First, let me say, I love my notebooks!  I have one for my dog business.  I have one for a family journal.  Next year, I will get one for the RAK group, plus a new one for my business!

I had the privilege of picking up a used notebook from someone in the EC groups.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was a “Keep it Simple” notebook, instead of the “Classic”, which was the only type I had ever owned or seen.  I think a lot of people wonder how they are different, so I am going to show you all photos, so you can compare and see just how similar and different they are!

This is the inside of the cover and the first page.  I have added a few stickers to my family journal (in red on the top).  In all of these photos, the Classic is the notebook on the top, and the Keep it Simple is the notebook on the bottom.

This is the next page spread.  Both have inspirational quotes, but the Keep it Simple is definitely more “simple”!

As I began to page through these notebooks side by side, there was a definite contrast and the Classic is definitely “girly” and the Keep it Simple is definitely more “masculine”.

There are just a few colors used throughout the Keep it Simple.  January is Taupe and Navy.

March is Taupe and Turquoise.

May is Taupe and Cornflower.

April is Taupe and Chartreuse.

Oops, my pictures loaded out-of-order, but February is Taupe and Mocha.

The stickers are definitely suited toward each notebook, with colors that coordinate with the color scheme of the books.  The Keep it Simple colors are Taupe, Mocha, and Teal.

The note pages have a simple block of color in the corner.  The colors from L-R are…Teal, Chartreuse, Cornflower, Navy, Mocha, Taupe.  These are the color scheme throughout the entire notebook.  Turquoise and Teal are both used, for example, the tab is Turquoise, but the sticker is Teal.  They are sort of used interchangeably.

There are still the same number of note pages in each style of Notebook.

The colors here are Taupe, Chartreuse, and Cornflower.

The decorative pages are the same style as the Classic Notebook pages, but they are again in the earthy color tones.

There is no asterisk on the page for the Keep it Simple.

Both have a pocket, but the “Let’s Meet” cards are totally different.

What I love about the Keep it Simple Notebook is that if a cover was designed using a combo of the signature colors in the book (Navy, Cornflower, Chartreuse, Teal, Turquoise, Mocha or Taupe), it would be a very appropriate book for a man to carry around, especially if a very simple, block color style cover was chosen.  By adding the monthly calendar, a guy could use this as a planner fairly easily if they didn’t need specific daily type pages, and general notes would be sufficient.

I love that I accidentally got a Keep it Simple Notebook.  Now I just have to figure out what I’d like to use it for!