I often find myself carrying multiples of what is more or less the same notebook. Or at least using multiples of the same notebook.

I have both sizes of the travelers notebook. Plus that I often have three Rhodia A5 pads with perforated pages. Two ring bound, and one of the stable bound. Where one of each are dot grid and one lined.

And in the past I’ve carried multiple of the staple or ring bound models in different colors.

Why?

The reason I like them to be different is to make it as easy as possible to pick the right one. Lined versus dot grid is easy enough. And the reason that I sometimes use ring bound and sometimes top stabled is because they’re both good for different use cases.

The top stapled is great because of how easy it is to just tear off pages as I’m done with it. But it is terrible for any use where you don’t immediately tear out pages before starting on the next. So, when I don’t do that, I go for a ring bound.

I usually slowly end up in a situation where more or less all of my fountain pens are inked up with something. Where some of them I use a lot, some a little and some not that much beyond keeping them from drying out.

So, I’ve reached the point, again, where I’m just going to write, one by one dry and clean them, and not ink them up until they’re all empty and clean. And ink just a few of them.

I usually do this rather than just empty them all, to make it more difficult and a pain for myself to avoid getting back into the same place too soon.

One of the reasons I almost always end up buying Tom Bihn bags is that I know that I can clean them.

Nothing makes me more annoyed than when I have some product that obviously is designed to be used in situations where it will get dirty or sweaty can’t be cleaned.

All of the bags I use when I go back and forth to the office or when I go down town get dirty. The back usually get sweaty and the front get all kinds of dirt on it.

As is typical if you bike or skateboard.

I clean mine when I can see that they are dirty, usually most visible in the area that goes against my back, where it often gets wet and sweaty when it’s hot or if I’m skateboarding over longer distances.

I just make some soapy water, soak the bag in it, flush it in clean water until all the soap is gone and then I just get it drip off in the shower before letting it air dry somewhere else.

The whole process usually takes longer than a day but not by much.

My fountain pen cleaning routines have changed a lot over the years, from not doing it, to doing it every other time, to every time to my current setup of: it depends.

I usually clean the pens I use a lot every 3-4 times I fill them, and that works well most of the time. And I clean the pens I don’t use as much every time I fill them. Plus that I clean any pen that are acting up as soon as possible.

Plus I always do a cleaning when changing inks. Like any sane person should.

The routine is fairly simple, I just flush the nib and feed until the water is clear, and for the pens where I don’t use a converter I also fill the body with water and let it sit for a while, while occasionally turning it to the other direction. Just to clear out any remaining ink inside there.

Then I dry out the nib and feeds with a paper towel, before refilling them or putting them away if I don’t want to have them in rotation any more.

I got this notebook to see if having perforated pages would be a better fit for my bullet journal

Yes and no?

I think it is better to be able to pull out pages as you’re done with them. But I don’t think Dingbats version of it is a good fit for me.

Partly because their micro perforated pages are too hard to pull out clean to work for me, and partly because only one page marker isn’t a good setup for me. One of reasons why I love the Leuchtturm1917 Bullet Journal notebooks is that they have three markers, and that makes them so veritable. And the usefulness of pulling out pages kind of disappears plus some if I only have one marker.

So I guess the search continues.

In my current project of finding a better setup for my bullet journal and productivity setup I got a tip from a reader about these notebooks and gave them a shot.

The notebook itself is mostly similar to a hardcover A5 notebook from Leuchtturm1917 and the rest. But all of the Dingbats products are both vegan and eco-friendly. A good thing, and I know very important to many.

I haven’t noticed any issues with the paper, something that usually shows up as I run through my regular carry of pens. Like my Lamy 2000 or the music nib on my Pocket 66 usually highlights any paper that isn’t great fast.

This is one of those “A5-ish” notebooks. For some reason this always drive me nuts. Not for any particular reason. Just because: why not follow the fucking standard?!

The aesthetic of the notebook is interesting; not really my kind of things; but still interesting. Instead of the Moleskine / Leuchtturm1917 minimalism everyone are copying they have their own unique look. And I like that they are doing their own thing, even though it isn’ really my cup of tea.

But if you like their thing or want something eco-friendly I’d check them out, because they’re really good.

This have been my daily carry for a while now. How much of it I bring depends on the situation. I usually bring either one or two pen cases. Usually the senseBag case and the Nock.co Sinclair.

In either case I usually have a gel pen, currently 0.4 mm Zebra Sarasha Clip, one wider nib and a finer nib. The finer nib is for general writing and the wider one is for underlining and drawing boxes around things.

I also always have a pen stuck in the loop of my Hobonichi cover to keep it shut, this is often my Pilot Custom 823. And I always have my Vanishing Point with an EF nib unit in my Nock Co Seed A5 notebook cover.

The most used pens in addition to those two is my Sailor Pro Gear F and my TWSBI VAC700R EF for general writing, plus my FC Pocket 66 with a music nib and my Lamy 2000 M as the underlining and drawing pens.

I usually go with them because they just work and have plenty of ink. When I’m at home I often do more of a whatever I feel like using from my pile of inked up pens.

The Lamy Safari found itself in the Hobonichi loop a lot when I was testing out that, and I suspect it will become a part of my regular carry very soon.

I first tried the Lamy Safari as my second fountain pen many years ago. It’s probably more or less 10 years since then.

Recently I decided to give it another shot. Partly because my views and preferences have changed a lot since then. And the colors (for the Safari and AL line) is much better (but why can’t I get a fun Lamy 2000?!) than some (looking at you Pilot…).

So, I ordered a Pink one, plus a converter and a replacement EF nib because I didn’t find one with a nib I wanted.

The pen itself is great. Looks kind of goofy, the pink wasn’t really the kind if prefer, but still better than having a black pen.

My views on the grip section have changed and kind of not in the last 10 years. I don’t have it as much as I did back then, and I don’t deem it unusable. But I still find it to be a bit annoying.

The EF nib is good, but I’d prefer it if it actually felt like a real EF nib and not more like something between a F and M.

I will probably get more of them, when I see a cool color.

And the converter is great, sits really well in the pen, is well made and has room for plenty of ink.

I have no idea what this product is actually called. Seems like most places I can find it call it something else. The brand is “senseBag” and they’re mad by a German company called “transotype”.

I picked it up at my go to place to order stuff Tudos, I what I’m looking for there, if I can, because they’re located here in Norway. Nice to support local businesses, plus faster shipping and I don’t have to deal with import related things.

It was inexpensive and looked interesting.

It is just a really simple pen case, that can fit around three pens, less if you’re wide, more if they’re skinny. For me it usually ends up being 3. This is the kind of product I often use a lot, because there isn’t really anything fancy or amazing about it. It’s just made to do a thing and it does it well.

I’ll probably end up buying another one of these at some point.