The Circa System

(Doesn’t “The Circa System” sound like something you should be guessing the price of on The Price is Right? I’m just sayin’.)

I’m an office supply junkie. I have been for as long as I can remember. I have a distinct memory of being about 8 or 9, riding to the Office Depot (which I pronounced de-pot at the time) and being ecstatic when I purchased a dozen legal pads. I’m not sure what the 8-year-old me had planned for all those legal pad, but I loved them. And let’s not talk about the dresser drawer filled to the brim with ink pens…

When I went searching for a new planner/organization system for my life, my office supply addiction definitely came into play. I looked at many, many different options and wanted to try them all. Thankfully, the frugal, more reasonable part of my brain reminded me that I’ve tried so many different types of organizers and that none of them really worked well for all areas of my life. What I needed was something flexible that could be adapted as my needs might change.

That’s when I ran into the Circa system. While you can see more on the Levenger website, a brief overview of the Circa system is that, when using their custom punched paper (or paper you have punched using their punch) you can easily add, remove or move pages within a notebook. The notebook you create is more flexible than a bound book and less bulky than a 3-ring binder. It seemed like the perfect option for my needs.

I started by ordering the Circa sample pack. This seemed like a no-brainer since the kit cost $40 and also came with a $40 gift card to be spent on Circa products. The sampler came quickly, even with the cheapest shipping. I was very happy with all of the different products they included. A great sampling.

Then I ordered the main event - the Circa punch. Now normally I am not the type of girl to spend $57 on a punch. Really, that is ridiculous. I even have a hard time recommending the product because of the price. I rationalized it because (1) I had $50 from my Discover Card rewards. I consider this “free money” and used it to purchase my sampler. (2) The reviews spoke highly of the punch and I believe it will last me. Again, a horrible amount to spend on a paper punch, but it does seem very well made. I also ordered another pack of rings.

I’m very happy with the Circa system. The pages hold well but are easily removable. The punch works well (although it will, at times, get stuck on my laminated pages). The pages move smoothly and I love that I can flip my notebook cover to cover. While I wish the system were a little more affordable, I appreciate their quality and am happy with my purchase.

(More on the planner itself to come.)

A Tumblr Review

I had my own self-hosted Wordpress blog for just a little over two years. (You can see the archives of that blog here.) I loved my self-hosted blog and all of the freedom it gave me. (You can read a little about that here.)

There was only one little thing I didn’t love - the $6.99/month I was paying to GoDaddy for web hosting. Now, $6.99/month is one of the best deals I found for hosting and really not all that expensive. But, for a hobby (that I admittedly sometimes neglect) it just didn’t make sense to continue paying each month, so I canceled my hosting.

I did, however, keep my domain name, which now points to this site. The cost is much less (around $9.99/year). Also, I feel a bit of an emotional attachment to the domain and wated to keep it for that reason as well. Not that I would be devastated if I lost the name, but for now it’s worth the $ to me.

When I finally decided to cut my hosting, I looked at a couple of different free options.

Blogger: I have used blogger in the past. My main complaint is their commenting system, which is sluggish and frustrating. When I found out Blogger wouldn’t let me import my old Wordpress posts, I called the whole thing off. If I’m switching to your service I should not be restricted on this matter. End of story.

Wordpress.com: This is where my archives ended up. It was very easy to add my old posts. I considered blogging from Wordpress.com, but I am a little put off by the lack of customization options and things that are considered to be “add-ons.” I wouldn’t rule out Wordpress.com, but it’s not my top choice at this moment.

Which leads me to my (obvious) top choice for now, Tumblr. While I don’t think Tumblr would work for everyone’s style it has proven itself with me. Here are some of my favorite things about Tumblr:

• Customization: Tumblr encourages customization. They even have a user submitted Theme Garden. As some of the awesome blog designs show, users are only limited to their own talents. Which, is a pretty large limitation for me personally, but an awesome option nonetheless.
• Less pressure: It’s dumb to think that something like writing a blog post overwhelmed me, but it did. I eventually had to adapt my blogging style to my personality. Tumblr’s options fit perfectly with my style. You can write posts, links, phots, video, audio. I love how each post is special according to the category. Tumblr makes your posts look good.
• Ease of use: Even though I learned a lot by messing around with Wordpress, it had a huge learning curve. A Tumblr is super easy to create and even easier to post to. Not only does it have a simple posting page, it also has an easy to use bookmarklet. I also downloaded a free Tumblr application for my Blackberry for blogging on the go.

So far, I’m very happy with both my choice to drop self hosting as well as my choice to use Tumblr as my blogging software. I feel as though it has encouraged me to blog more and really fits my style. So far so good!