"What the heck are all those notebooks for?"

How to Fill Your Notebooks / What I do With Mine

Anyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with notebooks and journals. I currently have so many on the go, and I've been getting questions lately as to what the heck I do with all of these notebooks. So here I am, and here's what I do!

I like to think of notebooks as folders on a desk top... you wouldn't keep everything you have in just one folder would you? No, so why (If you need to be writing a lot/taking lots of notes) would you do it with notebooks?

Each notebook I use has a completely different and practical use. The ones I'll be talking about today are all used almost daily.

My Bullet Journal and Everyday Planner

This is my Bullet Journal. My pride and joy. My absolute most used notebook, and the one that has made me believe in myself that I can actually stick to something.

I have been using this notebook for around a year now and am on my second one. I got this exact book (the Leuchttrum 1997) for Christmas in Australia. I'd never order one of these babies online to Hanoi for fear of it never getting here!

I use this notebook for my daily organizing and some note taking. I started using this sort of blank-page journal for my daily planner because I liked that each week could be different. If I got bored of the way it looked, I could just change it. I also like that some weeks I can spend five minutes writing up the weekly planner, and some weeks an hour or more designing, drawing, writing, etc.

I wrote a full post about my bullet journal here

My Writing Planner

This planner is probably my second most used planner. I use it to plan everything to do with my blog. From ideas to, to-do-lists, and schedules, the lot!

In the back of this notebook, I write notes and plan for my articles for Word Magazine.

It's just a really handy space to keep all my ideas and organizing in one place.

My Art Journal

I love this little book. It's my first ever art journal and I am so excited to have started it and started putting in some entries. If I have an idea, or am inspired by all the amazing art journals out there (here, and here, and here), I chuck it in here. Oftentimes I find myself completely procrastinating what I am supposed to be doing, to draw or paint in this damn book.

Why so much brown? 

My Poetry Journal

This is one of my favorite journals. I get excited looking at this one and knowing the things that are inside it; quotes, poems, and stories that I like. There are a few personal things in it, like poems that I have written myself - and a few stories and little pieces that I write from prompts in a writing group that I am a part of. 

My Watercolour Book

I got this book for my birthday a few weeks ago, so not much has really happened in it yet. But I use it (obviously) for my watercolour paints.

These are the first few things that I did for practice so see how the colours work and how the colours mix together. Then I started to do a few more little things.

My Actual Journal

This is my actual (kinda) journal. It's a great way to get out my feelings. When I'm angry or sad or stressed I just get out this book and write about it. It's messy, it doesn't make much sense, but it's great to get my head around some things. 

I also use this book for my 'conscious writing' which is when I write without thinking and just keep writing and keep writing. It's really helpful to do in the mornings (I got that idea from The Artist's Way - Morning Pages)

My Junk Notebook

This is by far my messiest, most disorganised, craziest book. I call it my junk book because it has no order and just the most random things in it.

I use it for quick notes, calculations, taking down numbers or addresses, quick lesson plans which I rip out, long to-do lists full of lots of little things, travel checklists, visa check lists, studying notes, anything. 

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My notebooks mean so much to me and I love them so damn much. I am so happy to share these with you, and I hope you enjoyed it too!

If you did, feel free to leave me a comment. Tell me about your notebooks!

-Millie Burns

Check out my last post: A Weekend in Koh Samet