#EDC #everydaycarry #notebookmanufacturing #pocketnotebooks Joe has used a variety of pocket notebooks over the years, and now is using a new system he calls the Boundless notebook.
As someone who tried to make small DIY carry notebooks I must say that your current design is pure genius. It works as a pocket folder and the magnetic snapping is so useful for holding the paper, great job!
I kept a notebook quite often before. Now I keep a digital voice recorder that my sister gave me. It's pretty useful for dictating a short note or idea.
@@MG-rw2sk long term digital note taker here (literally heavy Evernote/OneNote user since… 11 years old… now 22…), clocking in: I don’t use a voice recorder, I actually use the dictation feature on my Google Gboard keyboard on my phone. (The best dictation you can get on mobile.) using dictation can be a little bit time-consuming, but really, you’re getting the same benefits, except that it’s searchable, and you can read it without listening to it back. My doctor uses a voice recorder to record all of his notes from our meetings, and he thinks it’s great. the problem with that is he definitely has staff to transcribe it for him, a resource which the average chronic notetaker almost certainly does not have access to. 😅 Bonus tip: if you do a hybrid approach of paper notes for collection and digital notes as an archive, you can use dictation to digitize your notes far more accurately then just about any hand writing OCR out there.
What would the downside of using just your phone as a recorder be for you? RN my pockets are getting too bulky and needing a sliming down but would to make room for a digirecorder
@@TheeCapN I haven’t bought the recorder yet but for me is the crowded nature of a phone what I don’t like. I have inattentive ADHD and I am extremely forgetful and easily distracted so to have something that takes away the choice and is easy to use to remember things, sounds good. Also, battery issues (I have a z flip and it dies quickly enough without doing anything so…). As of right now I’m always carrying a notebook with me where I write down what I don’t want to forget and it is being very useful. I will probably swap it for the recorder and see how it goes. Oh and you could start carrying a bag, they are very useful, although there are really small recorders that wouldn’t take that much space. Hope that helps.
There is nothing as satisfying as analogue in todays world. I just adore your boundless notebook concept, it offers everything that is needed but above all flexibility. Never seen anything like it before and am really impressed. Think I will just have to go and make one! Thanks for the inspiration.
I almost cried with happuness hearing that there is someone like me out there... especially when you brought out the Hipster!!! I had a few myself "back in the day"! I have literally never met a fellow Hipster before!! 😊
Pheeew! The guilt of dozens of half empty notebooks is gone! My notebooks document my life and my travels…not in detailed text but the memories attached! I have leather bud Italian off white page notebooks with a long leather thong for wrapping around to close, these make great pillows when hoboing around but needed a stiff inner back cover for sketching. I also share this mild obsession with my choice of pens for purposes and even places or events (office meetings, my flash fountain pen! Ink rendering my Bristol nib or Japanese manga dipping ink nib)….. Thank you for a lovely and extremely important topic covered beautifully. Merry Xmas !
Ok are we just not going to talk about the absolute TIME CAPSULE this human has sitting on the table?! Absolutely incredible! 💛 Thank you for posting this 💛
Well observed. And this is good side of using physical paper. You can touch them, feel them and you can see how was your handwriting which gives an emotion.
For simplicity, I use a pack of 3x5" index cards, held together with mini-binder clip on one end. The card stock is stiff enough to serve as a writing surface. Index cards are available in different colors, plain or with different rulings or grids. In this era, you can pretty easily get any size index card that serves your purpose as well. The mini-binder clip is not obtrusive in the pocket. I don't tend to archive cards, but they could be stored in one of the methods you show, or just put in an appropriately sized and marked box. I haven't felt the need to do this, but it occurs to me that if you got a piece of hard plastic/plexiglass the same size, you could put a piece of gaffer tape on it as a pen loop off to the side of this 'cover'. This would serve as a writing surface and contain your pen or pencil, to provide a ready note system. I always carry a pen of some sort, so I haven''t bothered with building the more elaborated version. I merely require a stiff pack of notecards to be available. The office supply company Levenger, for many years marketed something they called a "Front Pocket Briefcase". This was similar to the leather card sleeve you showed, with a writing surface and card holding flaps on one side and pen sleeve on the other side. It had three compartments inside to hold cards. And it did in fact fit in the front pocket of a dress shirt.
I don’t have a notebook. I’ve never used a notebook as a carry around thing, but for years I have written “todo“ lists. It is an interesting topic and I think your “boundless notebook” is a great innovation and refinement of the idea.
My uncle a train driver with 38 years services always carried a pocket diary, pocket notebook with a pen. It went with him everywhere in his shirt pocket. These notebooks were kept for decades & whilst working with the same state railways & during my project I scored a whole shoe box size carton of them for free & he made so many old blokes very happy to get them from him.
Sir, i really appreciate this video. No, i am AMAZED that people have journey with their personal notebook. Really. It give me inspiration to make or have one ❤
That is a fantastic system. I hope by sharing your idea you have open-sourced it for others? At the drop of a hat, I would buy a leather version of the boundless everyday carry notebook and its included pages. One design I can see is for the magnetic flap to do double-duty, i.e. serves as a clamp for the in-progress leaf, and then as closure for the top opening when in storage.
I am a notebook aficionado and own probably 100 different size notebooks of varying quality. A close friend, who shares the same love of notebooks and journals, concluded that a pocket notebook is simply too inconvenient to carry (size, pen clip, durability). So he decided to simply employ a 5 X 8 notebook instead, and literally carry it around at all times. He is never without it.
for so long I have wondered if someone out there actually have a solution to putting used paper into some kind of a pocket pouch to carry with you, here we go. Thank you Joe, this is amazing
You had me at June 20, 1990. 😊 I have old notebooks, but I haven’t come across any that old - yet. But I’m sure they’re in one of my “hot spots.” It’s fun to leaf through them. I have a couple if the gray & white striped collapsible cubes. Yep, I’m a “Nosey Nora” that looks at people’s backgrounds. Thanks for sharing your great ideas and resourcefulness.
Hello, I'm Douglas. Well, I have been struggling to save notes. Being fisical, portable and custumizable is essencial to me and after a lot of years of frustration, your video gave me some light about what I should do. Thanks so much! Regards from Brazil, my friend, and I hooe you are well!
That is quite an ingenius solution to the problems u have encountered with pocket notebooks, very cool. I have been using a bullet journal for a couple years now to keep my notes organized and I use pocket notebooks to take notes throughout the day so I don't forget, like u mentioned. My use for the pocket notebooks is to keep those notes until i transfer them to my bullet journal. Then i either cross them out in the pocket notebook or I remove the pages (if perforated)....making the notebook thinner.
Love your invention. Such a great idea! There was another youtuber who recently did a video on the benefits of carrying a notebook and taking notes using that instead of a smartphone. With any electronic device, it is loaded with distractions, texts, voicemails, news alerts, etc. The notebook is just you and the piece of paper, which helps clear your mind and focus on what it is in that moment that you want to notate. He was just using a mini black & white composition notebook. The unbound style is preferable to me.
I've been trying pocket notebooks for a couple years now and they've never been perfect, but this seems like a really usable implementation. I might have to try it out!
I love this boundless pocket carry! I will be making several for my grandkids using them to hold small sheets of mixed media paper for them to sketch on! This is a fabulous idea!
Thanks for posting this Joe. Very interesting idea. Your mention of the Hipster PDA reminded me of something from back in the early PDA days. One of the campuses of the college I work for did a pilot project where they gave PDAs to a group of students to see if they would find them useful and what they would do with them. After using it for a while one of the students wrote: "Before I had this PDA I used to have post-its everywhere, in my binder, on books, in my purse. Now that I have the PDA I find it is the perfect place to organize my notes. I just put all my post-its on the front of it and its cover holds them together all in one place!" aper grid For me, I find larger notebooks work better for my style. At work, for years I used a legal pad holder but have recently switched to an A4 Doane Paper grid notebook so I can keep both my daily To Do list and longer form writing in the same place, with colored stick on flags on the current To Do list page. For personal writing I use a steno pad for my To Do lists, small enough to take to the store but big enough that I don't feel cramped writing on it and it is easy to read. I carry the smallest pocket calendar I can find as something to write on that is always there. For long form writing I use A4 notebooks, currently a Maruman Mnemosyne. I'll have to give this a try and see if it is a good addition for me.
Thanks for doing this. For carrying in my pants pocket, I like the small 3 x 4.7" Rhodia notebook with 24 pages. Durable and great for to do lists. Otherwise I prefer the Leuchtturm hardbound 3 x 5 notebook. You're right, you can't reorder the pages, but I don't mind. John Cheever kept his journal -- which he typed -- in one of those small, 6-ring loose leaf binders that I remember my dad used to have. I loved those. But I never see them around anymore.
I have memory issues so am always writing notes. Also got plenty of creative ideas. Think I've got a stationery problem too. So I will combine these ideas and see what I come up with. Boundless Notebooks TM
Hey Joe! Great video. I’ve kept pocket pads for years. My own system involves a top spiral 3x5 pocket pad, such as the one you showed early in this video. This goes into a Gall’s Police vertical flip pocket pad leather binder. I flip over the front cover of the writing pad to the back, then insert both into the horizontal retention strip sewn on the back of the leather binder. This secures the pad quite firmly, leaving a blank sheet of paper exposed once you flip open the vertical flip binder. Got to give it to the cops… they think of everything! Once I’m done with a sheet, I can leave it in, or tear it out. I use 3x5 index cards as page markers for the pad (which ride loose in the pocket pad and sometimes fall out, or fly out if caught in the wind.) When I remove a sheet, I tear it off the spiral and hole punch it in the top center of the sheet, if it doesn’t have pre-perforation there, such as the little grey pad you showed in this video. I store them with a binder ring, until I’ve gone through my writing pad in the Galls. I tear off the cardboard covers and discard the useless spirals. Then I perforate the covers and add them to the rings of the written collection of loose leaf texts. Then I put a new pad in the Galls vertical flip pad holder and a new collection is under way. I carry the black leather flip pad in my back left pocket and my wallet in the back right. Oh, and the spiral on top of the pad is where I store a small cut-down pencil. It works if the eraser retainer is round, like the pencil… don’t think it would work for a Black Wing rectangular retainer. I’ve used this system for years. I call it my “Black Berry”, lol. I write creative aphorisms, haiku, and general what-not. Thanks for this video! I really enjoyed your reviews on loose-leaf index card binder systems… I’ve made a few over the years for myself… also using plastic cut-out pocket folders with small clip retainer rings. It’s great to see another committed writer of “miniatures”… Keep up the spectacular innovations
Your creativity is quite interesting as you present it. The final design with the magnets - genius. I ran into a similar need when doing field work in remote locations. I settled on the Levenger pocket briefcase. They are pricy but their outlet store has items with embossing errors for a much reduced price, if you don’t mind carrying an item with someone else’s initials. I even sent one to all my brothers. For archiving I use a small filing box made for 3x5 cards with alphabetic dividers. More recently I found Field Notes pocket size booklets, made in USA, good quality paper.
Good video. Love this comment: : "I'll remember that, and I will not remember it and forget it". Very true and the best reason to carry simple note taking gear, no batteries, no high tech obstacles. Forty years as a freelance journalist taught me that brilliant ideas are fleeting, if you do not capture them right away you will not remember them. My preference is for a flip up notebook and a cheap mechanical pencil. Practical, theft proof and no one wants to borrow a mech pencil.
I keep a small pocket notebook in my scrubs pocket for hospice work related notes or for sketching during breaks. My personal preference has been the Traveler's notebook Passport size with lightweight paper… I love this video with your various notebook ideas for analog lovers like myself. So I thank you for the pocket book ideas 🙏
Wonderful video. This sort of thing fascinates me. I make a lot of notes and sketches for all sorts of things on squared index cards. Sometimes, I'll take three or four, fold them in half, make little snips or tears a few mm at each end of the spine, and then keep the spine together with an elasticated hair tie. This makes a notebook with enough pages for a day out, and with enough stiffness for writing in the hand, and the cards can of course be saved and filed afterwards.
Great ideas in here for making your own notebooks. Post It notes tick quite a few of the boxes for compact reorderable but tidy storage. Also you can stick them on things. I carry them in my wallet, folded. But combined with ideas in this vid I can see bigger ones as EDC.
It is so refreshing to see this! I have a lot of blank pages saved from partially used notebooks and I will love to transform them this way. I used to jot down stuff here n there earlier but now mostly use digital formats. However, writing down something with pens and pencils has its own charm and effect ❤ Thank you for sharing this and inspiring me to try it out!
That would work perfect for me as an edc to takes notes on at my construction projects. Looks like I have a little project to do tomorrow to make my own. Thanks for sharing!
That's so amazing, I'm not really a fan of ring binders or loose paper but this design of yours is steering me in that direction. Would love to use it for outdoor sketching or painting.
I like it very much! I’m going to dive into your idea and experiment with it! For the last few years, I have been carrying around a Field Book notebook (grid) in my wallet. It has worked fairly well.
I just use a little Rhodia notebook that's 3x4.7" 80g paper, graphed, 24 sheets/48 pages, staple-bound. I cut up an index card to add pockets to the inner covers. They're under $4. Of course, it's permanently bound; I use a BuJo-style index in it. I have an A4 pad of Rhodia dot grid paper I've been looking to use for something... subbed to see what else you come up with :D
I have just bought a leather index card holder from Levenger along with some of their weekly calendar index cards. I like the idea of random access, let’s see how it all works out! I love pocket size, but bound books have limitations that become very frustrating.
I still use the one I got somewhere around 2000 and it still looks new. I call it my 19th century PDA. I'm certain something like it is what kept Sherlock Holmes organized. ;-)
I have carried most types of available pocket notebooks myself and have carried Field Notes for several years. I used to remove the metal spiral and replace it with a leather boot lacewhichmakes it more comfortable in the pocket. You have definitely inspired me to experiment again!
I'm glad your video popped up in my feed. I've long obsessed about EDC & features I like or dislike about my gazillion lists, goals, dreams, project notes; whether to adapt to a system created by a manufacturer, design my own or create a hybrid. I am at heart a Scribe. I write. I record (pen on paper). My shortfall is the archiving & ability to retrieve that which I've recorded. Yikes. I seem to be in search of the miraculous! 😁 Happy to find kindred spirits.
I was looking for the "perfect" notebook since I deactivate my social medias for mental clarity, but couldnt find any the "perfect" notebook online stores, damn I could make my own for no money. Thank you :)
Brilliant! Perhaps something in step with our return to analog named appropriately the Personal Analog Assistant, PAA. But I fear it’s initials would drive me to drink. I
Cool video! I really like the poly notebook you made. Maybe just throw a small Olie clip (Oliblock) on it for the magnet - flat, no bending, super-strong. It's also pretty easy to swap spiral pages around. I generally just clip the holes and the individual papers can be taken out and rearranged. They just snap back in place around the spiral wire if the paper is a bit heavier that the Mead spiral (but that might work, too, if you have a light touch or move more than one at a time. I clip ring binder pages, too, so I don't have to use the mechanism at all.
Nice, two pockets please, one for used notes and one for blank paper, maybe a soft suede to separate the two pockets, I know I’m dreaming maybe a little bit, but embossing on the back for a better grip on your hold while writing.
Great video on a great topic - thak you, Joe. The Boundless Notebook is so smart! Next to too many A6 (148 x 105 mm = 5 1⁄2 × 8 1⁄2) notebooks (postcard size) I still like the Hipter PDA that Merlin Mann promoted. I use A7 (74 × 105 mm) or A8 (52 x 74 mm) index cards and a binder clip that holds these cards. At the backside I have an index card with a different color as a seperator, and after taking a note I sort the used card behind the seperator. At the end of a day I can flip through my notes, I can take the cards out of the deck or just rearrange and leave them in the HPDA when there is information that I want to have me on the road. They are also great to hand them over to somenone with any information the person needs.
another outstanding notebook idea. you are the patron saint of notebooks. you make videos about all these amazing ideas and it makes my life a million times easier. thank you thank you thank you. I used to keep a field journal which was inspired by a modern warfare video game that came with one of the characters notebooks as a bonus. so I thought I would make my own, sketch stuff, maps, kerp quotes and dossier on people I only met once. it was great but the same thing happened where I got about 10% into the notebook and put it aside. this boundless notebook has definitely rekindled my interest in keeping a field journal.
That's REALLY smart. I've used most of the options you went through with almost exactly the same complaints. I'm gonna need to make me something like this.
Have you heard of the Rocketbook mini? It’s a reusable notebook. You have the option of scanning and digitizing your writing, then erasing your notes whenever you want. It took me some time to get used to and also finding an efficient way to organize my digital notes but I’ve been happy with it. The pens do run out of ink sooner than your typical pen but you can buy refills. I like it because I can find my notes easily on my phone when I want to turn back to them and not accumulate notebooks.
u r wonderful!! :) how creative. . I too like carrying a mini calender. Once I bought a small pocket diary with just enough space each day to put down appointments and schedule. It was so convenient. I never found the same one again. After watching ur video, I want to try making my own. Will post when I do so. U r so inspiring.
I used to carry around the folded sheet you mentioned at the beginning of the video. I worked in a warehouse that didn't allow electronics in or out, but printers were available nearby so Id grab a sheet, fold it up, and when I had an idea or wantes to capture something, I'd write it down. I called them my "pocket notes". I carry my little moleskins around now, or just use notes on my phone then Ill translate it over when I get access to them.
Having worked on the subject for forty years, I have to admit that this is a great step to a long progression. What is needed now is a more refined product sold by a well known corporation that will make it widely available at a good price. You could make some money out of it. Why do you not propose the plan to LEVENGER? They market such things in beautifully crafted material. A home-made gadget, no matter how efficient, never give a good impression in the board room or in a sales pitch. Good luck!
That's really cool. Thanks for sharing. I love making lists as well, and I use the Bullet Journal method created by Ryder Carol, but whenever I do it in a larger notebook I end up never having it with me. So I found that a little 3x5 sized one that fits in my front pocket with a pen was the better size because it is always with me. You might think it would be annoying to having that small of a piece of paper to write on, but once you start writing you don't even notice and with a nice thin tipped pen you can write neatly and fit a lot of writing on each page. Anyways, great video!
That seems perfect for me as a way to carry small watercolor paper and not be scared to mess up a whole sketchbook lol. I like having around post card size watercolor paper for when im out and about and find myself with just a few min of free time. One of these u made with a magnet flap on both ends so my paper dont curle with watercolor and my small pallet and water brush and i would have a awesome "EDC" watercolor kit
Joe: K&J Magnetics in Pennsylvania has every size magnet you could ever want. You could replace the 4 round magnets with a long thin one. They have every thickness that you could ever imagine. I use a lot of different sizes they sell. Wonderful people. Great prices. (I do not work for them)
I know you don’t like bound notebooks, but that super fat one with the typewriter on it you made is absolutely adorable! I low key want one of that size now.
this is lovely! I have just been sticking with my luetreumm1917 notebooks since 2017. i switch between the A6 pocket size and the A5 size stays on either my work desk or home desk
