My 2026 pile of useful notebooks
The system that keeps my life organized, my brain excited, and my auDHD at bay.
This post will be picture-heavy and too long for email, so click on the title to open it in the app or your browser! None of the links are any kind of affiliate because I’m not an influencer (yet) ;)
Should I start with a Didion quote? Or one from Sylvia Plath? No, mom said it wasn’t my turn yet! It is, however, my turn to show you all my notebooks and papers things for 2026.
This is once again a self-indulgent, navel-gazing post, but I hope you’ll get some inspiration from my extremely-well-organized and pinterest-worthy aesthetic notebooks.
Jump to a specific section:
Daily planner: Hobonichi A5
I’m way too shy irl to actually pull out my notebook every time I need to write things down, and that’s if I remember to do so in the first place! Also, what if my coworkers snoop and read all my thoughts, have you thought of that? Way too risky, so the ugly apple calendar it is.
HOWEVER, i do need an actual paper calendar that i keep at home, otherwise i never look up anything. The phone is too ugly and dry for me to have any motivation to open it (thank you autism), and so I trick myself by copying notes over to paper. It’s a delicate balance between making sure I do write things down (on the phone) and making sure I re-read them to be on time to stuff (on the notebook).
The phone->calendar operation is the weak point, but again, while I have no motivation to do work, I have LOTS when it comes to decorating a pretty planner! Changing my inks and stickers every month also helps to keep the novelty factor up, so that my audhd brain stays interested.
So for the paper planner this year, I’m using the Hobonichi a5 HON. It has monthly, weekly and daily pages, with lots of space to do everything. I tried having separate planners for different concerns, but I find that I forget to open all of them, and so it doesn’t warrant the cost.
To decorate this journal, I have a few different things.
The main decoration for the monthly pages is going to be The Coffee Monsterz Co sticker kits. She owns a Canadian small business, and her designs are always so cute!
For weekly and daily pages, I’m not using any kind of heavy stickers because it makes the journal too big to handle by the end of the year.
Instead, I’ll mostly be using stamps! I’ve been collecting quite a few last year and I’ve been enjoying them a lot. I scanned a few pages to my computer so i can use them as dividers in my posts, like this :))
In Europe, to shop for stamps, I mostly go to 85 Rue Tranquille and Cafe Analog. Both have excellent great service and amazing selections!
In my weekly pages, I usually make a running log of all the things I do, and how I feel. I’m autistic, and I have a hard time naming and recognizing emotions. To help, I’m using the amazing emotis from The Coffee Monsterz Co. She’s made an incredible amount of little faces, each with the name of the feeling, so that helps me narrow down what I want to express exactly.
Long-term journaling: Hobonichi 5 years
This is a new addition to my line-up, so I’m not sure how it’ll go but I have hope (and a pinterest board full of inspo!). This journal gives you 2 pages per day, each separated into 5 sections: every day for 5 years, you write some things down, and so you can reflect on what you were doing at that time the year before!
I love the concept, but I’m a bit worried I won’t have enough things to say every day. I got the small A6 size, but still. Either way, I’m excited! For now I haven’t found it too hard, but we’re only 7 days into the year.
One problem is that the dates are only numbers – because the days of the week change every year (duh). I’m a bit afraid I’ll lose track of where I’m supposed to write (I’m not very good with the passing of time), and the pages are a bit bland on their own.
So I got a wonderful solution: the dodolulu daily calendar! Every day of 2026, I’ll get a 2cm by 3cm illustrated sticker, with the day of the week. It was a bit expensive, but it looks good so that’s my justification. It adds a lot of color and some life to the insides :)
I’ll need to be careful not to stick them down in the same spot everyday or else I’ll get a “pillow”: that’s when the accumulation of layers in one specific spot makes it much higher than the rest of the page. If you press on the spot, it’s hard and ready to write on, but if you press anywhere else, it gives in, just like a smooth pillow!
Movies journal: OURS Studio A5
Last year I used this same journal for all “culture” stuff – movies, theater, live shows of all kinds, and books – but I ran out of pages by the end of the year.
So for 2026, I’m restricting this OURS Studio journal to:
Movies & TV shows in the main “weekly” part
Live shows (theater, plays, exhibitions, opera, …) to the note pages at the back
I’ve done the math and I see about 2 movies a week, with an additional TV show per month – so that will fit since I get a double spread for each week. I haven’t decided yet how I’ll decorate the whole thing, but I’m thinking of re-using leftover stickers from last year!
As for the live productions, I see maybe one or two per month, which should fit into the 30 pages. For them, i’ve already made a little template so i can print a square-but-with-corners-sunk-in (??) that fits just right into the boxes.
Reading journal: OURS Studio Bricks Notebook
So, books have been kicked from the main OURS journal because I yap too much. Instead, I’ve found this tiny one that’s the cutest thing ever. I’m not sure (I’m 200% sure) if there’ll be enough space to write my thoughts (there won’t, that’s what Substack is for lol).
I’m pasting a print of the cover in one box, and writing in the other. I need to find some way of decorating, but for now I’m drawing a blank. Please tell me of any ideas in the comments!
Both the books and the movies notebooks are going to be kept in this lovely plaid cover. I bought this impulsively last year and it’s been the best – it’s water resistant, big enough to store notebooks + stickers and bits of papers, has a pen loop, … what’s not to like (the price, actually).
Notebook assortment for nefarious purposes
I am known amongst my friends for being the journal girl, and so through the Christmas season, I have acquired gifts of all kinds (and bought a bunch more).
In no particular order, with no particular purpose, here are some notebooks i’ll be using:
OURS studio research notebook. I love the paper type and the layouts, so I’m sure I’ll find a way to use them! They are somewhat redundant with the layouts in the culture journal, but I trust in my abilities to invent purposes! This notebook also happens to be very short (30-ish pages) so it’ll be easy to fill up.
Olive+Sun A5 notebook. A gift from a friend, this is a dot grid journal – a blast from my past as a bujo girl! It has a very tasteful cover, and the grid inside is beige so it’s nearly transparent to the eye!
Arches paper. Not exactly a notebook, but I gifted myself a pack of this super expensive watercolor paper! Haven’t tried it yet, but apparently it’s amazing so i’m pumped :))
Canson A4 Mixed Media paper. A way less expensive version of watercolor-compatible paper, for when I feel too scared to touch the real expensive thing! It also handles acrylic markers well, so I foresee lots of great art :)
Endwords
And there goes my whole pile! I’m super excited to use them all, and I’m excited for all of you going analog too in 2026. This is such a fun hobby to have :))
Are you using any of the same notebooks I mentioned? What do you normally put in yours?
Read you next time,
I LOVE this!! You’re inspiring me, Rose! I wish I was as organized as you!
I use journals to write; I have at least one for every project. One for structure and ideas, and the second for first drafts of first drafts (it helps unlock the fear of sitting to type at a blank screen.) I’m still finding good ones I actually like. This year I’m trying out using different colored pens for writing about different characters but not sure if that’s going to work out 😹