Everyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with office supplies. I don’t really know why but I love shopping for them and using them. Recently, I had to stop by an office supply story to get some supplies for work and decided to do a bit of my own shopping.

First, I bought a day planner:

I have owned and used day planners in the past but they have all been disposable. What caught my eye on this one is that the portfolio was still pretty big (5 x 8 ish or a size 4) but it was still small enough to put into my purse or carry with me. It is faux leather and is shiny black. There were other colors such as red, brown and a white scale/alligator material with a similar snap design. It included a starter planner set that had samples of all the different durations you can order the pages in, such as 2 pages per month, 1 page per day, and 2 pages per week. They came undated.
While I appreciated this sample pack, there were not enough of each sample to keep things consistent.

This lead me to purchase a set of refill pages:

I chose the 1 page per day because I like to track my day by the hour, however there are many durations available. Unfortunately there were no simple or basic designed pages left, so I had to pick a coastal design. At first I thought it was a little tacky but it has actually grown on me. I like that each day goes from 8 AM – 8 PM with enough room to write next to each time as well as space for notes at the bottom.

All in all, I am pretty happy with my dual purchase. My biggest concern is the durability of the planner portfolio and that is something I will have to measure over time. Besides the coastal design, the pages are perfect and so far have been able to handle my pen without bleeding or smudging.

The next thing I purchased was a 24 pack of ink joy retractable pens:

I had originally received a free sample of this pen through an office supply rep. at my work. I immediately loved the pen’s sleek yet still durable body. I hate writing with a bulky ball point pen. The ink rolled out very cleanly and aside from the first uses ink blots, I have had no problems with the pen. Well, I guess I did have a problem because I ended up losing my sample pen which prompted me to get this set. The only
foreseeable problem with my sample was that the retracting mechanism was getting loose. If planning on using this pen make sure you are not a “pen clicker”. For a relatively cheap and durable retractable pen, this is definitely a good option.

My last purchase was a new lanyard:

Sticking with a retractable theme, I got this lanyard because it has a retractable string so I can swipe my work badge without having to take it off. It is black with white flowers and features a back clasp so you do not have to pull it
over your head. So far it has held up but I haven’t been using the retractable string very much. The actual lanyard itself is made up of a thick fabric and plastic clasp and unless it is used for rough activity it should hold up. The true test will be with the retractable string. However, being priced at only $2.84, I don’t expect it to last long but am already impressed with how it has held up.

Products ID # and Pricing from Office Depot:
344928 – Day-Timer® Loose Leaf Organizer Size 4 Item #D45091- $22.79
743379 – Day-Timer® Coastlines 1-Page-Per-Day Planner Item #13171 – $30.39
645126 – Paper Mate® Ink Joy™ 24 PK 300 RT 1.0 mm Retractable – $10.44
681547 – Office Depot® Fashion Lanyard with badge reel – $2.84