Organize Your Writing Right — With Left-Handed Notebooks
Are you a righty or a lefty? Of course, we’re not talking politics, but handedness. Paper Doll is a righty, but I’m always on the lookout for solutions that make it easier for my left-handed clients to live in a right-handed world.
With file folders, it’s easy enough — it’s just a matter of turning the papers upside down (from my perspective) so that when my clients open their folders (book-style), the tabbed side of the folder is on the left rather than on the right. However, notebooks present a particularly smudgy, and occasionally painful, problem.
Lefties may use their left hands, but assuming they aren’t writing in Hebrew (aha! a clue to a possible solution?), they are still writing from left to right like the rest of us. With typical sheets of paper or notebooks, this means that the left hand often slides or drags over the most recently written material, causing smudges.
Moreover, when writing in a three-ring binder, we righties are can generally keep our bodies entirely to the right of the rings; for a lefty, writing on paper while it’s ring-bound means keeping the wrist tightly bent to keep the forearm away from the rings. (The Handedness Research Institute warns that this is a no-no.) The problem is pretty much the same for spiral notebooks, earning wiry indentations in the hand and arm. How exhausting must this be for our friends on the left?
TOP-BOUND ALTERNATIVES
The easiest solution for left-handers is to use spiral (and other) notebooks wire-bound at the top rather than on the side. Steno pads are fairly good solutions for casual use, provided you’re not distracted by the vertical line down the center (used to guide shorthand).
Mead even promotes their top-bound spiral notebooks for academic and business use as “left handed notebooks.” While these, as well as legal pads and reporter’s notebooks on the low end of the price/quality spectrum, are easy to find, this often condemns left-handed writers to a sort of second-class status.
That said, there are a few upscale top-bound, non-spiral notebooks, including the Moleskine Reporter notebooks (available in black, only). They come in two sizes, Pocket (3 1/2″ x 5 1/2″, 192 pages), suitable for students and others on-the-go, and Large (5″ x 8 1/4″, 240 pages), which work well for professionals.
The Reporter notebooks come in hard and soft (lay-flat) cover options, with acid-free paper choices including ruled, graph (“squared”) or plain pages, and top-stitched bindings. Each have 24 detachable (perforated) pages at the back for quick, removable notes, and all of the Reporter-style notebooks can be used both horizontally and/or vertically (though obviously this works better with graph and plain pages than ruled). Reporter notebooks also have expandable accordion pockets inside the back cover and the traditional Moleskine elastic bands to keep things private. The notebooks range from about $11 to $16 at Amazon, Moleskine, LoveNotebooks.com and fine stationers.
NO STUDENT LEFT BEHIND
Flip-top covers aren’t to everyone’s tastes, however.
Certainly, the left-handed writer can simply flip every spiral-bound notebook to the back and choose to write only on the left (reverse) page of each sheet, but this generally subjects users to being greeted repeatedly by a “plain” cardboard or chip-board backing (uh…fronting?). While righties get their pick of the pretty notebooks out there, lefties are left showing their backsides, as it were, price tags and barcodes and all.
Here, at least, the open market for student notebooks has been responsive. I’ve found a number of right-side spiral notebooks designed specifically for left-handed users.
Ampad makes a cheery (OK, perhaps garish), yellow, 80-sheet, 8 1/2″ x 11″ Left Handed Subject Notebook with the spiral on the right side. Find one for around $3.49 through specialty stores like Gonzaga University’s Zag Shop.
Less well-known stationers are also entering the arena. Roaring Spring makes a 9″ x 11″, 100-sheet, 1-Subject Wirebound Notebook that runs upward from $2.89 at Shoplet and (at an inexplicably higher price) Amazon. The Lefty logo is a cute touch, and the notebook comes in maroon, cobalt, dark green and grey.
TOPS similarly makes a 9″ x 11″ narrow-ruled 80-sheet spiral-bound notebook with cover colors in red, blue, yellow and green. Available from Amazon and office supply stores, prices range from $3.35 to over $9.
All of these notebooks are suitable for students, but wouldn’t exactly be the right fit for a lefty with style.
HIPSTER STYLINGS
Hipsters usually like the Moleskine look, but if your “Too Cool for School” lefty prefers a grittier, Old School look, Baltimore-based Write Notepads & Co.Write Notepads & Co.
manufactures a notebook specifically for left-handers that might fit the bill.
The covers are made from a heavy-duty kraft card stock with brass, twin-loop, spiral rings on the right side. The standard righty version is imprinted with Write Notepad’s regular logo, but the lefty line is imprinted with the likeness of Paul South. (Get it? Say it aloud, sort of drawling. Paul South…for South-paws?)
The notebooks come in two sizes, a 3 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ pocket size (just a touch bigger than index cards) and a larger 5 1/2“ x 8 1/2” version. Each notebook has 120 sheets of paper, and the company notes that the paper is “fountain-pen friendly.“ Both include a Write Notepads & Co.-printed, oversized elastic to hold the book closed, for those who want their left-leaning thoughts kept private. Both sizes are available with either blank or ruled paper, and range from $8 for the smaller notebook and $16 for a larger one.
(If you prefer their traditional “righty” version, note that the bands are white rather than red.)
AMBIDEXTROUSLY ELEGANT
Paper Doll‘s diligent research team came up empty-handed (on the right and the left) with regard to executive-quality notebooks for left-handed writers. However, Levenger’s leather Ambi-Folio does offer a nice touch for keeping up with handwritten and digital work, no matter which hand you favor.
The smooth 10 1/4″ x 13″ full-grain leather portfolio comes in black, red and saddle (a rich brown) and has sections for a top-bound writing pad as well as a tablet or e-reader.
A Levenger notepad is included, and there are right-sized pockets for loose papers, business cards, index cards, and pens (on either side, accommodating lefties and rights). A zippered closure keeps everything safe. The whole arrangement can be flipped to reverse the set up and put your writing pad on the left or right, as is preferred.
SPECIALTY STORES
Aside from the products above, another alternative is to shop online at left-handed specialty stores like Lefty’s, which carries college- and wide-ruled academic, art and speciality notebooks.
And what of Hebrew notebooks, to which I alluded earlier? I suspected that I might find quite a few international versions of notebooks designed specifically for languages written right to left. Sadly, I didn’t have a lot of luck besides elementary school notebooks. Thus, the search continues.
Scientific American reports that approximately 15% of people are left-handed. You’d think in a consumer-driven society, more office supply companies would be developing solution-oriented goodies. If you have any great sources for attractive left-friendly notebooks, please share in the comments section.
Paper Doll Post:
!eiluJ tsop taerg siht rof hcum os sknahT
For left-handed notebooks in A4/A5 sizes, check out Anything Left-Handed.
http://www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/acatalog/stationery.html
Heh. You’re very welcome, Jacki! And thanks for the across-the-pond resource.
[…] be placed on the right side as well. Professional organizer Julie Bestry has a great post about left-handed notebooks that might help lefties increase […]
Heya! Found you thru Unclutterer.
I’m left…and right…handed. (One of those ambidextrous oddballs, that does alot of things with either hand, and some things slightly better with one hand than the other–like fine cutting and sewing or handling a kitchen knife, just because of being ‘taught’ by a rightie grandmum, certain tools I use equally well, being taught by a leftie granddad and they’re non-specific.)
I -adore- my Swiss Army Knife, as it’s pretty user friendly, no matter which hand I’m using!
For writing, I find steno-notepads to be the best and cheapest option for me. Spiral at the top, lays flat and can be found just about anywhere! (And my co-workers double take when I switch hands mid-meeting? It’s worth a good laugh..)
For my home PC, I use a Logitech Performance MX mouse (very ergo and right-hand-only) and since I’m also a serious hobbyist artist, my left hand gets a 3dConexxion 3D SpaceNavigator ‘mouse’, on the other side my keyboard. Both hands are equally busy when I’m working in 3D CGI art software…and I adapted to double-handed work better, b/c of being ambidextrous! 😀
Sometimes I do run into challenges of being ambidextrous, though: I can’t think/operate like people who are only ‘one-handed’, and have to check my ‘advantage’ at the door and step back from my ‘advantage’ and let them do stuff as it works best for them, and park my frustration in neutral, because I can’t wrap my head around their ‘one-handedness’!
Since I’m a geekgrrl, let me offer some goodies for the computer needs of lefties or ambidextrous folks who lean left:
Here’s a left-handed ergo mouse: http://www.thehumansolution.com/left-hand-ergonomic-mice.html
A left-handed gaming mouse: http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-mice/razer-deathadder-left-hand-edition
Another shop for Lefties across the Pond: http://www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/ which might be helpful!
And an article from Ebay that might be of use, too:
http://www.ebay.com/gds/Top-6-Left-Handed-Mice-/10000000177678039/g.html
Hi, Kat! Thanks for finding your way over from Unclutterer, written by super-brilliant people I know in the real world (and how rare is that?) — and thanks to Jacki for sending people here.
I appreciate your tech recommendations to go along with mine for paper. Paper Doll always appreciates the digital perspective!
Where is the following note book available for purchase in San Diego, CA?
non-spiral notebooks, including the Moleskine Reporter notebooks (available in black, only). They come in two sizes, Pocket (3 1/2″ x 5 1/2″, 192 pages)
P Pieterse, thanks for reading. You would have to contact Moleskine to determine where in San Diego you could purchase the Moleskine Reporter notebook. If you scroll upward, you’ll see that I provided links to online resources, including buying it directly from Moleskine. However, because I’m a blogger and not a retailer, I don’t have access to Moleskine’s inventory in particular locations. Moleskine does have a store locator on their site; just plug in your zip code. (They show over a dozen San Diego-area retailers.) However, I’d call the store before going to find out if they have the particular item you’re seeking in stock.
As a lefty with a slight overcrook, I assure you that all of these options are bogus. A notepad that opens from the left instead of the right does absolutely NOTHING. You still have to write the English language from left to right and that spiral is still in the middle.
Also, steno pads with the top wire are god-effing-awful! You have to start half way down the page so as not to be screwed up by them.
The better alternative would be notebooks with a bottom wire.
Hi, Matt –
I’m sorry these options don’t work for you — the overcrook is definitely an additional obstacle. Each style (but not each brand) was tested by one of my left-handed adult and teen clients, and all found something to their liking, so I’d be interested to hear if you ever find something that works well for you.
I’m puzzled by the idea that the spiral is “in the middle” in either case, as I’m not familiar with many people who write in spiral notebooks with them open “book-style” as opposed to closed “tablet-style” but I’m intrigued by the idea of a bottom wire, though I know that for some clients, the elbows would graze it.
Personally, I’m not a fan of spiral notebooks at all, for lefties or for many righties, which is why I also included non-spiral options.
Thank you for reading Paper Doll and for writing your thoughts!
Here’s an ingenious solution to stop the smudging:
http://www.smudgeguard.com
I have no affiliation, just another lefty looking for solutions
Hope this helps someone! Thanks for all the notebook links.
I’ve always just flipped the notebook, or write backwards if it’s just for me. I won’t justify spending more or trying to find a specialty store because I write with my left hand. Now if someone wanted to try and read my journals I suppose they would have to go out of their way to find a mirror fair play after all.
Surely, an unmargined and importantly the same space at the top and bottom of pages would suffice??
You would think so, but sufficiency is in the eye of the beholder. Different users place different values on ease of use, convenience, cost, aesthetics, and style. A middle-aged left-handed attorney likely has very different needs and preferences from those of a 15-year-old left-handed Taylor Swift fan in high school.
A high (or even decent) quality (lined) notebook without margins is often difficult to find, and any notebook with a vertical spiral on the left creates problems for the writer intending to write on the “front” of the page.
Could the writer use the reverse page? Perhaps, but you’ll often find that the reverse page (the “left” page in a traditional notebook) has faded and less defined printing of the lines.
A top-bound notebook is always going to be preferable from an accessibility perspective, but many left-handed users still prefer a side-bound/side spiral. Hence my providing as many options as possible. And, of course, this post is from more than TEN YEARS AGO, so I’m sure there are different options available today. Perhaps I should take this as a prompt to explore left-handed notebooks again.
Thanks for reading!