I take a hybrid approach when it comes to running my life and organizing my thoughts.  I like paper, pencils, and pens for writing down ideas, planning, and managing my day.  While old-fashioned notebooks are my preference for most things, I rely heavily on a digital calendar and reminder alarms to make sure I don’t miss appointments, important deadlines, or even mundane weekly chores like putting the trash cans on the curb and changing the pool’s chemical cartridge.  (Yes, despite being the only female in our household, I am the pool boy.)  As I was looking around at the collection of notebooks I interact with each day, I thought I would share each one, why I like it, and how I use it.

Practical Planning | Full Focus Planner

This is the daily planner that I use to manage tasks and larger projects.  I also use it for meeting notes, to-do lists, project goals, and such.  It’s very similar to the layout of the planning sheets I designed and used to print to use daily, but this size is better and more portable.  I definitely underutilize the features in these quarterly planners, but it helps me stay focused each day and track my progress and habits.  The planner is always open on my desk, so my daily priorities are front and center.

Commonplace Notebook & Idea Sketchbook | Wanderings Refillable Notebook

I have been using this refillable notebook for years, adding new inserts when one is full.  I usually have three inserts in at all times – one blank insert for sketches and ideas, and two bulleted inserts to use as a Commonplace Notebook (a place to collect quotes, ideas, and things I want to reference in the future).  If I had to save one notebook from a flood or fire, it would be this one.

I actually have a smaller version made for me as a gift by a friend that I carry in my purse to take notes and make sketches when I’m out and about.

Jots & Tittles | Wanderings Bulleted Insert

I tend to be a strict gatekeeper over what goes in my notebooks.  I don’t want them to be willy-nilly, filled with random writings.  But, I do need a place for willy-nilly jots and tittles, so I have a bulleted wanderings insert that is outside of my refillable leather notebook that is used for that purpose.  It has notes from meetings, figures to help me sort out pricing for prints and original paintings, planning details for projects in the early stages when things are still fluid and changeable, and rogue thoughts that probably won’t be important later.

Diary | Moleskine Journal

I use this Moleskine Journal as my personal journal.  I do a lot of writing for books, articles, social media, and this blog, but I also need to write for myself.  To write simply for the practice of writing.  I am very disciplined at writing in my journal when I’m traveling, but I get complacent in my everyday life.  I strive for consistency, but I’m also okay with being a fair-weather personal diarist, especially since I write so much of my autobiography in real time online.  I know I don’t get into the nitty-gritty of my personal life here, but I am very much telling a part of my story in each post.

Gardening Notebook & Herbarium | Ranger Notebook

This notebook gets tucked away once we’re done cleaning up the leaves from our six large maple trees, and then it comes back out in late March.  This is my gardening notebook/herbarium.  I’ve been keeping notes in it since 2024, saving receipts for bushes covered under a one-year warranty, and noting what I plant where, when I fertilize, and how things are coming along.  I’ve also been making some herbarium pages with pressed herbs, flowers, and leaves from our garden.  After a day of planting, pulling weeds, or doing other yard chores, I’ll take time to make notes of what we’ve done as well as observations.  What is blooming?  What’s thriving?  What did we prune?  What was successful, and what problems still need to be solved?  Not only has it been a valuable resource and helped me grow as a gardener, but I also take a lot of enjoyment in it.  It’s becoming a beautiful, personalized reference book.

Sometimes I think I should show a bit of restraint and just keep one notebook (to rule them all), but I have never been a minimalist, and I don’t think I’ll start with my notebooks.  I keep ones I didn’t even mention in this post because they don’t sit out on my desk – the one I’m using to explore charcoal, my knitting notebook, my design/fabric/pattern notebook, my sketchbooks…  My stacks and quirky organizational habits are just the way my brain works best.

A balance between some categorization and some mingling.