When you need a notebook to jot things down in it's easy to just grab a lined notebook or one with blank pages. There's a third option to consider that has the benefits of both styles: dot grid.

It's 2018, you have reams of paper in your home office, a file cabinet with documents at work, and your kid just handed you a new excursion form you have to, for some reason, fax to their teacher. If this doesn't sound like the paperless future you were promised, you're right.

Luckily, you don't need much to get a handle on all those PDFs you have (or are about to create). A scanner, a smartphone and some cloud storage services are all you need to convert the stack of papers on your desk into a paperless wonderland.

Is your home always stocked with the cushiest brand of tissues, toilet paper, paper towels and napkins? Good, stop reading. Everyone else: This is a remedial course in how to fill your home with paper hygiene products like an adult. I realised the importance of this course when discovering that several of my younger friends don't buy tissues. Before you send another guest to the bathroom to blow their nose, please read.

Every now and then, you have to write something longhand for someone else to read: A note, a notice, a birthday card. If you're like the many people we've gotten notes or notices or birthday cards from, it sometimes comes out illegible. We've presented many methods for improving your handwriting, but before you try them, just try slowing the hell down.

I came, I scribed, and then I gave up. After writing 20,778 words of my NaNoWriMo novel this year, I decided to abandon the project. And I don't feel guilty about it at all. I feel amazing.

If you live in an area prone to wet or windy weather, flyers stapled to telephone poles don't last very long. This trick will keep your "lost pet" flyers up longer so you have a better chance of finding your furry friend.

Apps can measure how far and how fast you run, but they're not great at gauging your long term progress. Am I building a habit? Am I getting faster? Seeing your runs on a sheet of paper, with planned workouts next to a brief post-mortem, helps you see your progress. Here's the template I use.

When it comes to pocket-sized notebooks, two companies stand above the rest: Moleskine and Field Notes. Both are incredibly popular and work great for what they are, but choosing between the two is difficult. We're here to help you make that choice.

Paper cutters are precise tools for slicing paper, with one minor deficiency: You can't always see where the blade will cut. For some models, you can fix this by shining a light beneath the paper.

Dear Lifehacker, I am a postgraduate student working on a research project. And that means insane amounts of journal articles. My brain is incapable of processing any of the information unless I print them out to touch and highlight them. I have over one thousand research papers I need to read. What is the cheapest possible way to print these, ideally at around five cents per page?

If you prefer a pen and a notebook to digital to-do lists, then there's a new productivity system on the block. Strikethru combines elements of the GTD method and the Bullet Journal for a new handwritten productivity technique.

iOS: Paper is a fantastic drawing app on the iPad, and today it launches on the iPhone for the first time.

If pen and paper are your favourite tools, the Bullet Journal is a productivity technique that turns any paper notebook into a powerful productivity system. The video here shows you how it's done in a nutshell.

Sometimes a glowing screen can't replace the feel and flexibility of old-fashioned pen and paper. When you need a good notebook to jot down your thoughts or doodles in, you have plenty to choose from. This week, we're going to check out some the best paper notebooks money can buy, based on your nominations.

I've never been able to find a decent magnetic chess board. At least, the tiny travel ones are always a bit rubbish. Turns out if you're willing to put your crafting skills to work, you can fashion your own, full-sized portable board from paper.

Capturing ideas in digital format makes them easy to sort and access, but ultimately what matters is that you capture them in the first place. Music legend Annie Lennox is a firm believer in writing things down as soon as they occur to her.

The classic party trick goes:

Tape a plastic bag between two pages of a newspaper
Conceal the bag as much as you can
Get a cup of water
Pour water into newspaper/plastic bag

It's at this point you pray your shoddily-constructed attempt at magic holds its, well, water.

If you regularly print A3 or larger sizes, storing the paper can be a nuisance. If you don't have large enough desk drawers, you can get effective results by combining a couple of wooden magazine holders from IKEA.

Ouch! Paper cuts are the bane of anyone who has ever stuffed things in envelopes for a living. But you can avoid the pain with a simple tactic: applying hand cream before you venture into serious paper handling.