20 Creative Journal Ideas to Fill Up Your Blank Notebooks

What’s in Your Journal Line Up?

Do you have a stack of blank notebooks waiting to be used but you’re not sure what to use them for? Surely I can’t be the only one!

In this post, let’s go through different journal types you could fill your blank notebooks with and what these journal types are best used for. This will be a long list, so only pick the types that interest you and see if you want to incorporate them into an existing journal or start a new journal. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it should spark some ideas for you.

Let’s get into 20 of these fun types of journals!

General Purpose Journals

These journals don’t have a specific or narrow purpose, but are still pretty valuable as part of your journal line up.

Morning Pages Journal

Every morning, grab your cup of coffee (or preferred drink of choice) and a notebook and just fill the pages. Don’t think too hard about what you should write, just focus on putting words down. Pick an amount of pages that you want to fill and start writing. If you’re worried about someone reading what you write, write in the messiest or loopiest way possible so that it’s not really legible.

The point of writing first thing in the morning is to get your mind ready for the day and get your creativity flowing. If you’re interested about the full definition and technique, check out Julia Cameron’s book The Artist's Way. Since this is a journal you’ll be filling up quickly, it’s probably best to choose a cheap notebook or consider a price point you don’t mind purchasing multiples of.

Commonplace Journal

A commonplace journal is a journal where you can write down pretty much anything. I use my commonplace journal to take notes on talks I attend and articles I read. If there’s something that I want to take notes on, this journal is usually the first place I go to.

Since the journal I use for this has numbered pages and an index, it’s easy to find information when I go looking for it. Often though, just the process of writing information down helps me retain it. My commonplace journal is close in size to an A5 journal, I reviewed the Artist’s Loft journal I use here! But really any journal size you have would be good for a commonplace journal. 

Bullet Journal

I’m a bullet journaler at heart, so I have a soft spot for this type of journal. A bullet journal is a tool developed by Ryder Carrol to promote mindfulness and productivity. Read this post on why you should try bullet journaling and this post for how to get started! But for a very quick intro, in bullet journaling you do rapid logging which is a mix of tasks, notes, events, and appointments which uses a specific set of symbols to mark completion, cancellation, or moving (migration) of a task.

I’ve gone through so many iterations of what kinds of spreads I’ve included in my bullet journal because this type of journal is perfect for growing together. While you can use this style of journal in any size notebook, a bullet journal is commonly used in an A5 sized journal.

Life Admin Journals

For getting your life organized!

Planner/To-Do(ne) List

The classic planner. A place to write down and check off all of your tasks. It feels nice to see a bunch of tasks checked off and considered done.

However, life doesn’t always wait for you to plan stuff out in advance before a task needs to be completed. That’s why I sometimes use my planner as a to-done list. At the end of the day when I feel like I got nothing done, I can take a look at my to-done list and see that my brain is lying to me. That schemer!

You can use a preprinted planner, whether it’s dated or undated, for this type of journal and you can find them anywhere from your local dollar store to yours truly! The planner in my shop is meant to feel like a bullet journal that was already set up and ready for you to use and I’m working on undated versions too!

Health & Fitness Journal

In a health and fitness journal, you can take note of whatever is related to your health. Here are just a few ideas of what you can use this type of journal for:

• Symptom tracking: use a year in pixels style to note down pain levels, nausea days, migraine days, tummy ache days, and any other symptom you want to keep track of
• Meal plan: plan out your meals for the week and the accompanying grocery list
• Food tracking: track what your meals are and if macros are something you track, you can track those too
• Weight loss/gain tracker: write down your body measurements and your weight over a period of time
• Work out references: write down the types of exercise you enjoy doing and any moves that are preferable to others. If something causes you pain, you can note that down so you know not to try it again
• Work out tracker: track what kind of exercise you’re doing (cardio, legs, back, etc.) and track how long you’re running/cycling/etc for or how much weight you’re lifting. This one is really fun to see a comparison after a period of time!

These would all work well if they were used in the same journal, there’s no need to separate them out. I personally use an A6 sized Leuchtturm journal (affiliate link) for this type of journal. 

Finance Journal/Planner

Figure out where your money is going. I can’t be the only one who closes their eyes when logging into their bank’s website, right? In a finance journal, you can have a spending log to write down what you’re spending your money on. A bill tracker would also be helpful so those due dates don’t sneak up on you. This would also be a great place to have a savings tracker where you can set a savings goal and try to meet it.

Anything that’s money related can go in a finance journal or planner. While there are dedicated finance planners you can find in places like Amazon, you can certainly DIY your own or find printables online.

Hobby Journals

Hobbies are such a fun past time, why not take the time to record your hobbies?

Sketchbook/Art Journal

Make art! Paste art in a journal or just draw directly in your journal, either way you can have a beautiful and messy collection of art. If you’re planning to use paints, choose a journal that can handle that kind of medium.

I’ve personally used acrylic paints on 120 GSM paper (in an Artist's Loft journal) without an issue and watercolor on 160 GSM paper and it was okay. Water can crinkle pages, so that’s something to look out for.

You don’t have to create the art yourself either, you can add art you really enjoy into your journal - make it your own personal museum! I use an Artist's Loft journal for this type of journaling.

Crafting Journal

Plan out your projects and take inventory of your supplies. There’s nothing more annoying that going out to buy something you already have.

In this journal, you can track your supplies (anyone else thinking of their yarn stash?). You can also write down projects that you want to do and the inspiration behind them, projects that you’re working on, or you can journal about projects that you’ve completed. Any sized journal would be great for a crafting journal. 

Gaming Journal

This kind of journal can be great for writing your thoughts and opinions on a game as you play it or you can use it to track quests or skills. This would work really well for a Dungeons & Dragons campaign where you can freewrite as your character what happened in a session.

You can also try your hand at playing a solo-RPG style journaling game, this post on Tumblr is a fantastic introduction to starting this type of game! The author of this post also makes free solo-RPG games found on itch.io. I personally use a 4" by 6" inch journal I found on clearance at Michael's. 

Media Journal

Whether you’re into TV shows, movies, books, podcasts, anime, or another kind of media, you can use a media journal to track how much of it you’ve consumed if it’s a series. If you like the director/author/creator, you can also look up their related work and figure out if you want to check out their other work.

You can also paste in covers to track what you’ve read/watched or print them out on sticker paper. Another fun idea is to do a tournament style bracket where you pick your favorite of the month (or whatever time period) and put them head-to-head to see what’s your favorite of the year! I've used these types of trackers in an A5 journal but any sized journal would work well for this style of journaling. 

Poetry and Quotes Journal

Write down your own original poetry or write down poetry that resonates with you. You can also write down quotes that you like. Either way, you can write them down plainly or you can make it a creative outlet and decorate the pages with the vibes you feel match the poetry or quotes. Song lyrics would also work well in this journal. This type of journaling would be fun in a really small or really big journal, depending on the length of the passages you're writing down. 

Lettering Journal

Practice your lettering form in a journal that you don’t know what else to do with. I have journals that don’t really have a purpose and I don’t really know what to do with, and these journals are great to repurpose into a place to do lettering practice. You can draw in ascender and descender lines to help keep your letter heights consistent. Grab that brush marker you don’t really like because this is a great place to use it up.

Since we all know how 2020 went, my bullet journal for that year didn't get much use. I ended up using the blank pages at the end of my A5 sized journal for lettering practice. 

Creativity Journal, Junk Journal, or Memory Keeping Journal

This type of journaling can be very collage-y. Many people create really fun spreads with junk they have around the house. I’ve seen people do sticker dumps, interactive spreads, art combined with junk, journaling combined with photos, and more! There are so many possibilities especially if you allow yourself to be creative and experiment. 

When I was experimenting with book binding, I made a small 3" by 5" journal that I now use to make stash-busting spreads. 

Research Journal

Is there a certain topic you want to do a deep dive on? Instead of having your notes and sources all over the place, you can keep all your notes and research in a research journal! Make it easy to find the information you want by titling your entries and using an index.

If your spirituality includes a year-and-a-day study, dedicating a journal to this study would give you a wonderful tool for reflection and a place to record your notes.

Any sized journal would work for this type of journaling, but I tend to favor A5 for this. 

Spiritual Journals

Spiritual journals can go in so many directions! Let’s explore a few below.

Prayer/Scripture Journal

If your spirituality includes a holy book, you can write down your favorite passages and reflect upon them. For a cover-to-cover read, you can reflect on the passages you read as you go through the chapters. You could also look for religious journaling prompts online to give you a jumpstart on specific passages!

Devotional Journal

If you have a deity (or deities) you work with or worship, you can record your experiences with your deity or deities and how those interactions made you feel. This is also a great place to write down your reflections on their teachings and lessons and how you’ve seen those come through in your life.

Divination Journal

Are you into tarot cards? Maybe it’s oracle cards, runes, pendulums, casting, or some other kind of divinatory technique? It’s hard to see how accurate your reads are if you don’t know what your divination said initially. Draw some cards or throw some dice, either way write down the results and what your initial interpretation is, then later on you can journal about whether your reading was correct and reflect on the actual outcome. My divination journal is in a Peter Pauper Press 5" by 7" sized journal (affiliate link). 

Miscellaneous Journals

Color/Swatch Journal

For the person who has lots of markers, pens, and washi! Personally, the front half of my swatch journal has swatches for all of my markers, highlighters, brush pens, and fineliners separated by the set they came in and by color. With so many supplies, it can be tough to find matching colors and then to locate the appropriate marker.

The back half of my swatch journal has all of the washi tape I own! I frequently forget what tapes I have, and if I forget about them, I can’t use them. This helps me use the supplies that I have.

You can also use this type of journal for fountain pen inks, paints, stamp ink, and anything else that would benefit from swatching. This color or swatch journal turns out to be a really helpful reference! I got this A6 sized journal from Archer & Olive. For this type of journal, I would recommend selecting a journal with the same paper that you are planning to use regularly, since you want your swatches to look accurate. 

Food/Drinks Journal

One of the delights of life are tasty treats. In a food or drink journal, you can journal about the fun treats you’re eating or drinking, add labels from the packaging, your opinions on taste and flavor, and whether you’d like to have it again. If you snapped a picture of a particularly cute treat, you can add this picture too.

When I got a variety pack of teas, I started a tea journal to document the different flavors! It was fun to reflect on the tea and to try to pick out the specific ingredients on the label. These spreads were also a great opportunity to use stickers and washi tape that I didn’t use often. This 4" by 6" journal is the same kind as my journaling game journal, it's just a bargain buy from Michael's. 

Pet Journal

A pet journal could be a combination of reflection, journaling, and tracking. If your pet is on a specific diet, it could be helpful to write down the brands of food you’ve tried, which ones your pet didn’t like, and the amount of food they should be having a day. You can also easily track their weight or medication in a journal like this!

Journaling about your pet would also be a fun way to remember silly things your pet has done or marveling about the times it seems like your pet could read your mind when you’re upset.

Conclusion

While most of these journal types encourage decoration, you definitely don’t need to make aesthetic your first priority. I would be remiss though if I didn’t mention my stickers so take a look through my shop to see if something catches your eye! But the important thing for many of these journals is that they are a way to express yourself and a way to remember memories.

Many of these journal types can be combined into one journal if you don’t like the idea of having things so separate and many can be condensed into a few spreads in a main journal or planner. The idea is not to overwhelm yourself with a gigantic journal lineup, just to spark ideas for things you may want to add to an existing or new journal. Especially if you have blank journals sitting around!

So have I inspired you to try a new type of journaling? Leave a comment or tag me on Tiktok, Instagram, or Facebook if you do! And if you loved this post, share it on Pinterest!