and if I only use it for this it'll be a near lifetime supply.

The original site recommended building a simple jig to hold the paper straight. It was basically a flat board with two short pieces of wood attached at 90 degree angles, and two holes near the edge so that you could use bolts and wingnuts to clamp the paper tightly. If I find myself doing this often for a particular size, I'll probably knock one together, or figure out how to make it somewhat adjustable for a couple of sizes (like sheet and half-sheet).

Have fun.

Circa-punched pads! New! Squee! I want!

(Coherence to return soonish. I hope.)

http://www.bibles-direct.com/category.phtml?Category=64
FYI
I don't have this but have one ordered.

[Editor's note: Approved posting because it's an interesting topic.]

http://lifehacker.com/392041/modofly-laser+etched-moleskine-notebooks

Hi all!
My first post (yay, lol)! I'm just wondering what you all like/use? I'd like something portable without being too small and I'm considering using a leather zip folio over the organizer so that I can "dock" my Hipster as well as hold loose cards. Anyone have any thoughts on the Junior or Compact size Levenger planers with the leather zip folio? Thanks so much!

Hi everyone, I just wanted to mention i just bought several 4x6 photo 'books' at Walgreens last night. Each holds 36 index cards, (4x6 or 3x5 cards). Each has a great poly-vy cover in a groovy color: a great lime, a bright coral, a bright violet, a dark green, and a turquoise

they were on sale for $1.50 each down from 1.99. A couple were .99 for they had a slightly bent page inside.

some have a see through pocket on the back page for putting extra cards

the cards load from the top and are sealed on the other three sides

I just put some labels on the spines: they are 'perfect bound' spines (squared off instead of rounded or folded), so they stand on shelf, spine out, labeled, and ready to be loaded or consulted

I am currently using mine (about 12 of them) to keep all 3x5 cards belonging to each of the top projects I'm working on in one discrete binder each. (I hope that made sense, I think the grammar is somehow 'off' in that sentence)

They are so lightweight and so portable and so simple, I can take it anywhere without hassle. Fits in purse, in glove box, anywhere.

I bog down at having to drag around a binder or zippered binder with rings, or even a circa for just writing/ keeping notes. If need be, as project grooooooowwwwwwwwwsss I can transfer cards to circa later.

I also hear Walmart has maybe this kind of photo album. Worth checking out.

I've also been looking for cascading or flip photo albums to tear out the pages and make my own, /// I'd orient for 3x5 vertically.... (all I've seen are horizontal orientations). I could also use cascading see-thru pages if they were about 6x5 (never heard of that size but one can always hope) and if so, one could put two 3x5 index cards in each page.

If you hear something on that let me know, ok?

Thanks.
archangel

HI EVERYONE
I FOUND THIS ON ANOTHER THREAD AT DIY AND KEEP TRYING TO FIND IT BUT NEVER CAN

does any body have an info on flipdex.com or how to access them? The poster said they had cool 3x5 items and i'd sure like to see them, esp the holders for display of 3x5s flipdex is supposed to have

i dont find cached pages for them either. help?

maybe they're like the flying dutchman or something. lol

thanks

archangel

""have been changed to FLIPDEX and can be found at www.flipdex.com. The website is down as of 4/22/08. I called and they told me it would be up again by the end of next week (4/30/08?)."

I'm trying to make a letter-size page with three compact Circa size pages on it, to take to the print shop to be copied and cut. (I hate Levenger's paper, and this is the only thing I can think of to give me compact size pages.)

Unfortunately, I don't have access to a printer. So I was wondering if one of my fellow planner geeks could print the file and make sure everything lines up okay when the pages are printed to both sides of a sheet of paper.

If it works I'll contribute the pages to the template directory so anyone can use them. I'm attaching the OOo Draw file as well as the PDF, but if you test print it for me print from the PDF because that's what will go to the print shop.

Thanks!

As many have posted before, new job - new organization needs.

I'm now back in the academic world and have six years to make tenure. That means I need to find a good melding of tools, whether analog or digital, to track my work/academic life. So, for all you folks who have done such a longterm project before, what tips, tricks, tools, and strategies worked for you?

Here are the basic components I think I need to have:

A very good system for tracking job related work accomplished, similar to what other people have discussed here about yearly appraisals For the next six years I'll have an job review one year, followed by a tenure process review the next....

A dedicated notebook binder (I use circa) for the tenure policies, guidelines, timelines, ...

Ideas, thoughts, doodles... capture device. Another dedicated binder if I have it with me. Or palm pda, or circa micro-pda kept in wallet if I don't have the bigger capture device at hand.

EndNote as a bibliographic citation manager for my research and basic notes on it. I tried looking at Zotera, but just found that there is more institutional support for EndNote. Haven't had time yet to play with the current version and see what all its capabilities are.

Calendaring - this is where it gets ugly. I have a cicra planner with 2 pages per week, and lots of meeting notes pages and call records. In a previous academic life, I used a 2 pages per day spread and kept appointments, schedules, to do's, accomplishments and most of my notes all on the day. I found this really wasted a bunch a paper, and wasn't very easy to review. So I'm trying to separate some of these discrete elements out. The ugly part is that I have some appointments assigned to me via Oracle Calendars which does not sync to my pda, some via Outlook which does sync to my pda, and I need to keep big picture things like being out of town updated on the home calendaring system. Add to that, I think I really prefer having a paper schedule.

Some place to keep works in progress going. These could be writings, presentations, or web developments -- in other words, could be pure analog, pure digital, or a mix of the two.

Some method of reviewing and evaluating my progress as compared to the requirements and timeline.

Some way to help me see the possible connections and implications of all these different pieces. I'm a fairly linear thinker, with occasional big jumps of intuition. I wonder if some kind of mind mapping might help me keep things more cohesive, and help me make the big jumps look like innovative thinking and not stray paths! But I'm not sure how to incorporate analog stuff into mindmapping software.

Can one system both help you plan your growth and document your growth?

So, for those of you who have managed a tenure process, or a larger thesis or dissertation, What am I leaving out? What system did you use, or do you wish you had used? Any tips?

tia for all suggestions and discussions!
kmorris

I am interested in the circa system but want to be able to 2-hold punch the paper so notes can subsequently go into a binder or file. Are there templates here that will do this?

thanks

After wracking my brain over what to get my father-in-law for his birthday, I finally happened upon the Cigar Journal at Renaissance Art.

I asked my husband whether FIL would like something like this and hub was enthusiastic.

So I ordered the book on Tuesday (the 8th).

It was personalized (name and date on the title page), bound and shipped on Wednesday the 9th. It arrived at my house yesterday (yes, that's right, less than 48 hours from order to delivery!), a day before promised. I did order 2nd day shipping as it's already a belated gift.

I opened it up yesterday and was just instantly taken by the craftsmanship and especially the beauty and quality of the paper and endpapers.

I didn't have time to show it to my husband as we had to get to the hockey game last night (though we might as well not have bothered, my team got smooshed).

Tonight I showed it to him ... while he was enjoying his after-work cigar and martini. He was very impressed. There was fondling, fawning and even a mite of envy ("I want one of these!"). I can't wait to give it to my FIL - we're taking my in-laws out for a combined birthday dinner this weekend.

I even got the fabric pouch that will coordinate with my FIL's classic Chevy.

Thanks Arthur. I'm so glad I decided to order the journal. I know my FIL will enjoy it.

Just wanted to let you all know about a great seller I encountered. I needed rollabind discs, but didnt want to pay $6.00 in shipping most sites wanted. I googled & googled and found www dot talismanartifacts dot com . discs were 5/$1.00 for big ones and only like $1.00 shipping. Plus she is so friendly and responds quickly to emails. They don't have many colors right now, but I am sure we could drive up demand!

http://renaissance-art.com/catg142/category.aspx
http://renaissance-art.com/catg143/category.aspx

Circa covers are coming!!!

This cannot mean good things for my pocketbook.

I've been a big fan of this site for quite some time. I had initially just been using the templates and other documents to augment the planner system that my employer used to provide every year (I think it was Franklin Covey based) I was using mostly the specialty project forms and some of the task list and matrix forms available here for the forms that weren't provided.

This past year my employer decided to tighten the belt on the supply budget and the planner refills got the axe, so I jumped in with both feet and have gone to a complete diyplanner solution. Thanks to all of the wonderful contributors on this site, I've been able to find just about every form/insert I could want and with the widget kit and openoffice, create or modify the ones I couldn't.

I've been lusting after the Levenger Circa notebooks pretty much since I've been a member/lurker here, but have been hesitant to pull the trigger on my purchases mainly because I had been using a leather zip up binder that I was first given by my employer. That binder has since bit the dust, so I'd been utilizing a junior size 3 ring binder with my diyplanner pages in it. It has worked well for me so far, but still didn't look all that presentable in meetings or on my desk. Plus taking notes in meetings with it was a pain since I couldn't fold it over on itself to write comfortably on the left pages.

I recently found some of the rolla notebooks at staples that were discussed last year on the forum posts. The main contention point on these notebooks seems to be the question of whether they are compatible with the existing rollabind/circa systems.

I just recently purchased 2 of the junior size cloth board books and a letter sized faux-leather book. The interesting thing is that the packaging states that "Rolla is a trademark of Test Rite International, Ltd." The other point to this is that they have 2 different style rings on the clothboard ones. The junior size and letter size clothboard covers have black rings with the Rollabind logo stamped on one side and a patent number on the other face. They are also available with silver non-branded rings, but the silver seems to flake off easily and looks a little cheap to me.

If anyone is interested the item information is below:
junior clothboard staples item number #643223
junior size tabbed dividers item number #672757
Letter size faux leather notebook item number #643228

My local store also carried lined paper refills for both the junior size and letter size notebooks as well as some letter sized clothboard covered notebooks.

Now if they would only carry the desk punch for the rollabind system I'd really be in business. The paper in the notebooks is not the greatest quality, but will suit my purposes for extra notes pages until I can get a punch to make my own from the diy templates I've gotten here.

Sorry to ramble on, but I'm kind of excited with finally getting my own "sort-of" rollabind notebooks without having to drop some major coin to get something other than the thin plastic covers. I'm going to pursue getting a punch in the next week or so and will probably upgrade to a levenger circa or better quality cover in a few months once I see if the system really works for me. I do like the option of being able to punch and insert just about anything into my planner system. This wasn't really an option with my orig 7 ring system or my current 3 ring system.

Hope you all are happy....you've created another addict... :)

I have a problem ... I love to write big. Not volumes of stuff, but just ... big.

I have even taken to writing notes on sketchpads with felt-tipped markers (think Crayola markers). It feels natural to me.

I love the idea of the wee moleskines and 3x5 cards and hPDAs ... but I just write big.

Does anyone else do this? Do you make do with smaller note-taking apparatus?

I did buy a Lamy pen with an extra fine point as an experiment and I like it ok - it writes beautifully, which leads me to think that my earlier experiences with fine tipped fountain pens was unpleasant due to quality, and nothing inherently incompatible between me and fine-tipped fountain pens. It at least lets me write within the lines of my Circa notebook fairly comfortably.

My utterly plebian favorite pen, however, is a Parker with a medium-ish nib - round, not flat that makes a bold line. Said bold line sucks for note taking in small journals and 3x5 cards.

FWIW, I never liked it when I had to move to college ruled paper, either. Nothing to do with having to write so many pages of essay or anything, I just don't like my poor little words to be all cramped.

I've always volunteered to be the note taker in meetings if the notes are on those large Post-it pads, easels or white boards.

My ultimate fantasy is to buy some of that whiteboard paint and paint a wall in my office so I can write really big.

Is anyone else this insane?

I'm really actually asking this because I am trying to find a way to keep track of my expenses and jot other notes while I'm travelling. I've been on the road 5 of the last six weeks - it would have been six, but my doctor forbade it.

Any big writers who've made do with small media?

Oh, and the last two week trip I forgot to bring my journal ... the agony! (It's a myndology journal size and the lines are just barely spaced enough).

It's very hard to DIY when you don't have access to a working printer. Sigh.

I'm looking for 3.75 x 6.75 paper that isn't 6-hole punched (a la Dayrunner) already. I thought about getting half a ream or so of letter-size cut down at Office Depot, but I'd rather find paper that has lines printed on it already.

Currently I'm using some 28# laser paper I cut down by hand. It feels nice, but the edges are all off because I don't have a trimmer either. It's workable but annoying.

I wish Levenger paper was nicer. I'd just order the Circa refills if I liked the paper...

Has anyone found a good ruled paper that I can use with my Circa? I would love to find some kind of heavy weight ruled paper that I can cut or have cut to fit in my Junior and Micro PDA without having to order from Levenger. Also, their paper is 60lb - is that the same as cardstock? It feels thinner than what I think of as cardstock.

Thanks for your help!

How have people taken apart planners to individulize them?
I like the Moleskine weekly but hate that it doesnt have a monthly box type calendar.
I would like to put one in>

I also have ALIFE planner but it is too bulky. I would like to get some of the free writing pages out. How do I get them out with doing damage?

Any ideas?

I have a terrible time putting business and personla items in the same notebook.
How do others do it?

Hi all

Hubby has a problem that I've been trying to help him solve for some time. His office keeps an on-line calendar, he uses multiple computers and a hand held, and has connectivity issues, he also uses a paper calender (primarily monthly) that he writes his appointments on. Between him and his secretary they were always confusing appointments. I suggested they were using to many different type of planning tools and if they were committed to both paper and computer that my Husband should print out his monthly calendar and write any new appointments and changes on it and give it to his secretary daily to add or change appointments noted.

What I thought he could do was use a monthly tabbed pocket dividers to slip his printed monthly calendars into. It needed to be something he could access quickly and regularly so a full protective sleeve tabbed divider was not an option. We use the colored avery plastic slant pocket tabbed dividers at home and really like them. But they are colored and hubby definitely prefers uncolored. He thinks uncolored looks more professional and doesn't interfere with any color coding he may be using for other things elsewhere.
After multiple searches I have not been able to find what we are looking for. But this is what I did find; Avery has a white paper tabbed slashed pocket model; but we truly feel plastic is sturdier, as I already mentioned Avery also has plastic colored slant pocket tabbed dividers; which are close to perfect accept that they are colored. Avery also has plastic clear slant pocket non tabbed dividers; problem is they don't have tabs. I've thought of buying tabs to apply to the clear non tabbed pocket dividers but I'm not sure what to use and I want it to look professional and sturdy.

Does anyone have any suggestions of either uncolored plastic slant pocket tabbed dividers or good quality tabs that will stick on clear plastic slant pocket un-tabbed dividers?

Oh, last but not least, did I mention he is using a Planner Pad 7 hole punch notebook.:::sigh::: I have to hole punch everything or he has to break down and get a new system and notebook.

Thanks in advance for all your suggestions.

So, did anyone else but me notice that on the season finale for "Fashion Runway" last night the judges were taking their notes in Moleskines? Or am I the only one on the list who finds that show strangely compelling?

Hi all,

I'm in the market for a nice non-leather notebook cover for my pocket-sized Moleskine, or maybe a non-leather version of the Levenger Pocket Briefcase for use with index cards, which I love the look of. I'd be fine with a good fabric cover, or a fake leather cover...

Any ideas?

Thanks!
Marmoset

We have discussed these before... http://www.diyplanner.com/node/4446

But, I was wondering if anyone had purchased this product??

www dot starthereny dot com

let me know!
nay nay

Like notebklover and some others I’ve been reading, I like my colours. My moods attune to what they are. I wish Levenger would have a think about their colour choices on the Junior and Letter Leather Foldovers. Currently, Letter Leather Foldover is only Red, Black and Saddle. Junior also has Toffee, not much excitement there. I know that there used to be a few other colours, though from what I have been reading, some found them rather on the dull or drab tones of their names and web pictures.

It’s a bit surprising. The Circa is different from most systems, you would think they would like to appeal to lots of people not just traditional business people (women = red, men = black, browns). I guess the bookcloth is supposed to be for everyone else, though the heavy and strong colours seem geared more to the school market.

An odd thing I noticed is that the Navy colour, which I expect would be popular, appeared only very briefly recently, and only on Circa Jackets and Zip Folios for Jr and Letter. Currently the Celery, which I think is not bad, is only on the Letter Jacket.

I don’t know about the colours on other things which Levenger makes, have just been thinking about the Circa. I like the leather foldover, and probably the Letter size as would like to print out my mind maps and the print size gets too small when I try to fit on smaller size pages.

Since I’m new to this - do they ever come out with colours more interesting than what they have lately (including the cranberry, eggplant, forest green)?

Thx :)

I just got a fun freebie from my last Levenger order. I won't ruin the surprise, but it's a 20th Anniversary "thank you" gift. The funny thing is that I was going to order one of these, but I didn't because I was trying to rein in the levenger spending. Hehe.

I got the cPda (leather) in forest green. It was much darker than I expected. I was expecting a hunter green from the pictures. This is a really, really deep dark green...any darker and it would be black. It's pretty, but I wish it was slightly lighter. It's also a twinge bluer than I expected too. (I doubt most people would notice this, but I used to color balance pictures for a living, so I'm a freak about color.)

Can anyone tell me how the cranberry compares to the normal red? It looks so similar in the photos, but now I'm thinking it must be really dark.

I was surprised to see bigger rings on this than the plastic cPDA. My plastic cPDA was getting a bit cramped so I decided to go with the larger rings and transferred my stuff to the leather cPDA. But even with the bigger rings, it holds less cards - the reason being that the leather is so much thicker than the plastic. I hadn't thought of that. I am a little bummed about it, but I wanted to keep my cPDA small and transfer stuff to a larger notebook, so at least the size will force me to stay disciplined.

I put my mini-BookSling on it and it looks great and I have my pen, so I'm a happy camper.

I wish Levenger would put an elastic band on this version like they do with the cloth ones. Because of the added bulk of the leather, you really do need an elastic to hold this thing closed. And they should add a pen loop like the non-PDA 3x5 case.