I’ve been doing a lot of “checking in and thinning out” lately, with the goal of reducing both physical and mental clutter by keeping tidier workspaces and focusing on having close at hand those specific items that I use the most. The reason for this is twofold: (1) Towards the end of the year, I always take stock and try to figure out what might be eliminated, replaced, or improved; and (2) It’s been a busy holiday season - possibly the busiest I’ve ever had - and I’ve needed whatever edge I can to make it through the past several weeks, even if that’s just a few extra seconds in the morning of not having to sort through a jumble of junk on my desk. For this morning’s post, I asked myself: What are the five stationery items - other than pen/pencil and paper - that I touch every day?
My 30-Minute Hourglass. The first thing I interact with after I wake up. Every morning I try to read for 30 minutes and then write in my journal for 30 minutes. Two flips of the hourglass. Later in the day, when I’m doing periods of focused work, I try to maintain 30 uninterrupted minutes of effort between short breaks. While I currently only have one hourglass in rotation, I will likely add another to avoid tempting fate by repeatedly moving the hourglass across the room from my desk to my reading chair over hardwood floors with three (yes, three) dogs underfoot. For more ways on how to use analogue timing devices - of which I’m a big proponent - check out this post.
A Cutting Tool. Whether it’s breaking down boxes and packaging, cutting tape, snipping loose threads, or opening mail, a good pair of scissors or a small penknife is essential. Personally, I have four items I use regularly: My Allex fluorine-coated desk scissors that I’ve owned for years and which we now carry in the shop, a pair of discontinued Write Notepads Pocket Scissors, smaller Allex “Mini Scissors” that fit into a stationery pouch, and a pocketknife (rotating brands, depending on whether I’m at a desk or in the warehouse that day).
A Bookmark. My accumulation of bookmarks is somewhat embarrassing, second only to pens (and maybe notebooks), but I have a wide range of paper, metal, leather, and even cloth bookmarks that I use regularly, ranging from cheap bookstore and promotional freebies to quality, slightly overengineered metal ones. For some reason I hate dog-earing pages in books. I’d much rather use a bookmark while I’m actively reading, with sticky notes and Book Darts marking those passages I want to flag for long-term reference and/or archiving in my commonplace system.
My Classroom Friendly (Carl Angel-5) Pencil Sharpener. When I read, I annotate and take notes in pencil. At home, this relatively inexpensive hand-cranker remains my long-point sharpener of choice. The blades leave as sharp a point as ever, five+ years into its lifespan.
Toyooka Craft Pen Trays. I have two Toyooka Craft six-pen trays. One on my personal desk at home, and one at work. Both sit next to my keyboard and hold the pens/pencils that I’m working with at any given time. Typically, this will include 2-3 fountain pens, a ballpoint, a rollerball, and a mechanical pencil. Once I have this rotation set for the day, I don’t go rooting around in my bag or pen case for something “new” and instead just focus on the work at hand.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that you can’t use “all the things” all of the time - at least not if you want to get anything done during the day because you’re spending all of your time and effort picking out your tools. Set your core workhorse lineup and run with it. Periodically evaluate and make changes. If you like to rotate stuff, do it regularly (or at least semi-regularly, just not on a whim). And if you don’t use something, pass it along!
The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. We don’t just write about and sell pens! Lately we’ve been expanding more into non-pen (but still stationery-related) content and goods. You can read more about our “stationery philosophy” here.