I've just started using a legal pad and erasable pen (frixion pens are amazing) to help get my life processes better organized, and it's a great place to start and figure out what you want from these kinds of tools. For me this was better than trying the tools to see what works, I even tried Excalidraw but it's still in that category of "go back and learn how to use if I have time".
I'm still heavily leaning on the legal pad, but I've got a project in Claude to streamline this whole thing over time. It's recommended Microsoft OneNote which I completely wrote off because it seems like there must be a price for such a robust tool being free, but it is really amazing these days. Seems very smooth for mixing digital media with handwritten notes and diagrams, I'm really impressed with it. It's probably going to be where I move to from my legal pad system, since it's so similar but offers features that will help organize the notes and make them searchable, etc.
I always look at the new tools and services for these kind of things when they pop up so please share other personal systems as well!
(I'm still not sure what the price is for OneNote, but if anyone knows and it's bad, please say something)
Be careful what you do with your notes, if you care about longevity. Leave a notebook in the sun and you may find it blank. Throwing it in the freezer may bring back some text, but it will bring back stuff you erased, too.
It doesn't matter for throwaway stuff, but I've lost notes on older projects due to this.
Didn't mean to sound snarky with my comment, sorry about that! I would seriously recommend archival-quality in that case too, Micron pens are pretty affordable! You could of course go wild and create a wonderful setup that's a bit pricier, but it's very easy to do with simple pens too. Micron and legal pad should get the job done for personal notes, and beyond that probably look at scanning/digital options.
no one asked, but frixion pens on a legal pad and taking photos with a quick iOS shortcut makes it very simple to win all around.
I'm still heavily leaning on the legal pad, but I've got a project in Claude to streamline this whole thing over time. It's recommended Microsoft OneNote which I completely wrote off because it seems like there must be a price for such a robust tool being free, but it is really amazing these days. Seems very smooth for mixing digital media with handwritten notes and diagrams, I'm really impressed with it. It's probably going to be where I move to from my legal pad system, since it's so similar but offers features that will help organize the notes and make them searchable, etc.
I always look at the new tools and services for these kind of things when they pop up so please share other personal systems as well!
(I'm still not sure what the price is for OneNote, but if anyone knows and it's bad, please say something)