**This is a sticky post. You may enter this giveaway until May 23rd. For the latest post, please scroll down. **

~Written by guest blogger Brian Greene from Office Supply Geek  Twitter: @OfficeSupplyGee 

As someone who has always struggled with keeping organized in both  my personal and professional life, I was a bit skeptical when a  co-worker recommended the Levenger Circa Notebook  as a way to help the situation.  After spending some time looking at his notebook, and and even more time on the Levenger site looking at every variation of their notebooks as well as the dizzying array of accessories and types of pages they had for them, I finally took the plunge and ordered  two of them along with some additional paper and  accessories.

The version of the Levenger Circa Notebook that I am reviewing  today is one of the more basic ones in what they call the Junior  size. The Junior size notebooks measure 6 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ and come  standard with 3/4″ discs that the paper and cover attaches to.  It  is made up of a pink plastic translucent cover and this one  contains a sampling of Project Planning, To Do, Contact/Address,  and annotation ruled pages…all of the Levenger paper is a nice  thick stock that is great for writing on with anything including a  fountain pen.  The notebooks also come in a larger 9 1/2″ x 11 1/2″  letter size that will hold larger size notebook paper, and the  discs come in larger and smaller sizes to accommodate for multiple  page counts within in your notebook.  Each size of notebook is  available with either a translucent plastic cover, bookcloth cover,  or  leather cover.

With that introduction to the basics on these notebooks, you might  now find yourself asking, “Well they sound nice, but whats the big deal?  How are they so helpful in keeping organized?”  The thing  that makes these notebooks so unique is the way that the paper is  bound in them with the disc system.  Each page has series of “D”  shaped notches taken out of the paper that are designed to latch  onto each disc that goes down the spine of the notebook.  This  makes the pages incredibly easy to add, remove, and just reorganize  on the fly with minimal effort.  This flexibility is what has  really helped me to be able to keep my notes and other documents  organized exactly as I need, even as my needs change.

Some people have asked how (if at all) these notebooks differ from  a regular 3-ring binder, and I would say conceptually, there really isn’t a huge difference, however in practice there are huge  differences.  The first difference is that binding system allows  for different size pages to be interchangeable between different  size notebooks because the distance between discs used to bind the  paper are the same regardless of the size of the overall notebook,  which is different from a 3-ring binder since the holes are  different distances from one another.  The disc binding also leaves  much less space between the hole and the post of a ringed binder,  so you don’t have nearly the same amount of movement once the page  is locked in.  The biggest benefit though between the Circa disc  binding system and the 3-ring system is that you can quickly and  easily zip pages in and out and move them around without the hassle  of prying open giant metal rings and snapping them back shut with  the inevitable fear of getting a finger caught in the rings when  they slam shut.  It is also not too likely that you will find a  3-ring binder that looks nearly as professional as the Circa  notebooks, the benefits are just too many to ignore in my opinion.

As I first mentioned in this review, I had a healthy amount of  hesitation before I purchased my first Levenger Circa Notebook, but  now that I have been using them for a while, Ive actually found  myself relying heavily on these.  Recently I took the plunge and  bought the Bomber Jacket Leather cover because of the great quality  that I have seen in all of the Levenger products, and I have picked  up a bunch of other notebooks to use for everything from daily note  taking, to my daily calendar/planner, and I have even started using thicker versions of the notebook to archive everything that I don’t need for daily use.  These have honestly been a huge factor in making me a much more organized person at work and at home, I’m not sure if I could go back to the pre-Levenger Circa days  now.

Something that has reinforced my passion for this brand of  notebooks is the simple fact that in my day to day work I interact  with a range of very senior executives to your average worker (like  myself) and just about everyone in that pool of co-workers has at  some point stopped and asked me extensive questions regarding the  notebook and inquired as to where they can get them.  It is a  product that literally sells itself once someone sees it in person.

Just to make this review and giveaway a little more fun, I also  wanted to include two other items that I wont go into full reviews  of, but they just seemed like nice additions to compliment this  notebook on a Mother’s Day and Mom related site.  One of the  additional items is a pink Uniball Signo 207 Gel pen, which is one  of my favorite pens to write with, you can see my full review here.   This version was created to support the City of Hope for breast cancer research, treatment and education.  The pens come in a  variety of colors and are one of the smoothest pens that you will  ever write with.  In addition to the amazing writing experience you  get with this pen, Uniball uses their proprietary Uni-Super Ink Technology that traps the ink in the fibers of the paper to prevent  criminal check washing and other document alterations.  There is really no excuse not to use this pen when writing and signing  checks or other important documents.  This pen was provided to me  by @UniBall_USA  on Twitter.  This  is the official Brand Manager account for Uniball on Twitter.

The second additional item is the  pink Sharpie.  This is the same  great Sharpie that we are all familiar with, but this one writes in  a nice clear pink color and is also branded with the familiar pink  ribbon and sold to support City of Hope for breast cancer research, treatment and education.  The Sharpie was provided to me by @execbp  on Twitter who is the owner of a small office supply company in St. Louis, MO, and just an all ’round  helpful nice guy.

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone out there, and I hope that my  giveaway of these items helps to make Mother’s Day a little extra  special for one of you.

Here’s how you can enter:

 

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Entries will be accepted from May 10th- May 23rd @ 5pm EST. Winner will be announced on this site on April 19th. Winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to respond to claim their prize. Winner must be a resident of the USA. Again, you must leave a comment for each option you choose to enter. *Rules subject to change without notice*

Good Luck!