Some women buy clothes and shoes, I buy stationery – especially pens! The addiction has gotten a little out of hand so I’ve had to find the best way to store them. If you’re a fellow pen addict, here are 5 ways to store pens.

1. Pen cup

If you don’t have many pens, a pen cup is one of my favorites ways to store them.

I use a few pen cups for all my black planner pens – as these are the ones I use most frequently. As well as the PaperMate Inkjoy Gel – my favorite pens for color coding!

Update: I no longer store pens vertically like this. I lay all of my pen cups on their sides so the ink remains horizontal (pen ink lasts longer this way)

Pros

• Doesn’t take up much room on your desk
• Lots of pretty options to choose from – my favorite is this acrylic one from Kikki K – the base is gold <3!

Cons

• Pens (especially pen lids) can tend to look the same so if you’re looking at them from above or you have a lot of pens in the cup it can be hard to find the pens you’re looking for
• Unless you put a lot of pens in them, the pens will fall or look ‘messy’

Makeup organizers make great pen cups – this one has 4 compartments – ideal for keeping all the pens by one brand together

Related: Planner pen testing in the Erin Condren Life Planner, Plum Paper, Happy Planner by MAMBI and Limelife Planner 

2. Drawers

Let’s take a moment to appreciate the eye candy 🙂

This set of acrylic drawers sits next to my laptop at my desk – love it!

I really like that they’re see through so I don’t have to try and remember what is in each one and can see all of the pretty colors.

Pros of using drawers

• You can fit a lot of pens in the drawers
• Easy to see what you have

Cons of using drawers

• Unless you have a lot in there they can move around a lot (I like to keep the pens for each brand / collection e.g. PaperMate Flair and PaperMate Inkjoy together)
• Drawers can get expensive (I got these from eBay – they were cheap for $30 but most of the others were $60+!)

Related: How to make printable storage contents labels in Photoshop (step by step video tutorial) 

3. Using a box, tray or basket

Pros of using a box or tray

• Can see what you have right in front of you
• Boxes can be stacked and are usually rectangle so are an easy shape to store
• Looks nice on a shelf!

Cons of using a box or tray

• If it’s not covered you can’t stack them – you can’t fit as much in them as drawers
• Unless there’s dividers e.g. you use a cutlery drawer insert, the pens can easily get out of order
• If the box you’re using isn’t see through and you don’t have it labelled you have to open the box to see what’s inside – which can be a pain if you have a big stack of boxes!

Using clip top bags or storing pens in their original packaging will keep them in order so you can easily find the pen/s you’re looking for.

I like to store pens in their collections, and in their original packaging if they come in a plastic or hard-cover case. This makes them easier to store and easier to find what I’m looking for i.e I just flip through the packs of pens rather than rummaging through a ton of different pen brands trying to find all the other colors in the collection. It also looks nice and neat!

Related: Best pens for writing on washi tape 

4. Pencil Case

Pros of using a Pencil Case

• Portable
• Cheap
• Lots of designs to choose from (you could even sew your own!)
• You can get clear pencil cases with holes pre-punched if you’re using a binder

Cons of using a pencil case

• Because there’s no dividers, the pens can easily get out of order
• Over time pencil cases can get dirty and damaged with wear and tear, zips can break etc.

Related: Favorite places to buy planner pens (online)

5. Pen case

Pros of using a pen case

• All of your pens neatly laid out so you can see exactly what you have on hand

Cons of using a pen case

• For the size of them, you can’t fit nearly as many pens as you can into a set of drawers or storage container
• They’re bulky
• They don’t maximize space

Related: 5 Planner supplies you should never skimp on

There are many different options for pen cases including multi-layered (where you can flip through the pen case) such as the MAMBI pen case which are quite portable, and larger size ones that have space for just 1 layer of pens, and aren’t really portable.

This one is from Pilot

 

Related: Favorite pens for writing headings in my planner 

6. Other Options

• Clip top bags – a cheap and easy way to keep all of the pens in a collection in one place
• Hair tie or rubber band around the pen collections

Related: What type of pens write best on correction tape? (gel pens vs. ballpoint vs. marker pens)

Which method is my favorite?

I prefer pen cups for pens I frequently use, otherwise acrylic drawers as you can store so many pens and since they’re see through you can easily see what’s in them.

Related Posts:

• How to make a personalised screensaver/computer or laptop wallpaper/desktop background 
• How to make printable labels in Photoshop
• Review of the Plum Paper Memory Keepers Book 
• Planner companies that will let you download, print and try their planner layout for free 

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