24 hour Rickshaw Bagworks sale: 50% off City Tote!

Get 50% off the @rickshawbags City Tote (click here for product page), from now until 11:59 6/01/12 PST only!

Here's the promo text straight from Rickshaw:

50% off our NEW customizable City Tote.

Laptop ready with 3 carrying options, the City Tote is a perfect alternative to a messenger bag for the urban commuter. The City Tote is sized to fit the Sunday Times, with ample room leftover for your favorite novel, iPad or 13" MacBook Air.

• Holds up to 13” Macbook Air
• Made from scratch in SF
• Three carrying options
• Completely customizable

Act fast, and tell your friends! Offer expires tomorrow (06/01/12) Exclusively available on any style of our new city tote. (Excluding the fabulous Juanita More! edition.)

Promo Code: totetastic

Order online or in store. Offer valid from 05/30/12 to 11:59 6/01/12 PST

*May not be combined with any other offers coupons, special orders, or embellishments.

Rickshaw Moleskine Folios 50% off TODAY ONLY!

Today you can get 50% off your customized Moleskine folio from Rickshaw Bags!  Play around with their Customizer and check out their new spring colors (click here!)!

Here's the info from Rickshaw:

Online orders only. For 24 Hours only. 4am PST 03/28/12 to 4am PST 03/29/12.

50% off ANY Folio – any style, color and fabric, half-price.

We're fanatics about writing in our Moleskine Journals. Our Folio offers you the perfect pairing of your digital and analog life. It's all you need for your daily excursions about the city, an adventurous jaunt overseas, or your next work meeting. Assembled-to-order in the USA, in our own San Francisco factory.

Act fast, and tell your friends! Offer expires tomorrow (03/29/12) Exclusively and only offered on the Folio.

Promo Code: fantasticfolio

*May not be combined with any other offers, special orders, or embellishments.

PS you can see my reviews (with lots of photos) of my custom Rickshaw folios here:


My custom Moleskine Folios in:

Purple faux suede

Extra Large purple faux suede

Cordura

10% off Rickshaw Bagworks!

Anyone who has been reading this blog for awhile knows I love Rickshaw Bagworks custom Moleskine Folios and Messenger bags.

Now Rickshaw Bags has a very generous offer for Plannerisms readers: 10% off your order!

Just enter plannerisms12 at checkout on www.rickshawbags.com!

Many thanks to Rickshaw for this excellent offer to readers!

For those of you who might be unfamiliar with Rickshaw's awesome Moleskine folios and Messenger bags, see my reviews below.

My custom Zero Messenger bags in:

Performance Tweed

Cordura

Extra small patterned


My custom Moleskine Folios in:

Purple faux suede

Extra Large purple faux suede

Cordura


The Customizer is highly addictive, don't say I didn't warn you!

Rickshaw Zero messenger bag in new Performance Tweed

Here's my new custom Zero Messenger bag from Rickshaw Bagworks in the Aubergine Performance Tweed with Iris interior!

I chose this color combination on their Customizer (which is very addictive, don't say I didn't warn ya!).

I'd been looking at their Performance Tweed fabrics for awhile, contemplating which color to get. Then they came out with the Aubergine color, which put me into a bit of a frenzy. Then in November they had a one-day-only 1/2 off sale. Sold!

Look how awesome it looks next to my (well-loved) Zero bag in Iris and pink!

I'm really looking forward to using my new Rickshaw Zero bag!  Thanks for another amazing bag Rickshaw!  Love ya!

Yes I bought yet another Rickshaw folio!

I'm collecting them like Filofaxes! I couldn't resist panic-buying the Daily Planner folio in the discontinued purple faux suede.

You may remember I have the Classic folio in the fuzzy purple faux suede.  Classic size holds a large Moleskine notebook or weekly planner.

I also have a Daily Planner folio in the same Iris cordura nylon that exactly matches my small Zero messenger bag (which both look much more blue here than in real life):

But last month I decided I also want the Daily Planner folio in the fuzzy delightfulness of the faux suede.  So imagine my dismay when I got on the Rickshaw Customizer website and found they were no longer available!

I emailed the very nice people at Rickshaw and Joe got back to me right away saying he'd done some digging around in the back room and found my beloved purple faux suede, and there was enough left to make a Folio.  Then I asked him if there was any light pink trim left, so it would match my other Folios.  He very kindly dug around again and found some!  Then I realized I needed to wait until I had some Christmas money in my pocket before I could splash out on the folio, so I put it all on hold.  (Sorry Joe!!)

Earlier this month I got back to them again, ready to buy.  Joe was out of the office for awhile so Kati took good care of me.  They weren't phased by my PayPal wackiness (US billing address, UK shipping address).  And my wonderful custom-made Folio got here to me in record time!

I knew that I would pay a lot extra to have it shipped here to the UK.  I chose FedEx shipping with tracking and insurance, which cost $30 (although I could have chosen a cheaper option).  And import taxes and VAT cost me another £16.  But for me it was worth it to get the Folio I wanted.

Here is my Daily Planner Folio!

 Purple fuzziness.  Love it.

The Folios are perfect for traveling or commuting with your Moleskine.  Inside there's a pocket to hold a couple of pens, and a smartphone pocket.  There's also a clear card holder pocket, and a zip pocket to hold your passport, money, or papers.

The large Moleskine Daily Planner's back cover slides into the folio to hold it securely. Inside the back cover of the Folio is a clear pocket so you can see what's in it. Genius!

The zipper area is expanded to accommodate the thicker Daily Planner.

As always, many thanks to the wonderful folks at Rickshaw for your superb customer service!!  Love ya! :)

Click here to see Rickshaw Bagworks' selection of Folios. And click here for Rickshaw's Customizer.  (Beware: it's addictive!!)

Moleskine planner combinations

I have so many 2011 Moleskine planners by now, I've been thinking of ways to use more than one at a time.

First, the players.  You may have seen my reviews of the following 2011 Moleskine planners, but in case you haven't, here they are again:

2011 Extra Small Daily and Weekly planners

2011 Large hard cover Daily and Vertical Weekly planners

2010-2011 Large Weekly Notebook

Here are some interesting combo possibilities:

Large Daily and Extra Small Weekly:

The large Daily planner could stay on my desk and record all my daily details, and my Extra Small Weekly could be my go-everywhere planner with the week summarized at a glance.  If I need to take them both with me, they both fit nicely in my Rickshaw Bagworks Daily Planner Moleskine folio.  Look how the Extra Small fits perfectly in the smartphone pocket!  (I've shown it sticking up for the photo but it actually fits all the way down in the pocket.)

Alternatively, I could use my Extra Small Daily planner as my satellite to jot down details on the go, while my Large planner (whether Daily, Vertical Weekly, or Weekly Notebook) stays home on my desk.  The Extra Small Daily is tiny and can go everywhere with me, but each daily page is still plenty big to write details.  Here you can see my Extra Small Daily with my Vertical Weekly.  I love this photo!

Another option is to use my Vertical Weekly with its big week view layout along with a Moleskine cahier notebook to keep my lists in.  This has the advantage of allowing my weekly schedule and lists to be visible simultaneously with the books open next to each other. This would be a great option for having loads of space to write each day and also to have loads of space for my weekly lists. I could date the cahier pages "Week Of..." to keep track of what tasks I did when.

Here you can see my Vertical Weekly with my large Cahier (with my Life Is Good sticker on the cover).

Because my Rickshaw Bagworks Classic Moleskine Folio is designed to hold the large Moleskine journal (which is thicker than the 12 month weekly planner), the folio can hold the weekly planner with the thin cahier notebook on top of it.  Zip and go!

I like all of these ideas!

Rickshaw Bagworks Daily Moleskine Folio

Yes, I ordered another Rickshaw Bagworks Moleskine folio! This time I got the folio to fit the Daily planner, in the same Iris (purple) and pink color combination that I love!

The Daily planner folio is thicker than the Classic size, to accommodate the thicker book. You can see the expanded cloth area around the zipper:

Be sure to notice, the Daily planner folio comes with an interior pouch for a smartphone.

There's also a generously-sized pen pocket that can hold a fat pen or a couple of thin ones.  It also has the interior zip pocket that I love so much for holding passports and other important stuff.

In the back of the folio there's a clear pocket for holding papers etc.

There are 3 types of Folios: Classic (which you can see my review of here) that has lots of pen pockets and fits the Moleskine notebook or weekly planner; Smartphone that holds your phone and also is sized to fit a Moleskine notebook or weekly planner; and Daily which has a smartphone pocket and is thicker to hold the Daily Moleskine planner.


Also for fun I got a Simple Pocket for my Zero Messenger bag (again, in that Iris color that I love so much!).

It sticks onto the velcro strip that is already inside the bag.

This zip pocket is perfect for those small important things (like my keys) that might escape if my bag gets overturned.

Here is my small Zero bag along with my matching Daily planner folio! I love the matching set!

Yay Rickshaw!

Stranded in London

So, have you heard there's a giant Icelandic volcanic ash cloud over the UK? And that it's grounded all the flights? Well, my flight back home today is one of the thousands of flights cancelled. And, nobody knows when flights will resume because the volcano is still erupting. And then when flights DO resume, there will be a huge backlog of people who need to travel. So...

Weekend in London! Woo hoo! :D

I got to visit the Filofax store yesterday, but only for a few minutes. I got to see some of the new Filofaxes out now: the Heart and Songbird ones are very pretty, I especially like the Songbird. I held the Chameleon and expected the leather would be firm like a Finsbury, but it is like BUTTAH. Nice and soft. I also saw the new Letts notebooks, which are really nice and would be excellent for travel. Not only do they have an elastic strap, they also have international information like dialing codes etc. which make them especially useful.

I somehow managed to hold myself back from buying any Filofaxes, but I did take the opportunity to stock up on a bunch of refills, stickers, business card holder inserts, etc. I also bought the pink week on 2 pages diary insert, and popped it into my Deco. So pretty!! I'll post pics when I get home!

I want to give my Rickshaw Bagworks Moleskine Folio an A+ in Travel. It is perfect for traveling. Here are 2 great examples:

On the plane: the zip pocket holds my passport, the clear back pocket holds my flight itinerary, my Moleskine is my planner where I have written my hotel reservation information. When they hand out the immigration cards to fill out, instead of digging through my bag for all the info, it's all there in my Folio: Passport number? In the pocket. Incoming flight number? Back pocket. Address in UK? Written in my Mole planner. Golden.

Example #2: I've been carrying my Mole folio in my bag with me as I go out and about. (My Filofax stays in my hotel room--locked securely in the safe!--unless I need the tons of info inside it. Yesterday I did need all the info in my Filo so I carried it in my bag that day. Most of the time my Filofax is Mission Control back in my room.).

Anyway, Mole folio in my bag. In the clear back pocket I have put my Filofax London map, folded so that the area I'm in is visible through the clear pocket. So if I get lost while I'm out and about, I just open my book and have a look. It looks like I'm just checking my agenda, and I don't look like a lost tourist with my map out. Blending: priceless.

Also in the zip pocket I keep extra currency, receipts to save for reimbursement later, my return train ticket for whenever I eventually head back to the airport, etc.

Rickshaw: well done with the folio. I know Mark travels a ton, and he has really nailed it with this travel-friendly folio. Ultra-convenient, and super-cool looking too.

For now I'm off to the British Museum! Rosetta Stone, here I come! :D

Rickshaw Bagworks Zero Bag and Round Trip Shipper

As promised, here is my awesome Mini Zero bag from Rickshaw bagworks!Yes yes, I know, it's not a planner. But:

1) My disclaimer above: this blog is MOSTLY about planners.

2) Actually I have a planner-related tie-in at the bottom of the post. So read on.
This Mini is from the Valley Forge collection. Scroll down the bags and this pattern is the last one: it's called Global Matrix Mint Jelly. 3 guesses why I like it so much!

The interior color is called Iris, and I think it's just about the most gorgeous color of purple I've ever seen.
The Zero bags come in the following sizes: Mini (this one, small purse size), Small (large purse/ small messenger size), Medium (a pretty big bag), and Large (ginormous). You can get more accurate measurements on their website.

To get a better idea of how much each size Zero bag can hold, be sure to check out Rickshaw's Zero Bag Measurement System photo set on Flickr with examples of how much each bag can hold.

As with all Rickshaw products they are custom-made with the fabric and color of your choice. They have super-durable waterproof fabric for you hardcore bag users, beautiful wool tweed, and cordura in a wide selection of solid colors. The Minis have a selection of patterns. You choose your fabric for the exterior, interior and trim in whatever combination you desire. Go nuts.

The reason these bags are called Zero is because they are produced using zero wasted materials. They use every bit of fabric down to the little trimming scraps, literally, in the bag. They have an excellent video showing how the Zero bags are made. I think the Zero bags are great. I want several in every size and numerous fabrics.

Here's something else. The pouch below is called a Round Trip Shipper.


What the heck does that mean, you ask? Well, it's actually a very cool way to reduce waste. Rickshaw mails their smaller products to people in these instead of disposable mailing envelopes. The idea is, you mail it back to them (using the prepaid postage sticker) and they use it over and over. Rickshaw has a Flickr photostream explaining all about the Round Trip Shippers.

I warned them ahead of time that if they sent me a RTS I would keep it because it's just such a cool zip pouch. (If you do want to keep your RTS let them know and they'll charge you a small fee for it.) And, lucky me, they sent me one that's purple on the back and gold on the front. Rock on.

Here! I told you there's a planner tie-in! My Mini Zero is not large enough to hold my Moleskine folio (actually, it would fit but then nothing else would) so I carry my folio in the RTS to keep the rain off its fuzzy purple delightfulness:


Ta daaaaa!

So there's some more Rickshaw love for you.

Here is a family photo of my Rickshaw Mini Zero bag, Moleskine folio, and Round Trip Shipper:
I bought these on:
http://www.rickshawbags.com/

Rickshaw Bagworks Moleskine Folio

Here is my awesome and wonderful Moleskine folio from Rickshaw Bagworks!! This is one of the goodies I bought myself for Christmas, along with my fantastic Mini Zero Bag which I will tell you all about in a future post.

From Rickshaw's huge selection of fabrics and colors I chose the purple faux suede fabric (which comes in several colors), because I like fuzzy-feeling fabric and (as we all know) I love purple. I chose the pink edge binder for contrast, but you can choose whatever color you want for the edge binder.

Rickshaw has an astounding selection of fabrics and colors. They have super-tough waterproof fabrics, fabrics made from recycled plastic bottles, solids, patterns, even tweed. They will custom-make your folio using any of the fabrics they have.

Or, if you have a fabric you love, contact them because you can send it to them (ask them for dimensions) and they will cover your folio with it. Take a look at their video explaining more about the fabric possibilities. Each cover is custom made to order to your specifications!

The Rickshaw folios are specifically sized for the Large Moleskines, which are 8 1/4 inches tall by 5 1/8 inches wide. My folio is the Original, which holds a large Moleskine notebook, sketchbook, weekly planner, or 18 month weekly notebook (which is what I have in my folio). Recently they came out with an additional version that accommodates the thicker Moleskine Daily Planner, and also a version with a pocket for your smartphone or other electronic device! Just specify which version you need in the comments at checkout.

Here is the inside of my folio. This thing is genius. It holds my pens inside the front cover (Those are Sakura Microns for you pen geeks out there). The pen pockets are generously sized to accommodate G2s. Also inside the front cover there is a zip pocket to hold money, your passport, stamps or whatever else. Just above the pen pockets there is a clear window for your ID. There is a padded flap between your pens and your Moleskine's cover, so the pens don't dent or scratch the cover of your book.
Below you can see how the Moleskine fits into the back cover of the folio, leaving the Mole's front cover visible so you can still label or decorate it however you want (although my cover is boringly blank):


I took my Mole out so you could see the details of the inside of the back cover of the folio. The back cover of the Mole slides into the fitted slot to hold the book securely inside the folio. There is a clear pocket to hold papers or whatever else, allowing you to see what's in there. Then when you are finished with your book, you can archive those items inside the Moleskine's back pocket.

Rickshaw has a Flickr photostream of their folios and other products. They also have a great video of Mark (founder of Rickshaw Bagworks, Moleskine fan and designer of the folios) showing the features of the folio, which is fun to watch and very informative. (While you're on their videos page, don't miss the tour of their factory, and vids of their other products' features too.)

Another really fun video to watch is Mark at Macworld, telling us how he's using his folio. It's a great view of the folio in action.

The only thing that I would change about the folio, if I could, is to have the zippers zip closed in the up position. The way the folio is configured, the inside pocket zipper and the exterior zipper both zip closed in the down position. It would work better for me if the inside pocket zipped closed up so that my coins and small things don't spill out the bottom when I unzip.

More importantly, I would love it if the external zip-around would zip closed in the up position, so that when I put airline tickets, long envelopes or tall papers into the back pocket I could zip the bottom and side closed and leave the top unzipped to let them stick out the top of the folio . To change the zippers like this would require a reconfiguration of the folio design. Maybe something to consider for future incarnations of the folio? **Edited to add: see Mark's reply in the comments. He designed the external zipper to zip down so it doesn't catch on the ribbon placemarker. He's really thought this through, obviously!

Rickshaw Bagworks is a very cool company in San Francisco that is very socially aware and does tons of great work locally. They custom-make messenger bags, commuter bags, baby bags, bike accessories, these great folios, and more. They also really listen to their customers and respond to their needs. I really respect them as a company. You're awesome, Rickshaw!

So if you use any kind of large Moleskine notebook or planner, check out their folios. They are a great way to personalize your book and carry your pens and other things with you everywhere you go. I love that it can be all-in-one: you have your Mole, your pens, your cards and money (and even your passport!) all held securely in its zip-around goodness. Grab your folio and you're ready to go to work, on your long weekend, or trekking in the Himalayas.

Huge WIN! Thank you Rickshaw!

Coming soon on Plannerisms!

Hey everybody, I have a backlog of reviews to do. Several people have been extremely generous in sending me products and I want to give them all the attention they deserve. And, I also got a little spendy around the holidays and got some goodies for myself that I want to tell you all about too. Here's what's coming up in the next few weeks, not necessarily in this order:

Quo Vadis Monthly 4 is an 18 month, monthly planner with excellent organizational features.

Rickshaw Bagworks Moleskine Folio (which now comes in 3 different adaptations: Original (which accommodates a Moleskine notebook, sketchbook, or weekly planner), Daily (which is bigger to hold the Moleskine Day-per-page planner) and Smartphone (which has a pocket for your electronic device of choice!). These things are absolutely awesome, and I can't even say that enough. Seriously, you guys. There's an enormous selection of fabrics and colors to choose from. I'll be going on and on about mine, but here is the website if you want to go ahead and check it out:

http://www.rickshawbags.com/#/products/moleskine_folio/

Rickshaw Bagworks Mini Zero Bag: mine is awesome, and I'll tell you all about it. In the meantime:

http://www.rickshawbags.com/#/products/mini_zero/

Plan It brand student planners, which are full of excellent local information, contacts (a Yellow Pages right in the book!!), and money-saving coupons. These are a must-have for any university student!

And the rest of the Daycraft diaries and notebooks that were sent to me as samples to review, which are:

Chromatic Days diary

Make My Day diary

Cantoon notebook

The Creative Exit D-sign notebook

And the stunningly beautiful Signature sketchbook

And of course my usual planner pontifications, questions, musings and functionality reports.

Whew! That's a lot of fun plannering to look forward to! So stay tuned, Plannerisms readers, for lots to come!

Moleskine folios by Rickshaw Bagworks

Meet my newest obsession: the Moleskine folio by Rickshaw Bagworks! These are zip-around folio cases for the large Moleskine notebook or weekly planner (not fat enough for daily). They hold numerous pens, cards, papers etc. They come in a mind-boggling variety of colors and fabric styles, which you choose at will. Check them out:

http://www.rickshawbags.com/?#/products/moleskine_folio/

I literally stumbled across these today as I was on the Quo Vadis blog, which had a link to an Equology planner review on Unposted which has in its sidebar a link to Rickshaw Bagworks' blog, which I thought sounded interesting so I clicked on it, scrolled down, and lo and behold there was this image and a big description of these extremely cool folios.

I use a Moleskine 18 month weekly notebook planner, and so does my sister, so I sent the link to her. As soon as she saw it she called me up and we spent an hour and a half looking at the Rickshaw Bags website and Flickr photos discussing fabric and color combinations. Because you see, they will do whatever combination you want of fabric and trim colors. Especially interesting is the Bottles to Bags fabric, made of recycled plastic bottles.

Rickshaw Bagworks is located in San Francisco and sounds like a very cool company. The Mole folios are a relatively new addition to their product line which includes extremely cool-looking messenger bags in various sizes, wallets, baby bags and more.