Inside The Notebooks That Hold My Head & Heart Together
How many notebooks is too many? Don't tell me, I don't care.
Hi friends! It’s Saturday & I have declared this a weekend of nothing. I told Tim not to ask me to do anything or go anywhere because I need to not be rushing & have two days of pottering about at my own pace. So far, I went to the gym at 6 am & then stopped at the local farmers market on the way home, made breakfast, pottered at my desk & hung out some washing. I have one more load to hang out & then I think I will make some lunch. This is the kind of day I needed.
If you read this, you will know that I was quite upset with myself after spending last Friday night down a scroll hole. This Friday night,t I spent it at my desk decorating a notebook, writing in my notebook,s all while this, then this & then this played on my laptop. It was a MUCH nicer way to spend a Friday night & I went to bed feeling much better about how I chose to spend my spare time.
While I was messing about with my notebooks, I thought maybe it was something you would like to see. I enjoy seeing how other people fill in notebooks, what they use them for & the bits & bobs they use. It’s the nosey parker in me, I guess, but I like to get inspiration from other people too. People are MUCH cleverer & WAY more artistic than I am, but that’s OK, I like what I do.
First up, we have my Thoughts & Feelings notebook. This is the most journal-y notebook I have. I write all my thoughts & feelings, but it also has my 2026 goals, collages, therapy take-aways & lists of things like books I want to read, analogue activities to do so I get off my phone & sometimes it’s just one thought or feeling written really big on a page with decorations around it.
I started my Movement Tracker in the middle of last September when I set myself the goal to move every day until December 23rd. I wanted to build a movement habit & having all the days in front of me to colour in has been great. I get a real kick out of seeing how many days are filled compared to how many I have missed. So far, I have missed 9 days out of 160 & I love that I have it all in front of me to see. Even without having written it down, I know exactly why I missed each of those 9 days.
The mothly print out I used is from this Etsy shop. I have 12 months printed & stuck in my notebook, & I plan to just keep going with the tracking.
Next is my Little scribbles notebook. This one was inspired by Sisley & her “no blank pages” posts. I have ZERO artistic ability, but back when I was a stoner teenager, I spent a lot of time just doodling on paper when I was high. I do the same thing now, except I am not high. I find it really helpful to do when my brain is running away with too many thoughts. Sometimes I’ll have music, a podcast or an audiobook playing, but mostly I scribble in silence.
My list book is just that, it has all my to-do lists, or my want-to-do lists in it. This one mostly stays next to my bed, but sometimes I take it to my desk too. I like to keep it next to my bed because often I will get into bed & suddenly I think of a million things that need doing- appointments that need to be booked, calls that I haven’t made, chores I need to get done, errands that need running. It’s like as soon as I physically write something down, I almost always remember it. For some reason, it’s not the same with typing.
One thing I have started doing is transferring my written lists to my reminder widget on the front page of my phone, so if I end up with some time up my sleeve between work & school pick-up, I can see what needs doing & hopefully get it done.
This next one is the least used in my stack. It’s my Grow Journal. I bought this back in November 2024 & since then I have used it less than 20 times. I have tried SO MANY times to do a daily gratitude paractice but nothing sticks. This is the journal I decorated on Friday night, & by doing that I am hoping it’ll encourage me to use it more. What can I say, I like a pretty notebook cover.
And the final one is the smallest & newest to my notebook family. It’s my Reading Log. It’s about the size of my hand where all my other ones are A5 size. When I decided to stop using Goodreads (you can read about that here ), I still wanted to be able to look back at the books I had read. I wish more than anything that this is something I had done since reading became my number 1 hobby, which was probably around the age of 7. Think of all the thousands of books I’d have a record of…….Anyway. This is my new way of doing that.
I bought a secondhand HP Sprocket printer (mine isn’t this exact one, but it’s similar) from FB marketplace this week, & it came with 2 packs of sticker paper, so I can print little book covers. I’ve ordered a little star rating stamp from Temu ( I know, I know, I am a garbage human, but I love all their little stationery stuff!), which will look cuter than my ugly handwriting, & that’s it. I’ll write the month I read it & how many stars I gave it. Very basic, but how cute is the cover? I made that sticker from a picture I cut out of a Frankie magazine ( I made the bow & scrapbook on the front of my Grow Journal, too!).
That was fun & if you made it this far I’m guessing you’re a notebook/journal keeper too (or you are sticky beak like I am lol). If you do, tell me all about your set-up, I’d love to hear about it.
And just in case anyone was wondering- my notebooks are from Kmart, Officeworks or old ones my kids only used a few pages from. All my washie tape & most of the stickers come from Temu. Some stickers are from Kmart or OfficeWorks, too. I love Sharpies, artline 0.6 finelines, gel pens, regular old ballpoint pens & illustration markers that were Sadie’s but now live on my desk.
Talk soon xx
Love all of this for you R, your notebooks are inspiring and your stickers so cool! I love notebooks too, Kmart ones to be precise. Also love that we share more than a few TBR books too. Thanks for sharing! Enjoy your weekend of sweet nothing xx
Love this! I have many, many filled notebooks which are ones with art, words & sayings in them. I have them all. Fave size is A5. I admit I'm a fan of good quality GSM paper so I can use markers or paint without bleeding. Over 8 years these have been my life savers! And a creative outlet! Have about 6 on the go right now. And just started collaging in one. It's helping me reduce stress and become mindful doing something I love!