15 uses for empty notebooks

So if you’re anything like me then you’ll have gained many notebooks for Christmas to add to the collection you got for your birthday and those that you still haven’t used from last year and the year before and so it goes on. I get notebooks as gifts and then never use them because they’re too nice or pretty, so instead I buy a cheap one from Poundland and scribble away in that. It’s been the same for years.

This year I wanted things to change, however. I don’t want the “empty notebook box” where I store all the unused notebooks. I wanted to use them, to write on each and every page and make them count, so, without further ado here are my top 15 ideas for notebooks.

1 – As a journal

No, not a bullet journal for this one. Use one of the notebooks as a journal. I started keeping one years ago and I don’t always write in it but it helped me get through some tough moments where I didn’t want to talk to anyone just yet about things, but I could write it down and help myself form the words to talk to other people about how I was feeling. It’s also a great way to look back on things you did over the years.

If you’re not sure how to journal (also known as keeping a diary), don’t worry! There’s no right or wrong way. I start each entry off with the date, time and a song I’m thinking about. I do it this way so I can see bands I may have forgotten about and remind myself of them a while later when I go back to it for a flick through and read. After I’ve put those things down I just … write. Anything that comes into my mind goes down on that bit of paper in front of me.

I’ve wrote about uni, written essay plans, talked about my class schedule and the people I’m meeting, complained about weird assignments or about the layout of some of the rooms. I’ve wrote about being nervous to graduate, being nervous to move countries, being nervous to go for an interview for a job. I’ve made notes about what sort of goals I’ve got for the future.

2 – As a BuJo

A bullet journal can be created in anything that you want to use it in. If you have a blank notebook why not go ahead and turn it into your own productivity enhancing and life changing BuJo.

You can find a blog post about my bullet journaling here , here and here so I won’t go into too much detail in this section. But, empty notebooks that you love can make some of the best bujos.

3 – Language Learning Diary

So when I was starting out learning Gaeilge I kept a notebook handy and wrote down all of the rules I was learning, odd words I kept forgetting and admittedly I did have a section dedicated to movie quotes and songs as gaeilge too. And it helped so much. I found that the act of writing it down helped me to remember it and the ability to reference it later on did too.

4 – Routine tracker

So I like making lists and I like having things organised, and one of the uses I’ve had for a notebook in the past has been a place to track my routines and how they change. I did this by making each page a week out of the year and having morning, afternoon and evening routines sections. Then I had a few pages dedicated to winter, summer, spring and autumn, one for ready for work / uni routines. Some for studying and some for taking a chill / rest day.

I found that this helped me to solidify these routines and to see if I was being too ambitious with wanting to get a set routine done each day instead of being a bit more relaxed at times.

5 – Generic anything and everything notebook

For whatever you need it for whether that’s shopping list, little ideas that come into your head, blog post planning and so on.

6 – Practice lettering / calligraphy

So an interest of mine is in handwriting and getting mine to be neat in varying styles. I love choosing which type of handwriting I’ll use for projects of mine and a notebook like this has come in useful many times for when I’m sewing and need to decide on a font for the letters / phrase.

Each style gets practiced, I have a reference grid at the top for each style too. By the end of the notebook you’ve tried and got good at so many styles of writing it’s hard to choose a favourite.

7 – Memory book

This is something I highly reccommend to people. I lost a lot of family members I was close to when I was younger and one of the things my mam did for me was to make me a book to hold some memories of my grandparents and another one for my granda when I got a bit older. These feature old photos, newer photos, cards they sent, newspaper clippings, letters, and more. I can look back at them any time and remember and not be as sad.

8 – Free writing notebook

If you’re a creative writer in any way, shape or form chances are you’ve tried your hand at free writing. Why not have a notebook for it, write each day for 10 minutes in the morning and see what you can come up with. You never know which day will give you that idea you can’t put away.

9 – Gratitude log

Or my “book of happy things”.

I keep a log of happy moments; when something good happens that I want to look back on it gets written down in my book with the date, a silly little picture, and then an explanation. At the end of each year when the book is full I’ll look back and see everything that made me smile this year.

10 – A tracker

Of finances, habits, goals and so on. This is more suited to smaller books in my opinion but it can just as easily be done with an a4 size notebook too.

11 – 100 lists

By this I don’t mean to make 100 lists but as somewhere to keep your “list of 100 XYZ”

12 – TV Show / book tracker

How far into a series are you? What are your thoughts ? Are they changing? Keep a track of that with this spread.

This one is particularly fun to do if the show has already aired and you’re catching up. I like to turn these into little reviews and do it as I go along.

13 – Recipe Book!

I always keep a handwritten recipe book for the things I love so that if everything else goes wrong I have a copy there, safe in the house.

I organise mine with little tabs on the edge of the page to sort it by meal, meat, sides and sauces.

14 – Bucket list

This kind of fits into the idea of using one for many types of lists, I’ll admit.

I have a bucket list book. I’ve been doing one for ages now and I find that I love using it. I love going back to an entry and checking off something I’ve done and I’m proud of myself for that but I also love adding new entries and seeing what creative and fun things I’ve yet to do.

15 – A couple’s notebook

Sort of like a scrapbook but I’ve got pictures, letters, tickets from when we’ve went to see things, post it notes….

You both use it to write down anything relevant to your journey. You can look back on it later and relieve all of the happy memories the two of you share.

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Hey! Tara here and thanks for checking out my blog. I update every Tuesday with posts about studying tips, advice and talk about productivity and organisation too. If you want to keep up to date with my latest blog posts I’d love it if you subscribed to this blog.