Little More Notebook
Bullet Journal Notebook Review
Key Features:
- Size: 7″ x 5.5″ — this one is little!
- Cover: hardcover, Eco Leather (not sure what that means, but it just feels like PU Leather)
- Binding: sewn
- Pages: 153 dot pages, 42 blank pages, 8 tear out pages
- Additional features: 2 bookmarks, pen loop, elastic closure band
- Page styles available: combination of dot-grid, blank, and perforated note pages
- Paper Quality: 100gsm
- Ghosting? moderate ghosting
- Bleeding? tiny bit of bleed through on wettest pen (Bic rollerball)
- Feathering? moderate feathering
My Review:
This little journal kept popping up on my Amazon suggestions and then one day I finally gave in and bought it. When I first got this notebook I didn’t want to like it. It was shockingly smaller than every other journal I’ve tested – although I’d read the product description, somehow I hadn’t comprehended that it was so much smaller. There’s also an odd assortment of pages inside. This is what you get:
153 numbered dotted pages, 42 blank pages, 8 perforated tear-out pages
But before we talk about the paper inside, let’s jump in and take a closer look at this journal.
COVER – I think what intrigued me most about this journal is the cover design. It appears the only color option is the navy blue that I purchased, but the cover has adorable icons on the front. It’s almost like a more minimal version of the Scribbles That Matter Iconic cover that has adorable doodles all over it. The Little More Notebook has smaller icons in a business-type theme that are aligned on a grid pattern with a dot-grid between the icons. The branding on the front of the cover is a bit obvious and I wish it was smaller. But then you flip to the first page of the journal and there’s this little saying that makes me like the brand name much more:
Be a little more selective
About your <TO DO> list
Do a little more each day
Then you think you possibly can
INSIDE FEATURES – After that great little quote page, you’ll find the special pages, but again, things are a bit odd here. You have a KEY page that gives you space for a bullet code and a color code…. but then after that one key page, you have an additional 3 key pages (yes, folks, that’s a total of 4 key pages). Then you’ve got the INDEX pages – 4 of those – then you start right in on the numbered dot grid pages. There’s no pocket in the back, but you’ve got 2 color coordinated bookmarks (one navy, one tan) and an elastic pen loop and the closure band all in tan.
PAPER – I won’t mention the strange paper thing again (OK maybe I will… does anyone else find it strange that you have 42 blank pages? I could see maybe 8 or 12, but 42? I don’t get it). The 8 perforated pages in the back are actually split into 4 sections so you can tear off a small notecard sized piece of paper. These would work for shopping lists or a way to tip-in an extra sheet of paper for super long task lists or quotes on a daily or weekly spread. Or when you have someone ask you for a ‘piece of paper’ so they can jot down a note, but you don’t want to tear a page out of your main journal – these little notecards in the back would work.
The paper quality says it’s 100gsm, ivory paper. This notebook reinforced for me that not all 100gsm paper is created equally. Compared to other journals with 100gsm paper, this one ghosts much more than others. In fact, I pulled out my Leuchtturm 1917 to compare and found that ghosting almost equal – maybe not as bad as LT1917, but definitely close.
CONSTRUCTION – I was a little worried about this notebook when I first got it. When I opened it the spine creeked and the pages were rippley (is that even a word?). But I did took a few minutes and broke in in the spine – Ryder Carroll has a video of how to do this. Much better. In fact, now the journal lays flat on the desk without a problem. The binding is Smythe sewn and the construction of the journal seems very good. It would have been nice to have a back pocket on the book to cover up the bumpiness of the end pages going over the pen loop and elastic band on the inside back cover.
CONCLUSION – This journal grew on me. I wanted to hate it but the more I held it and flipped through the pages and wrote on the paper, the more I liked it. It’s a happy medium between the A5 size and the A6 size. It’s not quite a B6 (1/2″ too wide to be B6) and it doesn’t really fit into any other size category. It’s in a class by itself, I guess. But it’s interesting that the more I hold it, the more I like it. If you’re the type of person who doesn’t like to carry your entire bullet journal or planner with you but need a smaller notebook to carry in your purse or bag – this would be an excellent choice. Maybe fill up all those blank pages with sketches and doodles and the front page of the journal with planning and task lists.
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