This year (2026), I started taking notes by hand in a small notebook. After collecting lots of small pieces of paper, tickets, and cards while traveling or going out, I decided to use this journal as a scrapbook as well. First of all, the more elaborate your system is, the harder it gets to stick with it. In my scrapbook, I do more than just stick things in. I also take notes on things I want to remember or jot down ideas. I’m going to finish my current scrapbook soon (50 pages left). After that, I’m going to start a new one.

My notebook is currently a mix of bullet journaling and scrapbooking. For diary-style journaling about my thoughts, I use separate notebooks to avoid clutter.

What worked and what didn’t worked

Worked things

Image right

Layout column

The first page of the book has a guide to the symbols I use or intended to use. I ended up using the symbols for tasks and for things that were completed, partially completed, migrated, scheduled, or canceled. I later decided to change the event and priority symbols. I’m going to use a simpler way to mark priorities.

The Pomodoro method worked great. Sometimes I just write down what I want to work on during a Pomodoro and try to note when I get interrupted by my own thoughts or by something around me. This worked great while I was writing my master’s thesis, and I hope to use it again when I need to focus deeply.

Layout column

For an event that day, I just put a dot and write down what it was. Then I try to add another symbol around the dot to show what the event was related to. For instance, I use a square for something media-related or a heart for something relationship-related. I’ve also thought about what other symbols I could use for similar meanings. I haven’t decided on some of them yet, so they aren’t there.

The first page is an index that explains the symbols.

• Pomodoro notes (while working on my thesis)
• Monthly notes (day by day, as far as I remember)
• Weekly notes
• Daily notes
• Page numbers

I also think adding maps and travel tickets is great. I’m now collecting cool designs to use in the future as well! Any design that would look nice cut out and glued in is good enough!

What didn’t work

I was planning to write down extra things, like to-dos for future months. But I forget what’s on the previous pages and never fill them in.

The index didn’t work because there were unnecessary pages at the beginning. I also forgot to use the symbols for migrated and scheduled tasks. For instance, I literally forgot that I was supposed to write down what I was going to do each month. So I should be more careful about reviewing my days, weeks, months, and seasons.

New notebook!

I recently got a new notebook, and I’m excited to start again. I’ve seen people with collections of notebooks that show all of this. Here are some new things I want to add to my next notebook.

• A weather tracker where I’ll just draw small pictures.
• Notes on cool days out so I can go back to those places.
• Places I’ve traveled to.
• A star to the left of a bullet point to show that it’s important.
• I bought a ruler to carry around with me.
• I’m not sure if a habit tracker is a good idea, but it could be fun.

Future

In the future, I’m planning to buy a stamp maker to create cool-looking stamps. I might also get a sticker maker to make extra stickers. Gluing things in sometimes ruins the paper.