If you’ve known me since I was kid, then you know I’ve always kept some sort of notebook/planner.  I was always jotting down favorite quotes, tasks or coursework notes.

If you went to school with me, you know I HAD to take notes and I ALWAYS used different colored pens to highlight different aspects of the subject matter. If I made a mistake, white-out was my best friend. If I didn’t have white out, I often rewrote the entire page. I needed it to feel clean and pretty.

Reflecting back, it seems silly, but I know that the rewriting and art of making my notes pretty was my way of ingraining the information to memory. It is how I learn as a visual learner.

Enter my workforce era –> you’ll still catch me with a notebook or list pad!

You can imagine my glee when I saw that paper planners were making a comeback. Now I could keep appointments and my to do lists in one place. Best. News. Ever!

However, my need for it to look pretty is still totally there, so I had to find a solution. I needed my notes/lists to be in color to separate projects, but I didn’t want to be that girl that walks around with colored pencils.  So I was on a hunt for the right writing utensil.

As a scrapbooker, I have all kinds of pens and none were just right.  I love the find point of the Staedtler pens, but they are permanent. I use them all the time for my crafting projects, but if I make a mistake, it’s easy to try again with my arsenal of supplies. I’ve tried using them in my planner, but it drives me crazy having to scratch out a mistake. For my at home planner, I have a lot of predetermined boxes and subject areas, so I have no problem using the Staedtler pens then. I have more difficulty in using them for non-planned items (like jotting down to do lists).

In February, I saw a pic on Instagram a fellow crafter who uses the Pilot Frixion erasble markers for projects.  ERASABLE marker?  What?! I immediately looked them up…there are plenty of crafters who showcase them in youtube videos. I was instantly mesmermized.

Imagine my sheer joy when I discovered they also made erasable gel ink pens! Now…we all have terrible memories of the erasable pens from our youth, so I was a bit skeptical. I did some homework and saw that Staples and Target sometimes carried these pens, so I was a mission to get myself a set to try out. I picked up a 3 color set and immediately knew that these were perfect for me.  So of course, I bought the 24 pack via amazon (I don’t think a US based company sells these pens yet as my packaging was in Japanese – I think).  I now carry them around in a pencil case in my purse, and I pull out a few at time in meetings. If people watch me erase my notes, I immediately get questions or it gets grabbed out of my hand to examine closely. It’s always pretty funny.

My “pencil” case that carries my Pilot Frixion Erasable Gel Ink Pens. I also have a Frixion erasable highlighter and the SIgno White Pen (for when I need to write on dark paper) and black fine tip Sharpie.

I think I’ve even been the reason that 3-4 of my colleagues have purchased their own sets since I got my set.  They are amazing and great for us paper planner folks!  Below is a photo sample of fixing a mistake.

This is me forgetting my Spanish.

Caught my mistake and erased the wrong letters. Clearly there are still faint marks of the dark ink but it’s minimal.

Spanish is back on track!