Scrolling through social media lately, I’ve noticed a trend: people showing off their carefully curated journal “ecosystems” full of notebooks, planners, and endless accessories. From colored tabs to cute leather covers, these setups make every part of your day feel intentional. Is this analog method the crafty new way to organize your life?
What is a journal ecosystem?
A journal ecosystem is a collection of notebooks, each with an individual purpose, that’s curated to fit a person’s specific needs. If you’re a planner, look around you; you might already have an ecosystem in place.
These set-ups are entirely customizable; some may have a financial tracker, a scrapbook, a diary, a commonplace notebook, or subject-specific notebooks for whatever they want. The actual layout of these systems comes in three main forms: multiple separate journals, multiple small notebooks bound together in a folio or binder-style cover, or a combination of both.
Even your stack of a planner, diary, and class notebook could be considered a journal ecosystem.
What’s it good for?
If you’re anything like me, you’re getting a little tired of everything being digital. My calendar, to-do list, my random notes, everything. With our phones practically being our life sources, home to entertainment and leisure, as well as work, things easily get lost in the shuffle. If I’m able to switch away from my to-do list, I’ll forget it’s even there, notifications be damned.
After starting and decorating my own system, I found that the return to analog organizational methods solved almost every one of my planning problems and allowed me to dive back into hobbies like writing in a diary, sketching a random tree, and creating little scrapbook pages to enjoy. My own journal ecosystem now contains my Filofax for planning, and a folio filled with my personal diary, a little sketchbook, and a commonplace notebook for all my random thoughts.
Instead of making a million notes on my phone or creating a random Google Doc doomed to be forgotten, I have all my notebooks physically in front of me.
Pick your price point
The beauty of an organizational method like this is that it can be as creative and affordable as you want it to be.
My social media feed is full of gorgeous and expensive Louise Carmen and Paper Republic leather folios; thankfully, those aren’t the only options. You can get the same designs for a third of the price by shopping with small businesses. Etsy is full of artisans making these same products. You can even find a tutorial and make it yourself.
You can pick up an affordable folio from a store like Marshalls to get the ball rolling, just as I did. Find out what your needs are and fill them. It can be as easy as picking up two notebooks from the Dollar Tree.
This method is what you make of it; decorate and fill your ecosystem to your heart’s content!
This isn’t just a chance to make planning your life more aesthetic, it’s a lifestyle more and more people are subscribing to. Journal ecosystems are a cool, creative way to keep track of everything you need without having to touch your phone. For the pen and paper girls out there, this is the organizational method you’ve been looking for.
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