Making a Hipster PDA Case

Feb 21, 2007

Like many folks I fell onto the GTD bandwagon about a year ago after stumbling upon 43folders.com. One thing led to another, and pretty quickly I found myself carrying a Hipster PDA, better know to anybody over thirty as "a stack of index cards." A traditional hPDA is held together with a binder clip, but that just didn't work for me. The clip would catch on things, the card edges would fray, and it just didn't seem like an elegant solution to me. I'd look for something better whenever I was in an office supply store, but never did find anything that seemed quite right. Finally, I decided I'd just try to make something, and after 5 minutes in Office Depot and 10 minutes with a paper cutter I had what I wanted: a clear plastic holder that didn't add any substantial thickness or bulk but protected the cards and provided easy access. After a few months, the holder was looking a bit ragged, so I thought it was time to make a new one. Here's the process (A full set of pictures is available on Flickr):

	Avery Clear Binder Pockets (75423) come five to a pack. A pack is just over $3 including tax at any of the big three office supply houses (Office Depot, Office Max, or Staples)
	First, cut the lower right corner from the binder pocket. The sealed length on the side opposite the holes will become the bottom of the card holder. You can cut a rough blank that's 7 inches or so by 5.5 or 6 and trim it down to size.
	The left side of the rough blank is the original fold in the pocket. The top is open, and the bottom is the sealed section.
	Cut back along the sealed seam on the bottom leaving just over 3 inches intact, then cut the flap off (Just the upper layer, that is).
	Stick as many cards as you're likely to carry in the pocket as a guide, then fold the cover flap over. You'll need to crease the cover fold firmly, but as hard as you might crease it, it will likely take several days before the cover sits flat.
	The holder on the left has bounced around from shirt pocket to pants pocket to computer bag and back for the better part of six months. The holder on the right is new.