Moleskine love and a hack

I am a Moleskine addict. There’s no getting around it. I love them, love them, love them. But there is a design flaw that drove me crazy. No pen holder. When I am out and about, I often will use one of them in lieu of a purse. I haven’t carried a bag around with me in years. Life is easier that way. I can put a card or two in the Moleskine’s back pocket along with a spare car key (I lock myself out of my car with embarrassing frequency) and drivers license. I’m good to go. Except for the pen. I need a pen.

Yesterday, I happened across a Moleskine hack on the Moleskinerie site. A self-made pen holder made from...duct tape. Well, that’s right up my alley. I have duct tape in several different colors, even. The photographic instructions are laid out on Flickr.

These are the two moleskines I use all the time. One has a clear duct tape pen holder, the other has a red duct tape pen holder. Works like an absolute charm.

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This one would be akin to the old fashioned Commonplace Book. Nothing rivetingly personal, just a compendium of stray bits of information that I want to keep in one place. Sometimes reviews of articles or books, quotations, new ideas/information that I want to follow and my opinion.

In fact, one of the pages of the book contains this short entry:

Commonplace books have always been used as places where readers can explore new ideas and test old ways of thinking rather than simply as places to vent opinions.

“In these bodies we also find candid views of people’s thinking. Their writings or compilations were not for performance. Thus, these books show us how people experienced knowledge and how they organized knowledge. If we look at these books through time, we learn about the transformations and priorities in intellectual life throughout Western History.” (Yale Bulletin & Calendar, 6/27/2001)

I thought the idea about transformations in intellectual life was fascinating. Something I’d never thought of before. I love that idea.

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This little fella is the one I’m most apt to carry with me. It holds phone numbers, addresses, dimensions of household objects and rooms, lists (including groceries and To-Do), notes-to-self, a calendar, things to remember, birthdays, gift ideas, etc. Since I am a devotee of the red and black color combo, red duct tape was the obvious choice here. The red duct tape band around the book has been there since the day I brought it home.

The pen holders are secure and snug, but not too snug to make removing the pen a pain.

Now my Moleskines have achieved perfection.