For a while now I’ve been using a Filofax A5 Flex leather notebook cover. Obtaining replacement A5 notebooks though was expensive. So I started to look around for suitable replacements. How difficult could it be??

For a while I have used the Moleskine Cahier size notebooks, but they are quite expensive, not in my local shops and also the paper quality isn’t very good. They are also not A5 size.

I looked around my local stationery supplier and I was surprised that A5 notebooks were not available. Lots of 17x22cm exercise books, yes I could cut them down to size I suppose. But the other issue was they are all quadrille square graph paper type pages. None were just simple lined paper.

Then by chance I was in our local supermarket and they have an aisle of stationery and office supplies. And I came across these two A5 notebooks

The left hand one is a simple coil bound notebook with sturdy plastic covers front and back. The right hand one is a more formal hard backed notebook with elastic closure. It has an envelope pocket in the back cover and a ribbon book mark too.

I bought both because I thought it would be a good idea whilst they were in stock. They had them in some different coloured covers too. The label on the cover peels off easily as well, leaving a plain cover.

And they are lined paper too… the paper is very smooth to the finger touch.

The coil bound one slips in to my Filofax Flex leather cover nicely and of course it is the correct size as well, were as the Moleskine ones are 18mm narrower than A5.

So I’m very pleased with finding these locally. I know if I went on Amazon I could have something delivered to my door the next working day, but that does seem a little extreme and silly when there are these available locally.