I Love Stationery: Notepads and Notebooks
Thanks for all the love on the first I Love Stationery piece, I also noticed I lost some subscribers so let’s see how we go after our second. This week I thought we would discuss notepads and notebooks.
Notepads are to scribble on, to make lists and leave notes for you or someone else, remind you to take something out of the freezer or draw teeny tiny circles during staff meetings when you cannot listen to another word. A notepad is also helpful when you are making notes of things to look up or do later (so you don’t go on a tangent at that current point), jotting down things people are saying to you that you know you won’t remember later and planning out schedules of delivery (for all the teachers).
My favourite notepads are these A4 ones in the grid paper by Mirdori – I am not a plain paper person; I am no artist, and my personality is not one of a person who can write without lines. The cream is also meant to be gentler on your eyes. I’m not sure if that’s true. Other ones I have tried and not minded are any by Rhodia, except once I got the ‘meeting’ one and didn’t use it to its full potential, but if you think you would I’d highly recommend. I also enjoyed this one by Korean brand, 7321Designs. The notepad must be flat, with no spirals. Also, a notepad in coloured paper is very helpful to find if you have a lot on your desk but I did this once and just had bright yellow paper everywhere which didn’t help me find anything.
Notebooks are journals for your deepest darkest secrets. They are for when you try bullet journaling and get confused about the little symbols, they’re for drawing, ideas, lists, and trying to organise your thoughts. At one point I had one I took to meetings and I felt like a detective, making notes and keeping track
Softcover notebooks are where it’s at. I don’t use notebooks as much as I used to but I’m sure that will change again. As mentioned, I buy stationery as souvenirs and then sometimes I don’t want to use it – which feels silly. Lines are no good for me, a grid is great, but a dotted page is even better. I bought one blank notebook purely because I was desperate for the colour and another because it was Hello Kitty. The characteristics of the notebooks can be found in many types so I’m not brand loyal but some of my favourites are:
The Wavy Days notebook (B6 size/grid page) by Be On D
Softcover Notebook – currently I love the navy - (B5 size/dotted) by Leuchtturm1917 which are very similar to the Moleskine
You can roll up (!) the Zequenz Classic notebook
The Laconic Equipment ones are cool if you like a pre-filled template style
I thought I would love, but didn’t really like the narrow notebook that sits against your keyboard, like the pictures below. I think it’s called an editor’s notebook? Ditto the Stalogy which gets spoken about a lot. It’s okay but the paper is too thin so I wouldn’t buy it again. And again, no spiral binding please.
Your turn… favourite notepad or notebook and what kind of paper do you like?