Hey Ella, I’ll go you one better on the Mead 5-Star.

I’m too big-boned to be happy with anything on my hips - hipsters, cell phones, (shudder) fanny packs all make me cringe.

My life-system is two sturdy pockets in every pair of pants and skirt that I own. (I even put pockets in my wedding dress, not kidding.) In one pocket are paper and plastic: driver’s license, money cards (debit, credit, gift), actual money, any receipts or notes that I’ve collected since my last dump. The other pocket is metal: keys and coins and jangly things.

My note system has to fit in the credit card pocket, and I have not found any notebook that small (although I haven’t been to the Hello Kitty store yet).

Instead I am using adding machine tape. I fold it accordion-style to the same size as the width of the credit cards. (Not the length of the card - the tape is slightly wider than a credit card, and that would not work because it would get ragged.) I make about 20 folds, and end up with 42 2”x2” notespaces, a little pile of paper almost the same thickness as a credit card.

I write from both ends - one end is usually a grocery/stuff to purchase list and the other is for everything else. As I do things, I just tear off that sheet (unless it’s in the middle, then I cross it out). Or if it’s involved I can tear it off and put it with the appropriate project paperwork.

When I get near the end I just start using another set. It’s not a problem to have two sets in my pocket at once.

I found a little collapsing pen - Zebra, two for $5 (about 10 feet from the snazzy $20 Ion pens) and it is also just about the length of a credit card, so it has the honor of being the only metal thing in the credit card pocket.

I have a little setup on my desk so that in odd moments I can sit and fold a few sets of tape. It’s a therapeutic little bit of handwork. This is the best way I have found of having pen and paper constantly with me and easy to use.