Inexpensive Notebooks For University Notes

[Sergey]

A new semester is about to start.

 

However, some of us have yet to invest in school supplies ...

 

 

Forking out the cash for a moleskine or a likeness seems wasteful and unnecessary.

 

Notebooks must be light to carry a few in a backpack at a time, yet large enough to cover a full semester's worth of notes.

 

Preservation is not a priority -- reference to said notebooks will eventually be unwarranted.

 

 

What are your favorite lined paper notebooks appropriate for a university setting?

 

 

(Further: Perhaps this topic was best suited for the discussion forum and not the review forum.)

Edited January 11, 2012 by Sergey

[ExcaliburZ]

Ampad pads always seemed the best middle ground between price, quality and paper size. What is on sale at your local store?

[countrydirt]

I am a high school agriscience teacher. I make extensive use of marble cover composition notebooks as lab notebooks-I require my students to use them. I came upon a brand at our local "almost but not quite dollar" store, Bazic made in India. The pages are quite thin, but I write almost exclusively with fountain pens or Sharpie pens. The paper doesn't feather or bleed through. It does have some show-through, but it has show-through with pencil. I paid 75 cents apiece for these notebooks.

 

I also use the Norcom comp books from Walmart. I look for the ones made in Brazil. Again, thin sheets with show through but no feathering or bleed through. I think the last batch I purchased cost 94 cents each, but you might find a sale and get them for less. Make it point to only buy the ones made in Brazil, the paper is so much better than the Vietnam version.

[torstar]

There will be 24 and higher pound lined and punched foolscap at business supply stores.

 

Some combos work great with 20 pound cheapy stuff.

 

(Quink and a Parker Centennial Duofold was a nice surprise with it.)

Edited January 11, 2012 by torstar

[professionaldilettante]

I have used reams of printer paper with lines printed by incomtech. Sure, you can have a 100 page notebook for 75 cents, but I can have 500 sheets for 2 dollars. The lines are faint, so they don't use much ink at all.

[Sergey]

I have used reams of printer paper with lines printed by incomtech. Sure, you can have a 100 page notebook for 75 cents, but I can have 500 sheets for 2 dollars. The lines are faint, so they don't use much ink at all.

 

I tried the site out, very useful. However, our office's Xerox printer didn't do a great job -- the lines were faded unevenly in random spots. Also, considering your location is Kansas City, I would appreciate any local recommendations for pen and paper shops from a fellow City of Fountains-er.

 

I appreciate the responses, everyone. I need to go shopping but the weather went bad on us here.

[mooshi]

I use the Norcom notebooks from Wal-Mart. They're easy to obtain and I do agree with looking for the ones made in Brazil. I use a fine nibs with either Noodler's BSB or Bad Blue Heron and all work phenomenal - no bleed through, some show through, but it's no matter since I use one side of the paper through the entire notebook first before flipping it over and using the reverse side.

[Bigeddie]

Hi Sergey,

 

I used Moleskines (the largest ruled soft-back) for my masters and it worked out pretty well. Using iron gall inks I probably used two across the year, that worked out at about £30 for a years notes. I'd highly recommend the A4 portfolio books, the 100gsm paper is much better for any ink I've yet tried in it.

 

Now a couple of years on I'm working on my PhD; I cannot recommend these Muji notebooks enough. I use them for everything, they show very little show-through and no bleed with any ink I've used in them. The downside is they have far fewer pages. If I were on a modular system now I'd use one of the B5 size ones for each module, I think 6 would last me an academic year. At £1.25 each that's £7.50 for the year and better paper than the moleskine.

 

I have also used Rhodia (side) staple-bound workbooks to great effect, linked review has a comparison of the paper. They are more than twice the price though.

[torstar]

Rhodia paper just doesn't work for me in putting together a binder of jottings over time.

[FPFan]

I really like the Clairefontaine loose sheet A4 sized paper. 200 Sheets regular or french ruled for $11.15 USD.

 

Takes fountain pen ink like a dream and will fit standard binder with a little over hang or get the A4 binder to go with it, in US from Writer's Bloc (no affiliation.) I've used it for 3 semesters and love it.

[Sergey]

Clairefontaine and Muji seem like interesting brands to look into. The latter seems more difficult to access here in the States, but the prior looks to be sold out on the Writer's Bloc web site. I'm gonna get some paper sooner or later!

 

I like the idea of a binder with loose sheets as it seems non-committal and reusable. For university it is perfectly acceptable to carry a binder in the backpack. When you're carrying a small bag around the city on your own, a notebook seems more appropriate.

[bogiesan]

Go to STaples or Office Depot and look in the planner/agenda section. Examine the 7-ring binders from outfits like Dayrunner, Daytimer and Franklin. The binder holds easily obtainable paper and, if you invest in one of the punches, you can easily make your own from recycled or repurposed filler paper, 8.5x11 inch sheets cut in half.

The advantages to these systems are numerous but don't become apparent until you have tried many others.

The notbook is compact.

There are literally hundreds of accessories like pockets and divider tabs.

The sheets are smaller than US letter and that means far less dense informaion on each page and that means indexing and searching the pages is far easier.

You can easily carry three or four of these notebooks if you absolutely must but it's generally easier to have one with you that contains paper stock, calendar and resources such as address book, and keep separate binders at home that contain your class-specific notes.

The 7-hole sheets will fit into half letter-sized 3-ring binders but the 3-ring filler sheets will not fit the 7-ring without an expensive punch.

 

Just my opinion after finishing by bachelor's degree forty years after finishing high school. In forty years, I had tried a lot of different notebooks planner

 

Good luck with your studies.

[Joe in Seattle]

Apica if they're still available. A Montana woman used to sell them on EBay at a good price.

[funkypeanut]

Also, considering your location is Kansas City, I would appreciate any local recommendations for pen and paper shops from a fellow City of Fountains-er.

 

The only real pen shop in the area is the Pen Place in Crown Center. I've had good luck with notebooks and paper from Creative Coldsnow, which has one shop in Westport and another at 105th & Metcalf.

[JefferyS]

I always used wide left margin paper, now referred to as Cornell Notetaking paper. You can print your own pages on an inkjet printer using the most FP friendly paper available (usually that is HP Premium). Levenger sells wide left margin paper, but it is pricey.

[publishing guy]

Rhodia and Clairefontaine don't seem like very good options for someone on a budget.

Edited January 15, 2012 by publishing guy

[Dark Side]

I use Staples sustainable earth sugarcane notebooks. They come in a couple of different formats: spiralbound, composition, and legal pad. Very fountain pen friendly and inexpensive especially during sales. I usually stock up when they're on sale for $1.49.

[torstar]

Rhodia and Clairefontaine don't seem like very good options for someone on a budget.

 

Or Moleskine.

[Shawn Ghost]

I use Staples sustainable earth sugarcane notebooks. They come in a couple of different formats: spiralbound, composition, and legal pad. Very fountain pen friendly and inexpensive especially during sales. I usually stock up when they're on sale for $1.49.

 

+1 for the Staples Sustainable Earth notebooks. I am starting school in 8 days and tried one out, well, the next day I placed an online order for 5 more. You can't do wrong by going with those sugarcane notebooks. They also make plain binder filler paper and while they didn't really bleed through too terribly much, there was definitely some heavy ghosting on the other side. Seems like the spiral binder versions have a slightly thicker paper. I've tested them with Noodler's Bullet-Proof Black, Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo and Noodler's Antietam with both an Edison Collier Fine nib as well as a Lamy Safari EF nib. No problems at all. Depending on how picky you are, you may or may not decide to write on only 1 side, which I do anyway. If only I could get spiral bound or even cloth bound notebooks with my HP Choice 32lb. laser paper, I'd be a happy man. I just don't like printing my own lined paper since I may need to turn some of these papers into the professors.

[ParkerBeta]

Target sells some inexpensive composition books by a brand called Greenroom. I believe the pages are made of recycled paper, but they look very good -- a light cream color. There is a post on FPN by someone who found heavy bleed-through with several inks, but my experience with an F nib and Parker Quink blue (from a cartridge) showed only mild ghosting, not enough to be called bleed-through. Perhaps the quality of the paper is variable across batches. Still, they are quite inexpensive and look great, so if you can find one with paper that is FP friendly, it might be a good way to go.