Sometimes it seems like there are so many systems and methods for using notebooks– Bullet Journaling is the most famous, I suppose. And then there is GTD, though that doesn’t have to be notebook-based. I also saw a link recently to the “Life at a Glance System” of journaling (via The Pen Addict). Some of … Continue reading Zero-Effort Journaling©
Most of my collection of vintage looseleaf notebooks is either basic black ring binders from the first half of the 20th century from makers like Marquette and Wilson Jones, or Filofax organizers from the 1980s and 1990s. I don’t have that many other brands, so I was happy to add this Succes organizer to my … Continue reading Vintage Succes Seven Star Diary
What are the rules around selling and collecting old notebooks that belonged to other people? I’ve recently been wondering about this after seeing certain items for sale on various sites, including a diary with very intimate thoughts and full names included. Nothing was blurred out in the listing, so I was able to google the … Continue reading Vintage Journal Ethics
It’s been ages since I updated my “using now” photo, and while some things have stayed the same, there have been some changes along the way. I’m still using my Nolty Gold diary/planner to log exercise, meals, to-do lists, and grocery lists, as well as noting appointments and keeping track of habits. More details here: … Continue reading Notebooks I’m Using Now: Summer 2025
Today we’ll take a look at another item from my collection of vintage notebooks, a Master-Craft loose leaf binder. At first glance, it looks quite similar to some of the other pocket size loose leaf notebooks I own but there are a couple of interesting differences. This Master-Craft notebook was quite well-used. The exterior is … Continue reading Vintage Master-Craft Loose Leaf Notebook
In Roland Allen’s The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper, there’s a mention of how Socrates disapproved of writing things down because he thought it would ruin people’s ability to memorize things. At least I think there something about it in that book… but I can’t find either “Socrates” or “memory” in the index, … Continue reading Do Notebooks Destroy Memorization Skills?
It’s really quite dangerous for me to shop for pen refills at Jet Pens– I think I’ll be disciplined and just get what I need, but then I can never seem to resist throwing in a notebook… …such as this little cutie made by Papier Platz. Though the name sounds French or German, this is … Continue reading Papier Platz Notebook Review
For anyone who might have been put off by some unwieldy cookie consent banners on this blog, I hope you will now see an improvement. Thanks to a new reader who sounded the alarm, I dug deeper into how to properly set up a consent management system, and changed the default message so it will … Continue reading Technical Update
A few months ago, I wrote about my latest work notebook, a vintage Filofax. It’s working so well for me that I wish I had bought a Filofax in this size years ago to use for this purpose. I can’t help regretting all those wasted decades of using random office supply closet notebooks (as well … Continue reading How to Use a Notebook When Your Life Isn’t Busy
In Parts 1, 2 and 3 of this series, I traced the history of “pocket slim” Filofax models– pocket size, with no snap closure, mostly having smaller rings and no pen loops. But after poring over every catalog in the Philofaxy archives to build up my chronology, there are still some “pocket slim” models I … Continue reading The History of the Pocket Slim Filofax, Part 4: Oddities and Alternatives
