In search of the perfect binder

Something I've never really voiced was that I HATE 3-RING BINDERS.  They are so ubiquitous and even now that I am not a student still find a need to keep at least some; loose-leaf paper is still inescapable and sometimes a file-folder is just not adequate.  Over the years I have had a LOT of them.  And nearly universally I've always been annoyed by them.

1. What I hate the most is that they don't stack cleanly.  Most binders are not filled to the maximum and therefore end up in this triangle shape.
2. Circular rings are the most common and I don't know why.  It adds to the stress around the hole, the beginning and ending pages are especially affected. How many times have you had the top and bottom papers rip out, right?  
3. They put the circular rings on the spine most of the time.  So the pages always have to slide simply by opening the binder.
4. Circular rings also cause the pages to not line up (observe the papers edges).  The D ring is better, especially when it is not on the spine (and the cover of the binder essentially wraps around it).  But why make a D when you can make an upside down U instead so that both halves of an open binder lay cleanly?
5. They're not that convenient to write in unless you have a big table.  As a student I'd just write on loose paper and put it in later.  I guess that's ok.  But viewing is still a bit annoying on those tiny student desks in the lecture halls.

Anyhow, for those reasons I got rid of almost all of my 3-ring binders.  For the orphaned contents that I wanted archived, I bound them using the comb binding system.  Not the perfect solution either but better than 3-ring binder; they stack better if you have the right comb size.

Then many years ago I came across Unikeep and they had box-binders: 3 ring binders that

• were a box, so the stacked nice and cleanly both horizontally and vertically
• since they were enclosed, you could put pens and other loose things in there without falling out.
• the rings were off-spine and rectangular

I bought a whole box of them and use them to store negatives, documents, pictures, etc in those 3-ring sleeves and sheet protectors.  By and large, I had the perfect binder.  Or so I thought.

There is one fatal flaw with the collection of binders that I bought:  They were made completely of some kind of plastic, including the "rings".  That in and of itself was not a big deal except when it came time to move and ship.  The plastic rings was the problem, many of them snapped off or came loose.  They were just not robust or sturdy.  The box itself, was ok, even when closing tab didn't line up correctly anymore.  Still the perfect binder in form, just not sturdy enough.

It's coming up on time to move again so I was considering this predicament and am pleased to see that i may have another solution.  The company I see has added a new line of the same binder with metal rings.  When I get the chance I will test some out.

UPDATE:  Horror of horrors, it looks from the picture the metal rings are round.

What's in a label

At some point last year I decided to give the GTD system a try and one of the tools that the author recommended was a labeler. (I'll likely go on about GTD in the future, many times.) I never had one before. I didn't see what the big deal was. I'd always just written (usually in pencil for re-use) directly on the Manila folder and throw it in. Much more convenient and easier. I'd use white labels if I chose to re-use a folder written in pen. But I read his justification for such an item and went to the office supply store and purchased this:



There's nothing particularly special about this make and model other than the brand is easy to come by for replacement supplies. But, oh my, what a difference it seemed to make, both visually and therefore psychologically. It created a kind of order to my files. Using this labeler made the cabinet and a few other things clean and pleasant to look at. It made my filing system inviting. It made it look like I had my act together in this department. I now WANTED to put stuff in those files. I highly recommend acquiring one. As I mentioned before, good tools facilitate a behavior...

An unexpected use I had for this was printing a couple labels with my name on it and applying these labels to my writing implements. I haven't had a huge problem with loosing pens but I do it often enough to notice. I read an article on this very topic however ("nothing is too trivial on the internet..." to paraphrase Scregman's quotation) and decided to label my writing implements in current use. Note to the skeptical: I only labeled those pens that I actively use and carry; I don't label all my pens and such. What this does for me is three-fold.

1. It tells me which pens I'm actively using. I can immediately identify those pens from the others and tend to use those. I therefore now tend to have a bunch of full pens and one that gets drained to empty rather than a bunch of pens that are in various states of ink drain. I've never paid much attention to this before nor had I thought it was a big deal until I sent a supply of pens to Emilf, a portion of which were almost dry or completely dry. This way I can immediately focus on draining one pen and have full confidence when picking up a replacement. There is also something satisfying about using an item to completion. Does it seem like more trouble than it's worth? Sometimes, but just a quick labeling eliminates even this minor irritant.
2. My current pen likes to try and climb out of my pocket or sometimes get "borrowed" while sitting on my desk or otherwise get lost. Thrice has it actually succeeded in separating itself from me and thrice have I recovered it sometime later. Once it was sitting on my desk after probably having been dropped somewhere else in my office building. Twice I saw it left on a colleagues desk, readily identifiable and awaiting me to pick it back upon strolling back to said desk. There's something mildly comforting in that minor safety net as well.
3. Since this implicitly encourages me to keep track of my pens, I need keep fewer of them. I also get more picky about what pens I use and no longer pilfer them fiendishly from the office supply cabinet... at least not as much.

Yes, these are minor points and on the grand scheme of things are non-necessities, and they can indeed make me appear to have nothing better to do... but this is one of those little things that provides a surprising amount of satisfaction; moreso than I would have thought, at least, for such a trifle.

Addendum

I just realise that I did use a labeler long ago. Those were the cheesy embossing labelers kind of like the one below. I don't think I ever liked them but there was nothing else available. I remember as a kid punching out labels to attach to other stupid things and nearly always creating a little white triangle in the corner trying to peel the backing off. Biggest problem with these things is that any kink in the ribbon turns white ruining the label. The other thing I remember was that the ribbon was stiffly curved (especially towards the center of the spool) and invariably the adhesive backing was never strong enough to keep the label from eventually popping off whatever it was stuck to. At least there's been some progress in this area.

What not to underwear

A bit of a funk started this new year at a frightfully slow pace, goal-wise. I had to do something though. And I did. I started off with a measured attack on my wardrobe, intending to cull and decimate it, thereby freeing up drawer and closet space and reducing stress by only keeping things that I can and would wear. Without realising it, it was the right place to start. I read a little post hinting that if one has trouble making or implementing proposed changes for the new year, to start off by cleaning house. Nice thing about the wardrobe is that it is volumous enough to notice the change to a significant degree and feel good about the result and feel a bit inspired. A few random observations and realisations sprang forth in the process as well.

Why wasn't this taken care of before?

When I first moved out east, I had the bulk of my stuff shipped. At some point in that first year I could have sworn I had rid myself of everything that I intended to. This was not the case. I mean, I did expect some of my clothes to be obsoleted by extra bodily poundage and through wear and tear but outside of that I still find in my collection stuff that I've had for a decade or more, yet hadn't worn. Realisation 1: I had kept things that fit, not things that I liked to wear. Realisation 2: What's worse is I actually bought stuff that I don't like to wear for one reason or another. I mean, WTF was I thinking? Well, the only thing I could come up with was "I didn't know any better." Related example:

Boxers or briefs?

For a good chunk of my life I shamefully wore the "tidy whities," the perfect example of not knowing any better. That's what was bought for me when I was a wee lad growing up and what I continued to wear into adulthood. How embarrassing. I never really liked them, even the more stylish colored ones. That whole bikini type cut would often dig into my upper thighs near the singit, cutting off circulation and such. Also made for nasty wedgies. I graduated to boxers. Ah much better. More expensive but thank the maker for Costco, when I was still a member. Still, it did have the opposite shortcoming: It didn't dig in but putting on pants now became a little dance. They were loose to the point that they would bunch up all the time, especially when donning pants. I did come up with a system eventually that worked, but thankfully I found something better: boxer-briefs. Form, function, and efficiency all in one. The holy grail of male underwear... at least for me. No edges that dug in. Crotch area loose enough but not overly so. No riding thanks to the longer legging. No bunching up since it fits snug enough where it needs to. There's no going back. For a long time I kept the older versions around for emergencies, like say, I haven't done laundry in a month. But it wasn't just that, it was this guy notion of not wanting to toss perfectly good and usable clothing. There was a time I would keep even not so good and not so usable clothing, like socks with holes in them or worn thin but still kept and worn. No more though. Especially since I have the income to buy replacements.

The XX solution

So I had replaced the entirety of my underwear drawer not once but twice. And now I needed to apply that to the rest of my clothing... again. It was my seeester who helped to alleviate my anxiety on throwing away money via the clothing I bought with it. She pointed out that women go through wardrobe replacement all the time, ridding themselves of perfectly good and usable clothing that no longer makes them happy. (Except our mom who seems to keep everything, choosing instead to store it in every closet in the house and wardrobe boxes in the garage. I think she's slowly recovering though.) Makes some sense that women by and large can do this purging for sociological reasons (stronger need for fashion) and biological reasons (the shopping gene). Emilf lent a lot of support for this and, bless her, talked me through the initial process over the weekend. The only sad thing is that Realization 3: I'm probably going to have to keep doing this clothing binge/purge thing every so often; it's not a one time thing. Hopefully I can become a little smarter about what to buy, and I should probably monitor sales. My seeester is a master at sales monitoring. I now enlist her at times to do my shopping for me. She likes it.

The other sad observations

Rummaging through ones clothes necessitates trying many or most of them on. Observation 1: It would all look better on a skinnier person. Not necessarily like the mannequins in the stores but fit people can wear almost anything and have it look ok. I have items that I do like but won't wear because of my now beyond fledgling beer gut. I've decided to keep those items this time around as a future solid target. That normally doesn't work but this time I need to make an honest effort. Observation 2: I'm cursed at being on the border of sizes. With some clothes, I wear an L, others a XL, and still others M. They just aren't consistent with sizing. Scregman alluded to this. What I also hate is when something is labeled 34-36 and I'm just at the high border or just past it, making it a tad uncomfortably tight, but the next size starts at 38 and too loose. Bleh. Observation 3: What is the deal with shirts/sweatshirts that end at the waist, such that when you lift your arms over your head the end gets pulled up well above the belly button? Works good for girls where bare midrift is a popular style. But on a men's shirt? And my last observation: I have entirely too many printed tee's. Printed tee's are the ultimate evil of events, clubs, promotions, and tourism. They serve as cheap sousvenirs, free giveaways, and a braindead means of commemorating something. But they work and are effective and here I am with a large accumulation of them. Time to rid myself of at least the ones that have faded. I guess dress shirts and Italian leather shoes aren't quite as convenient as promo fodder.

One side benefit of all this is my realizing that dispite the drawers full of clothing, and in addition to having entirely too many of a few types of things, there are few things that I just don't have enough of. I once thought that I could construct a reasonable list with 3 pairs of this, 6 of that, and a half dozen of the other and make for a solid well-rounded complete and cohesive wardrobe that required no thought whatsoever other than the occasional swapping out here and there as replacements were needed. It may mean that I need to do laundry more frequently. I don't trust myself in the selection process though. I wonder if there's a kit I could buy. You know, send in my dimensions and a color photo, and some budding fashionista assembles some unique timelessly stylish, mix and match, color coordinated complete ensemble with instructions as to what goes with what and when. That might be cool, a complete starter kit for the newly actualized male that doesn't require complete humiliation in front of millions of viewers of the TLC or Bravo channel.