I definitely do not have a notebook problem.

If you definitely don’t have one either, you can join my support group.

uses

I use notebooks for various things. Those are my notebook types:

Bullet Journal

The trendy BuJo. A system for organizing a notebook to manage tasks, events and notes, and theoretically merge all your notebooks and sticky notes into one. The book published by its creator goes deeper into how this is not meant as yet another tool for overachievers or todo list app lovers, but more of a minimalist tool for mindfulness.

While I already liked notebooks in general, I was afraid of using them for various reasons, including gender and my family. The BuJo really got me started because it helped me go through my studies, and I kept going with it.

I stuck to the original framework for a while, but slowly started diverging from it, especially when I realized that planning ahead was a major cause of unnecessary anxiety for me; I don’t need any due dates for my hobbies, and anything that happens at work is managed at work using the company tools.

I now have split the BuJo into two halves to fit it properly into the Field Notes notebooks, that don’t have that many pages: one half is the “main” journal, numbered with digits, which holds what the bullet journal guide calls collections, and the other is the “daily” journal, numbered with the same digits followed by letters, which holds the daily logs. There are no yearly, monthly or weekly logs, since I don’t do any planning there and use my CalDAV calendar for reminders.

Journal

Aka Diary; I am still confused on which exact word to use. A notebook that holds various thoughts I have, or morning pages when I practice that. All entries are dated and numbered, so that I remember just how many times I ever used my journal. I try to use it every day, at least to write down my dreams. The usual structure now starts with my dreams, followed by any journaling I want to do, and at the end of the day I will write down some gratitudes.

Notes

Some random notes, organized with a header for each day and an index at the back of the notebook to categorize the notes. Mostly used at work, but I can sometimes use this notebook when nothing else fits.

Writing

To practice handwriting, I started writing blog posts and any other kinds of long prose I write, both in English and French, into some notebooks. Sometimes, I also use this to proofread blog posts very thoroughly before or after posting them.

past uses

The following notebook types can be seen in the inventory, but I am not currently using them:

Commonplace book

I only did this for one notebook, and it was initially called the lucidiot manual. It was intended to hold a whole bunch of tips found in personal development blogs, or references for the bullet journal or other note-taking techniques, as well as lists of things that cheer me up, motivate me, etc., kinda like a “trying to understand the mess that is my brain” notebook. It turned into a commonplace book when I got tired of that and started writing down a whole bunch of quotes. I now still occasionally capture quotes or journaling prompts, which I write down into my journals.

Dream log

Back when I tried to have lucid dreams, and got inspired for my nickname, I started to write down my dreams every morning right after waking up. When I didn’t remember, I would still write down “I don’t remember my dreams”, which is the secret to remembering your dreams better by teaching your brain that you want to remember your dreams. While the lucid dreaming was unsuccessful, the dream log did work and made me remember my dreams better.

I now keep this dream log within my journals, and slowly translate the dreams into English to publish them on here.

inventory

Yes, I have enough notebooks for me to keep track of them in a table. Again, I definitely do not have a notebook problem.

wishlist

Some notebooks that I am interested in, if I ever make a good dent into my current stockpile.

• Clairefontaine 105896C, a three-pack of 9×14cm 64p notebooks with ivory paper, lined
• Clairefontaine 192396C, 1 (one) notebook 9×14cm 48p with ivory paper, in Neo Deco Autumn-Winter collection, lined
• Calepino N°1, a three-pack of 9×14cm 48p notebooks, lined
• Another Field Notes Three Missions three-pack from any French reseller, because those were my first Field Notes and still my favorite
• Just about any 9×14cm or 10×14cm notebook with lined paper!
• Especially those with brown, kraft, unbleached paper.