1864 A VERY late “Back to School” Sale Stationery Haul – Part 1

Good morning, good afternoon, or maybe good evening, to you, the one reading this right now. I hope you are all well. Are we all back in school or college or university? Is everyone enjoying it? Let me know all about it in the comments below. Now, to move on to the post. I want to start by saying sorry, I took an unexpected and extended break from posting, life got a little crazy! There is an explanation in the making, but for now… I can’t tell you about the stationery that I bought this year. (Yes, I bought way too much).

Does anyone else have an unhealthy relationship with stationery? Because I am 100% guilty. I can almost guarantee that if I never buy another pen, I don’t think I will run before I reach the age of 150. So, I am a little late posting. I am having a hard time writing for you guys and gals now. I do hope that although it is very late, you might still enjoy it. I will admit that I did not need anything purchased in this haul, it was all purely curiosity and wanting them. I have decided I would make these two posts, so I won’t bore you to death with stationery talk. For now, here are the first 10 items I bought (I am beginning to think I went a bit overboard with buying stationery).

1. BIC Intensity Fine liners (8 Pack)

2. Pilot B2P Gel Black Triple Pens (3 Pack)

3. Pilot B2P 0.5 V5 Hi-Tec point Ink Pen with 3 refills

4. Pilot B2P, Ball Point Pens Made from Recycled Bottles (3 Pack)

5. Sharpie S-Gel Gel Pens, Black (3 Pack)

6. Paper mate Flair (12 Pack)

7. Zebra Z-Grip Silver (2 Pack)

8. Zebra Z-Grip Pastel Ombre Ball Point Pens (3 Pack) x3

9. Brown Faux Leather Lined Notebook

10. Multicoloured Day Dreamer, Night thinker Notebook

Now you know that I bought way too much, shall I tell you a bit more about all of them. If you haven’t already, get yourself a snack and or a drink of choice and let’s dive in, shall we?

BIC Intensity Fine liners (8 Pack) – Should have been £5, I paid £2.50

The first shop I hit was Tesco, these were the first in the trolley. I have never seen these before, and I needed a new black fine liner, I thought I would go for them. I got them for £2.50 instead of £5 because of the Clubcard discount going on now so I couldn’t pass them up. Looking back, I probably shouldn’t have gotten these, I didn’t read the packaging when I was in the shop, I thought they were like felt tips, but they are fine liners which I did need a black one, so it is a bittersweet type of situation. I don’t use a lot of fine liners. They will still get used so the important thing is they won’t go to waste. Overall, based on price, I will go for these again if they work out nicely. They are cheaper than Staedtler.

Pilot B2P Gel Black Triple Pens (3 Pack) – £2.50

First, I have to say… HOW COOL ARE THESE? I mean the packaging speaks for itself, it’s such a neat idea and why have they never done this before? More stationery packaging should be like this. Honestly, it feels like a crime that I didn’t know about before. I LOVE them, and the ink is good (watch out for lefties, it will need a few seconds to dry). To my surprise, I found these in ASDA of all places. ASDA don’t typically have a great range of stationery, (or my local one doesn’t anyway). But this year they killed it. The packaging caught my eye, 100% recyclable packaging, made from recycled cardboard and the pens are made from recycled bottles. What a genius idea! So, I went back and bought loads more. Oops! They are my new favourite pens.

Pilot B2P 0.5 V5 Hi-Tec point Ink Pen with 3 refills – £2.50

First, I want to point out that this one is kinda a failure. I say fail because I did not read the packet and I assumed these were the refills for the above pens. I said kinda fail because it is still a nice pen, which I have 3 refills for now. Again, these came from ASDA, so they get extra points this year. Honestly, I didn’t need this type of pen, they aren’t my favourite, so I don’t use them very often, but… they won’t expire.

Pilot B2P, Ball Point Pens Made from Recycled Bottles (3 Pack) – £3

You know by now that I love the packaging and the concept of these pens. Whoever thought to use old plastic bottles to make pens are genius. These I found in Tesco. Slightly more costly than the others I have bought from the same range. Now that I have had the chance to use all 3 versions. I think these are my least favourite out of the three. I prefer gel ink in general because I find it much easier to write with. They are still great pens though and I highly recommend them to anyone. These would last the longest out of the three I believe (ink-wise).

Sharpie S-Gel Gel Pens, Black (3 Pack) – Should have been £6, I paid £3

Who doesn’t love a good gel pen? I mean the main downside is that they smudge easier than a biro so maybe the lefty community aren’t big fans. Let me know in the comments below if you are a lover or a hated of a gel ink pen. In the past, anything with Sharpie on it, I haven’t given a second thought as overall Sharpie is quite a pricey brand. This year, I thought “sod it” I am going to give them a go, so I didn’t shy away, and I got these. Everyone knows Sharpie make the best marker pens. The question is… do they do the best gel ink pens as well? Keep an eye out for the answer. I think this might be my “work” pen.

Paper mate Flair (12 Pack) – £8

Paper mate Flair pens, this is a bizarre type of pen. I have heard great things about them, but I haven’t tried them. It is one of those things, are they a marker, do you write with them, are they going to bleed, will they go through the page? I never really knew what category they would fit into. They could even be colouring in pens. I’m not a particularly arty person so I just never picked them up for me, but I am getting a bit more creative as I get older and want to try new things, add a bit of spice to my notes etc and I thought I am never going to know what kind of pens these are until I buy them and give them a go.

Now that I have had them and I have tested the colours out briefly, I would say these are the perfect mix between a marker, and a felt tip but you can also write with them. I am not sure I would use them for everyday notes, but they would be good if I wanted to make a word bold or underline, maybe label a diagram etc. They are getting the thumbs up from me. So far, when I have used them, they haven’t bled and they haven’t gone through the page but if you are someone who gets the Tesco/ASDA/Morrisons own brand pad of paper which is a bit on the thinner side, I would test them on a bit of scrap before you commit.

Zebra Z-Grip Silver, Black Ink, (2 Pack) – Should have been £3, I paid £1.50

These I should have left on the shelf. As much as I love a good Zebra pen, I already have multiple, so these were not required in the slightest. I just fell for the silver packaging because I am a lover of silver. I can’t lie, I love a good Zebra pen. They are in my top 5 pens. Just everything about them, the hold is very comfortable (great for long periods of writing), they glide across the page nicely with a good colour payoff, they last well etc. I can’t stand it when you must drag a pen across the paper, not does hurt your hand but it ruins the work you are trying to complete.

Zebra Z-Grip Pastel Ombre Ball Point Pens (3 Pack) x3 – £3

I became a little bit obsessed with these as you will be able to tell. When I try a new pen and they are nice to hold and easy to write with. I like to buy multiple of them because finding a pen that I like and that doesn’t cause any pain after writing for a while, is not an easy task. Overall, I have discovered that gel ink seems to be the winner most of the time. These I bought sometime in 2020 so most of these I have used now but I couldn’t leave them out of the mix, that would make me a pen traitor. I do highly recommend these, they write beautifully, they are great to hold while you are writing, and they are very pretty colours. I am sure I got these in Sainsbury’s.

Notebooks from B&M

• Brown Faux Leather Lined Notebook – Approx. £2 or £3

• Multicoloured Day Dreamer, Night thinker Notebook – Approx. £2 or £3

If you know me, you will know I have a kind of unhealthy obsession with notebooks. I love them, I used them daily and I also have way too many and did NOT need these, but I lose my willpower when it comes to stationery, so I added these two to my collection.

The brown one is very nice; it is flexible so would be perfect as a handbag notebook. I would say it screams old-fashioned, just the colour, the shape, and the overall design of it. Hopefully, you will know what I mean when you see the image below. The cover is nice and thick which is a bonus, there is nothing worse than when you have a notebook but no cover because it got a little wet and ripped off. I think it is going to be quite durable and easy to use. I am not too sure what else to say about a notebook.

The daydream, night thinker notebook, I mostly just like the colours and liked that it was kinda cheap. I am not typically one to splash on notebooks unless it is a posh or unusual one. At the end of the day if it has a paper that you can write on… it is a good notebook. I am working on buying things for a specific reason instead of just because I want the item.

Well, that is the first part of my stationary haul. As I treated myself, I got a bit more than one post’s worth. I don’t want to bore you with pens too much so stay tuned and I will share with you the second half in the next couple of weeks. How does that sound?