Work from home essentials
The best pen is vital when you work from home!
We all use technology – that’s why we can work from home, after all – but we still need to write things down, and the right pen is very important, don’t you think?
One of my very favourite shops is Muji, where I always make a pilgrimage when I’m in London. I love the Japanese design and the clever storage and travel items they sell.
I feel about Muji a bit the way John Betjeman felt about the Peter Jones department store – nothing unpleasant could ever happen there! Browsing in Muji makes me feel calm and in control. There is a solution for everything, everything can be contained.
I found my latest favourite pen in there quite by chance. It is a rather boring-looking cream plastic biro – but with a twist, as is the case with so many Muji products.
Turn the top one way and a ballpoint appears, turn it the other and it’s a propelling pencil. Pull off the cap and there’s a tiny eraser. So it’s perfect to slot into my Filofax – yes, I’m still using one of those as well. I can write a confirmed appointment in pen, or pencil you in!
The main reason I love this pen, though, is the very fine tip that just rolls along effortlessly. It makes writing the most mundane things a pleasure. All this writing enjoyment for a mere £2.50 and 50p for a refill.
I stock up every time I can in order to prolong the experience as long as possible. Nothing more frustrating than finding a product you love to use only to have it discontinued.
What kind of pen do you prefer? And do you still use ‘old-fashioned’ stationery that is theoretically obsolete? Which office accessories brighten up a dull work from home day?
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Oh yes, I love Muji! Genius stuff.
I have several pens, and I love them all for different reasons. I have metal ball point with gorgeous design work on it, for my professional mode. I have a selection of inking pens, the best being UniBall roller, for my designing work and illustrations. And last but not least, I have a gorgeous green 1930’s fountain pen simply for the sake of it.
Just left you a tweet about the Pentel Hyper G 07 which I love for its very smooth writing. I also very much like InkJoy by PaperMate for the same reason. Favorite ink color for letter witing and journaling: Blue; it seems more informal than black. I love using pretty stationery and have several types, as well as plain white ripple bond which used to be called Cockle in this country (the U.S.).
People still like receiving hand written letters even though email is so predominant.
A few minutes ago I went toMuji and found the pen you like so much, as well as my favorite sort of file envelope which is a transluscent box with elastic to hold it closed.
Well I’ve never come across Muji before, but I’ll be going to have a look. When I need a regular pen, I normally use either a Pilot G2 0.7, or a Uni-ball Eye Fine.
I am trying however (a little unsuccessfully) to go paperless, so the pen might become a thing of the past!
Another Muji fan! I colour-code my projects so love their tubes of multi-coloured 0.5 pens. And I have lots of their storage bits around the house.
I’m doing quite well with making the move to electronic diary only but that just means the pens last longer!
Judy, yesterday when I said I went to Muji, I meant I went online and took a look at their products. I don’t know where–or if—there is a Muji anywhere near me. :))
Oops, that just goes to show what an old-tech person I am, Pat! It looks like they’re only in New York and San Francisco at the moment. If you happen to pass one, pop in and see if you agree with me about its calming atmosphere!
That’s okay. Actually, I prefer being old-tech myself.I’ll check to see where in NY Muji is. If it’s within 4 or 5 hours of Maine, I could give it a look. I love really good stationery shops. Most of them are gone now, along with the good stationery (that doesn’t cost all outdoors). Already I believe I would agree with you about the atmosphere. ! :-0
I’m sorry, I’ve written replies to all your comments, but they seem to have disappeared in the transition to a virtual private server last week 🙁
So I hope you all saw the replies and I also hope the site is downloading much quicker, which was the point of the whole exercise.
I use whichever pen is most pleasing to me at the time. The one I carry around with me everywhere is a red freebie pen from Lord’s cricket ground. I went to a presentation there and the view from the media pod and the bacon sandwiches served were incredible. The pen is a memory of that.
I use a lot of paper stationery for marketing. Beautiful things from Paperchase often. My brownies go out with a white luggage tag (writing with a Sharpie), and my thank you cards are whichever print I fell in love with at the time.
Paperchase is a great source of beautiful stationery. Mayther is another chain that offers browsable cards, paper and books, all temptingly displayed on tables as well as in stands. I bet they make a fortune on impulse buys!
Mayther don’t appear to have a working website 🙁
Any tips to find a Thank You rubber stamp? No luck on eBay.
Check out these stamps on the Cox & Cox website, Rosie.
(And please tell them I sent you if you decide to buy – they’re just down the road from me!)
Thanks Judy 🙂
(Typing more words so my comment gets through the filter)