Paper planners, diaries and notebooks in the digital age

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

One would have thought that paper planners, diaries and notebooks would, by now, have died a death with all the digital “alternatives” available on the PC and online. But they have not – which is also a good thing – and I doubt that they will.

I have tried a fair number of digital “alternatives”, to planners, diaries, etc., both on the PC and online and found all of them rather wanting as, in the main, they cannot be adapted and adjusted to how I want to do things. I do have, I have to admit, Google Calendar but rarely use it, to be honest. I do, however, make use of the calendar in my Thunderbird email program (Open Source Outlook equivalent) for some appointments, and to remind me of birthdays. Otherwise, though, it is pen and paper all the way for me, with the occasional journal note for the diary printed from the PC.

Seeing that so many so-called Millenials and some a little older than that returning, in droves, to pen and paper, and even fountain pens in some cases, seems to point to the fact that they have had the same experience. Furthermore is “pen and paper” also far more secure as it cannot be hacked and will far less likely be searched by (US) border agents.

There is something special about a proper day-to-a-page bound paper appointment diary and the paper notebook. Something that, in my opinion, no digital application or device can ever fulfill. Life without a proper notebook – or more than one actually – and a paper diary are, to me, unthinkable. I also use the diary like a daily journal and that is what may make them special to me and I also keep them on their own shelf as something to revisit at times. Something that you cannot do – at least not as far as I am aware – with any online calendars and other such programs, not even those that are on your PC.

Furthermore I can use my paper diaries, notebooks, and whatever, at any time, anywhere, with no need for batteries and such, and even if the diary or notebook should get run over by a Main Battle Tank – rather unlikely but one never knows – the information contained therein would still be retrievable without much ado. Yes, admittedly, they are a little bulkier than a smartphone or even a tablet computer but then they are more reliable and almost indestructible, short of fire.

Personally I also have another little note-taking system that is a leather wallet with reused A4 sheets of paper folded in a special way to create an A7 size. This gives me, as generally the backside of the page is printed on – as I said reused paper – eight pages of A7 per A4 sheet. And there are four of those in the wallet. Enough, generally, for a day's worth of notes and such.

For general notebooks there is no need to go and spend a lot of money for a Moleskine or such. It is quite simple to make one's own by reusing paper such as one side printed sheets and even the backs of larger envelopes, held together by whatever means.

Also, often, it is possible to, part way into a year, find diaries, A4, A5 and even A6 ones, that are reduced to very low prices. Such a blank diary, especially a day to a page one, makes for a great, almost free, notebook. By buying those diaries up cheaply for your notebook use you also keep them out of the waste stream, whether this is actual recycling or more than likely landfill. Considering that they are made of different kinds of material, aside from paper, the landfill will generally be the way that they would go and thus, by using them as notebooks, we can avoid that happening. I always tend to get a couple when the opportunity presents itself.

I known that there are some to who the use of paper – nowadays – is an anathema, believing that it is better for the Planet not to use paper and that using digital, especially “in the cloud” is better and more environmentally friendly. Alas, this is not the case, and that already on the energy level. As to paper and trees I have written and spoken about so many times that I will not repeat myself.

© 2018

Staying organized with an old-fashioned paper diary

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

While I am no Luddite and do use technology – obvious, isn't it, as I use the Internet and a computer – organizing my personal life is one area in which technology has failed me. Thus I have gone the old-fashioned route of keeping track of everything on paper, and here's why it works so well.

November or December is “buy a new planner” month for me and it has been like that for me now for a number of years since I have given up various different methods in digital form and also by making my own planners from templates.

I never got on really with the calendar and diary on the Blackberry and neither with any of the ones that come with the computers, such as in Outlook or the Open Source equivalents, neither with the online ones. None could provide me with what I wanted, namely something where I could make entries in my way.

Then I went to do my own from templates, initially in the old Filofax, but that also was more effort than it was worth and simply did not give me a big enough page to write everything. Following this were printed out templates put together into a diary/planner in a ring-binder. Again it did not really suit my purposes.

That's when I went back the old route and bought again a paper diary (or planner). The first one of this kind, in fact, I did not even have to buy; it came my way as a gift at the Garden Press Event a couple of years back, an A51 standard A5 Day-to-a-Page hardback bound diary with full pages also for Saturdays and Sundays, which has a ribbon bookmark. And since then it is that kind of diary that I buy every year at the end of November or the first weeks in December.

I always chose a diary that has all days – including the weekends – on a full page as those days are for me as busy as the days of the so-called “working week” and just having half a page for each of those days just does not cut it for me.

Yes, A5 is quite a size and such a diary may be a little bulky to carry around all the time it is, nevertheless, much more versatile than any electronic device and I do not have to worry as to whether the battery holds out, and such. Having paper pages also makes it possible to stick or staple in additional notes and other things and over the year it becomes a record of things done (ore not done, though planned, as the case may be) and I can always go back through them for reference purposes.

There are lots of reasons why I love my paper diary beyond being organized:

1. There is no battery to recharge and pens are available everywhere.

2. It also feel less rude pulling out a planner such as this to scribble a note in the middle of a conversation than pulling out my phone. Though for notes I carry a paper note-taking system that I devised myself and which is always on me.

3. While some people may prefer one brand over the other – and there are many famous and not so famous – such as Moleskine or Leuchturm1917 or Faber Castell there are also others, especially of the A51 kind that do not break the bank and cam be had for less that US$5.

4. A paper diary planner is quite often a conversation starter and the same goes for paper notebooks it seems and people are always surprised to see someone using one and most say they want one, too. Everyone seems to be fed up with the impracticality of phone calendars and such like.

5. A collection of past planners is an instant collection of diaries. Without any extra effort, you have a fairly detailed record of everything you have done for the past how ever many years.

If you are looking for an alternative way to stay organized in 2015, give a good old paper planner a try. You may be pleasantly surprised at how effective it is. And you may never want to go back to the electronic way. And the same goes for note-taking. Here paper also surpasses everything else, at least in my book (pardon the book pun).

© 2014