It might be strange for us to promote minimalism, but we'd rather you use stationery that you need and love instead of hoarding things you don't need! Do you have any tips on how you curate your collection?
It would be great if you cold "declutter the sounds" in your videoes. .... Like this one, the music playing is very annoying and distracting. Please stop with the music
"Once you see all the notebooks you already own in one place, you're less likely to buy another notebook that you don't need" I feel totally called out
Yeah, and I don't know about you, but if I put them away, then I can't find them when I need them and have to buy another... which means 3 or 4. And I've totally got a thing going on now where I need separate little notebooks for each function. Hard backed spirals. But it does let me lay my hands on what I want instantly, my notes are all in order when I'm called on to use them and the hard backs keep the pages from getting dog eared and worn so quickly.
I've noticed that ever since I've switched to fountain pens, I'm more aware about how wasteful I was before. A couple years ago, I was buying cheap (I think you know what I mean) ballpoints that I wouldn't care about if I lost one or two here or there. But fountain pens make me feel good when ever I refill them, since I know I'm not just throwing it away after it's empty.
About 40 years ago, way in the dark ages before computers, my boyfriend said that he thought I should get a fountain pen so that I wouldn't be throwing pens away constantly from all the writing I'd be doing. He got me a plastic, lightweight Sheaffer pen that came in a blister-pak from the university bookstore, and a few weeks later I got an inexpensive pen that filled from a bottle. I loved that pen - got me through grad school and law school - and loved that boyfriend, who I'm still married to - and our house is basically held together with ink bottles and pens!
I own about 13 fountain pens and a fountain pen cartridge- refillable rollerball (it's like a fountain pen with bullet tip), and 7-8 ink colors. I use 7-8 of them (all colors with black is the most used) regularly on daily and weekly basis. They are quite economic (in prices) and eco-friendly (they last long. I dug up an old fountain pen from the drawers of office supplies in my house (which use to be my dad's company office). It's the pen my dad used for signing document. It has been waiting there for years before I found it, and still works well after some cleaning. All elementary students in my country, Vietnam, are required to learn writing in fountain pens (now they can use gel pens in some cases, but fountain pens are a part of the tradition. Before fountain pens were available in Vietnam, students used dip pen. My mom wrote in dip pens during her elementary school years). I had to switch to gel pens since grade 7th because the notebooks and exam paper for secondary and highschool students in Vietnam then were for ballpoints and gel pens, and fountain pens were not the optimal pen to use. But now, when I'm a college graduate and there are more quality notebooks and refill paper available, I'm going back to fountain pens. I still use gel and ballpoints for convenience depending on situations, but fountain pens are like high art in pen world for me. (P/s: that transparent TWISBI eco is my dream fountain pen.)
I am the same. Unfortunately, I tend to like everything. Pens, paper, watercolors, markers, and stickers are just great to own. Love all Kukoyo products. Hope I spelled it correctly.
Same But I have to declutter and stop wasting money I have tons of stationery at home but my family is gonna be a little tight on money sadly I’m not gonna be able to buy anything I want and it’s going to be a prob bc I am artistic and I know how draw very good and art requires a lot of materials But at least it’s gonna last only for 1 or 2 years 🤷🏽♀️😓
These are good tips; I like that you're not asking people to be total ascetics and acknowledge that having tools that are useful and aesthetically pleasing can be good for workflow and mood! JetPens is looking out for their customers!
I keep a small bag in my closet that I put items I no longer actively use in - by freeing up the space of unnecessary clutter I feel better and I eventually find a new home for the items among work or stationary friends. I love the idea of keeping everything accessible so you can keep an eye on what you own so you can fully enjoy it.
I have a tip: If you find there's a lot of stuff you're switching around, try sorting them into containers according to how they're used and see if it streamlines things. For example, I use my desk for work during the week, which requires a laptop, a central hub, two screens, a keyboard, a mouse, and a little shelf I added to prop up the laptop next to the screens for ease of use. However, I like using my desk to watch videos, do art, and write before and after my shift, so I take off the mouse, keyboard, shelf, and computer, and leave the screens and hub. Then on the weekends I take down the whole setup, only leaving the cords hanging up behind my desk, and move it out of the way until the night before my work week starts again. With all this in mind and a couple of weeks practicing, I'm going to get a few magazine holders and a medium sized tub and sort everything into them when they aren't in use. That way I'm not fishing around for my work mouse because I grabbed the wrong one or something! The screens are also kind of unwieldy, so having a tub I can transfer them into before removing them from the desk is going to help a lot. I got the idea from how I manage my drawing supplies. They're things I use often, so I want to keep them nearby so they can be switched out; something else I've found useful is keeping a couple spare empty cups handy when I'm working on a more involved piece, since I can keep track of the pens/pencils/markers I'm using and don't lose them in their cubby!
Hi, I started using pens which have 4 colours & a mechanical pencil all in one. It's a bit bulky, but at least I only need to carry one item in my bag. Alternatively, I use the Bic 4-in-one pens. I'm a visual person, so using colour in my notes really helps 🙂
as a minimalist and stationery lover, this video is the best thing i've come across in MONTHS!!! so helpful, specially bc stationery is so difficult to get rid of bc im addicted to it 😅
Thank you I needed this. My stationary cart had gotten out of control so I took your advice to heart and cleaned it out. It's amazing the things we hold on to "Just in case it's useful".
I did so much stationery research for my Bullet Journal last year. I really loved switching to Energel refills for my colors and Clena. The Pearl bodies are happy and bright and smooth and I use them everyday. I recently got to try out Blue-Black ink and it's really cool! I wouldn't be able to do that unless I knew about getting refills from RU-vidrs and Jetpens. In my opinion, JetPens refills are fairly priced and helped a lot when I was doing NaNoWriMo last November. I was also able to gift my Mom the Dr. Grip and Jetstream pens so she can write effortlessly in comfort and with no skips. The Jetstream is really a dream to write with. As for desk organization. utilize vertical space! Get things that separate your tools so they are in reach: utensil dividers/trays, acrylic drawer boxes, etc. I also looked in kitchen sections for a wire rack to put pens on top and notebooks below. One place didn't have what I was looking for, so I bought napkin holders instead and they work like a charm XD! Michaels is also currently having discounts/clearance on storage and planners. That 3 tier cart is a good way to organize away from your desk, but it's also in plain sight so you know what you already have. I've made a few mistakes of buying refills when I still had some at home. Go grab that 20% off coupon and get some space back!
If you feel really overwhelmed or get anxious, but also want or need to do a declutter or arranging project like this, use a little kitchen timer (or your phone; but I prefer a not-phone one.) use a 15 minute increment, and be focused. When the timer stops, BE SURE to take a break. Maybe you are done for the day! Set it again for 1-2 minutes to tidy up your space until next time. If you do this even two more occasions days (for a total of 45 minutes; you can be amazed at what you accomplish! You can do so much you thought it would take hours and hours! Using increments can work great, too, even! Also, if you are overwhelmed at parting with your decluttered precious collection, keep it in a box or bag and store it neatly away. Set an alert on your calendar for sometime later; perhaps 30 days? When that time comes, you can use a couple of options: 1. Give away without even looking through it when you realize you have not thought about wanting needing the items even once during the whole time! Wow! 2. Check through it and be sure you do not truly prefer to keep something that is in there. Focus on knowing that you are safe and it is okay to keep things or decided it is good for you to let them go at this time.
you can still refill a fountain pen cartridge!! a lot of people forget about it but you can simply buy a syringe with a tiny needle and simply refill it ! you just need an ink bottle, patience, maybe a tissue in case of spills and syringe and your all done 💖i hope this helps
I found having a desk with all my pens and books hidden away contributed to clutter and over buying. I got rid of the bulky desk swapping out for a folding one. Without drawers I shifted everything to a rolling cart that holds my pens, notebooks and others books and gave away duplicates and the unused. Everything has it place but is visible and within reach. I don’t buy what I don’t need. I fold up the desk when not in use so I don’t fill the surface with unnecessary clutter and I put things away right after use. It made a big difference in my bedroom. I have embraced a little minimalism in my life.
Loved the video! I have tried to be more minimalistic about my stationery too. Something that worked for me, to find out what I actually used and what was just clutter: I put all of my stationery in a box outside my room, and everytime I needed something I went and got it from the box, then left it on my desk or desk drawers. Within a week I had already taken out all the things I usually needed, and everything else was stored away form my desk. I sometimes need to get something from that box but that's so unusual, I keep it all away from my desk.
Cataloging might be helpful but there is a risk of running straight into 'catch them all' mode instead, when one sees on the list that they have a red pen, and blue pen they might now want a green pen and purple pen to finish 'the collection', so as a tool it should be utilized carefully. Figuring out what works and what not is often the process that is making all those hoards: my advice would be - try to immediately use what you got until it is exhausted and make an opinion if you would like to continue to use such thing or not, because otherwise it will be stuck in that limbo of 'maybe useful, maybe not' and add to the hoard. For example, I used to get some rollerball pens because they wrote nice in a short demo in store, but then realized that I am getting irritated by them once I started to use them for a longer time, so I had to rid of all such pens; would have been better if I got one and used it until the end.
I love your videos, and this one is no exception! If you don’t mind a suggestion, could you maybe consider lowering the volume of the background music to be a bit lower than the speaker’s voice? As a hard of hearing person the loud music in the background makes it difficult to hear. I don’t know if it bothers anyone else though, and hard of hearing people are quite a minority...so obviously this is only a suggestion! Thanks for your great videos!
Great videooo! It's really helpful! Can I just suggest regarding the refills on binders (such as A4 sizes), hacks on how to print your own notebook grids, lines, dotted, etc. Using msword or other free applications? Because I think It's more convenient and less expensive if we do it on our own. Thank youuu! I hope you do more videosssss I recently bought a kwtrio puncher for binders sooo...
As I step into stationary, I'm finding having a set color set is helping curb the BUY ALL THE THINGS instinct. A handful of soft pink, blue, and purple markers and pens is far more accessible to me than having to dig through colors I don't actually reach for.
THANK YOU, I've purchased a lot of stationary and craft material, and now it doesn't fit in my table. I don't want to spend money in a drawer. I'm gonna try to finish my material. And then... videos like this will remind me I don't need that many things XD
been really thinking about getting a new pen but my mind says no. i only need enough. last year, i decided to give away my pens to my niece and only left some that are useful on my end. it turned out that i only need enough and i didn't really need a lot. 😅 thanks for this vid. helped me reevaluate my next stationery purchase.
Instead of having shelves, try using cabinets. Sometimes that is all you need to do to hide away your notebooks/binders/books in general. If they aren't uniform in size or have complementing colors, a cabinet can reduce that visual clutter- and you could use the door space for prints or artwork that relaxes you. If you need that extra space, attaching a corkboard or whiteboard can also be useful.
Y'all sure have been recommending the bLen a lot... I bought one and found out that the clip rattles a little when I move the pen, but not so much when I write.
Honestly I need to start making a catalog for my stationery products. It's out of control - I tried to make a giant swatch book but the best one might just be making a page for them on notion.
I always wondered why people don't use multi-pens more often! They're not too big of an investment, are extremely convenient for using the usual colors, are earth-friendly, and are customizable! I know some pens don't come with refills, like the Sarasa Clip Vintage series though. But even just one multi-pen can save so much plastic in a lifetime!
I have started to use fountain pens rather than ball point or gel pen. Considering from my pens consuming 1 pen per 1-2 month, this way could save the earth some way :)
I like the smart ring binder notebook, but do you have larger binders that we can move the sheets into once we need to take the sheets out of the notebook and need to store them?
I wish! My dad is the cheap minimalist that buys little and only uses cheap things. My mother buys too much (usually justifying it by only buying on sale rack) , and like many Indian women, loves gold and bold colors and patterns. Edit: my parents are Indian, if that isn't clear. Indians and people of Indian origin are guilty of over- buying, too, but I hope this practical minimalism is catching on.
While we don't have a video about refillable stationery specifically, we do have a guide to pen refills you might find interesting: www.jetpens.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-pen-refills/pt/231
My dad always says that if you want to buy something, wait for 1-2 weeks and see if you can manage without it or not. If yes then no need to buy it. If no go ahead and buy it. And surprisingly most of the time I don't go to the store because I don't need it. But of course it applies when you have a lot of something but still want it . But if your stock of pens is over and you need more right away no need to wait 😂
Thinking of saving to get a TWSBI Eco as my 2nd fountain pen. Got the Metropolitan already for winning a bet, and spent the rest of my money on a converter and ink. Any thoughts?
I feel like I have bought enough stationery to myself because with minimalism, the only stationery essentials are one pen, pencil, 15 or 30cm ruler, sharpener, rubber and one or two highlighters, I literally have too many of each.
I am trying to stick with a few basic colours. I love colourful items so instead of getting every colour I’m trying to stick with a few so I get the colour without the clutter. It’s not really working but I like to think it is. 😆😩😆
personally, my biggest problem is that i have severe adhd, which among other things plays havoc with my memory and my sense of object permanence. that means i tend to have a messy desk because if i put something in a drawer, i will never find it again. so, my method of organizing my stationery mostly involves streamlining my desk's layout so that everything is still neat, but has a place that's not just accessible but visible. that also means i tend to stick to a cohesive colour scheme, which reduces visual clutter and keeps me from becoming sensorily overwhelmed.
They are often smoother and require less effort to get ink on the paper. The caveat is that you want to be writing on better paper so it doesn’t feather or bleed through.
Occasionally the cap might come off and they'd leak so you'd want to have some kind of case for them, which makes fountain pens somewhat less transportable than just a ballpoint you can put into your pocket.
