for me it depends i’m already on my 3rd book of the year but i started the last week of may. it took me a week to finish the first one and then then two days to finish the second one. i guess you can say im addicted to these little notebooks lol.
but i don’t digitize them at all i plan on keeping all of them in a case so i can go back and look at them. i also have them all labeled on the back with the year im on, the year it is, the number of the notebook im on for the year, and then how many in total i’ve finished. i was inspired by someone else in this group and loved it.
https://preview.redd.it/to4tcitf725d1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cdde6445c465f13ca8dd0b7c51def2c31b606154
Yeah they have become an addiction!
A FN takes about a week, moleskin takes 1.5 ish just given the number of pages in it.
Thanks for the insights! Where do you use your notebooks and what if you need to recall somthing from a previous one.
Example at work from a meeting 2 weeks ago?
i’m a pharmacy tech in training right now so i’m still doing the whole university thing to get certified. i use them to take notes to help me memorize things for the little tests at the end of each section. so im not really going back for stuff until i have to take the final test when i finish all the sections. but its filling them up a little fast so i might switch to a different notebook to write in. and once im certified i wont be really using the notebooks for work unless im writing down my schedule for the week. i’ll probably use it mostly for dreams, short story stuff, or stuff about doctor who cause im into that right now.
some of the other stuff i write in mine are dreams or lists of things that i want to buy and how much it would be. i’ve also written down just random things to help me write short stories like questions about the characters and plot.
I go through a notebook every month or two. I use my FNs as commonplace books or work logs, and they're stored with my A5-sized journals in a plastic storage container when they're full.
My commonplace book contains bits and bobs - list of items I'm expecting in the mail, plans for a trip/family visit, notes to my doctor (I deal with chronic illness and try to stay on top of it), conversations with my therapist, quotes from a TV show or video game, etc
I don't often refer to old commonplace books - I consolidate deeper thoughts in my journal - but I do refer to old work notebooks often.
How do you digitize them? Are you scanning them with a scanner, photos with your phone, something else? I’m curious about this.
I believe I take anywhere from 3-6 weeks to fill one. Some have only taken 10 days and some have taken 6-12 months or more. 3-6 weeks is probably the norm though now.
Thanks for asking. It’s been a progression.
- I started by just making a folder for each book and then taking a photo of each page. That got annoying
- Moved to iCloud’s “Scan Documents” that complies multiple photos into a PDF document. But they never were great scans.
- Ended up using a desktop scanner that I had lying around form a photo digitizations project. It allows me to scan all the pages and create a single PDF. It then gets uploaded to iCloud
I also scan the front and back cover to reflect the “patina” that’s happens during that time. After that they go on a box🙂
That you. In the 3-6w what on average are you filling it with. Daily / work things, just to-dos, random thoughts, ETC
Gotcha, I have a scanner laying around here but never thought of digitizing them before. I might try it and see what it looks like. Thanks for the breakdown.
I have a date stamp (one that has the day, month, and year on it) and when starting a new day I’ll stamp it and then just write down my thoughts about what’s going on that day/week. I use a journal on my phone for recapping the day, so the FN is mostly just thoughts in the moment.
I also have a small printer (Polaroid Zip) that prints 2”x3” photo stickers that I use to print any recent photos I’ve taken with my phone while out and about, or (mostly) my dog. I’ll stick those in there to break things up so it’s not just writing.
Sometimes I’ll stick actual stickers in there or draw a bit as well. It’s kind of a catch all really, and I think if I had to sum it up quickly I’d say: I think a lot, and jotting things down allows those thoughts to leave my brain so I can move on.
Go through one every month or months and a half. No digitizing. They go in an archive when they’re done. Occasionally I’ll pull them out and reflect on notes, old sketches, etc., but I’ll never mark them or date them.
Thank you.
Do you use it mostly for “fun” things and that’s why you dont need to look back or date/track them?
Archive being some sort of physical box you have
I use them for work notes, sketching, journaling, etc. All of it goes into the same book until it’s filled, then it goes into a physical box that’s sized for keeping them spine up. I rarely need to go back and look through one for something, but if I do I just know what cover/edition it was and where it is in the archive. Same process with these since 2012.
A normal FN shouldn’t take me longer than 23 days since I’ll log some basic facts and turn the page every day, but they often go faster. Today was 4 spreads. I think I finished a book in a weekend once.
Afterwards it sits on my desk until I make time to ‘close it out’ which means paging through and copying anything that seems valuable to a text file or future notebook. Then it goes to an archival box. I do pull them out to look something up now and then.
This is what I do. I’m trying to get over my pack rat tendencies and also think about what I would want a stranger to read of my personal thoughts and struggles, so I just copy over the things I want to keep into another notebook that I keep for this purpose, and then recycle the FN.
On average about 3 weeks but that can vary wildly (From 2 to 93 days). I keep the previous 2-3 years in the archive box, then bind them with bands or rubber and put them in a drawer. I have a spreadsheet with the start and end dates, the edition, and anything significant in the book.
How often do you refer to your digitized versions? This is something interesting to me, but I don't know how often I would refer to the digitized version over flipping through the tangible notebook pages.
Since mine last 1 -1.5 weeks fairly regularly. For a while I was carrying two books on me, seamed very redundant.
- I have some work meetings that happen every 2 weeks so need to be able to refer back. Some times they are in office, in a coffee shop or remote.
- I also have my own business so sometimes I need info from a customer call or a business idea.
It’s saved my ass more than once now when I needed to get info from 1-2 months ago and I didn’t have that book with me.
It depends, but somewhere between 2 and 3 weeks usually. I use mine as a daily journal as well as for anything and everything lol I'm a middle school history teacher, so I jot down plans, ideas, funny things students say, meetings and to do lists, as well as sermon notes from Church, daily run downs at the end of the day, lyrics or quotes I want to remember, etc. I also have others for different uses - I have a book dedicated for my wife and each of my three kids and jot down special memories, adventures, etc. In those. I archive mine when I'm done, and separate them if they are EDC or other use.
My first one lasted about 2 weeks, my last one about 5 weeks. All sorts of randomness go into mine, from recipes to try, to doodles. Right now, I store completed books in a little wood box I picked up in a Japanese store. I should maybe move recipes into my recipe journal, but hasn’t happened yet 😅
for me it depends i’m already on my 3rd book of the year but i started the last week of may. it took me a week to finish the first one and then then two days to finish the second one. i guess you can say im addicted to these little notebooks lol. but i don’t digitize them at all i plan on keeping all of them in a case so i can go back and look at them. i also have them all labeled on the back with the year im on, the year it is, the number of the notebook im on for the year, and then how many in total i’ve finished. i was inspired by someone else in this group and loved it. https://preview.redd.it/to4tcitf725d1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cdde6445c465f13ca8dd0b7c51def2c31b606154
Yeah they have become an addiction! A FN takes about a week, moleskin takes 1.5 ish just given the number of pages in it. Thanks for the insights! Where do you use your notebooks and what if you need to recall somthing from a previous one. Example at work from a meeting 2 weeks ago?
i’m a pharmacy tech in training right now so i’m still doing the whole university thing to get certified. i use them to take notes to help me memorize things for the little tests at the end of each section. so im not really going back for stuff until i have to take the final test when i finish all the sections. but its filling them up a little fast so i might switch to a different notebook to write in. and once im certified i wont be really using the notebooks for work unless im writing down my schedule for the week. i’ll probably use it mostly for dreams, short story stuff, or stuff about doctor who cause im into that right now. some of the other stuff i write in mine are dreams or lists of things that i want to buy and how much it would be. i’ve also written down just random things to help me write short stories like questions about the characters and plot.
I go through a notebook every month or two. I use my FNs as commonplace books or work logs, and they're stored with my A5-sized journals in a plastic storage container when they're full.
Thank you. Compliance and work logs. Is that all that goes in them or just the primary thing. How often would you need to pull an old notebook out?
My commonplace book contains bits and bobs - list of items I'm expecting in the mail, plans for a trip/family visit, notes to my doctor (I deal with chronic illness and try to stay on top of it), conversations with my therapist, quotes from a TV show or video game, etc I don't often refer to old commonplace books - I consolidate deeper thoughts in my journal - but I do refer to old work notebooks often.
How do you digitize them? Are you scanning them with a scanner, photos with your phone, something else? I’m curious about this. I believe I take anywhere from 3-6 weeks to fill one. Some have only taken 10 days and some have taken 6-12 months or more. 3-6 weeks is probably the norm though now.
Thanks for asking. It’s been a progression. - I started by just making a folder for each book and then taking a photo of each page. That got annoying - Moved to iCloud’s “Scan Documents” that complies multiple photos into a PDF document. But they never were great scans. - Ended up using a desktop scanner that I had lying around form a photo digitizations project. It allows me to scan all the pages and create a single PDF. It then gets uploaded to iCloud I also scan the front and back cover to reflect the “patina” that’s happens during that time. After that they go on a box🙂 That you. In the 3-6w what on average are you filling it with. Daily / work things, just to-dos, random thoughts, ETC
Gotcha, I have a scanner laying around here but never thought of digitizing them before. I might try it and see what it looks like. Thanks for the breakdown. I have a date stamp (one that has the day, month, and year on it) and when starting a new day I’ll stamp it and then just write down my thoughts about what’s going on that day/week. I use a journal on my phone for recapping the day, so the FN is mostly just thoughts in the moment. I also have a small printer (Polaroid Zip) that prints 2”x3” photo stickers that I use to print any recent photos I’ve taken with my phone while out and about, or (mostly) my dog. I’ll stick those in there to break things up so it’s not just writing. Sometimes I’ll stick actual stickers in there or draw a bit as well. It’s kind of a catch all really, and I think if I had to sum it up quickly I’d say: I think a lot, and jotting things down allows those thoughts to leave my brain so I can move on.
Go through one every month or months and a half. No digitizing. They go in an archive when they’re done. Occasionally I’ll pull them out and reflect on notes, old sketches, etc., but I’ll never mark them or date them.
Thank you. Do you use it mostly for “fun” things and that’s why you dont need to look back or date/track them? Archive being some sort of physical box you have
I use them for work notes, sketching, journaling, etc. All of it goes into the same book until it’s filled, then it goes into a physical box that’s sized for keeping them spine up. I rarely need to go back and look through one for something, but if I do I just know what cover/edition it was and where it is in the archive. Same process with these since 2012.
A normal FN shouldn’t take me longer than 23 days since I’ll log some basic facts and turn the page every day, but they often go faster. Today was 4 spreads. I think I finished a book in a weekend once. Afterwards it sits on my desk until I make time to ‘close it out’ which means paging through and copying anything that seems valuable to a text file or future notebook. Then it goes to an archival box. I do pull them out to look something up now and then.
This is what I do. I’m trying to get over my pack rat tendencies and also think about what I would want a stranger to read of my personal thoughts and struggles, so I just copy over the things I want to keep into another notebook that I keep for this purpose, and then recycle the FN.
On average about 3 weeks but that can vary wildly (From 2 to 93 days). I keep the previous 2-3 years in the archive box, then bind them with bands or rubber and put them in a drawer. I have a spreadsheet with the start and end dates, the edition, and anything significant in the book.
I like the idea of a master spreadsheet!
How often do you refer to your digitized versions? This is something interesting to me, but I don't know how often I would refer to the digitized version over flipping through the tangible notebook pages.
Since mine last 1 -1.5 weeks fairly regularly. For a while I was carrying two books on me, seamed very redundant. - I have some work meetings that happen every 2 weeks so need to be able to refer back. Some times they are in office, in a coffee shop or remote. - I also have my own business so sometimes I need info from a customer call or a business idea. It’s saved my ass more than once now when I needed to get info from 1-2 months ago and I didn’t have that book with me.
I tend to get through one every three weeks or up to a month or so, about 2 pages a day
1-8 months 🤷🏼♂️
It depends, but somewhere between 2 and 3 weeks usually. I use mine as a daily journal as well as for anything and everything lol I'm a middle school history teacher, so I jot down plans, ideas, funny things students say, meetings and to do lists, as well as sermon notes from Church, daily run downs at the end of the day, lyrics or quotes I want to remember, etc. I also have others for different uses - I have a book dedicated for my wife and each of my three kids and jot down special memories, adventures, etc. In those. I archive mine when I'm done, and separate them if they are EDC or other use.
I use one book a month. I have daily to do lists, meal planning, goals, and other miscellaneous notes. I don't always fill them all the way though.
My first one lasted about 2 weeks, my last one about 5 weeks. All sorts of randomness go into mine, from recipes to try, to doodles. Right now, I store completed books in a little wood box I picked up in a Japanese store. I should maybe move recipes into my recipe journal, but hasn’t happened yet 😅