http://www.rationellamedia.se/.....647102.jpg

Don’t be let down by the fact that their English website sucks. The pictures are sometimes very bad. Main page:

http://www.rationellamedia.se

I usually carry them both with me but if I need to go ultra-mobile I just take the Volant, mobile phone and wallet (Flickr pictures available for anyone interested: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cnlifeasitis)

Personally, I love using Japanese-make notebooks. Maruman, Apica & Campus ! They’re great quality, light, compact, and not too pricey.

Truth be known, I use a PocketMod most of the time.

On my desk, though, I just use one of those cheap bound book (8 x 5) that come in various gift packs. I write everything down, with pages dated from time to time, and then can flip back to find info that wasn’t important enough at the time to be entered somewhere else.

http://patnotebook.blogspot.co.....logue.html

My daily “to do” lists are printed from the computer and my schedule is printed at the same time; I punch holes in the page to fit into my day-planner and I am off and running. The reverside of those two half sheets can be used for notes during the day pertaining to what was needed to follow-up or for further details. I return to the computer with those notes and enter them where necessary to update due dates, details, etc. I then archive those pages for tax purposes when I change out the quarterly calendar pages.

If I am working at my computer and need to make a note to myself, I simply use a jotter type pad. To keep things from overrunning the notepaper, I make it a rule to not have more than three incomplete items on those notepapers. When done, I can flip the sheet over and keep going.

For personal journaling, I love using moleskin covered journals. These are things that I have been using since I became old enough to use any kind of diary. I keep them in an old footlocker that doubles as a bench at the foot of my bed.

I like the convenience of a day-planner notebook that uses seven rings. Most paper planner companies have pages that will fit into the binders, so I have no problem getting updates for calendars or stock pages. I also keep a supply of lined and graph lined notepads that fit into the binders.

After 40+ years in the working world, I have found that there is no “one size fits all” solution to how each of us handles things. I have been using paper-based planners since I found Filofax and then Day-Timer.

My PC bag has enough room in it for all of the computer accessories I take with me and room for the planner, plus other travel items. Instead of carrying a purse, I use the PC bag and or a large tote bag.

It’s a perfect system for people who don’t move the notebook around a great deal (like to only use on a desk) or who have a pocket in their laptop bag for only the Circa notebook. I’m not one of those people. I even like to put notebooks in my back jeans pockets (Field Notes, Moleskines, and a few others are perfect for this).

I know they work for a lot of people, they just don’t meet my needs.

Plus, Levenger has virtually a free way of trying out their Circa system; you purchase the “Circa Simply Irresistible Sampling Kit” ($40) http://bit.ly/NhAM4 and it comes with a $40 Levenger gift card. Highly recommended!

I can’t speak for everyone else here, but my use of higher priced notebooks is partly work-related. I write for a newspaper and I write freelance articles as well as fiction. I carry a notebook as (well as a small digital recorder for times when writing isn’t feasible) pretty much everywhere I go. I use cheap spiral bound notebooks (10 cents each during back-to-school sales) to keep at my desk, where I jot down notes on everything I deal with at my desk (thus effectively overcoming my sticky note addiction, and cutting down on a lot of desk/office clutter).

I’ve tried using cheap notebooks for field interviews, and they are more hassle than they’re worth. They have a tendency to disintegrate. My field notebooks have been exposed or subjected to rain, mud, overzealous little children, foods ranging from Brunswick stew to BBQ to spaghetti, sloshed wine (spilled on me while I was getting quotes during a posh fund-raiser), water from firefighter exercises, and curious animals including but not limited to llamas, wallabies, horses, caimans (baby ones, but still – hello – subfamily of the Alligatoridae; toothy little guys!), dogs, parrots, and ferrets. Oh, and a notebook and I were once snotted on by a lion. Your average buck-a-pop notebook is not going to last long in my job, because when I’m not exposing it to situations that would make most notebooks run screaming into the night, it is knocking around in my purse – which is a whole new level of abuse.

I keep my notes, so I need them to be accessible and legible. Thus, my carry-out notebooks are sturdy. I haven’t got sucked into the Moleskine vortex yet, and while I drool over luxury notebooks such as the ones listed here, I stick with the Markings notebooks. They’re sturdy, professional-looking, the paper is good quality, and they are easy to write in.

I also like http://www.diyplanner.com for people who don’t like the pre-built templates for things. (They have more than calendars, it’s pretty cool.)