I'm A Sad, Pathetic Stationery Junkie.

[AmandaW]

Christmas in July. That's a thing!

[Misfit]

Hey, that’s so true. Maybe the Milligram order will take time to get here, and either show up in July, or close to it so I can stand the wait. 

[AmandaW]

I Had a closer look at the Milligram sale too... an extra 20% off the things in their Outlet is too good to ignore. I found some Rhodia A5 pads and a Kaweco Short Special pencil.

[Misfit]

Oh cool! I’m glad Smug let us know about it. 

[Chimera01]

Have just purchased pretty much the entire set of Iroshizuku inks from Plaza Japan for around £8 a bottle. Even with shipping - paid for the slightly pricier DHL as they're just better where we live - came to easily under £10 a bottle landed. Did it in a couple of lots keeping it under £135 (including shipping) and no problems with customs whilst using DHL. 

 

Considering these cost between £20-£35 here in the UK feels like a complete score! Well packaged and new stock, so if anybody else wants to give it a go I can recommend  

[Gloucesterman]

2 hours ago, Chimera01 said:

Have just purchased pretty much the entire set of Iroshizuku inks from Plaza Japan for around £8 a bottle. Even with shipping - paid for the slightly pricier DHL as they're just better where we live - came to easily under £10 a bottle landed. Did it in a couple of lots keeping it under £135 (including shipping) and no problems with customs whilst using DHL. 

 

Considering these cost between £20-£35 here in the UK feels like a complete score! Well packaged and new stock, so if anybody else wants to give it a go I can recommend  

You may want to post a link rather than have people do separate searches...

Just MHO

And thanks. that sounds like a spectacular deal.

Wish I needed ink AND I Don't, AND I Don't, AND I Don't, AND I Really Don't!

[A Smug Dill]

45 minutes ago, Gloucesterman said:

You may want to post a link rather than have people do separate searches...

Just MHO

 

What would he/she want to do that, though? I know I wouldn't. If I want to share a good deal with like-minded folk, I would probably want those who are interested (or curious) enough and motivated enough to get straight onto searching (preferably with some skill as a seasoned online shopper, bargain hunter, or data gatherer), to stand a better chance of finding benefit or reward, instead of “levelling the playing field” and inherently favouring the consumer who sees and follows a posted link sooner, when that action demands little thought or effort.

 

There is no particular benefit to “the community”, “the hobby”, or some other collective entity to reduce the aggregated effort spent (with some of it arguably “wasted”) by the consumer-minded individual on discovery and due diligence, when any time and effort “saved” by cutting down the need for replicated work (and mistakes and/or missteps made therein) is unlikely to be invested in productive endeavours for which the collective entity, not the individual who got handed the “savings”, is the intended primary beneficiary.

[A Smug Dill]

After passing on ordering a Midori 5-year (384-page?) diary — which seems uncomfortably restrictive with only (a little less than) five ruled lines for each day's entry, on a 185mm×117mm page size that's for about half the price at which local retailers such as Milligram are selling it, I found out that I could get A5-sized Midori MD 368-page dot grid journal for even less, and so I ordered two. Got suckered into buying Midori's clear plastic cover made specifically for that size of book as well.

 

Very tempted to get one of the 15th anniversary MD notebooks now. They look so understatedly awesome.

[Chimera01]

2 hours ago, Gloucesterman said:

You may want to post a link rather than have people do separate searches...

The only reason I didn't post a link is because I'm not entirely certain as to what the FPN protocols are. I have no association with PlazaJapan and I don't want anyone to think I'm promoting them (for whatever reason). It's just a tip about a good deal on ink, that I've had good experience with. Works incredibly well for UK because you can import up to £135 inc shipping seemingly without having to go through the rigmarole of customs, etc. At least I haven't had to so far. I've always paid that little bit extra and stuck with DHL, though. 

 

Am now absolutely awash in Iroshizuku ink. What could be better?

[Penguincollector]

I didn’t find any Leuchtterm at my local Homegoods, but they did have Italian leather A5 notebooks for $10. I bought a grey one.  The paper is  nice, but ink shows through when using larger nibs.  They had a ton of notepads and social stationery, but I didn’t want to go down that particular rabbit hole today.

[A Smug Dill]

4 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

I didn’t find any Leuchtterm at my local Homegoods, but they did have Italian leather A5 notebooks for $10.

 

As of lunch time today, in TK Maxx Haymarket:

 

 

so I guess staff replenished the shelves yesterday with two of every variation they had in stock at the store; and only some (three? four?) of the A5-sized books with metallic-coloured covers (and blank pages) out of those have been sold.

 

I didn't want any, and didn't buy any. I was just in the neighbourhood (as the store is upstairs of the local greengrocers' market), and thought I'd check it out; if there were any to be found, I'd post photos of such on reddit, like tossing potato chips into a flock of seagulls waiting to pounce. It's getting really pathetic, when they're now talking about (almost) fighting over what stock they could find in their local stores.

[AmandaW]

Thankyou for the photos and description Smug. I am guessing this is typical and what our store may be offering when it opens. It's certainly an interesting mix of offerings: clothing,  stationery and... vases.

[A Smug Dill]

2 hours ago, AmandaW said:

It's certainly an interesting mix of offerings: clothing,  stationery and... vases.

 

It's kinda like Target in terms of class, feel, and range of product categories, but absent its own (or the parent company's) house brands. Today, the racks in the Haymarket store were full of Helly Hansen clothing not priced so cheaply; just about every piece I looked at was $149.99 or more, never mind the claims on the label that imply the items would be $300–$600 at RRP. My wife looked at some New Balance garments there, and we could easily get something similar on clearance directly from New Balance online for less.

 

There were some Studio Milligram stationery products on the shelves. I didn't take a close look at the what and the prices; but I'd think (of the situation as) TK Maxx not being a normal, authorised retailer of Milligram products, and merely having bought up surplus stock that Milligram wanted to be rid of at cheap prices to resell in TK Maxx's parent company's network of stores. We've seen how desperate Milligram can get, and how low the prices could be, when Milligram tried to sell off such stock itself in its online Outlet store (but not lately). TK Maxx's prices would be as “rock bottom” as that.

 

Oh, and I still have the bulk of the Clairefontaine ‘Age Bag’ A4 notebooks and Rhodia A4 80gsm notepads that I picked up for $2–$3 apiece from Milligram a while ago.

[AmandaW]

2 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

Oh, and I still have the bulk of the Clairefontaine ‘Age Bag’ A4 notebooks and Rhodia A4 80gsm notepads that I picked up for $2–$3 apiece from Milligram a while ago.

I'm still working my way through my stash. Grateful to have them too because the Clairefontaine is my preference for my daily journal. I no longer worry about how many pages I write because I have lots. And yet rue the day I have to go back to Officeworks for them.

[Penguincollector]

9 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

. It's getting really pathetic, when they're now talking about (almost) fighting over what stock they could find in their local stores.

 
  Wow, really‽ That’s nuts.

[A Smug Dill]

8 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

 Wow, really‽ That’s nuts.

 

Now this, LOL

[AmandaW]

Maybe someone at TKMaxx reads reddit...

[Misfit]

11 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

 
  Wow, really‽ That’s nuts.

One woman posted she had her notebook selection in her cart. Her kids got away from her, so she had to go get them. When she got back, another person had her notebooks. She said she ended up offering to share half of them. 

[Misfit]

The navy and emerald Leuchtturm notebooks I ordered from Barnes and Noble arrived today. Navy blue dotted is hanging out with Army green red dots. Emerald is loving the other brighter Leuchtturm notebooks like Lime and Berry. Nordic blue likes the Chocolate notebook, and Berry. They all want a bookshelf to bask on. This does not include the Purple dotted that was my first Leuchtturm, or the Copper ruled that I tried to turn into a calendar notebook before giving up on that. Plus the new ones bought at Home Goods. Needless to say, I have no bookshelf room for notebooks. A drawer is an option. 

[Penguincollector]

1 hour ago, Misfit said:

One woman posted she had her notebook selection in her cart. Her kids got away from her, so she had to go get them. When she got back, another person had her notebooks. She said she ended up offering to share half of them. 

 Fremdschämen Is what comes to mind when hearing about all this.