Archive for ‘Office Supplies’ Category
Paper Doll Gets Hooked on GeckoTech and Meets a Spy: A Shoplet Review
Periodically Paper Doll reviews new and established office supplies and accessories through the Shoplet Product Review Program.
A few years ago, I wrote the post If It Quacks Like a Duck Then It Might Be a Zebra, a Shoplet review of wackily-patterned Duck®-brand tape. Today, we’re looking at a different kind of quacker, a gecko that thinks it’s a duck.
HOOKING UP THE USUAL SUSPECTS
We professional organizers like to recommend vertical storage because it makes efficient use of otherwise underutilized empty wall/door/cabinet space. For example, we’ve previously talked about vertical file storage options that let you make use of walls in office, cubicles and even hotels. But sometimes you don’t need a big, fancy organizing tool. Sometimes, to hang a backpack or a coat, car keys or a flash drive, a nice hook will do.
When we talk about hanging things on hooks, we usually consider four solutions: nails, suction cups, adhesive-backed hooks, and 3M’s Command®-brand. Each has advantages and drawbacks:
- Nails are inexpensive — you can get a pound of them for about $3. But you also have to have a stud-finder to make sure you aren’t hammering that nail into a random piece of sheet rock, and a nail is a rather permanent solution to what might be a temporary need, especially if you’re a renter (or you redo your décor with any frequency).
- Suction cups with hooks on them seem like a great idea at first. We use them to hang squeegees and soaps-on-ropes in the shower and rainbow-glass knickknacks on our windows. But we don’t use them for heavy-duty stuff because experience tells us that the minute a suction cup gets lint-y or dusty, it pops off the window or wall.
- Plastic hooks with adhesive backing are fairly easy to place — they come with the spongy adhesive tab already affixed to the hook, and you just have to figure out where to plant it, and then remove the backing from the other side and stick it! But woe onto you if you put too much weight on a plastic hook or ever want to remove it. Chances are good that your paint job will be ruined or the spongy-sticky adhesive residue will stay behind. Good luck getting your security deposit back!
- Command®-brand hooks are great! They’re relatively easy to put in place, and are easily removed without damage to whatever surface you select. And let’s face it, they’ll hold anything, for just about forever. It’s usually my go-to option. However, although the hooks themselves are reusable, after you use up the original and spare adhesive tabs, you have to buy more.
Hence, today’s products for review. I received two: one three-pound and one five-pound capacity new breed of Reusable Hook.
THE BASICS
GeckoTech Reusable Hooks are different. No nails. No gummy adhesive. No complicated directions. And while yes, they use suction, this is not your bathtub squeegee/rainbow prism-holding suction cup.
The GeckoTech Reusable Hooks come in four weight-bearing capacities and in five packaging varieties:
- Four hooks per package, each with up to 1/2-pound (.22 kg) capacity
- Two hooks per package, each with up to one pound (.45 kg) capacity
- One hook per package, each with up to three pounds (1.3 kg) capacity
- Two hooks per packages, each with up to 3 pounds (1.3 kg) capacity
- One hook, each with up to five pounds (2.3 kg) capacity
Each hook has a large, flat, smooth, transparent surface backing from which the small, plastic hook protrudes. The backing is flexible, and while the front feels smooth, the reverse, the part that is flush with the wall or other vertical surface, is covered with itty-bitty, teeny-weeny micro-suction, invisible thingies and feels kind of gummy, though it leaves no residue.
It’s also waterproof!
GeckoTech Reusable Hooks adhere to painted surfaces that can resist stains and are easy to clean — so, not textured or matte-finish surfaces. But it also works on plasterboard, glass, laminate, stainless steel and other smooth, hard, non-porous surfaces. They don’t recommend using it on wallpaper or textured surfaces — like the bumpy, stucko-like walls of Paper Doll HQ. (You should also avoid surfaces that are “dirty, uneven, peeling or coarse.” No surprises there, eh?)
GeckoTech Reusable Hooks run between $3.42 and $4.50 per package.
HOW GECKOTECH “INSTALLS”
Using the GeckoTech Reusable Hooks is pretty easy, even for the all-thumbs brigade at Paper Doll HQ:
- Clean the vertical surface with rubbing alcohol and allow to dry.
- Affix the GeckoTech to the vertical surface and use your fingers to push out any air bubbles. Wait an hour.
- Hang your stuff.
The packaging also advises to apply hooks when the surface temperature is between 40°F and 100°F, so no trying this in Buffalo garages when you’re bored at home on a snow day, OK?
GeckoTech claims to be “over-engineered” to hold more than the weight capacity listed for any given size, so the weight on the label seems like a safe limit to which you should adhere.
It’s right in the name — the product is removable. So, put it too high, or too low, or decide three months later that you’re packing up and moving to Miami to get away from harsh winters, and you can remove it with no muss, no fuss, and no damage. And then you can put it up somewhere else!
HOW GECKOTECH “UN-INSTALLS”
Peel off corner of the backing and lift it from the wall. That’s all!
OK, that’s not entirely all. If the GeckoTech hook has been up for more than 30 days, the packaging advises blowing a hair dryer at the hook to warm it for a moment before removing. That really is all.
HOW GECKOTECH “RE-INSTALLS”
Wash the hook with warm, soapy water. Let it air dry. Reuse.
GECKOTECH VS. THE OTHER GUYS
So how do the GeckoTech Reusable Hooks stack up against the other methods we’ve considered?
From the other reviews I’ve seen, as well as the promises on the packaging, the micro-suction that the backing doohickey creates means there’s no damage to the surface left behind, and no residue. So, that knocks nails and those plastic, sticky-backed hooks out of contention.
The promised weight-bearing seems accurate, so unlike the rainbow-prism colored glass suction-cup hook on the glass balcony door at Casa Paper Doll (the one that pops off the glass about once a month), this gecko stays stuck.
I only tried hanging a few household items (below), but from the looks of it on Pinterest, the GeckoTech Reusable Hooks work for corralling everything from pot lids on the inside of kitchen cabinets to holiday decorations on the mantel to the inside of a school or gym locker.
I’d say GeckoTech is pretty on-par with my beloved Command®-brand hooks for sticktoitiveness, and because GeckoTech is waterproof and lays flat against the vertical surface, it has a few added advantages — you can use these hooks in the shower without worry about soap-scum build-up.
THE VERDICT
I really did enjoy my chance to try out the GeckoTech. I liked that it was smooth and flat against any vertical surface. There’s no way for dust or schmutz to get in behind the hook, so you don’t have to worry about aerosolized oil in the kitchen (not that Paper Doll cooks) or stray yuckiness. You can remove, clean and re-apply these hooks at any time.
I also liked that because they are transparent, you don’t have to worry about color clashes in upscale rooms. Are these hooks gorgeous? No, but except for comparing them with the fanciest of Command®-brand hooks (like the brushed nickel types), this gecko is unobtrusive.
But there were some shortcomings. The maximum weight the strongest of these babies can handle is only five pounds, and that’s just not enough for a full backpack, or a workout bag with two-pound weights, or most purses. (Paper Doll‘s purse, below, is 3 pounds, shown hanging from a five-pound GeckoTech hook.)
The GeckoTech worked fine holding a curling iron by its hanging loop, but although my fancy hair dryer is under two pounds, I didn’t quite feel confident to hang it from the three-pound hook, even for a test. (User flaw rather than product flaw, perhaps?)
GeckoTech is a win, in general, but I’d like to see even bigger ones with more weight-bearing capacity. I’m not sure at what point structural integrity would hamper this simple design, but I’d be eager to see the line expand.
007 HAS NOTHING ON HP260
The other item Shoplet provided for my review was Duck®-brand HP260 High Performance Packing Tape with a built-in dispenser. As I’ve already reviewed Duck®-brand packaging tape, I wasn’t sure what could be new. It’s still clear (“crystal clear,” the packaging reports) and yes, the 3.1mm wide tape is suitable for all of “your shipping and storage needs.” But it’s packing tape — there are only two kinds, good and lousy, and Duck® makes good tape. So what else?
I read on about the tape’s aggressive acrylic adhesive being superior for wide temperature application: “HP260 features a wide temperature range performance and is resistant to ultraviolet rays which eliminates yellowing and increases shelf life.“ I only had the tape here for a little over a week, and the temperature inside Paper Doll HQ is generally fixed between 68° and 72°. As I didn’t think to have a box shipped from Boston to Bali, I’ll have to take Shoplet and Duck® at their word. But there was one more thing.
HP260 is billed as WHISPER QUIET — and it is! Have you ever noticed how packaging tape is usually pretty squeaky? I don’t know what they’ve done to make this ninja-caliber silent, but it’s completely squeak-free. And you don’t have to take my word for it:
This spy-rated tape comes in 22.2-yard single rolls for $2.77 and multi-packs.
FINAL WORDS
GeckoTech Reusable Hooks and Duck®-brand HP260 High Performance Packaging Tape are available directly from Shoplet, which also carries business promotional products and maintains a (literally and figuratively) colorful blog about cool office supplies. In addition to selling office supplies in North America, Shoplet is a purveyor of office stationery in the UK.
Disclosure: I received these products for review purposes only, and was given no monetary compensation. The opinions, as always, are my own. (Who else would claim them?)
Lightening Up With HP’s EcoFFICIENT™ Paper: A Shoplet Review Post
Periodically Paper Doll reviews new and established office supplies and accessories through the Shoplet Product Review Program.
In the past, I’ve reviewed pens, decorative tape, clipboards and desktop organizers, in posts as varied as Paper Doll Puts Pen To Paper, If It Quacks Like a Duck, Then It Might Be a Zebra, and Organize With Clipboards & Desktop Caddies. However, today is the first time that Paper Doll has been called upon to review actual paper!
THE BASICS
I received two identical trial packs of HP’s new EcoFFICIENT™ Paper from the HP Everyday Papers line, with 50 sheets in each package. The Paper Doll Product Evaluation Team for this review was comprised of myself and a discerning client, using one incredibly stripped-down, basic printer (my own) and her fancy-schmancy printer/copier/scanner/fax/cappuccino maker/hair dryer. (OK, maybe client’s machine just seems exotic by comparison with mine.)
Like typical copy paper, the HP EcoFFICIENT™ paper is 8 1/2″ x 11″ and white. The stats are as follows:
Weight: 16 pound paper (Reviewing my client’s stockpile and my own, it appears we both usually use 20 pound paper.)
Brightness: 92 (My most recently used paper was 88; my client was using 92.)
Whiteness: 155 (My usual was only 125; my client’s stack didn’t reference whiteness.)
And, as you’d expect, the EcoFFICIENT™ is Certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
THE CLAIMS
HP’s packaging blurb touts that the EcoFFICIENT™ paper prints more efficiently. The basis for these claims? It fits up to 125 more sheets in a printer tray for less refilling, takes up less space to store, and weighs less, so it’s easier to carry. Taking these issues one at a time:
Less refilling! Tastes Great! (Oh, wait, that’s not what they meant.): Well, yeah. You’ll be refilling a stack of (say) 200 sheets 20% more often with the unbearably chubby paper you’ve been using all along than with this svelte version.
Less storage space needed: Yup. The paper is flatter, so you can store more in the same space (or, if space is at a premium, store the same amount in a more compact space).
Weighs less: To me, this is the major advantage. Paper Doll may be a verbal and organizational powerhouse, but I have weak, wimpy wrists. A ream of paper, let alone two, can be heavy. Even if I weren’t too frugal to buy a whole case of paper at once, I still wouldn’t be able to carry it to my car and schlep it up a flight of stairs. A ream at a time, as it is, is hefty enough. EcoFFICIENT™ is definitely lighter.
HP reports the EcoFFICIENT™ runs 625 sheets per ream (instead of the typical 500). Using a digital food-grade scale, which I am sure is not at all scientifically accurate for my Ms. Wizard-ing, I found that HP wasn’t fibbing that this paper is 20% lighter weight compared to standard copy paper.
So far so good.
THE FINDINGS
The first thing I noticed, before opening the packages, was that the label said there were 50 sheets to each trial pack. I was dubious — it looked more like 25. I’ve been loading printers and copy machines since dinosaurs roamed the Earth, so I know what 50 sheets of paper looks (and feels) like. And this wasn’t it. Was this going to be like that old AirMail onion-skin paper on which my third grade pen-pal sent me letters about her fascinating life in Europe, circa 1975?
HP’s packaging promised the paper would provide “consistent quality and high reliability at a greater value with ultra white shade for brighter, sharper, text and colors.“ So, we put that to the test.
We stacked the printer tray and printed off all the ridiculous pages of a recent Comcast/Xfinity online bill. Our findings?
- The paper is sufficiently bright and white (though, to borrow from the cosmetics language women’s magazines use to describe foundation and blush, we found it to have a more bluish undertone, vs. traditional paper’s more yellow undertone).
- The paper is thin, but not appreciably more easily torn.
- The ink didn’t smudge or bleed.
- The text is as sharp as we’d expect to see on traditional weight paper, though (as with the paper’s brightness/whiteness) my photographic skills may leave that in doubt.
Note: the above-pictured, extremely wordy “Important Notices” page was printed double-sided, and unless you hold the paper directly up to a light bulb, it’s fairly easy to read without the reverse-side text image bleeding through.
However, the same can’t be said about our next experiment, when we printed the double-sided version of the last few pages of the bill, with a full-color SEC/ESPN logo ad on the reverse of a fairly blank page.
- We saw serious image bleed-through with color printing and double-sided pages.
I should note, HP’s packaging for the EcoFFICIENT™ paper deems it “suitable for printing everyday internal documents, drafts and copies.” So, you’d still want to go for the high-end stuff for presentation papers, and Paper Doll suggests not printing double-sided color pages, which, depending on your printing needs, may reduce the sought-after efficiency.
THE TECH LINGO
HP says that the EcoFFICIENT™ Paper is designed for use with HP EcoSMART thin and lightweight paper-compatible multifunction printers and copiers. The packaging states:
For optimum efficiency with your HP EcoSMART printer, select EcoSMART Lite or EcoFFICIENT, when choosing print mode. For all other printers and copiers, choose thin or lightweight paper printer setting. Refer to your owner’s manual for paper compatibility and appropriate printer settings.
When did printers get so complicated?
Also, is it just me, or doesn’t it seem like they lightened the weight of the whole package by getting rid of an E in the word “efficient” to make it EcoFFICIENT™? Who knew an E could be so heavy?
HP EcoFFICIENT™ Paper is available directly from Shoplet, which also maintains a (literally and figuratively) colorful blog about cool office supplies. Shoplet also carries business promotional products and medical supplies. In addition to selling office supplies in North America, Shoplet is a purveyor of office stationery in the UK.
Disclosure: I received these products for review purposes only, and was given no monetary compensation. The opinions, as always, are my own. (Who else would claim them?)
Paper Doll’s Campus Tour: Organize Your College Life
Paper Doll is old enough to remember the excitement that the August back-to-school issue of Seventeen Magazine would bring. I especially loved the articles about preparing for college.
Long before I was ready to go to college, I couldn’t wait to get organized to go to college. And by the summer between graduation and going off to school, it seemed like Paper Mommy and I comparison-shopped every possible dorm room item, as if we were setting up a color-coordinated magazine spread for Dorm Room Beautiful!
Over the years, I’ve offered a lot of advice about preparing for college. Elsewhere on my site, I’ve written articles like Organizing Your College Search and Application Process and Organize Your Dorm Room. A search of the Paper Doll blog for the tag “Notes and Notebooks” examines options for the right note-taking solutions and resources, and the blog covered Textbook Rentals: How to Avoid College Textbook Clutter as early as 2009, and then in again in 2010, and looked at 11 Tips for Beating the High Cost of Textbooks in 2012.
Today’s entry offers up some of Paper Doll‘s favorite items and venues for organizing college life.
QUIRKY
Pivot Power — this flexible power strip and surge protector from Quirky comes in a few versions: junior, with three outlets, as well as six-outlet versions in traditional black, white with blue, and various colors in the POP line. This full-sized pink POP Pivot (say that three times fast!) runs about $20.
Bend the Pivot to accommodate hairpin dorm room turns, large chargers and inconveniently-placed furniture.
SMEAD CAMPUS.ORG
We’ve already talked about the Vertical Step Index Expanding File and the
Organized Up™ Vertical Stadium File when we looked at NAPO2014: Our Friends at Smead Are on the Up and Up!, and we’ve covered the Organized Up™ folders, which have dual tabs for easy storage in backbacks and when traditionally filed. But be sure to check out other backpack-friendly vertical school supplies in that same line. I’m particularly fond of poly folders, as they won’t rip or get wrinkled with overuse, and seem like a step up from the paper subject folders prevalent in middle and high school.
For example, there’s the Poly Backpack Folder.
These upright folders are designed to hold one subject at a time, and the fold-over flap keeps your syllabus and handouts secure. The flap is straight-cut, so it can be tucked or untucked (like college shirts after the Freshman Fifteen take hold) and each Poly Backpack folder will hold up to 100 sheets and run about $1.29 at Amazon and elsewhere.
Smead’s Campus.org line also includes the similar Poly Backpack Organizer. Each of the three pockets will hold up to 50 sheets. (For those who are still fond of paper over poly, both products are available in 11-point textured paper stock, as well as poly.) You can find the organizers for about $5 each.
CAMPUS CANDY
Paper Doll perennial faves Office Candy have a whole line for fashionable college students to get their organizational groove on. Collegiate-themed Campus Candy has the same philosophy as its older sibling — if your organizing resources are appealing, you’ll be more likely to use them to keep yourself orderly.
From Kate Spade storage boxes ($52 for a set of three sturdy, patterned boxes with gold foil accents and gold foil ID labels)
to a plethora of Lily Pulitzer agendas, spiral notebooks, water bottles, desk sets and more, Campus Candy offers decorative sweets.
BATTLE OF THE BACKPACKS
I’ll admit, in my day, when dinosaurs roamed the campus, backpacks were pretty basic. One large interior pocket, one smaller, zipped exterior pocket, and if you were lucky, padded straps. As far as I can recall, bottle water (let alone mesh pockets for water bottles) wasn’t even a thing yet. Now, students have an embarrassment of stuff-schlepping riches from which to choose.
Cocoon Innovations, makers of the Grid-It! (in all of its various incarnations), has always been a Paper Doll all-star. I think college-bound students should be considering a variety of Grid-It! resources, from the standard Grid-It! Organizers (Medium shown here, 10 1/2″ x 7 1/2″, $18, available in red, blue and black)
to the Grid-It! Wraps for tablets (in black, grey and red) for $30.
But the backpacks have taken the game up a notch — and while the Central Park Professional Backpack (designed to hold a 17″ laptop) is definitely practical and stylish, the Cocoon Slim Backpack (able to hold up to a 15″ MacBook Pro) has everything a college student might need to make it from breakfast to bedtime without a moment’s clutter kerfuffle.
The slim has a padded compartment for a laptop as well as a separate iPad compartment, and a built-in 16″ x 10 1/2″ GRID-IT! front pocket. There’s an interior document section, and an exterior zippered compartment for more storage. The whole interior is lined in faux suede to buffer the high-tech gadgets, and the exterior features water-resistant ballistic nylon, waterproof zippers, and gun-metal hardware. Ridiculously organized and durable, but also sleek, when fully packed, it’s still only 3 1/2″ deep:
And it’s only $79! I’d always thought that if I were going back to college, I couldn’t find anything more perfect for me than my Züca bag combined with a Grid-It for all my chargers and gadgets, but the Slim is mighty tempting.
Of course, if you (or your college-bound student) want a similarly lean alternative but with a little more minimalist cachet, the Evernote-branded, French-designed Côte & Ciel Flat Backpack may fit the bill. The high performance, dark grey EcoYarn exterior is tough but attractive
in that oh-so-Old-World, “Oh, this old thing?” manner, and the three interior pouches will accommodate a 13″ or 15″ laptop, a tablet and stacks of papers, all in under 4″ of depth. The price, however, is a not-so-slender $180!
RISE UP FOR SWEET DREAMS AND LATE NIGHT STUDYING
Most college students can adequately outfit themselves for campus survival without ever leaving their nearest Big Box store plaza. For example, Power Bed Risers, like these from Bed, Bath and Beyond, serve two purposes: superior storage and increased available outlets.
A set for four, for $30, raises a dorm room bed 7″ from the floor, allowing for more ample storage of lidded tubs (for extra supplies and off-season clothing) without cluttering the room. Additionally, one riser in each set includes twin 110-volt, 15-amp grounded power outlets and twin USB 5-volt DC outlets with a charging light, so you can make sure everything from phones to Fitbits, iPads to (probably still contraband) toaster ovens will be ready when the need arises.
BACK TO BASICS
Finally, there’s something to be said for the basics. College students have put milk crates to use as bookshelves, open armoires for clothing, fridge-top food storage, filing boxes, chairs, dining tables and more for about half a century.
Nowadays, they’re designed primarily for files, not wholesome dairy products, and have hanging file rails running along the interior in both directions to corral letter- or legal-sized files.
For between $4 and $6 each at Walmart, Target or Staples, you can grab two or three plastic milk crates in mix-and-match colors, pack and stack them with minimal fuss and cost, and maximize the organization in your postage stamp-sized castle. It’s academic.
And by the way, Seventeen Magazine is still offering advice on what to bring to college.
Magnetic Attraction Deferred: The MAGNOTE Notebook
When you think about using magnets to get organized, is the first thing that comes to your mind something like a dental appointment card stuck to the refrigerator with a novelty magnet? Me, too.
So I was surprised recently to hear about a Kickstarter campaign for a magnetic option for organizing handwritten materials.
THE MAGNOTE
The MAGNOTE Magnetic Notebook, from Orange Monkie, takes a page (pardon the pun) out of the playbook for tablet/keyboard combinations like the Surface and my newly beloved iPad + Logitech wireless keyboard set-up. Magnets hold things together — at least until you want to pull them apart. The MAGNOTE applies the same principle to keeping your paper notebooks together.
The neodymium magnets sound like something out of Star Trek, but have a nifty, streamlined appeal. If you’ve never used a bluetooth tablet keyboard/cover, it’s hard to explain the giddiness you experience with that first tidy, joyous click into place, but this image may indicate how cool it is.
Keeping the notebooks you need (for the day, for a study session, etc.) all together without a giant elastic or a backpack is pretty cool, and, as this fun little video indicates, keeping your notebook visible yet out of the way is as easy as tossing it in the direction of your fridge or metal dorm room door!
However, to be honest, the magnets aren’t even the most interesting thing about MAGNOTE. But let’s start with the basics.
THE DESIGN
At 5.3″ wide by 7.7″ high, the MAGNOTE notebooks can be held in one hand.
Each notebook has a bound cover that lays flat when open without risking the structural integrity of the spine. So, if you want to draw or write across the center dividing line of two pages, you can do so with confidence.
The planned paper stock is fountain-pen friendly, which is a boon for many of the types of users who prefer fancy Moleskine-like notebooks over composition books and legal pads.
THE TIME CIRCLE and LINE-LESS MONTHS
MAGNOTE’s minimalist approach is especially intriguing when you look at the daily planner style. Rather than traditional hour-by-hour lined grids stacking up the hours of the day like so much firewood, the MAGNOTE envisions daily life centered around an analog clockface.
Each daily planner page has one simple circle with the day of the month in the middle. It all starts with the premise of the Time Circle, allowing for more free-flowing visualization of the high-, medium- and low-activity zones in the day. You’ll want to look at the Kickstarter page to get an in-depth sense of how these times blend together to get one twenty-four hour plan for a twelve-hour clock, but you can see, below, how chunks of dayparts can be assigned.
To plan your own day, you work your way around the circle, with mind-map style lines out from the hours of the day to when you’ve scheduled fixed appointments and planned work blocks. (Well, not blocks. They’re more like floating clouds.) The bottom of the page provides ample room for notes.
Paper Doll is a little too linear to use the Time Circle comfortably, but for those who don’t see their day like layered stacks, this might provide some fresh air for time management and planning.
The monthly planner is equally minimalist. There aren’t even boxes or squares to indicate days. Alternating weeks are slightly shaded, to provide contrast, the months are numbered and not even named, and each day has the date noted.
Otherwise, the calendar page is left for the user to design, adding details and grouping projects by parts of the week or days of the month. You can definitely imagine some people adding serious color-coding to get the look that works for them.
BOXING IT UP
Orange Monkie’s original plan was for five colors, each representing one style of the MAGNOTE notebook.
Going left to right, the colors and styles of each 64-page notebook were envisioned as follows:
- Red: MagPlanner Monthly (two-year planner)
- Burgundy: MagPlanner Daily (two-month planner)
- Grey: Magnote Plain (plain pages, front-and-back, suitable for sketching, mind-mapping, free-form note-taking and any visual creativity you have in mind)
- Blue: Magnote Ruled (lined pages, with lines falling every 8mm)
- Brown: Magnote Grid (graphed pages, suitable for scale drawing, room design or math problems)
The whole kit and caboodle (sets of multiple notebooks, in whatever colors are preferred) fits in a diagonally-cut box cover, so you can display your notebooks (or not) tidily.
See it in motion:
The Kickstarter campaign’s initial pricing was set as:
- Early Bird pricing: any four notebooks/planners of the five for $39 (limited to the first 250 funders)
- Notebooks sets (Plain, Ruled, Grid), select 3/$29, 6/$47 or 10/$72
- Planner sets (planners or notebooks), select 4/$43, 6/$59 or 10/$88
The price, which initially seemed high, doesn’t compare unfavorably with the cost of Field Notes and soft-cover Moleskines, for those with a more refined notebook palate. But committing to the MAGNOTE would mean settling for only one size of notebook, which may be a deal-breaker for some users, no matter how magnetic the attraction.
MAGNETS ATTRACT, MANUFACTURING DISSATISFACTION REPELS
When I started researching this post, the Kickstarter Project for MAGNOTE had already reached 80% of its funding goal in under a week. Eventually, it hit $33,804 of a $35,000 funding goal — it was there, baby! But then, early last month, something funny happened. Orange Monkie wasn’t satisfied enough with the manufacturing process quality, did more research, and found a better company for mass production, one that would allow for even more exciting features, like refillable notebooks!
While this change of direction is a positive thing, doing it mid-Kickstarter meant they’d have to change the backer rewards, and redesigning the prototype for new options meant delaying the estimated delivery date. I think it took a lot of moxie for Orange Monkie to halt an almost fully funded campaign to basically say, “Wait, we trust our product, and we want you to trust it, so let’s drop this campaign, and we’ll meet you back here for a relaunch when we’re shiny and new!”
So, although it’s rare that I share a product that’s not-ready-for-Prime-Time, I encourage you to keep an eye on this concept. Until then, you can review some favorite Paper Doll posts to help you find your ideal notebook:
- 5 Key Points for Organizing With Notebooks
- Notions on Notebooks: Organize Your Paper Picks
- Paper Doll Writes Between the Raindrops: Waterproof Notebooks
- An Organized Hybrid: The Evernote Smart Notebook By Moleskine
- Organize Your Writing Right — With Left-Handed Notebooks
- Customizable Notebooks: Have It Your Way…Sorta
- It’s a Notebook! It’s a Whiteboard!: 3 Dry-Erase Notebook Innovations
- From Paper to the Cloud: Ampad Shot Note
- NAPO2014: Notetaking and Pendaflex/TOPS’ FocusNotes™
NAPO2014: Just in Case? LifeinCase™
Chances are good that you’ve had reason to worry — at some point in your life — about evacuating your home or town in an emergency. Maybe it’s been a random conversation with your kindergartener about why you have fire drills at school but not at home, or you’ve read the federal government’s Ready.gov pages on emergency preparedness and wondered how you measure up. Or maybe you’ve had actual experience with floods or hurricanes, and don’t ever want to be caught unprepared for getting all your documents together.
Longtime readers know that Paper Doll advises having all of your VIPs (Very Important Papers) tucked safely away, as we’ve discussed in:
- Top 10 Vital Documents — Do You Know Where Your VIPs Are?
- More VIPs — Very Important Papers Beyond the Top 10
- Safeguard Your Very Important Papers: Safe Deposit Box Basics
- The Ultimate Treasure Map: Creating a Document Inventory
The truth is, whether you keep your most important documents in your safe deposit box, in a fire-proof safe, in your filing cabinet or even your deep freezer, you still need to deal with the following issues:
- Do you actually possess all of the documents you might need?
- Are all your documents accessible?
- Are they portable — and quickly — in case of emergency?
To ensure that you have all the documents you need, you can (and should) refer to posts and articles like those to which I’ve linked above. But knowing you ought to do something doesn’t always mean it gets accomplished.
With regard to accessibility, keeping documents (originals, or more likely certified copies) at home means that you don’t have to worry about the bridge between you and your bank’s safe deposit box being washed out when you need to show vital documents to your insurance agent. But even if your papers are at home, are they always protected (from theft and from the elements)? And what do you do when you travel, or especially if you travel frequently?
As much as I love clients being able to have a tidy VIP section in the legal area of their Family Files, in a dire emergency, you may not have the time or focus to search and find everything before you go. That’s why I was intrigued to see a new product at this year’s NAPO Expo that focuses, not just on another kind of filing system, but on easily maintaining and safekeeping vital documents.
LIFE IN CASE™ — THE BASICS
LifeinCase™ didn’t merely exhibit at the NAPO Expo. It won the prestigious 2014 NAPO Organizers’ Choice Award for Best Solution for Organizing Information at Home. Let’s see why.
Each LifeinCase™ features:
- A portable case: The poly, briefcase-style tote is lightweight but durable and water-resistant. It’s not going to act as a flotation device in case of a water landing, but it’s going to keep your documents relatively dry and safe if you’re escaping amid the harsher elements. The lid clasps shut with Velcro, so unlike three-ring binders which might fly open in brisk wind, documents are safe.
- A 5-folder system: LifeinCase™ has a poly folder for each of what the creators consider the five main categories of documents you’re likely to need in an emergency: Personal, Financial, Medical, Estate, and Property.
- Handy checklists: On the exterior of each folder, there’s a printed checklist of 10 essential documents to keep within that folder.
- 500 Sheet Capacity: The sturdy tote holds up to 500 pages, plus the folders. This is built to be a self-limiting system, so you keep storage to a minimum (of just the vital documents) and keep clutter at bay. This isn’t for all of your papers — just the papers you’d need in an emergency.
- Grab & Go: The LifeinCase™ tote can travel with you or be stored in a personal safe. Relocating? Let the movers take your locked filing cabinet, but keep your vital documents private and safely with you.
Also, for those who need or want to maintain access to certain cloud-based documents, LifeinCase™ has partnered with MobilLogic (about which, we’ve written previously), so individuals and companies can match up the paper files outlined in the LifeinCase™ checklists with personal or business systems, including electronic data.
THE FIVE CATEGORIES
For a little more detail on the categories and each folder’s checklists:
The personal category focuses on the essential VIPs specific to you, personally. These would be your birth certificate, copies of your passport and Social Security card, citizenship papers, military documents, etc.
The financial category limits itself to just the essentials you might need if you were displaced and needed to temporarily rebuild your world — such as after a community evacuation. These might include a copy of your most recent income tax return, a list of your credit cards (or, as Paper Doll recommends, a photocopy of the front and rear of all of the contents of your wallet), copies of stock and bond certificates (or at least their numbers and pertinent information), loan and credit contracts, etc.
The property category includes, as you might expect, property titles (for real estate, vehicles, boats, and whatever other real property you own), lists and details for any current mortgage, loan or lien documents, as well as a copy of tax assessment notices, purchase contracts, and records of capital improvements, in case they’re needed for insurance or tax purposes after structural damage.
The medical section would include contact information regarding whom to notify in case of emergency, health insurance information, a list of names and contact information for physicians and other healthcare providers, a documented history of medical conditions, and more.
Estate documents might include names and contact information for attorneys and estate executors, a signed copy of any wills or trusts, and copies of life insurance policies, including contact information for associated agents.
LIFEINCASE™ VERSIONS
In addition to the original LifeinCase™ green-on-frosty-white option, there are military-branded versions for members of U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard.
THE STORY OF LIFEINCASE™
LifeinCase™ was developed by New Englanders Diane Hoyle-Moran and Mark Gibson. For more about the development of LifeinCase™, watch this recent interview with Diane on the Military Shopping Channel.
And below, a picture of Diane and her co-developer, Mark, clearly enjoying the NAPO Expo.
FOR WHOM IS LIFEINCASE™ DESIGNED?
LifeinCase™ probably isn’t for those of you who already have an intricate and organized document system set up, with myriad backups in place. But if you’re not sure what documents you have, or where you have them, or you (or someone you love) may not be the type to independently put these documents in order, LifeinCase™ gives you a swift kick in the rear for getting started and a little hand-holding to get you through to the end of the process. The checklists give the user the opportunity to say, “Hey, I don’t know where this document is — I’d better go look for it!” or, in the case of some document types (like estate paperwork), “Hey, I don’t even have this kind of document. I’d better make a call to set some important steps in motion!”
This would make a particularly great gift for new graduates, young(ish) newlyweds, members of the military, frequent travelers, and others who might not otherwise have the inspiration (or information) necessary to get started on organizing vital documents on their own.
LifeinCase™ is priced at $34.99 for the original and military versions, and is available at bulk discounts, so you’d save 15% off two cases, 23% off 3-8 cases, or 35% off nine or more cases.
However you organize your essential paperwork to make it accessible in case of emergency, the most important part is that you get started. Just in case.
BONUS UPDATE
LifeinCase™ has provided coupon codes for Paper Doll readers! When you order your LifeInCase™ systems, use the following codes:
BESTRESULTS for a 10% discount on the original green LifeinCase™ kits
BESTRESULTSUSA for a 15% discount on the Military Design LifeinCase™ kits
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