The Well-Appointed Desk

Way back in 2015 we put together a list of 13 Ways to fill up all those notebooks I know you have floating around in your stationery cupboard. Today, it felt like a good time to see if we couldn’t add, update or zhoosh these lists up and make one MEGA list.

1. Daily Journal: I love the techniques that Austin Kleon uses where you just make a list of the things you did, people you saw, things you watched or listened to and any other interesting things that happened.
2. Morning Pages/Free Writing/Brain Dump
3. Lists (Bullet Journal): you can use each page for a list — lists of your favorite albums, your favorite foods, your bucket lists, things you dislike, a shit list, whatever strikes your fancy. You can make a gratitude journal which is just lists of good things in your life.
4. Mind Mapping, or if you’re more of a visual person, make a vision board book.
5. Sketchnoting
6. Practice your handwriting: choose a notebook to use for 15 minute handwriting practice or calligraphy
7. Test all those pens and inks: make an ink swatching notebook. Keep a few pages to put a few inches of each of your washi tapes so you can see the designs and also have a little snippet when you use it up.
8. Commonplace book
9. Dream Journal: keep a book by your bed. If you wake with a particularly vivid dream, write it down while its still fresh in your mind.
10. Travel Journal: if you are traveling, pick a notebook to collect tickets, receipts, and your thoughts and memories from your travel adventures. If you don’t travel a lot, put a spare notebook in the glovebox of your car and write down anything that catches your eye, places you might want to stop at in the future or just use for grocery lists. If you don’t drive, find a small notebook that fits in your bike basket, or in your bag to keep notes of the world that goes by. Your travel journal could be a “where I want to go” journal and include info about different places you’d like to travel, places you’d visit, eat, see, and experience.
11. Book (to-read or read) Journal: There are so many how-to’s on how to make a beautiful insta-worthy book journal but you can do it you own way and just put the book title at the top of each page, when you start it, when you finish it, your favorite bits or why you didn’t like it. Easy peasy.
12. Modify a notebook: If you don’t like the notebook, its too big, the wrong size or somehow does not meet your needs, disassemble the notebook. Cut it up or remove the pages to use as a notepad, scratch paper or use a hole punch and put into a binder
13. Collage, art journal or sketch book Tina has a great list for all those sketchbooks. Or try out Laura’s Doodle Notebook project.
14. Gaming Notebook: just like a book journal, keep a log when you start a new video game and use the notebook to keep track of side quests, things you need to remember, what you like about the game and even if you finish it or bail out on it.
15. Gaming Notebook 2: if you play tabletop or D&D-style games, keep a log of when you start a game or campaign, who all is playing and any additional notes. With tabletop games, include who won each game.
16. Recipe book: Keep your favorite recipes in a notebook. It keeps them in one place and allows you space to add or change a recipe you found in a book or online. I like to draw how-to diagrams for how to chop something, especially since some of my recipes came from online videos.
17. Craft Journal: if you knit, crochet, quilt, sew or embroider keep notes in a specific notebook for the projects you do, where the pattern is, materials used, when you started and when you finished. If you want to be extra, take a photo of your finished project and tape it in to the project page.
18. Gardening Journal: Do you want to plan your garden (indoor or outdoor)? Use a journal or notebook to track and plan your botanical adventures.
19. Self-Care: If you are anything like me, you need a place to remind yourself to take care of yourself. Make lists of why you are awesome. Keep track of when you do do something nice for yourself. Keep it a safe place to write what you need from the world, from your friends and family.
20. Create your own grimoire: feeling magical? Start your own grimoire (AKA Book of Shadows) where you can write down spells, correspondences, lists of gemstones, colors, astrological symbols, etc.
21. Tarot Journal: whether you read tarot or oracle cards, dedicate a notebook for your weekly or daily readings.
22. Write a freakin’ book: Pick a notebook and start that book you have always wanted to write. Maybe you start writing out character studies, locations, plot out the story, draw a map, etc.
23. Junk Journal: all those pretty little bits of ephemera that you’ve collected, just glue it in to a notebook. This is a great use for a notebook that doesn’t have the most fountain pen friendly paper. Just glue stuff on top of the crappy paper. I love the safety patterns on inside of financial envelopes and often have a whole stack of them at any given time. Add in tea bag tags, tickets, receipts, and any pretty pictures I find in magazines and I have enough miscellany to fill multiple notebooks.
24. Letterwriting Log: If you have a multitude of pen pals, keep a notebook to track when you receive a letter, when you reply and a summary of the contents of each letter. A Letterwriting log will also be a great place to collect any ephemera sent to you from a friend or special postcards.
25. Pet Journal: When you have as many cats as I do, keeping a few pages for each animal is a great way to check that they have all been in to the vet for their vaccinations.
26. Vehicle Journal: I keep a notebook (an old Field Notes) in my car that I keep a list of oil change dates and mileage, gas-ups with costs and dates and other repairs. It gives me a one stop place to verify when the last time was that I had the tires rotated.
27. Home Records: This might be a great place to use an unused binder like an old Filofax. Keep track of when the roof was repaired, the receipts and info from the new dishwasher purchase, the business cards for the yard service and wind cleaners, etc.
28. Address Book: This is so old world but keeping addresses and phone numbers of important people in your life that is not your cell phone is a good idea. Especially if anything were to happen to you or your family, keeping a paper record of close friends, family, doctors, etc is not a bad idea.
29. Health Log: If you have any long-term illnesses, keeping a record of what food you’re eating, weather, exercise, medications, or any other extenuating circumstances, keeping a record will help keep symptoms in check or provide a solid list for your physician. As a cluster headache sufferer, I keep a record of my headaches, how long they last, what medications I take and any other details to share with my doctor.
30. Big Project Planning: Are you buying a house, going back to school, getting married or any other BIG project planning? Pick a book to contain all the information, lists, contacts, questions and any other notes you need to track as you plan the project.
31. Log Book of a Hobby: Bob keeps a Beer Log. I keep a Gin Book. Do you love wine, beer or whiskey? Keep a record of the brand you tried and if you liked it. Where you purchased it, if you can peel the label off or save the receipt, tuck it into the book too. If you don’t drink, you can track your favorite chocolate bars. You could also keep track of jams and jellies, hot sauces, the candles you purchase (like the brand, price, scent, burn time, etc), record albums, etc.
32. Quotes: keep a log of your favorite quotes whether they come from pop culture sources, Shakespeare, poetry, song lyrics, or your 3-year-old son or all of the above. Inspiration can come from anywhere.
33. Long form journaling: There are lots of journal prompts available on the internet but you can just pick a notebook and write whatever is on your mind, whenever it seems like you need to. Sometimes its because you saw a beautiful sunset, or a terrible tragedy but both can spurn you to write about the experience. In you daily log book, just make a note that there is a longer writing in your journal. That takes the pressure off having to write a novel everyday.

There are probably a million other ways to use your notebooks but the key is to just use them. And if you finish a project, you can put the book on the shelf and call it done even if you’ve only used 15 pages. There are no rules in stationery. Do whatever makes you happy.

Don’t be afraid you might “ruin it” because there is no such thing. I have sliced shitty pages out of my notebooks more times than I can count. The book still worked. Jesi puts a binder clip around pages she’s “done” with — whether she journaled something she didn’t like or that she made a mess, she just clips all the pages together and then turns to a fresh page and moves along.

How do you use your empty notebooks? Did we forget any of your favorite ways to use your notebooks?