So last night I talked about the pricing of pencils and touched on paper, or did I? Ah yes, $1 a pop at the Dollar Tree or $1.67 in batches of 12. Did you realize there is a quality difference in Composition books? It seems there is, go for the ones made in Vietnam. Recommended by Lynda Barry. And me. For your booklet, you get 200 pages or 100 sheets in them. These are a bit smaller than the 8 1/2×11 “standard” sized papers… if you have a standard size for something besides a copier or printer. (You will note that I am totally stepping aside from the A4, A5 etc differences. Which I actually prefer. Just try to buy the stuff.) (And while I am on it … never mind, that is for a different rabbit hole to explore.) I have been buying in fits and starts different sized “sketchbooks” they feature heavier paper, half-sized paper 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 or square 8 1/4 x 8 1/4 but they seemed “expensive” to me. As do Moleskin, Field Note, Rhodia, Midori, … and all of those things. (I have been considering/tempted by a journal book. Not so far yet.) But after years I settled on the Composition books. I use them for all of my “journal” books. Because I never feel like I am wasting the paper when I get a few pages in and quit for whatever time period. After the years of time from 2015 until now I am pretty convinced that I will keep to it. There are years of 23 journals. I do not think I need to worry about the cost of the paper, too much. Becuase, of the time,
I spend about 10 to 20 minutes filling up one sheet in a Morning Pages. With 200 pages, that is 2,000 to 4,000 minutes to fill the book. That is 33 to 66 hours of time. I am spending $1.67 to fill up with my writing? Say a full work week, 40 hours. I am worried about the cost of a paper thing that I am filling up. Ditto for the pencils. I have yet to use a pencil, a “$2.00” that I like to write with. Why do I care that I could get one for 20ยข?
Because it is cheaper because it costs less. We are only looking at the one part of the cost of using something, the cost to acquire it. BAH!
I could use an easy to use the eraser for when I am typing along and realize that I need to erase something or cover it up. I have a Paper Mate thing. It works but not really conveniently. That I need to find a replacement for.
I think I am done ranting about spending cash. I have a house full of things I bought, some expensive others not, I never wanted for whatever.
I had available. It is time to think it out a bit. Thank god typewriters are so cheap. Wait, I have a half dozen.
I am not good at selling them. So I won’t.
— MichaelRpdx, rkmm 1948