Yes, I finally jumped on the Coleto bandwagon. It all started a few weeks ago, when I shared my pen dilemma on Twitter: I love having multiple colors, but I'm sick of carrying around ten pens everywhere I go in addition to my Filo.
While I love my Staedtler fineliners, there were a few issues. Even though they have their own convenient case, I found that I wasn't pulling out my Filo when I got home from work because it also meant pulling out the whole case of pens. I am a no fuss kind of planner, so it because rather annoying to have to make sure I grabbed the Malden AND the pen case for every meeting, appointment, and quick note on the train. It may not seem like a big deal, but for something you use about a hundred times a day, it was getting a bit frustrating.
So, I vented on Twitter. And questioned whether I could really handle going back to just one color in my Filo. For some reason, a multi-pen had completely skipped my mind. Until a few people responded to my Twitter plea with, "Hey, why don't you get the Coleto?"
Duh. I hadn't even thought about it. But could I really go from using nine colors to only four? Since the yellow wasn't really visible on regular paper, my color coding structure has been:
Black: work appointments
Brown: work to dos
Light Green: notifications/reminders
Green: gratitude list and weather
Light Blue: personal to dos
Blue: personal/social appointments
Pink: blog
Red: Brian's schedule
Orange: wedding (no longer in use!)
Then I realized something that had been bothering me, but I never fully realized it. Why on earth do I need a separate color for work appointments and work to dos? Or personal appointments and personal to dos? Hmmm, maybe I could work with only four colors...
After hemming and hawing for a week or so, I put in my order on JetPens. And a mere 48 hours later (just TWO days from time of order to delivery with free shipping from California to Chicago!!!)* and this was in my mailbox:
SO excited. I didn't get to open this baby up until about 11 p.m. last night, but the excitement was still there. Mixed with a little nervousness, since my non-pen loving husband was on the couch next to me. Fortunately, the conversation ended up like this:
Husband: "What's that?"
Me: "A new pen" (nonchalantly as I pull it out of the packaging)
Husband: "Is that a multi-pen, like the kind we used in fifth grade?"
Me: "Yep"
Then he just shook his head and went back to watching TV. I love that at this point, he just accepts my weird addictions with the "well, it could be worse" attitude!
Anyway, here is my bounty:
I kept it basic, with a clear, four color barrel. And since the only complaint I have heard about the Coleto happens to be about the ink running out quickly, I grabbed 2 to 3 cartridges each of the four colors I would be using.
I ended up going with Blue-Black, Aqua Blue, Apple Green and Cherry Pink. Fun, but not so out there that I would get sick of it. Although I was worried at first- the packaging looks nearly identical for the two shades of blue I ordered, so I thought I had been sent all one color.
Upon close inspection, I could tell the difference, and to my luck it is even more obvious on the individual cartridges.
Here's what it looks like all loaded up:
And of course, a quick Malden pose...
I chose the 0.5 mm tips- I debated between those and the 0.4 mm for quite a while. Not sure what tipped the scales, but this pen writes beautifully!
I first tested the colors on some crappy white office paper. Even on horrid paper, this pen writes so well!
Surprisingly, on my monitor, these look pretty true to color. But don't take my word on it- all monitors are very different! Then, I of course did the test on Franklin Covey paper, as I'll be using the
FC 2 DPP next year:
I'm especially loving how the blue-black looks with the Monticello themed pages. Very professional and simple, but the other colors add a fun touch. But, how did I narrow down my colors from nine to four? Well, I don't need a color designated for the wedding anymore, and the rest was really just a matter of combining the separate shades I'd used in the past. Now I'll have:
Blue-Black: ALL work (appointments and to do)
Aqua Blue: ALL personal (appointments, to do, blog)
Apple Green: notifications, reminders, weather, gratitude
Cherry Pink: Brian's schedule
Yes, I know, I've made Brian cherry pink. But it isn't really all that pink in person, and I really didn't want traditional red. So he can deal with it :)
I think the best part, other than having a more simplistic coding system, is that I can keep this pen in my Filo. So when I need to run out and just grab the Malden, all I have to do is grab the Malden, not anything else. Although I don't use the regular pen loop since it crushes my Franklin Covey monthly tabs, I have a stick-on pen loop in the front of my binder that previously held a mechanical pencil. The Coleto has found a perfect home here:
After proofreading/editing this post, I totally just noticed that my fineliners look like they are sulking in the background, haha!
The rubber grip on the barrel is still a bit hesitant to work with the very unstructured elastic pen loop, but I think it will get better over time. Now, right when I open my binder my pen is there waiting for me!
I know I've only had this pen for about 12 hours, but I'm already in love. I'm hoping I've found the perfect solution for my planning system, but you know me and pens. I can stay in one binder for over a year without blinking, but this is my fourth pen change in about as much time. Oops. The only thing I can imagine making me not continue to enjoy this pen will be if the refills really get used up too quickly. Since there are no awesome Japanese stationery stores near me, I have to order online, which is not nearly as convenient and costs way more. So we'll see.
I'm phasing the new color system in now, to fully start on Nov. 1. That way I can just put a sticky on the monthly page as a reminder when I archive instead of just randomly switching out my color system mid-month. I had planned on not making the switch until the new year to maintain consistency, but now that I've got the Coleto in my hot little hands we all know that's not going to happen!
Have you all found the perfect pen for your system? Or are you still looking? Let's hope this is it for me!
*Just a note, I was NOT paid, perked, or provided anything listed here by JetPens (I paid full price for everything). This was simply my first time ordering from them, and I was incredibly happy with their insanely quick shipping- I like to promote good companies :)
Labels: Coleto, Filofax, Malden, Pens
