A woman with long brown hair wearing a flowery dress writing in her journal.

5 journaling products to get you started

Hello 👋 I’m Debs and I am a total, complete and utter, stationery addict! I’ve always loved stationery, ever since I was young – I remember those trips to WHSmith to stock up on back-to-school supplies – and my stationery addiction has been ramping up again these last couple of years thanks to the start of my bullet journaling journey.

I primarily use my Bullet Journal (also known as BuJo) to support with managing and coping with depression as I find it helps me to:

  • Plan my day-to-day activities
  • Track my habits and mood
  • Write down my thoughts and feelings
  • Enable positive reflection
  • Get creative

If you’ve been thinking about starting a journal, here are my top 5 recommended products to get you started:

Journal

I personally love a dot grid journal as I find lined pages quite restrictive. I have mainly been using journals from Archer and Olive – they are really good quality and have 160 GSM paper, which means colour/ink doesn’t bleed through to other pages. However, there are massive shipping costs to the UK and I’ll no longer be able to afford these, so as a brilliant alternative, I have recently discovered Yop and Tom which are very similar (also with 160 GSM paper) and much more affordable at £22.99 through Olive and Mabel.

Pen

Thanks to a recommendation from Jennie at Olive and Mabel, my new favourite pen to write with is a MUJI Gel Ink Ballpoint Pen (£1.95) but I’m also a big fan of the SAKURA Pigma Micron pens available at Under the Rowan Trees.

Pencil

I always use a pencil when planning my spreads before I convert to pen. I’ve gathered many throughout the years with various stationery subscriptions and notebook purchases so I don’t have a particular favourite (yet!) but follow me on Instagram and if I do find one I can’t be without then you’ll be the first to know.

Rubber (also known as eraser)

As with the above, my next MUST HAVE item is a decent rubber to remove the pencil marks. For this it has to be a MILAN 430 rubber (available at Olive and Mabel for £1.50) – it’s so smooth and does the job super well.

Washi Tape

And this is also where my addiction is STRONG! Once you’re introduced to washi tape, you can honestly never have enough - I have so many!

For anyone not sure what washi tape is, it’s kinda similar to masking tape, except much more colourful! It’s extremely versatile and you can stick it on pretty much any surface. I use mine for decorating my journal pages (such as borders, page breaks or just to make it pretty), household items and I’ve even used it to stick art prints to my office wall.

My current go to washi is Olive and Mabel’s very own Happy Mail Washi Tape (£3.50) – it’s just super cute, excellent quality and embodies my stationery addiction needs. 

A few rolls of the Happy Mail Washi Tape. The tape has a pattern with smiley faces, rainbows and envelopes on it.

I hope you’ve found this helpful to get you started with journaling. And remember, while you’ll see all these lovely spreads on Instagram, Pinterest etc, the important thing is to just… start. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about making your journal work for you and what you need.

Check out my instagram page @debs.journals for more stationery hauls and journal inspo. 

Disclaimer: These reviews are all my own and I have not received any royalties for my recommendations. All prices were correct at time of posting.

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