41 Ways To Fill Blank Notebooks or Journals

Are you like me? Do you love hoarding notebooks and journals, having no clue about how you will fill them? You’re not alone.

I used to think I’m the only weird one who collects notebooks until I saw people flaunting their stationery collections on Instagram. And since you clicked on this post, I’m sure that you, too, must be having a collection of notebooks, no matter how big or small, that you don’t know how to put to use.

A few of you have hoarded journals because of me... sorry, not sorry. It’s just so peaceful to buy new notebooks, but trust me, it’s even more satisfying to see them filled.

In this post, I am going to list 41 ways to fill your empty notebooks. If any of these ideas rings, just grab one of your blank notebooks and start using them.

1. Creative Writing: We can also call it ‘writer’s notebook’. It’s a notebook of your poems, stories, short stories, character sketches, and even important notes regarding your books or work in progress if you’re a writer. You don’t have to be a professional writer to keep a creative journal. Each one of us is a creative person. Each of us has many stories and poems to write.
2. Art Journal: Again, a creative journal but this one to bring out the doodler, painter, and sketcher in you. Fill it with all the colours you can think of or none at all (I mean, use just pencil or black markers)... create the magic in it with the dance of your ink and wrist on paper.
3. Bullet Journal: Bullet Journal, one of the most common forms of journaling, is used to track your past and plan your future. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a dot-grid or square-grid journal. You can turn absolutely any notebook with sufficient pages into a bullet journal. Here’s a BuJo guide for beginners. (And here you can find Affordable BuJos in India).
4. Commonplace Journal or simply a Journal: It’s a journal where you pour everything that you want on paper. It isn’t assigned a specific purpose or theme or subject. You may check out here what’s in my commonplace journal.
5. Gratitude Journaling: I cannot recommend this form of journaling enough. Gratitude journaling is a practice of writing things you’re grateful for every day after waking up or before going to bed. Read my post here about how it changed my life.
6. Collection/List Journal: A collection or list journal is a notebook of your list of favourites (movies, shows, books, places, food, absolutely anything), your bucket list, or things you wish to buy... the list of lists is endless. Some people add the lists in their Bullet Journal itself but it’s better to have a separate journal so that you don’t have to re-make it each year with BuJo.
7. Ideas Notebook: Ideas notebook is a notebook where you add your blog ideas, gift ideas, DIY ideas, gift ideas, party ideas, social media content ideas, etc.
8. 5 Year Journal: Q & A a day is a journal where you answer one question each day of the year for five consecutive years. For example, if the question on 1st of Jan is what you ate today, you’ll answer the same question on 1st of Jan for the coming 5 years. It helps you see how you grow over 5 years. The journal becomes interesting after one year is completed and you step into the second year. Now, you don’t need to buy an expensive Q&A a day journal to do that. Just grab a notebook with 400 pages and write a question on each page (365 questions in total). Leave space for three or five years or make a weekly journal with 52 questions in a journal with lesser pages.
   

   

   A Page from QnA a day journal

9. One Sentence A Day Journal: Alternatively, you can totally skip writing questions and make a “One Line A Day” journal where you write one line each day for 5 consecutive years just like Q & A (except for questions). It can be anything that strikes your mind while writing: a sentence that describes the day or a quote or something nice someone said to you... anything.
   

   

   Likewise, you can do it for Q & A. Just add a question below each date.

10. Quotes Journal: It’s a journal where you note down things you read or hear from books, TV, people around you, podcasts that you wish to remember and go back to in future. Over time, you’ll have a great collection of quotes to live by.
11. Letters To Self: It’s a great way to interact with your younger or higher self... by writing letters to them. One often finds clarity while doing this practice.
12. Travel Journal: It’s a journal that you dedicate to your travels and the planning and memories (photographs, keepsakes like tickets, passes, bills, etc) related to it.
13. Scrapbook: Scrapbook or junk journal is a journal where you use junk paper or scraps to decorate the pages of your blank journal. It’s a beautiful use of papers that are of no use to you and are so pretty that you can’t throw them.
14. Fitness/Health Journal: A journal to track your health and fitness goals, and also to track your healthy habits like water and food intake, medicines, vitamins, etc.
15. Content Planner: If you’re a blog or social media influencer, you so need a journal to keep all your ideas and content plots in one place. It helps you look at the structure of your posts before you start creating them. I always draft my blog posts in a notebook before typing them.
16. Doodle Journal: you don’t need a sketchbook to turn it into a doodle journal. Any notebook, a pencil, and some fine-liners, and you’re ready to create the cutest, strangest doodles in your notebook. Doodling is often meditative, especially if you’re creating mandalas.
17. Morning Pages: Also called the stream of consciousness journaling is a free-writing for 3 pages where you just let the pen flow in sync with your mind on paper. Don’t think much about what you’re writing. The whole purpose is to look at what thoughts keep going on our mind and often go unnoticed. Here's a great guide for the practice of Morning Pages.
18. Faith Journal: For faith journal, I have a Letters To God journal. You may write questions you want to ask God, quotes about God, excerpts from spiritual books, prayers, lessons learned, or like me, letters to God.
19. Dream Journal: I hardly ever remember my dreams so I never thought of keeping a dream journal, but many people say it’s beneficial to keep one beside your bed when you sleep so that you can write parts of your dream in it as soon as you wake up. Of course, it’s hard to remember dreams but it’s more about noting down symbols and meanings and moments that you can recall from the dream.
20. Budget Journal: If you struggle with keeping a track of your finances, this can be a great aid to your trouble.
21. Scripting Journal: How many of you know about scripting for manifesting your dreams? It’s a form of journaling where you write in a journal the story of your life from the perspective of your future-self who already has the thing you now desire. It’s a method to reprogram your subconscious mind.
22. Random Thoughts Journal: my writing journey began when I had started keeping a random thoughts journal. I used to note down every thought that occurred in my mind by observing people and circumstances. I, later, turned them into pieces of poems or posted them on Instagram as they had appeared in my mind. A thought once lost is often lost forever. So, note down in time.
23. Memories Journal: It’s the most beautiful ways to capture your memories. I have a habit of writing a detailed description of the days when something special happens with me. You can also add photographs and describe the moments in a few words. Or just add day and date to it.
24. Reading Journal: This one is to track your reading habit and plan your TBR list. A journal for your reading list, reading log, notes, quotes, lessons, and book reviews.
25. Gardening Journal: Do you love gardening? If yes, it’s a must-have for you. Some plants need special conditions and care to grow, you can track the progress and requirements of your plants in this journal.
26. To-do list journal: A notepad would be best put to use if you need to create a to-do list each day. Read here how making a to-do list made me more productive.
27. Bucket list journal: you can include your bucket list in your BuJo or your list journal but dreams are never-ending. Why not have a whole journal dedicated to your bucket list? You can even describe your wishes in details in this one rather than just listing them.
28. New words/Vocabulary journal: If you love learning new words, you might as well love keeping them in a notebook for quick reference to that word and its meaning.
29. Language journal: This is for taking notes and practising the new language if you’re learning it.
30. Online course journal: Why not keep a separate notebook to make the notes of the online courses you take for quick and easy reference whenever you need it?
31. Music Journal: If you’re learning a musical instrument or already play one, it’s a journal to keep your notes in it. You can also write new songs in this journal. You can also write favourite songs, their lyrics, and even create your playlist.
32. Pregnancy Journal: if you’re expecting a baby, you can keep a track of your pregnancy, health, and your baby’s growth in a journal. You can also create a journal full of your baby’s initial years’ memories and gift them when they grow up.
33. Current Events Journal: Would be useful if you’re preparing for competitive exams but if you’re interested in history anyway, you can create a book of historical events (for future) yourself by mentioning current events in a journal.
34. Affirmations Journal: Affirmations are also a tool to reprogram your subconscious mind. They are short, powerful, positive sentences that you write or speak to yourself. You may find some examples here. You can also make it a Future-self journal.
35. Hand-lettering Journal: Who doesn’t love experimenting with brush pens and calligraphy pens? So, you can keep a separate notebook to practice this beautiful art of hand-lettering.
36. Reviews Journal: Do you love writing your opinion about movies, books, shows, series, etc? This journal is your space to write your reviews.
37. Recipes Journal: Whether you cook regularly or rarely, it’s fun to have your recipes in one place.
38. Pros & Cons Journal: Having trouble making a decision? Grab this journal and write the pros and cons of both the situations that you’re facing indecisiveness in. You can then make a logical decision.
39. Swatches Journal: Love buying crafts material? Why not have a swatches journal to make a catalogue of your collection? Swatch your pens, markers, washi tapes, laces, brush pens, paints, and so much more.
40. Unsent Letters Journal: Do you face situations where you wish to tell someone something but cannot? Well, write a letter to them in this journal. No, it won’t reach them (you never know, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before), but it sure would remove the burden from your heart and make it lighter.
41. Journaling Prompts Journal: This is one of my favourite kinds. Just look up on Google for journaling prompts and you will find an ocean of journaling prompts. Download a list of the prompts you like and get writing.

So, this was it. Hope your blank journals would find themselves in your hands now, being put to use. Let me know which is your favourite among these.

Some other relevant posts you might be interested in:

How Journaling Every Day Changed My Life

10 Journaling Mistakes You Should Avoid

The Journals I am Currently Using

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