Nothing like starting a fresh journal at the beginning of the year and forgetting about it three months in. Let’s hope the three I’m keeping this year stick around 😉
Weekly planner
I’ve kept a planner since elementary school, and for the last few years I’ve settled on using 5 x 8.25″ gridded Moleskines, keeping it simple with single-paged monthly layouts at the beginning of the notebook followed by single-paged two-columned weekly layouts: the first column divided into daily blocks for priority tasks and deadlines, the second column left empty for ongoing tasks and notes. No fancy typography or anything, completely utilitarian. (See my old planner system)
Then after all these years, I stumbled upon a Daiso planner laid out EXACTLY the same way (with the monthly layouts and weekly layouts) and I felt so validated. Yup, mhm, this design is official. So this year I’ve forgone the Moleskine for the Daiso planner. I love how it’s all laid out for me exactly as I would have done, how there are the exact number of pages needed for the year, how it’s thinner without the excess pages than the generic notebooks I usually use as planners, and it’s Daiso cheap! Daiso better continue manufacturing these planners every year, because I fully intend to continue using them!
Monthly booklet calendar for daily journaling
This journal was inspired by Amaris. Rather than journal in a typical notebook, she uses a calendar booklet with full-spread monthly calendars and journals in the daily blocks. I love that the limited space takes the pressure off writing something long and impressive, like it’s giving me permission to be mundane — small notes for small spaces. As a matter of fact, so far my daily journaling has largely consisted of listing off the food and media I consume; school days with more social interaction sometimes inspire more emotive inventory haha. Riveting stuff.
It’s super satisfying to be able to review a month at a glance, kind of like 1 Second Everyday videos or BeReal’s Memories, but I find writing works a lot better for me because I get too caught up in aesthetics otherwise (leave it to me to figure out how to curate a BeReal haha) (jk I don’t have BeReal). Also, I always forget to take videos or pictures when I’m doing things, but with writing, I have the luxury of documenting after the fact.
Reading notebook
Just a plain lined A5 notebook with a page of thoughts and reviews of varying formality for each book I finish. None of that fancy habit tracking, goal setting, monthly TBR stuff. Since I switched to sharing quarterly highlights on the blog instead of monthly reading recaps, I’ve been much more irregular about reviewing books and reflecting in general. I plowed through 111 books last year — the most books I’ve ever read in a year — but I admit that it wasn’t the most thoughtful experience, so this year I want to challenge myself to review every book I read in my notebook — just for myself, so I don’t need to concern myself about scheduling reviews promptly, talking about books in a consistent format for others to easily interpret, or any of that unimportant stuff.
However, at the same time, I’ve just up a Notion account, and I have a good flow going for tracking reads and for work (still figuring out a good flow for school). I’ve found myself doing all my note-taking on Notion (which works much better for detailed plot notes than a single A5 sheet) and drafting reviews, then transcribing a more succinct version in my physical reading journal. We’ll see whether a physical reading journal will continue to be a helpful tool for me, or if Notion will suffice. There’s something comforting about having a physical journal though, a reassurance that its contents won’t get lost in the ether.
