Comments on: The One Hour Project: Keep An Idea Notebook In Your Pocket

By: Kristen

Kristen — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:48:10 +0000

I’ve loved the idea of a moleskine notebook for a long time now, but after finally finding a place to buy one, I found out they are far too expensive! A couple months ago I was at the dollar store and bought some little notebooks – about the size of my hand. 160 lined pages, 4 of them for $1 plus tax. It’s not as nice as a moleskine, but for $1 it definitely works for me!

By: Kat

Kat — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 17:45:01 +0000

I literally feel naked without my sketchbook. I have been carrying one for years. Not a pocket one because they are too small. All my bags must be able to hold my sketchbook.

@Mariette. You can glue a bit of elastic to a book in the back and then you have your recylced “moleskin” book. I found rubber bands have the worst timing of exploding.

By: MD

MD — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 07:52:48 +0000

I have never thought of this in terms of coming up with ideas on how to save money or make more. Now that you mention it, it definitely is very helpful and I’m looking to implement it immediately!

By: Banban

Banban — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 06:44:48 +0000

Ever since college, I’ve kept a small notebook with me to jot down random thoughts and ideas. I learned this from a screenwriter friend of mine, who would have the most brilliant ideas at the most odd times. Working in the entertainment industry, many of my notes have become career boosters and life savers.

After watching Oprah’s Debt Diet, I started using the same notebook to jot down my daily expenses. In short, my notebook is my life!

I recommend transferring your notes to a computer later on, probably once every two weeks. That way, you can organize them more efficiently. You can also do a quick electronic search for words buried in all your scribbles, so you won’t have to flip through all your pages.

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 23:41:57 +0000

I have one notebook for my briefcase and one for my purse. Plus I’m looking into getting some kind of hipster PDA set up (need to buy the index cards) for story ideas, as separate from other ideas.

I got this from an English/art major I was living with. She’d write funny sayings, essay ideas, and also sketch ideas for painting. It was amazing! Then she saved them just in case.

By: Avlor

Avlor — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 21:49:56 +0000

I just started a notebook for photography shot ideas. I think I will make it a general purpose notebook. ;) Thanks for the idea!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 21:18:39 +0000

plonkee: My husband uses a digital dictation thing, a “Hipster PDA” and his gmail inbox to collect ideas. He only uses the digital recorder while driving, and thinks it’s a great idea for walking too. You do have to treat it as an inbox and process the ideas once you get where you’re going (or daily).

By: Mariette

Mariette — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 15:58:21 +0000

I do this too! It’s so helpful. I love the moleskine notebooks but don’t want to buy them anymore because they don’t use recycled paper, so now I’m on this quest to try to find a moleskin-like notebook that’s recycled. I haven’t been successful and am on the verge of getting an ordinary recycled pocket notebook and keeping it closed with a rubber band (which is what I like about the moleskines.)

By: krisk

krisk — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 15:16:52 +0000

Small notebooks like this are ubiquitous in the Navy. They are known as “Wheel Books”.

By: My Road to Wealth

My Road to Wealth — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 09:42:46 +0000

I do this all the time. And my husband is so amused! But hey, it helps me!

By: plonkee

plonkee — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 06:09:43 +0000

This would work better if I had pockets on my clothes.

I fin that ideas come to me whilst I’m walking to and from work. Its pretty inconvenient to keep stopping to write things down. Someone suggested getting a digital dictation thing to record the idea, what does anyone think?

By: Jasmine

Jasmine — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 05:35:02 +0000

I do this! It’s soo helpful, especially if you are somewhat forgetfull like myself.

And with time I’ve learned to check my notebook periodically to remind me of things.

Also good if you need to kill time, I outline my budget, create to do lists and everything in a small notebook I keep in my purse.

By: Lynette

Lynette — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 04:47:15 +0000

PocketMod is a good way to make a thin notebook that you can easily carry in a pocket. I re-use the blank side of flyers or old letters to print mine, so it’s a recycling exercise also.

By: rocketc

rocketc — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 02:57:24 +0000

I really like this idea, but I hate having anything in my pocket. In fact, my worst financial habit is leaving my wallet lying around everywhere because I can’t stand having it in my pocket.

By: Marsha

Marsha — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 01:35:04 +0000

Good idea, Trent! Of course, it could be a notebook, a card, or some electronic system, but the concept is the same.

I find that if I have a place or a thing where I keep a running shopping list, it helps me do more planful and frugal shopping.

By: Julie

Julie — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 23:21:47 +0000

Keep your notebooks. Don’t discard them when you have filled them with thoughts and ideas. Even the most trivial things will be precious someday to your children and grandchildren. Hopefully.

By: Vincent

Vincent — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 22:57:04 +0000

I’m kind of a pocket snob — I hate it when I have big rectangles poking out of my pockets. If I have my bag with me it has a sketchbook, but otherwise, I just keep one index card and a pen in a pocket.

By: Michel

Michel — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 22:23:51 +0000

Besides all the advantages you mentioned, you may write down your expenses so you can put them on a Excell sheet later on.
I have used moleskine before, they are great, but now I use a Levenger pocket briefcase (google it). Using a notebook,I had problems with “long term” notes. So when the notebook was full and I got a new one, I had to rewrite the “non disposable” notes if I wanted to have them with me at all times. This might be a list of books I wanted to read or just my “Waiting for” list. With the levenger and index cards, it’s simpler. Info can be sorted in a much better way. I use a pentel mechanical pencil to write the notes, by the way.

By: Randy Peterman

Randy Peterman — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 22:11:13 +0000

Keeping a notebook or writing down ideas has helped me keep myself organized but also helped me when those ‘light bulb’ moments strike that I would have forgotten before I wrote things down. This is definitely the way to go. I purchased a small mead spiral bound notebook for rather cheap and I carry it with me wherever I go. It has everything from meeting notes to prayer requests to blog post ideas in it… and as soon as its full I’m going to get another one and in 30 years I’ll have tons of tiny spiral bound notebooks that my wife will ask me to throw away to make room for other things ;) I’ll have to cull through them looking for little bits that need to be preserved.

By: Sean

Sean — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 21:08:00 +0000

I just write a text to my email address from my cell phone. No need to buy a notebook, and there’s no risk of losing my notes (unless gmail goes down somehow). Of course this limits the length of anything I’d write down, but usually it only takes a couple of key words to remind myself of the idea I had earlier in the day.