Pretty Good on Paper

Sometimes I like to carry some notes with me that are more extensive than what could fit on a 3×5 index card.  And sometimes I want to take notes and then file them in a 3×5 card file, because I just like my files that size.  So what I do is use only the bottom half of a piece of 8.5 x 11 inch paper, the bottom seven inches, to be precise and this ancient letterfold. 

1. Take a piece of 8.5 x 7 inch paper and fold it with the shorter sides together (so that it is, when folded, 4.25 x 7) and crease the fold.
   
2. Unfold it and fold the top corner down so that its edges meet that crease, like so
   
3. Do the same with the bottom left corner, like so
   
4. Take the bottom edge and fold it up so that it meets the bottom edge of the first corner that you folded down, like this
   
5. Repeat that with the top edge, like this
   
6. Take the bottom right corner and fold it up and under the top flap like this
   
7. Do the same with the top left corner, tucking it under, like this
   
8. Et voila!  The 8.5 x 7 becomes exactly 3×5 inches, suitable for putting in one of these nice folders, (also in this really bad picture below) 
   

Or you could put them in one of the more expensive “executive briefcases” that Levenger makes, or with your Hipster PDA, or just file it away.  It does not come unfolded; it is self-locking.

Nice thing about these notes, too, is that unfolded, they stack neatly, like this

without folding back up on you.