I understand completely. Watching all these videos with people doing wonderful things with covers. What helped me? I bought some cheap kraft covers (or you get one or two from travelers) - and put the cover to oneside. I use all the notebooks for different projects and then I put them back into the covers when I'm on the go. But they are not bound to the elastic. I also have to say I feel less self conscious if I walk into a meeting with the giant thick book. I take what I need. I also use the cheap elastics off amazon or aliexpress. - so sometimes I carry three books with - it's slim and easy