My Life in Notebooks

Along with needing a new planner, the company also discontinued the notebooks I use for my bullet journal and work notebook. The work notebook was harder to replace — there isn’t a lot out there exactly like it — so I drove around buying up all of the stock I could find in-store. This amounted to 14 notebooks. I go through one every 1.5 – 2 years. Would I work another 21 to 28 years? Totally possible that I will retire within that window. And if I work beyond that, I could always suck it up and deal with a different kind of notebook for my final years.

The bullet journal was easier to replace — a Moleskine is a similar notebook — but the truth was that replacing it was filling me with anxiety. I didn’t want something different. I wanted my paper strength and stay.

The company was selling the final stock online, and if I ordered 18 notebooks, I would get free shipping. I could have my exact notebook and never have to switch brands. I go through a bullet journal every 1.75 years. That’s 31.5 more years of bullet journaling. And I could probably stretch them out about 2 years at this point because I’m mostly balancing just my schedule vs. also remembering everything for the kids.

It was a lot of money to invest in paper notebooks, but it was also like buying a forever stamp. Yes, it was more money now, but over time, as notebook prices increase, I will likely save money by making this one-time big purchase instead of finding (and paying for) new notebooks one at a time.

But it was also strange to think about my life in notebooks. My work life in notebooks — as I see the stack dwindle down, it’s also my work years dwindling down. My personal life in notebooks — how much longer do I have to live when I’m down to a handful of notebooks? It was a little sobering.

But at least I only have to worry about the planner now.