Cheap But Good Notebook For School

[Joe C.]

I am in college and I'm looking for a notebook for each subject i am taking (5 classes per semester). I will be using a FP so I would like a cheap but good notebook that I can use for taking notes. I would like to have all of the notebooks to look the same (notebooks that will be readily available over the years) because when the semester is over I put them in the bookcase so I can use them as references later. Thank yall !

[Chris]

Good luck.

I don't mean to be flippant, but good paper, decent and enduring quality and low price don't go together. If you search this forum, you will find many options and many opinions but no one has yet cracked the problem.

The simplest and perhaps closest to a solution is the black and red series of hardback books, but you might find they are not for you.

 

When you find the answer, perhaps buy enough in one go to last you through the year to save having to search over again when you find the store has new stock and it is different.

 

Chris

Edited December 5, 2011 by Chris

[MackofallTrades]

I would look at the Clairtonaine notebooks at roughly 8.5" x 11"(21cm x 29.7cm). About $5 each. While I am not expert, they seem very nice.

 

Disclaimer - I am pretty new to FP's...

[Dark Side]

I use spiralbound Staples sugarcane notebooks. They also come in composition notebook form. Paper isn't as nice as Clairefontaine but I find it to be very fountain pen friendly and cheap ($1.99 each on sale).

 

If you prefer something bound, all the Kokuyo Campus notebooks that I've tried are very nice and fountain pen friendly.

 

Clairefontaine notebooks are amazing (but a bit pricier) and the clothbound should hold up nicely over a semester.

[professionaldilettante]

Good luck. I ended up resorting to 3 hole-punching lined printer paper. Even then, if it were me, I wouldn't stress holding onto those notes, as I know I've thrown boxes of them away, for the better. It's the skills that you pick up, and not how much paper one has accumulated that makes you great.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I am in college and I'm looking for a notebook for each subject i am taking (5 classes per semester). I will be using a FP so I would like a cheap but good notebook that I can use for taking notes. I would like to have all of the notebooks to look the same (notebooks that will be readily available over the years) because when the semester is over I put them in the bookcase so I can use them as references later. Thank yall !

 

 

This is a bit unusual, but stores like Dollar Tree often sell comp notebooks (for a dollar, natch) made in India.

 

The paper feels different from any other, soft and chalky, but it takes fountain pen ink surprisingly well. I already have several and I'm always on the lookout for more.

 

The problem here would be finding a cover that's not too gaudy for you (I'm guessing) which is never a problem for me.

[Joe C.]

Thanks for all the advice guys. And Proffesionaldilettante, I couldn't agree more. There is just something about having notes/journals that you can look back on "just in case". Thanks again everyone

[crunchmaster]

After Mead drastically cut the quality of their Five-Star reinforced graph paper, I resorted to printing my own for taking notes. I miss the good, old Mead paper, but the new stuff is so bad that even a 78G fine feathers like crazy--it's like newspaper. I use a Five-Star flexbinder, or notebinder, or whatever it's called--you know what I mean. Anyway, it's great: one notebook for everything, notes and handouts; starts small and doesn't get bigger than I need it to be. A friend of mine has a giant 2-3 inch three-ring binder; I guess he puts tons of blank paper in it, because I can't see using it all. I can't imagine lugging one of those things around!

 

I used to use the Mead Five-Star spiral notebooks, the ones with the canvas around the spiral rings so they slide smoothly in and out of my bag. But when I discovered the joy of graph paper for taking notes, it was an easy decision to switch. I'll never go back to lined paper!

[fast14riot]

I have been using Tops brand spiral bound single subject notebooks from Target with great success. Even my wettest, flexiest nib does well on these. I got mine on clearance right after "back to school" time for $.09 each. These ones are made in Vietnam, I don't know if they change manufacturers often, but I bought a dollars worth at that price, and $5.00 worth to give to a local elementary school. They are 70 sheets, 10.5"x8", 3 hole punched, perforated, 92 white, college ruled (wide also available), and five cover colors available.

 

 

-Xander

[celesul]

Clairefontaine is nice, but somewhat pricey. Honestly, my way of dealing with this has been to match the ink to the paper very carefully. If you use a fine nib with Noodlers Black or Noodlers X-feather, everything tends to behave well, even on bad paper. I've also had very good luck with Noodlers Kung Te-cheng. You can also sometimes pick up slightly coated paper, that makes inks bead up. In that case, Kung Te-cheng and Pilot Blue work well. If you want the freedom to use bold nibs and any ink, you'll have to either spend more money or get lucky and find one of the papers that magically work with FP and seem to never stay around for very long.

[funkypeanut]

Do you prefer spiral or stapled bindings? For spiral/wire bindings, I'd go with the Staples sugarcane notebooks someone mentioned earlier. Bagasse paper is lighter weight than wood pulp but strong and not prone to bleed through or show through. That would cut down on the weight in your book bag from carrying 5-6 notebooks plus textbooks around all day.

 

For cheap comp notebooks/staple bound, I'd suggest the Norcom composition notebooks, which I can usually find for $.40-$.75 each at Target, Walmart or some such places. But check the back of them and only get the ones made in Brazil. The ones made in Vietnam have inferior paper. The place of origin is the very last line under the UPC code.

 

I've become addicted to Staples Arc notebooks, which have the advantage of being customizable like a binder but without the bulk. The Arc paper is good, too, but they also have a punch so that I can use any paper I want. I keep one main notebook in which I have sections for various topics, and then I sort them out into separate notebooks about once a week or so. That way I only have to carry around one notebook. After thirteen years as a student and nine as a professor, I know what kind of damage a heavy book bag can do to one's body.

[JimB]

I use Staples Sustainable Earth composition books, with 100 sheets of sugar cane based papers (and are therefore ecologically friendly). The paper is sewn in a cardboard cover. I don't like the larger size, but the 9 3/4 X 7 1/2 books are great. I believe they are made in many places, but mine were made in Egypt. Highly recommended, especially at the ridiculously low prices they sell for, even when not on sale. Been using them for a year as a daily journal.

[Jon R.]

This is a bit unusual, but stores like Dollar Tree often sell comp notebooks (for a dollar, natch) made in India.

 

The paper feels different from any other, soft and chalky, but it takes fountain pen ink surprisingly well. I already have several and I'm always on the lookout for more.

 

The problem here would be finding a cover that's not too gaudy for you (I'm guessing) which is never a problem for me.

I enthusiastically endorse the Dollar Tree notebooks (and as of my writing this, in April 2014 (sic), they are still on the website). I bought a case of 24 of them, delivered to the store nearest me, and could not be happier with them. To me they feel like friends! They will certainly not be to the taste of all, or even many, on these forums, I fear, for the paper does tend to curl. But I simply will not pay the price most ready-made journals and notebooks command today, and would certainly return to making my own (I've hard-bound, sewn dozens of them) before I'll capitulate. I do like the Staples ones mentioned earlier and they are somewhat reasonable in price. The original poster may well have his or her undergraduate degree by now: Congratulations! (Me: Kansas University, BA, 1962 (yes, sixty-two).

[ac12]

If you live in the US.

Go to Staples.

Look for: notebook, spiral bound, single subject, MADE IN BRAZIL.

during the back to school sale in July/Aug it sells for 2 for $1 (50 cents each).

I think I bought about 16 of them.

They handled all but my WETTEST pens. Some pen/ink combinations will shadow a little or a lot, but I did not have any bleed through...yet.

 

BUT you MUST read the country of origin. As far as Staples or any other store is concerned, they have one SKU (Stock Keeping Unit or Internal Part Number) for the product. They don't care where it came from (USA, Mexico, Vietnam, Egypt, or Brazil) as that is not relevant to the product being sold. But to you it IS relevant.

 

The next level up in quality and price is the Sugar Cane based notebooks, then "Red and Black" notebooks.

Edited April 22, 2014 by ac12

[The Blue Knight]

No one realism yet this thread is from 3 years?

[obilot]

Clairefontaine is nice, but somewhat pricey. Honestly, my way of dealing with this has been to match the ink to the paper very carefully. If you use a fine nib with Noodlers Black or Noodlers X-feather, everything tends to behave well, even on bad paper. I've also had very good luck with Noodlers Kung Te-cheng. You can also sometimes pick up slightly coated paper, that makes inks bead up. In that case, Kung Te-cheng and Pilot Blue work well. If you want the freedom to use bold nibs and any ink, you'll have to either spend more money or get lucky and find one of the papers that magically work with FP and seem to never stay around for very long.

+1 on this, for posterity, since forum folks are a bit of a river in relation to some of these questions.

 

Nice thing about the fountain pen and handwriting world: the answers to questions remain true for awhile.

Edited December 24, 2015 by obilot