Before 30

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• 11 Dec, 2025 *

I’m a recovering notebook hoarder who is now fully dedicated to the idea of finding as many ways possible to fill all my notebooks. Below I’ve listed all the ways I currently use my notebooks, some ways I look forward to trying, what I tried but didn’t end up working for me, and some of my favorite places to buy notebooks.

My current notebook line up

B6 Sterling Ink square grid: My Zibaldone1! This is where I keep my notes about improving my writing, information I want to remember about books I’m reading, my goals for the new year, and any other information I come across that I’ll want to save digitally some other time.

Goodnotes notebooks: my digital scratch paper. The greatest thing about my iPad mini is the Goodnotes app and the endless amounts of digital paper I can write on.

Pocket Sterling Ink square grid: My on the go annotation notebook. This is a new addition but the plan is to keep it with me as I read or and when I’m on the go so that I can capture any fleeting ideas that will likely disappear into the ethers if I just dropped it into my phone (you know how you open your notes app sometimes and somehow end up down a YouTube rabbit hole without ever writing down the idea? Yeah, me either).

B6 Archer and Olive dot grid: Another new addition that I intend to use as my reading bullet journal. This is mostly because a) I’ve been completely endocrinated by the world of Booktube, Bookstagram, and Booktok and b) I’ve got a big goal to read 100 books next year and I think it would be fun to see what those stats look like from month to month as I make progress towards my goal.

Lined notebook(currently using one from Barnes and Noble): My prayer and Bible study journal. I’ve kept a morning journaling habit for the last 3 years and it’s been my favorite way to spend time with God and to get my gratitude out on paper at the start of my day. When I use up the pages in my current journal, I’ll be switching to a dot grid Archer and Olive notebook.

What hasn’t worked

• Junk journaling: I gave it go and I have to say it’s not me. Maybe I just don’t get out enough, but I never have any junk to make a good spread. I found myself trying to manufacture junk by buying things which got weird. Also, keeping around a bunch of scraps of paper gives me anxiety.
• Diary: In the traditional sense, a diary just opens me up to ruminate and complain in a way that proves detrimental to my mental health.

What I haven’t tried, but intend to 2

• A recipe development notebook for my baking.
• Habit tracking. I’ve never tracked my habits for an extended period of time so I’d to give that a try for 2026.
• Health journal to keep track of my mood and my physical activity ahead of preparing for pregnancy.

My favorite places to buy notebooks

• Sterling Ink
• Archer and Olive
• Atlas Stationary
• Barnes and Noble
• Michaels craft store

Toodles!

Last 3 posts

Like most things, I discovered what a Zibaldone was by complete accident and then went searching for more info about it. I came across this blog post where the writer shows off his Zibaldone.↩ 1.

I’m likely to include most of these individual notebooks into my Zibaldone (promise that’s the last time you’ll read that on this post).↩