The Most Useful Notebook I've Ever Had
(I mean the paper and pen kind, not the laptop computer variety!)


Basic Edition
All of my previous attempts at personal organization have never met with lasting success and I could never figure out why. It wasn't like I didn't understand the need, it was just damned inconvenient. Every thing I wanted to keep track of seemed to have a different system so it was like I needed a separate book for every thing I wanted to keep track of. Or if I decided to streamline, then I could never find a notebook that was convenient to carry around all the time and I could never keep everything straight and it was always a chore to try. If I went the electronic route the batteries would always let me know how precarious it was to put my faith in them. Not to mention the fact that the devices were expensive enough to elicit overly cautious handling behaviour, which, of course, got in the way of every day use.

For a long time I just chalked it all up to some kind of psycho-emotional dysfunction on my part, despite the fact that I always felt that there was just something missing in the system I was trying to use. Well, now I am quite certain that it wasn't entirely my imagination. There was something wrong with the system...the notebook itself. The format was just too rigid and it just didn't fit with me and the way I work or the way I think. Every time I tried and failed I was trying to change myself to fit the system rather than make the system fit with me.

Back in January this year in my internet travels I stumbled upon the the ever so simple Hipster PDA over at 43 Folders. I suddenly realized what I was missing all this time: the carry-friendly 3x5 format unencumbered by a bulky case or binder, in cardstock, making it more robust than paper, and incredible modularity so I can swap stuff in and out and rearrange the order of things as needed making it fully customizable. Everything about the Hipster just made my organizational senses tingle with delight...except when I actually tried to use it.

The problem with the Hipster is simply the binder clip. For me, using a clip to keep the cards together turned the elegant potential of the index cards into the static boredom of a regular notepad...worse even since you couldn't even flip the pages. The clip was overly clumsy to me and required too much risk in unbinding all the cards just to access a fresh page or to look through what I had jotted down previously. So pretty soon my Hipster ended up by the wayside just like all the other organizational attempts. Yet, the potential I could sense when I first discovered the index card notebook just kept nagging at me: the perfect pocket size, the modularity, the sheer intimacy of paper and pen....

Then it hit me one day as I was browsing through an office supply store: binder rings! I more or less smacked myself on the head for not thinking of it sooner. Getting back on the internet I could to see that I was not the first to think of this. Others have also been using the binder ring or even a mini carabiner as a way to keep the index cards together yet increase their accessibility.

So the basic form of the Ultimate Pocket Notebook is simply a stack of index cards with a hole punched in one corner and held together with a binder ring. This is otherwise known as the Hipster Pierced Edition. If you use a simple hole template and single hole punch you can do this very cheaply and the holes will stay consistent.

Ultimate Edition
There are, however, three enhancements that I use to make this truly the Ultimate Pocket Notebook: the first and main one is the hair elastic, the second is the simple protective cover, the third is index cards with portrait oriented lines.

Some people make their notebooks with two rings at the top (easier to slide into a pocket) or on the side. I think they use this configuration for the extra security and control of the cards that the additional ring provides but I feel it is at the cost of speed and ease of transfer of cards in and out of the stack. Adding an elastic instead of a second ring takes care of the control problem. I intentionally chose to use a hair elastic because it won't stick or bind too tightly (I first learned about using a hair elastic after reading about a writer's version of the hipster). I use the kind that doesn't have any metal for maximum freedom. With the elastic you can keep the stack under control at all times and you reduce the stress placed on the punched holes. While writing or reading you can just slide the elastic up or down and keep right on going. When you need to open the stack up just take the elastic off and loop it over 2 or 3 of your fingers until you need it again.

The secondary benefit of the elastic is it give you a natural pen holder. More than anything it is the hair elastic that elevates this tool from good to great.

The second enhancement is the plastic cover. I wanted something light but strong enough to give a little bit of edge protection and eliminate wear and tear of the exposed faces while being clear enough to read through. While browsing through an office supply store I found some inexpensive report covers made of some moderatly firm plastic that was exactly what I wanted. A few passes with a sharp knife and I had the perfect covers. I oversized them by a couple of millimeters around the outside to act a bit of an edge buffer for the elastic and to act as a natural channel for my pen.

Finally, the third enhancement is to have index cards formatted to work for me. I prefer to have the card lines running in portrait orientation, but of course most places only stock cards with landscape oriented lines. To overcome this problem I had to make my own 3x5" cards out of 5x8" cards. You get two 3x5's out of one 5x8 so it's worth the extra effort to cut them.

It's even simpler if you have a reasonably accurate guillotine. I picked up a cute little mini guillotine and it's been even easier.

Plus the 2x5 leftovers make perfect little minipads that work great with binder clips for sticking to the fridge if you get some strong magnets.


Additional Enhancements
Tape Dispenser: An additional section of the plastic can be cut to hold sticky tape. You can use precut lengths or even wrap a long length around a few times. There would be enough room to hold far more tape than you would likely need. You could probably add different kinds of tape if you wanted. Personally, I would use bandage tape or drafting tape, but not regular cellophane tape. You could use either cover to hold tape instead of cuttiing a dedicated piece if you want to conserve size and weight. In my case I wanted to have both covers totally clear for reading.

Ruler: There are options for printing ruler images onto cards. I don't like the potential for innacuracy involved with reproducing a scale but if it is close enough for you then go for it. I have access to Incra Rulers so I can just use the holes to mark out the scale I need. I can use card or I can use a section of plastic, possibly even one of the covers.

Alternative Covers: Go to an art supply store and buy some illustrator board or mounting board or even matte board if you want a little thinner and lighter material. Take it home and cut it to size. I would add fabric hockey tape to the edges for protection. You could even use hockey tape to join the front and back covers to create a top or side spine. Personalization would be a snap: if you can't draw, a gluestick or some spray adhesive along with your favorite picture or some decorative paper will make your covers distinctive.

The side spine version can still be bound with a single ring and elastic. If you make the spine wide enough you'll have a natural place for your pen. These pictures are of a quick mockup that took me about 10 minutes to construct. If you need explicit instructions let me know.

Here is another mockup of a top spine version made to accommodate a binder clip. The front cover is cut with a notch while the back cover is left whole.

Pockets: It's easy enough to take 2 index cards and tape them together along 3 sides. If you use opaque covers, pockets could be made on the insides. If I had an Ipod Nano, I'd make me a clear external pocket from page protector sleeve material and tape (Heck, a Nano would be the ultimate enhancement to the ultimate pocket notebook!) I am considering making a clear pocket to hold my transit pass (Doh...no need since I can just punch a hole in it and attach it directly to the ring).

Sticky Notes: 10 sheets of 3x5" sized sticky note paper adhered to card and punched for the ring. These are easy to pull out as needed because sometimes you just need paper and sometimes you need it to be sticky. It is even possible to print out templates onto these sticky notes.

Binder Clip: Yeah, not for the index cards but rather to hold other stuff like maybe receipts and whatever else might accumulate while you are out and about. I find that attaching anything to the ring inhibits the ease of use of the notebook but it might work for you.

Page Customization: DIY Planner has a 3x5 Hipster version of their page templates and it is great if you need full calender/planner/organizer pages. Me, I just made a blank 3x5 template in RTF format using Atlantis Nova and used it to create other simple page templates. In my case I mostly needed columns so I just created a simple layout of "|" using spaces and tabs. When I print them out on the lined surface of the cards I get a nice little matrix to keep my track of things like my expenses.
It wouldn't be a stretch to print out daily calendar page this way, to-do list check boxes, contact list, probably anything you'd really need. I also find using coloured cardstock to be very helpful as the colours help with catagorization and visual impact. Don't forget a "return if found" card and perhaps a couple of 3x5 sized business cards to give away. Check out these other links for more ideas:
Organizing Your Hipster PDA
Scott Lawrence
Adam Gurno
John Norris
DIY Planner

Reference Material: One of the best things about a flexible and customizable system is that you can create inserts for a multitude of subjects to suite your personal needs. I am creating a whole separate notebook just for my training notes. Here are some other ideas:
TTC Efficiency Guide - It took some work to print these out to 3x5 size.
Writing Tips - I took their text version and reformatted it to fit.
Oblique Strategies PDF
Reference Card Ideas

Moleskine Memo Pocket: I use this as an external expansion that I keep in my bag. I store extra cards and sticky notes, some stamps, extra ring, elastic and small binder clip. I will also store completed cards for later filing as well as reciepts for currently active expense tracking cards. In my current system, once I have an expense card filled I take that card and it's related receipts and put them into a coin envelope and file for year end review.

Docking Station: I don't know what this is exactly but I guess it is some kind of stand to display envelopes, bills, business cards or something. I found it at a dollar store for...a dollar. It makes a perfect docking station for the Ultimate Pocket Notebook

Data Backup: Most of my printed information is backed up twice: once in my notes organizer KeyNote, and once as a 3x5 formatted RTF file. For hand written information, you have the options of scanning, photocopying or typing it up. I think the method used is best chosen based on the kind of information needing to be backed up and how you want to recover it. Retyping things is great for ideas, plans, stories and the like because it can help soldify or expand the original thoughts. Scanning is useful because you can save the card contents as an image file and then reprint the image if necessary. Photocopying can work in a similar way in that if you have to you can cut the paper image out and paste it to a new card, so it is expedient.

Quick-Find Tabs: Read Here

Page Lamination: Read Here

Simple Quick-Find: Read Here

Daily Carry
Below is a picture my every day carry kit: Left is my primary notebook, Right is my training notebook that I study from, and Bottom is my Moleskine Memo Pocket for filing my receipts and holding backup supplies including a micro pen and pencil set. I currently write with either my Uni Jetstreams or the the very fine pointed Pilot G4 Tec.

For such a simple little thing, this humble stack of index cards is a mighty powerful tool and I am glad that the original Hipster made analog technology cool again. Thanks for reading. If you need help in assembling your own Ultimate Pocket Notebook or you want me to make you a custom cover drop me line and I'll see what I can do.


Original article written and posted Sept 25, 2005.

Updates
September 26, 2005
Doh! So while we were entering the subway station on our way home from the pediatrician today I saw a woman holding her transit pass. Guess what? It had a hole punched in one corner and was riding comfortably on a mini carabiner! Mine is getting put into my UPN right now, no pockets necessary! I'm such an idiot. This will save a lot of wear on my wallet and it gives me maximum incentive to have my notebook with me all the time.

I also created a reference card for the bus schedule at my local station because I never know when it is supposed to arrive. The schedules are posted by the TTC and with a little bit of reformatting and use of a uniform width font, it worked out beautifully.

I did the same kind of reformatting to create a 2006 and 2007 12-month calendar. It was rather irritating to not be able to find a simple program that would generate and print a small calendar. The only app I could find that would at least create a calendar that I could copy and paste was Calendar Magic. It does a whole bunch of stuff that I have no use for and it puts a shortcut into your startup folder so it auto launches, which I found annoying, and there are no formatting options so you are stuck having to work with a three column arrangement of the months in a yearly calendar so arranging it to two colums is a minor chore. Things are easier in a landscape arrangement, but that's not what I wanted. If you want to do this yourself, just remember to use either the Courier New or Lucinda Console fonts and formatting will be much easier.

I made some quick mockups of alternative covers and pasted them in the main article.

September 28, 2005
Some kind soul submitted my UPN page over to LifeHacker today. Whoever you are...thanks! :)

As a result, a kind LifeHacker reader sent me a great link where you can get free calendars ready to print up.

And to the one commentor on Lifehacker: The UPN is in the Hipster family but I consider a true Hipster to be a stack of cards held together by a binder clip, so I made the naming distinction. And I think you miss the point of the enhancements: to me the Hipster is not a statement as much as a solution to a problem...or rather it is a solution that works. The UPN is my version of that solution and it works for me and my needs. The additional enhancements that one chooses to make are ways of realizing that solution. Things are only whiz-bang if they are there but don't add anything to your ability to get things done. That's the whole thing about the entire Hipster concept...you can add as much or as little as you like to make the best possible solution for you.

And speaking of enhancement options...
Quick-Find Tabs: I had read about a suggestion to use paperclips on indiviual pages to help you mark and find things quickly. It's not a bad idea but it does add thickness.

Inspired by the Satellite Action Cards idea, I took some of those 2x5 leftovers and cut a 1/8" tab at the top then punched a hole so that the tab sticks up.

In one version I cut the card so that it could slip in and out of the ring easily. If I did this in a plastic version it would hold up better to repeated use but this was just my proof of concept. :) You can also reinforce the entire corner around the hole with heavy tape.

No more wasted space and easy to find pages! Plus the loose tab might make a good place to put the ruler scale, especially if I made it out of plastic.

September 29, 2005
It might not be the most practical idea but a novel or a bunch of short stories printed on 3x5s and carried around has always intrigued me. I pull out my training notes all the time whenever I have some dead time so why not have some ebooks printed up and on hand? The only issue I could see would be reformatting long texts for efficient use of cards/paper. Fineprint has an 8 up mode but it tends to be illegible, and it does have a booklet mode, which is cool, but it is half lettersized. It is something I might try someday. And here is a resource I'll probably start with: Free GOOD Science Fiction.

October 3, 2005
Page Lamination: If you are on a budget and don't have a laminating machine, what do you do? I found heat lamination pockets in packs of 25 at the office supply store meant for 3x5" index cards. There also adhesive lamination sheets and pockets but they were not as cost effective and did not come in sizes meant for 3x5s so there would be more waste. Obviously, the heat lamination pockets assume you have a laminating machine. I have one...it's called an iron. :)

For my test run I just printed up 2 photos on cardstock. I wanted to use 2 sheets in case I wanted to put two commercially printed photos together. The lamination pockets are oversized to accomodate a full 3x5 index card so remember to undersize your card by at least 1/4" all around. That way you can trim the final product to fit your stack properly.

Be sure to glue the two sections completely so no air can get trapped. Place the image where you want it inside the pocket. Place the pocket between tinfoil and iron. I set my iron to high and made sure to flip the tinfoil so I could apply heat and pressure to both sides. It helps to have a firm surface to iron on.

Peel the tinfoil off and you have yourself a laminated card. Trim away the excess edge to make make it 3x5".

Obviously laminating can be very useful for protecting a frequently used card. If desred you could make covers this way, add some length and make an indexing tab like I did, or maybe make your own portable whiteboard for dry-erase markers.

October 4, 2005
Staples/Office Depot has a $6 (CAD) adjustable 3-hole punch (Staples branded) that with a quick mod makes a great punch for 3x5 index cards. 1) Align the centre puncher into the "neutral" position. 2) Orienting the whole mechanism so that pages insert from right to left (so you would press the handle with your left hand), you'll see the top puncher is the farthest away from the the middle puncher. You need to attach a small piece of cardboard against the centre puncher on the side nearest to the top puncher. This will act as a stop for the index cards. I used a piece of tape to attach mine. 3) Adjust the top puncher location so the hole is where you want it. That's it. It can do about 5 cards at a time and they align themselves perfectly.

Also...the local Zellers sells 3x5 cards at about half the price of Staples and they carry grid ruled cards!

October 8, 2005
Over at Cooking for Engineers there is an article on oven temperature conversion with cheat sheets that are ripe for printing onto index cards!

Simple Quick-Find: Another very easy method of making certain cards in your stack easier to find for regular reference is simply to make their holes slightly lower than where you normally punch them (assuming that you have been uniform about it in the first place). This way you can pull up on the ring and the cards with the lower holes will ride up slightly.

November 6, 2005
I wrote up a blog article about logging data and graphing it to see trends and motivate success:
Mental Renovation: Keeping Score - Graphing for Motivation
(I hope to post a few other articles in the Mental Renovation series as part of my own personal development. )

I posted about making custom grids for index cards here:
DIY Grid Ruled Index Cards

June 26, 2007
This page is still pretty popular and generates quite a few hits for me every month. If people can get a couple of ideas they can use from this page, I'm happy I could help. Personally, I'm still using my UPN on a daily basis as I have my monthly transit pass attached to the ring. I carry my notebook around everywhere and whenever I need to jot something down or look something up, it's always there. One thing I have done is that I printed up some index cards with my contact info on them. I don't always have business cards on me so in a pinch, I will pull out my UPN and rip one of these out to pass along. Plus it is large enough to not to be as easily misplaced as a regular business card and there is more room to write additional info if needed without having to compress your writing or resort to shorthand. :)