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I use cheap notebooks

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Re: I use cheap notebooks

#41

Post by kldavis4 »

Decabytes wrote: post #38

I go a different route with my Todo journal. I make my own paper out of recycled paper I get from junk mail. I cut them to my preferred size and then I do a quick binding with thread from a sewing kit. I then back it with a spine of duck tape (based off another hacker news post). I like making deeply personal objects and doing it this way makes me excited to use them. I’ve also recently started to make linoleum stamp…

Have you written about your process for making these notebooks? The end product looks great and I'd love to know more about what's involved and how much effort is required.

Re: I use cheap notebooks

#44

Post by RandomWorker »

I like my Leuchtturms, and I've tried the Muji ones. Muji just has so few pages my Leuchtturms dotted medium size (A5) lasts me about 3-4 months (2.7~ pages a day) it's about 28CAD. Not bad burn rate when you consider even a Netflix subscription. Additionally, it's actually cost effective when you consider that most of my time is spent on thinking and writing down what I thought, therefore "splurging" a bit on myself makes me feel good which ultimately improves the ability to think.

Pens I'm agnostic on brand (although I do like uni-ball). It has to just have enough quality not to leak all the time, and 0.7-0.75 seems to be the sweet spot in terms of comfort, speed and writing accuracy. I do have a bunch of Muji pens (5 different colours) in the .38 range, when I really need to insane diagramming and get the super accuracy. Speed is less of a concern then.

Re: I use cheap notebooks

#45

Post by iLoveOncall »

fwlr wrote: post #14

I used to have a similar hangup, I liked getting expensive notebooks and very rarely used them because I was worried I was “wasting” the page by writing banal stuff on it. I ended up fixing it by complete accident. I ran across yet another nice notebook* and to save on shipping I bought three of them. Later on I happened to be in an office supplies shop with a friend and she saw some pens on the shelf that she rememb…

The scarce resource is the money you need to buy the nice ones, not the notebooks themselves.

I don't think people are afraid of wasting good paper, they're afraid of wasting paper that they paid a lot for.

Re: I use cheap notebooks

#46

Post by kldavis4 »

thecrumb wrote: post #37

I used cheap notebooks for years but recently switched to an e-ink tablet (supernote) and love it and I feel better about saving a few trees.

I've had a Supernote A5X for several months now and have really loved it. I have way too many half filled paper notebooks floating around the house. I also tend to do a lot of scratch notes for work as I think through a problem and I love being able to do that in a way that doesn't end up filling up a physical notebook with stuff I won't care about in a month.

Re: I use cheap notebooks

#48

Post by __rito__ »

Agree with almost all of it as a heavy user of notebooks.

> "you'd be surprised how many cheap notebooks have decent paper"

Absolutely. I have come across many cheap notebooks that handle F or EF nib fountain pens gracefully.

I also liked writing in expensive notebooks. But it didn't feel like a sustainable habit for the price points.

What I did instead was buying (very) expensive refillable leather notebooks of standard sizes: A4, A5, A6.

And I fill them up with cheap yet very nice refills available locally or in Amazon.

I have freed myself from the dread of writing perfect things and I write in style.

I have done this for many years now.

I am a person who likes the comfort that comes with using things for many years.

Re: I use cheap notebooks

#49

Post by bayindirh »

iLoveOncall wrote: post #45
fwlr wrote: post #14

I used to have a similar hangup, I liked getting expensive notebooks and very rarely used them because I was worried I was “wasting” the page by writing banal stuff on it. I ended up fixing it by complete accident. I ran across yet another nice notebook* and to save on shipping I bought three of them. Later on I happened to be in an office supplies shop with a friend and she saw some pens on the shelf that she rememb…

The scarce resource is the money you need to buy the nice ones, not the notebooks themselves. I don't think people are afraid of wasting good paper, they're afraid of wasting paper that they paid a lot for.

This doesn't work like that in fountain pen users' universe. The good notebooks change the behavior of the pen and the ink a lot, and you want to write things you want to save on these notebooks.

When written, and finished, a notebook written with your favorite inks and fountain pens become an art piece for yourself, and you want to write something you want to return to.

If it was about money, I'd be using a nice rollerball with a nice refill and run of the mill or recycled paper. It's akin to liking vinyls, you want it for the experience, and spend time with it.

I have the same experience with the author. I use my fancy notebooks for diaries and software projects (like lab notebooks). Daily notes go to cheap notebooks with decent papers, and written with the best behaving, easily replaceable inks with easily replaceable pens.

When these notebooks end, they're scanned, converted to PDFs, and then shredded for recycling.

Re: I use cheap notebooks

#50

Post by __rito__ »

ubermonkey wrote: post #42

I use expensive notebooks because I use a fountain pen, and crappy notebooks won't take good ink well.

There are many cheap notebooks in the market that handle fountain pens perfectly.

You just have to experiment with some and once you find a lineup supported by a good company, you are set for life.

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