Welcome to the Planner Pals Podcast, a podcast hosted by two
true planner pals. I'm Jess or Jessie Curran.
And my name is Mark and I go by marker pages.
And today Planner pals, we have a really exciting episode for
you because we're planning with junk.
Junk journaling has either found its way to me or it's been, I
don't know, just do you feel like it's had like a major, like
I don't know about resurgence or am I just finding out about it?
I feel like you're, you're correct in saying that I feel
like it's become a lot more popular recently because it's, I
mean, it's been around for ages. Like I don't want to actually
put like a timestamp on that because I know I will be wrong.
But I feel like more recently, especially with the, you know,
the rise of analog and people trying to get offline and, you
know, combat brain rot and all of these other things, it feels
very much in the sphere of that. So it does feel like it's having
a moment. Yeah, it definitely is.
So today we're going to be talking about what we like about
junk journaling, what we don't like about junk journaling, and
kind of just have a good conversation, as we always do
about topics like this. I mean, me myself, I recently
have been like hardcore getting into it, but it's not
necessarily just like ripping up papers and stuff have been very
like specific about using like little stamp punch.
This this guy over here. I have all my materials laid out
for today, but I've been using this thing so much, has been so
much fun to use just to kind of get into it.
So I'm just excited for the topic overall.
But I think first just we probably should try to define
junk journaling. Even though when I think about
one thing, someone online always tells me that I'm wrong.
In her right, And I feel like when we start to fiddle around
with definitions, then it's like you're kind of drawing
boundaries around something. So we're not going to have us
trying to find it. We're going to ask the good old
Internet to do it for us. So now it's their fault, not
ours. But according to the interwebs,
a junk journal is a handmade book crafted from recycled,
repurposed or overlooked materials like old book pages,
junk mail, envelopes, and maps. It serves as a scrapbook, memory
book or art journal. It is used to hold sketches,
writing photos, and mixed media art.
So yeah, it does encompass a lot of different things.
But really the way that I see it is just, it's for fun.
It's a creativity thing. It can also be for memory
keeping. But the kind of core part of it
is that idea of like sustainability, using things
that would otherwise be overlooked or thrown away and
turning it into something, transforming it into to
something that is on like an autistic expression.
Yeah, it's definitely one of those things that I really like
about it because the little baby hoarder in me that loves like,
collecting things is all about this.
When I started playing around with this idea of it, I actually
went back to my recycling bin outside in the garage because I
was like, last week. Mark wasn't into junk
journaling. Did he throw away anything good
that might be inside of there? Because then once I got into it,
I was just saving all the papers, all the things, and I
was like, oh, it's a little dumpster diving in my own trash.
More recycling. I don't think I would go through
my trash can. That's kind of gross.
But like paper recycling, I'm all about it.
So I love this idea of being able to kind of pull everything
together and try it in different ways.
I mean, I personally, and again, here I am like telling people
what is or isn't a thing. But my opinion about the
definition that the Internet gave us, don't blame us if it's
wrong, is the idea that it's that it's a handmade notebook.
I mean, for me, what I love about it, I'm actually using
notebooks that I never ever would like I'm using like little
Archer knob, like little pocket notebooks.
I never had a real reason for these.
And like I'm starting to fill this little bad boy up with some
fun stuff now. And without the idea of like
putting things inside of here, I don't know that I would have
done that. So I don't think it has to
necessarily be a handmade book, more about like kind of what's
going inside of it. We all have the extra notebooks
that we're not going to use, like line notebooks for
instance. For sure.
Exactly. This is a great way to use those
kind of notebooks. But I mean, the way that I kind
of read the definition, if we're going to be like, you know, very
much like, you know, black and white.
And it's like, oh, you have to use a book that you've made
yourself. Like you went out and grew your
own trees and cut them down and stripped the bark.
No, OK. Like, if you want to, sure.
Paper making is also a great hobby.
I don't believe that you have to be a paper maker and a book
binder to be a junk journaler. But if we're thinking about it
in terms of handmade, just in the sense of what you're putting
into it and bringing together the elements and like sticking
them together and such rather than buying a pre decorated
book, then I'm like, yeah, sure, totally can like jump on the
trade of junk journaling in that respect.
Yeah, absolutely. So let's go ahead and talk about
some of the points that we like about it as we go into it.
I mean, even the very first one, I'm like, OK, yeah.
But so the first thing and the idea of junk journaling is that
imperfection is the point. It's this idea of
experimentation. It's this idea of, you know,
ripping things, putting them in, layering them, making mistakes,
having fun with it. I will tell you though, like
even me myself, I have a little bit of issue with that because
all of the things that I'm doing with it right now, like things
are lining up, you know, it's like, oh, it's spaced a good
amount of space. Like I'm so scared about
layering. We talked about that with air
and I like divulge my soul about my, my like insecurities around
this idea of decorative planning.
Like I, I just see it this way, but also I like the idea of kind
of just letting it all loose and just being like, you know what,
I can do whatever I want with it.
If the lines aren't straight, so be it.
If you know something isn't exactly perfect, it's OK.
But you know, the overall idea though, was like, there's really
no wrong way to do it because the wrong way is kind of the
right way. Even though there will
definitely be people on the Internet who will still tell you
you're doing it wrong and we can put those Nelly naysayers in the
bin out of which we already harvested the good trash.
Yeah. And I think what I love about
that ideas that opens us up to just experimenting and trying.
I mean, it's always hard because we know as creators, right?
We want to make things and then we want to put them online.
We want people to see it, right? We want to inspire people and
get them excited. But it doesn't mean that
everyone has to do that. You can totally explore junk
journal yourself and just have it at home and never show it to
anybody. Like just have fun.
Yeah, I do think that this idea of your imperfection is the
point in our rules. I like the fact that that makes
the beginning stages feel very approachable because you know,
when you are just getting started with something, like any
skill that you're trying to build, you're going to be
stuffing things up like it just happens.
You're still learning the kind of like how to use the tools and
the skill set needed and like how you want to lay out pages so
that things feel balanced and whatever else.
And maybe that's also not even the point of your junk journal.
Maybe you're just going in because you want to do something
with your hands that isn't scrolling.
Instagram, Jessica. But I find that the idea of
imperfection being OK is still something that is daunting.
I don't mind a torn edge, mind things looking a little organic,
but if there's absolutely no guardrails I feel a little
overwhelmed and then I start to get too particular.
I still want things to look cohesive and balanced and put
together and nice. Which means that I know even
though it's a self-imposed rule, it's still something I bring to
new creative hobbies. I no, I totally feel you.
I mean, that's kind of the reaction that I've been getting
online is I've been sharing more and more of my stuff is people
are like, oh, you're so worried about everything lining up the
right way. Like I've been doing kind of
this whole like stamp exploration, right?
And I've just been playing around and I'm like, OK, I want
my lines to be straight. Like I like that.
And my imperfection, you know, are the patterns being
different, You know, nothing lining up necessarily.
This also plays really well into my color deficiency.
Like I don't have to worry about it being color cohesive because
I don't know what really works well together.
And this is a great way for me to be like, it doesn't matter.
Put different things together, try it.
Like I try to find some commonality for like a theme as
I'm playing around with it. But I just love the freedom of
like not having to worry about it, which has been really nice.
But at the same time giving myself some rules to follow as
well, just because I need that as I'm much like you, I need
that. Yeah, I do think that having
those kind of guidelines for yourself, even if it's just
something that you're trying with to get you in the door,
like, you know, foot in the door.
Just getting started saying like, OK, I'm not going to open
myself up to the entire world of imperfection and junk journaling
for any which what way you want to do it.
I'm just going to aim to tackle it in this kind of style.
And that's the thing that I actually quite like about your
junk journaling is that it does have that kind of like, I'm not
going to say like a strict guideline.
It's more so like a set guideline.
So it's very kind of, you know, what you're going to be creating
or how you're going to be putting it together.
It's just that the actual materials you use and like, you
know, the order you place them on the page or something like
that. That's where the kind of
creative comes into it a bit more, as opposed to those like,
OK, I'm going to use this stamp punch, I'm going to have it
aligned in a grid or whatever else.
Yeah, it's probably my favorite part about it, honestly, is I
love the way a page looks when it's done and even when it's not
done all the way to like, I'm kind of also treating kind of
like a collection page. So sometimes we like, OK, I want
this page to be a collection of Ferris Well Press papers or
boxes, right? I've been cutting up and
stamping and kind of punching out the boxes that the ink comes
inside of because I usually just throw them away and I'm like,
OK, like they're going to look different because they're
different colors. There's always different designs
and things like that. And I'm not always going to
complete a page. And I kind of like that.
It reminds me a bit about the bullet journaling part, about
having a collection page and kind of building the theme
around it. But knowing that I don't have to
complete it like a work of art every single time I come to like
I can kind of let it go and come back to it when something sparks
my interest or maybe I find something else.
If I am kind of doing like an overall theme, maybe I find
something to stumble upon it where I'm like, that would look
really cool on this page, even though it doesn't go together.
And then that becomes the theme, which is like a mixed match of
whatever with like a common color or a common pattern or
whatever it might be. Yeah, I do think that the idea
of being able to bring things together that don't necessarily
at face value match is really nice.
And if you can get some commonality between them, even
if it's like the pattern and the color and like the texture and
stuff is all different. Having just like the shape or
the size of it, the same gives you some kind of like cohesivity
between the elements in a way. But I also think that one of the
things about this idea of like, you know, imperfections, OK, and
it's totally fine if it's not perfect or whatever.
I still feel like there'd be certain things if I put them
down on the page and they weren't the right shape or the
right size or like, you know, you're a stamper.
If I put the stamp down and it wasn't perfect, I'd just be
like, Oh my God, I've ruined my junk journal.
So that's the great thing about it.
I was actually gonna mention the stamping part of it, because
that's always a really big fear of people dealing with inks and
clear stamps and rubber stamps. And I do it myself now.
Even even as someone who's been doing it for years, you stamp a
little too hard. You kind of get the little edge
piece from the corner of the stamp.
And usually you're like, oh damn, like that doesn't look
like everything else. That's a great example of like
use that inside of this junk journal because it kind of feeds
to the personality of the page even more than if you're doing a
weekly. It can kind of really turn into
anything else. Or then you become intentional.
You start stamping a little too hard on purpose.
And then, you know, maybe you're kind of, I don't know, learning
some of those skills out, figuring it out as you're going
along. But I love it as a way to
experiment and try new things. I think that's kind of one of my
favorite parts about it is just like the freedom of it.
But like we said, then we're also giving ourselves rules.
We so quickly jump right back to like our core like innerness of
like I need perfection but I want to get a little crazy.
That's right, crazy with guidelines.
I'm all for it. I think that one of my favorite
things about junk journaling, though, is just giving things
Second Life, especially in the day and age of every gosh Dang
company having such beautiful packaging materials.
You know, like something comes wrapped in this really cute
tissue paper that has, you know, little decorations or doodles on
it or whatever. Or maybe you're out at a cafe
and they have a paper menu, like one that you can take with you
or something. You're not just out here
stealing people's menus. That's very rude.
But like those kind of things. I'd love to be able to collect
them and not just Chuck them away.
It's like, no, you are gorgeous. You are beautiful.
I want to remember this. I want to kind of like
immortalize you in my journal. It's not immortal.
It's all paper. It's all going to go out at one
point, but I still think it's nice to not just kind of
appreciated the moment and then get rid of it.
Take it to landfill, take it to the recycling, but give it that.
Kind of like Second Life in my notebook.
Yeah, it's been cool. When I was just on vacation, I
was doing exactly. I was being very intentional
about it. So I have like everything from
like, you know, the flyer you see in the gift shop of like,
what to do in that town. Usually I've been here before,
so like, I know what to do in that town.
But I did, I, like, open it up. And I was like, oh, look, we've
got like, shells and like, cool stuff.
I was at a beach recently, if you can't tell by my gorgeous
tan, but like, even, you know, things just like people who make
art, right? Like this is from one of the art
studios that was there. And again, I usually wouldn't
grab these things because it's like, what the hell am I going
to do with this after I read the back of it and learn about the
artist. And I was like, Oh no, like I
have these great images now that I can use and then incorporate
them into my journal in some way.
And I'm like really excited about this because this is where
like part of that memory keeping kind of comes into play because
it'll be, you know, built around like the theme of my vacation.
But it's just this idea that like, these are things that I
found as I was going through. Like I went to Topgolf and I
took the coaster with me and busted up and I had a drink on
it for three hours. So like, you know, it's
whatever. But like, it's just one of those
things where I'm like, oh, now I can punch this out, put this
inside of my journal and then like, remember that moment,
right? And there's a lot of like really
cool things about that that I really like about it.
But I also simultaneously feel like a little like ferret
because I'm like, oh, little pieces of paper.
Oh, a business card. Oh, a flyer.
Oh, a coaster that I was drinking off, You know, like I
kind of also got to that mode. I'm like, are people looking at
me weird for stealing things or like taking the things that
usually people leave behind and like, very self-conscious.
Yeah, I do kind of worry, almost like if I'm so caught up in, you
know, trying to collect all these little bits of pieces for
my junk journal, am I just collecting stuff?
Because I feel like I need to collect stuff and it isn't
actually something that is going to be something I use or it's
going to be not actually tied to a memory that I want to keep.
Not saying this like, oh God, this is a bad memory and I don't
want to keep it or something. Well, so it's like, okay, if I'm
collecting a flyer, but it's for an activity that I never went
and did, then am I just like kind of contributing to excess
waste? Because it's like now I'm
collecting things to take them home to realize I didn't
actually need to use them and throwing them out at home as
opposed to letting somebody else actually use the flyer for its
intended purpose or something like that.
But also it's like if I'm constantly on the lookout for
things to include, am I missing out on like life and living in
that moment? I don't think it's too too much
of a problem, but I think for some people who are, you know,
maybe do fall into that kind of like, oh, collect everything or
like a dragon kind of mindset. Maybe you are missing out on
other things in those moments when you're just trying to
collect stuff. That being said, I do think that
it's also kind of like a fun side hobby.
You know how we've kind of talked previously and the
Internet loves to laugh about the idea of collecting crafting
supplies is another hobby into the using crafting supplies.
This one I'm like kind of OK with because at least you're
collecting things without having to purchase a whole bunch of
stuff. In theory, because it's junk
journaling, you're collecting stuff that would otherwise be
thrown away. So that's all right.
It's then they're kind of like, OK, cool, now I've collected all
these materials that I may or may not use and I have to store
them. That's always a fun problem.
Yeah, that's kind of where I am right now, where I have kind of
like two different boxes set up for myself.
I have one that is just all of the things that I'm like, oh,
this has a cool design on it. I might use this later or you
know, this idea that I'm like collecting all the things from
my vacation, right to then use them.
And then I also have this box over here where I'm just like
right now, like because I have to do this or else it'll get
really bad. Once I see it, I'll like turn it
into a stamp or a clip or if it's small enough, put it in
here Because otherwise I'm just going to hoard so much paper and
then I'm going to lose it. I'll forget about it.
So it's almost being like very intentional about it.
If I'm like, Oh, I'm going to keep this because I want this
part, I'll just kind of put it right in front of my face.
Or in some cases, if I'm already at home, like grow, grab my, my
punch and punch it out. And that way I'll go and recycle
the rest of the paper. And then I've just been like
collecting them inside of here because it's like a lot less to
collect inside a small container than it is to save all the big
packaging from everything. I'm just imagining you out and
about with your little punch on a carabina clip to your belt
with one of those little strings that kind of are tracks to be
like, I can use this later clip. I can use this later clip.
It's like the guy that's on the train that like punches your
little card as you're riding. That's totally me.
I would absolutely, 100% do that.
That's actually a great idea. I'll have to figure out how to
attach this to my belts because that just makes I don't have to
bring anything home. I'll just clip it in the moment.
Yeah, and have like a little business card keeper for all of
your little stamp bits that you've already clipped off so
that you can like transport them around with you.
So even now we're buying a whole bunch of stuff.
So then we can do junk journaling when the point was to
use junk. I literally was like, oh, now I
need to find a small container that I can buy to keep in my
backpack so I can collect all my things.
This is the problem that we have.
We're trying to think about so many solutions to like all the
things, but it's such a good idea.
I guess that's also another kind of concern point that I have
with junk journaling because even though the purpose of it is
to use junk or no recyclable materials, probably not actual
like trash trash because come on, we don't want no stank ass
junk journal. But we do have people now who
are, you know, selling junk journal packs online.
And I'm like, is that a junk journal pack or is that just a
collage pack? Because in my mind, if it's junk
journal, if it's supposed to be junk, then in theory I shouldn't
have to purchase any new materials to do the hobby.
And I think that is the intention.
But in the consumerism culture that we're sitting in, Hazar,
whatever, it doesn't matter. But like, you get the idea,
right? We've got people who are
probably going out there and just kind of thinking, OK,
awesome, I need to go and acquire a bunch of materials to
be able to do this, even though in theory it's supposed to be
stuff from everyday life that would have been overlooked
initially. I also see it that was giving
something Second Life, like a really great example of that.
Arch and Olive has been including a lot of those like
paper packs inside of their subscription boxes recently.
And I've held onto those for years.
The vellum, like all the papers, all of this stuff.
And I've never had a need for it.
And now I do like now I'm actually pulling those back out
and I'm utilizing those right and thinking of different things
I can do with them. So like technically, you know,
I've had it and it's been wasting away inside of my
drawer, right for all of this time.
But it's really, really cool to be like pop that open and be
like, oh, like from the last time that I thought I was going
to get into like ephemera journaling and like doing a lot
of this kind of stuff. I've like honed it in a little
bit more, focused it a little bit more.
I'm like, Oh, this is really great.
Or I have a ton of papers. I've been doing stuff with like
Eric small things because you know, me like I was just like
buying up everything. I could not really thinking
like, well, how am I going to use these little memo pads or
how am I going to use these little, you know, wrapping
papers and things like that. I just really love the design of
her stuff. So it's turned out really great
because now I can have like an Eric small things page and I'm
actually using and punching those things out.
It makes me feel really good. But it, it is super hard though,
I'll tell you. Like I've seen people online
that have been punching out like containers of like, like sour
cream and like butter and like sodas and candy bars and stuff
like that. I am assuming that they are
cleaning them out. But like for me personally, I
feel like that's going a little bit far.
Like I'm not going to be like cutting open my sour cream
container to like punch out the cow on the front of it.
Though I do like the way it looks because I'm actually
scared. Exactly like you said, like they
have a stank ass journal because I didn't clean my sour cream or
butter container well enough and I'm sticking it inside of my
journal. Yeah, I know that like people
have a similar thing with like tea and coffee stained pages.
If they live in certain climates and whatnot, they can't
necessarily rely on their journals not going mouldy
because you don't want a mouldy journal.
That's not really the vibe. Like it's called a junk journal.
And sure, we've titled this as like making a journal with
trash, but like, let's not turn our journals into trash by
putting things in there that realistically don't have
longevity. But I do like your point,
though, about that idea of maybe some of the materials we have
acquired over time, the ones that were like, oh, yeah, I'd
love to use this, but I don't know how junk journaling could
be a really good way to utilize those because it is so free
form. And there are the kind of like,
you know, no rules and it can be very imperfect.
And such gives you the opportunity to play around and
experiment with those materials that have just been sitting in a
drawer on your shelf or whatnot being like Blaze.
Love me, do something with me, be nice to actually give them a
home. Yeah, I'm excited about some
different stuff that I want to do with it.
You know, I also seen a bit of like an artistic exploration as
well. And I think that's why this kind
of morphs itself into a few different things because I
definitely am going to probably be more on the end of like using
those materials that I already have.
Like I said, if I have some paper packs and things like
that, I want to use them because otherwise I'm not.
But that's not really found items.
That's not a receipt from lunch or, you know, the cough, you
know, like a coffee container or the sleeve or whatever that I'm
using for those kind of things, which I really do love the way
that looks. But for me, I'm kind of treating
it as a bit of both. Like, like I said, I'll be kind
of punching all of this fun stuff out and kind of creating
this junk journal spread from my vacation.
But at the same time, you know, taking one of these Archer and
Olive like photo realistic papers that they've sent or
something with some texture on it and punching those out and
putting it in a different collection as well as a way of
just like having fun and being creative.
Yeah, I've been finding for my junk journaling, it's mainly
been stuff that I have collected mainly for like a memory keeping
type deal. That's like kind of why I'm
doing it. So a lot of the pieces, I'm not
punching it down to a little stamp shape, even though I love
yours. I think it's super cute.
But because I want to be able to keep the kind of like majority
of a material, it's more so just like cutting it or ripping it so
that it'll actually fit into my notebook and then adding
embellishments to the page with other materials that I have.
Because having kind of like what we talked about with Aaron,
having one thing sitting on a page by itself, like in space is
kind of sad and lonely. So I do like to do some layering
and I don't necessarily always use junk to do the layering, but
I will use other materials I already have in my collection.
Yeah, it's something that Erin said that's really stuck with me
since that episode and it's made me feel a lot more comfortable
with exploring with this. Not that I've done it anything
recently, but I am definitely like moving towards it was her
rule of three. Like when layering and kind of
picking those things, right? She said.
It was, you know, something solid, something that was a
texture and then something that was a detail.
I personally am still trying to figure out the difference
between a texture and a detail because a lot of those didn't be
the same in my mind. But that idea of like picking
those types of things, I think you're going to help me out a
lot, especially as I start to explore more beyond like
punching out the stamp pattern, right, and using those.
But I Even so like, I think that also could lend itself to a lot
of what I'm doing now too. So I don't know.
I'm a big fan of the way that it's looking.
I just saw something today online.
It was someone who was kind of junk journaling, but they were
making a plane card out of it, which was kind of neat, but it
was a lot. And I was like, yeah, that's not
a me thing. Like they were taking like washi
tapes and they were taking PET tape and they were, you know,
putting little sprinkles inside of all of this stuff and they
were stamping on it. And I was like, this is too
much. It looks very cool, but like I
know I can never do it. Like it almost started moving to
like a mixed media type thing, but at the same time technically
could be junk journaling too. Like that's what I, you know, I
don't know where to kind of put those certain things, but I'm
definitely excited to continue to explore though and kind of
see because it seems really fun. I feel like the baby steps, like
rule of 3 is what I got to stick with.
Just pick three things and like try it out.
Yeah. I mean, what?
How much junk do you need in a junk journal for it still to be
a junk journal as opposed to a mixed media journal?
We are not the junk journal police.
We are not the planning police. We are not here to tell you what
the hard and fast rule is. In theory, there were no rules.
But you know, we're out here making rules for ourselves and
everybody else, it seems. I mean, something I really like
to do with it, though, is this idea of visual storytelling.
That's also been like a really big thing.
I had made a video over my YouTube channel around using the
junk mail Flyers that we all get, like the value packs.
It's just stacked with like things inside of it.
And I was like, let's see what I can do with this.
And, you know, and it was like, after a while, I was starting to
notice a bit of like a theme. I mean, there's always like
window vendors in there. So like I had tons of windows
that could punch out and then you got like the landscapes and
all this stuff. And there's a restaurant by me
that's kind of like a old timey, kind of like vintage restaurant.
And their ad was really cool because they had like an old, I
guess a husband and wife on like a farm.
So it was like black and white photo.
They were dressed very like old school farmy.
And I was like, oh, this would be cool.
Let me kind of make a story out of this.
And like, I started to clip things out and put them
together. Building on a fake story was
total fiction, But around, you know, this farmer and his wife
and like, you know, they're building a home for themselves.
So I was like, clipping outdoors and windows and like, flowers
and kind of all those kind of things.
And when I was done, I was so proud of myself because it was
just, again, it was like a creative thing that I would have
never, ever done in my bullet journal.
That's not like a thing that I would really do there, but I
just felt like I had the permission to do it here and
like, be open and creative because it was my, you know, my
junk journal, so to say. So there's a lot of like,
permission that was given, but I really liked the way it looked
and like a little story that I would have never written down
myself. I think that's the other thing
too. That's what I love about the
visuals. Yeah, I do like that note about
permission to do things because in theory, you know, in our
planners or in our bullet journal, junk journal, whatever,
like in all of them, there should be no need for permission
because it is ours and we can do what we want or whatnot.
But I do feel like it's like a self-imposed rules that I have
for myself. Like OK, in your five year
journal, you will only do these things.
You will only use this pen, You will only use this type of
handwriting in your everyday journal where you're planning
all your things. You will only use these spreads.
You will only use these layouts. Things have to be cohesive the
other, whereas with my junk journal, it's like anything goes
anarchy. Stick down whatever, don't stick
things in. Just shove them in the notebook,
kick it down the stairs. OK, probably not.
But like still, I find the, the kind of like the permission that
I give myself in that one is very nice and very freeing, but
also kind of daunting, as we already kind of noted.
But I also find that I still have that kind of like rule set
for myself sneaking in in particular around what I'm using
it for because as someone who does consider themselves to be
very purpose first, it's like, OK, anything you're creating,
like what is what is the reason? And sure, sometimes the reason
is just fun and I should just let myself have fun, but I
don't, it seems. But for me, junk journaling, the
kind of purpose that I've assigned to it is memory
keeping. But I also know that that's not
my preferred way of memory keeping.
I'm kind of the person who prefers to capture a memory in
its entirety or as much of it as I can so that then I can really
go back and live in that moment again.
And the way that I typically like to do that is through
video. Whereas with junk journaling, it
feels like I'm just collecting memory prompts or memory aids
that I then I still have to remember the thing that
happened. Like, I have to be able to look
at the thing, have it jogged my memory or like, you know, prompt
a thought for myself and still have to, like, you know, rely on
the brain to be able to figure out what went down.
And that is not something that I'm particularly good at.
And thus I don't know if junk journaling will have longevity
or staying power for me, because if I've assigned it that
purpose, but it is not the best for me at fulfilling that
purpose, then why bother putting in the effort?
I see what you're saying there. Yeah.
It's interesting because I feel like that could be something
that maybe, again, you'd look like a weirdo, like you're out
eating with your family and you're like, oh, I need a
journal about this. And you, like, take part of your
receipt and part of the menu. But like, in the moment, though,
put that into your notebook. Like it almost kind of takes
away from it being overly curated, which I definitely feel
like mine is in that kind of way, at least from a standpoint
of like using the same shapes and thinking about the spacing
and kind of how I want that to be.
But at the same time, like I don't think I would ever be that
person. Like I said, I'm already
embarrassed that I'm like grabbing pieces of paper and
business cards and things. The last thing you're going to
see me doing is being like ripping a page using my little
glue pen, sticking it and then writing like a moment.
And you know, what happened in this moment?
Where were we? Whatever.
But I do think though, at the same time, like maybe that's not
something that I would do, but maybe someone else would feel
more comfortable in doing that. And then you're kind of relying
on like, what is the visual thing from this moment that is
stands out to me the most? Or maybe can even go into a
journal. You know, there's probably
things that won't go in there. And then writing down real
quick, you know, when that happened, where that was maybe
who you're with, not doing long form journaling because that's
also like not a me thing. Like I don't ever really do
that. And I also don't know that I'm
technically doing any like, short form journaling, at least
not personal journaling since I use my bullet journal so much
for work. Like I've never kind of taken a
moment to write down like my current thoughts or kind of
what's going on for me. But again, someone else though
they might be. So it could be like a way to
like, take that moment in time to reflect so you're not trying
to rely on your, you know, Swiss brain memory later on.
Yeah, I do very much see the benefit of noting things down in
the moment and recording in the moment, because then everything
is like as fresh as possible. And, you know, that's why people
be out here buying traveling journaling kits and such,
whether they're for junk journaling or otherwise.
It is nice to have your own, like your travel glue, tape and
your travel scissors, the ones that you can actually take on a
plane or the ones that you'll pack in your, like, checked
luggage so you don't get them confiscated anyway.
But I do find that because in the moment I'm usually more
wanting to like, you know, be present also film, because I
know that that's going to be my preferred way of looking back on
the memories later. I don't then also want to take
time away to be like, Hey, let me just get my journal out and
my glue and my scissors and whatever.
And just like, you know, scrapbook right here in the
moment. But for some people that's like
super necessary because otherwise what happens is that
you accumulate all this stuff, especially if you're trying to
do junk journaling on like a like a two week trip or
something, You know, you accumulate all of these things
and then you get back and it's like, cool, now I've got
homework to do as opposed to this being like A and relaxing
thing. It's now like work.
I think that's why I'm so afraid to go too deep into it.
Like I can give myself the job of picking up, you know, the
flyer or, you know, the little magazine or something like that,
or, again, a business card or, you know, something you sit your
drink on. Like, I can, like, put this in
my pocket real quick. But yeah, I'm not going to be
the person that's like pulling my little punch off of my little
chain and like doing that in the moment and then pasting it into
like a journal. But also like I don't have a lot
of pocket space, I guess to really carry a journal around
with me unless it was a pocket sized journal.
And I'm talking like real thin, like I'm not carrying this
around in my pocket, you know, like I'm thinking much more of
that traveler size or, you know, like bullet journal came up with
like a little pocket notebook, write something like that that
really fits inside of my pocket and doing it that way.
But it's just one of those things where like, I'm also not,
like we said, I'm not that person though to carry around my
journal really. So it's not going to happen in
the moment for me, but good for somebody.
Else, yeah, I think that's also probably in part why there is
that kind of, like, looming risk of just becoming a junk
collector as opposed to a junk journaler.
It's like, OK, cool. I'm really good at just, like,
grabbing the thing in the moment, making sure I'm on the
lookout for things that I could stick in later.
But then if you don't give yourself the time to actually do
the sticking in later, it's just like cool now I have a pile of
trash in my house instead of where it would have been which
is in the bin. And that's exactly, eventually
what's going to end up happening is you're just going to get so
fed up with your pile of stuff. Or like you said, you're not.
I don't know. There's probably like a time
limit everyone needs to like set for themselves.
Again, no rules in junk journaling.
We're like, no, no. But personally, I need to give
myself a rule that if I don't use that in the week's time, it
goes inside of the recycling. You know, like for me
personally, I know that if I don't do that, I will accumulate
boxes and boxes and boxes of things.
And every time I see something in the store, I'm going to be
like, oh, I could junk journal with that.
I could be putting that out of my notebook and I could be
swiping it and taking it, you know, and doing whatever, but
then not doing anything with it. And also, like my memory isn't
great. So I know that I only have
probably a day or two worth of like that short term memory to
remember, like important details about what happened while I was
at this restaurant with this person.
Otherwise, it's just going to go out the door and I'm not saving
my receipts. That's one thing I'm not doing.
Yeah, I'm not a receipt saver. I'm exactly the same way.
Because, like what? My junk journal was very much
just like a way to fill up the back of my notebook.
So it's just a bunch of things stuck in or whatever.
And I had quite a few pages left in this notebook.
So I was like, OK, but we're going to have like plenty of
space to do more. So I've collected a bunch of
materials, but this was my quarter one journal.
We're in quarter 2 now. We're decently into quarter 2
now and I still haven't done it. So it's like, what is the kind
of time frame that I give myself to actually complete that
project versus when do I just say like, hey, that ship has
sailed, let the junk go. I mean, it really that's going
to fall into, you know, what I like about it so much, right?
Is that like with things we've talked about, like not really
having those rules around it, but us as individuals, we know
that we need something though. And I do think though that it is
healthy, like you said, because then we just become journal
collectors or junk collectors or both.
You know, just this idea of like you're consuming and you're
keeping and you're using and you're grabbing and you're doing
whether you're not really doing anything with it.
And I think that could also lead down the path of like feeling
really overwhelmed because suddenly now you're like, oh, I
told myself and I grabbed these items and I'm going to do some
journaling around this. And then like you said, you're
3-4 weeks down the road and then, you know, you pick up
that, you know, receipt from coffee with your best friend and
you're like, wait, what happened there?
Great. Well, OK, now is my junk general
chronological? Like I can't move on to the next
thing. And I think that's where it
starts to kind of spin out a little bit.
And so it's like, if you know you're that type of person,
think there's anything wrong with giving yourself some rules
around it. You know, in that way you're not
just building up piles like I have off to the side of my
camera. I would love to know like in
terms of the rules and guidelines to help make junk
journaling, you know, more approachable or easy or whatnot,
What kind of rules have you set for yourself?
I mean, so for right now, the rule I set for myself is just
kind of keeping to like the shape, right?
What I love is the aesthetic of the stamp, right?
I just really love that stamp shape and it to me, it feels
almost like a passport. I've been calling like a stamp
passport or like a junk journal passport or something just
because it is the theme of the stamp.
So I, I bought myself one punch, right?
Because I was like, OK, I don't need all the different sized
punches. Do I want them?
Yes. Do I need them?
No. So like that was the first rule
I set for myself, especially as I started to go down this path.
I didn't want to go too crazy too fast.
That is always in me to do those things.
I know that about myself. The other thing with it has been
to allow things to go wrong, like, you know, that, you know,
I was showing you before like this Archer and Olive.
So like, these are all the packages from the last
subscription box, right? All the different cartoons and
things like that. I had a very specific pattern
that I was going for on this with like every other orange.
And I did really well until here.
And then I accidentally put two oranges together.
And then I was like, well, now it's ruined.
And then I was like, no, no, no, Mark, you're OK.
Just do more oranges, right? So like, that's an example where
I've just told myself, like part of me wanted no lie to like
second punch out the stamp shape I've already done with the paper
backing so that I could put it in the order that I wanted to
that was there and I stopped myself.
First of all, that would be ridiculous.
I would, I couldn't personally. That's a lot of work and I would
mess it up somehow. But just to be like, Mark, it's
OK. Like you don't have to show this
to anybody. I'm showing it to you.
But I'm just like, you know what?
I kind of like the way it looks now, you know, like I made it
into something. It's like, you know, what is
that? Bob Ross is like, you know, tiny
little mistakes or that's not a mistake.
That's a tree or whatever the hell is.
Happy little accidents. There you go.
Or that. But like, that's kind of how I'm
treating it. And so I'm also just like, yeah,
be a mental problem solver, you know, like really practice
problem solving with what you have.
We all have made a mistake in our notebook and pasted those
pages together or RIP them out. Just be OK with it.
Just say, OK, OK, I'm learning from this.
Flip the page over and, you know, try it again later.
Be more aware, be more mindful, right?
Not just like throwing things on the page.
So those have been my main thing.
And then the last one I've done has been giving myself time
limits because if not, I know that first of all, my hyper
focus on this new hobby will fade.
I'm hoping that it does it because I'm really enjoying
myself creatively here. But I'm just like, OK, you
brought this into your house. You have two weeks to do this.
And I've so far been doing a pretty good job with it because
I also will sit it on my desk instead of putting it in a pile
somewhere else. And I have to move it out of the
way every time I need to get around it.
And so for myself, I know that I get fed up with that.
So there have been times when it's like been I'm like, I'm not
going to do this and I just put it in the recycling bin.
But other times where I'm like, OK, Mark, let's set a timer for
10 minutes. You said you were going to do
this. Let's go ahead and just kind of
like break these things down and, and kind of get it
organized. And that's been super helpful
for me. Do you have any rules for
yourself that you've set up as you've gone through?
Yeah, so mainly mine is around like the collecting.
So if we're collecting something to put into my junk journal, it
should be tied to something I want to remember because, you
know, purpose first. Mine's kind of a memory keeping.
So it should be something that either prompts a memory, aids in
a memory, or supports the memory.
So for instance, like I know last year Bugle and I took our
mini moon, mini honeymoon and one of the things that we got or
one of the things that we did while we were there was a
perfume making class. It was so much fun.
We had a great time. But when we got our things
packaged up, they had some tissue paper in the bag that had
like their logo on it and stuff. I'm like, OK, this is something
that will aid in a memory. Like I will keep that.
I could junk journal with that. Whereas, you know, if I've gone
away for like I've got a trip up coming, for instance, if I go
and collect Flyers and whatnot for things that I didn't
actually see, that doesn't aid in a memory.
That's just me like hoarding trash.
So not those kind of things. Yes to the things that actually
help with my memory prompts. My other rule for myself is more
so in the construction, and that is no scissors unless you are
going to be trimming around the outside of a page.
So it's like if something hangs off outside the notebook, you
can trim that away. That's OK.
But in terms of actually laying the elements down onto the page,
no scissors. So that means no fussy cutting.
All right, You're allowed to do fussy ripping.
You're allowed to RIP things out.
Because I think that the organic edges kind of make me feel a
little bit safer about there being other imperfections on the
page. Whereas if I was allowing
scissors for myself, I would start getting so particular
super snickety biscuit energy. I would be like, Oh no, the
exact diameter on this, like curved edge isn't perfect
anymore. I can't possibly use it kind of
thing. And it would start to turn into
more work than fun, more of a chore than it was leisure.
So that's a rule for myself. And I do think that I would
probably benefit for some type of like time frame rule.
I don't currently have one still hoarding my materials from my
quarter one journal that I'm probably never going back to.
But I might have to like, you know, let myself say, hey, that
ship has sailed, it's time to move on.
At the moment, I'm feeling like the soft deadline should just be
at the end of this quarter, Like, hey, get rid of your
quarter one materials at the end of quarter two.
That might work. You'll just have this like
forever backlog though of the previous quarters.
I hear what you're saying there because there's a piece of it
does feel like when you are scrapbooking because again,
we've all been here. We buy the materials, we have
the books, we have the things, we have the glues, we have the
tapes, the stickers, all of those things.
But it just never feels like the right time to do it because you
do have to take time out of your day or week or whatever that is
to give it time to work on it. But I think that there's like so
much power in allowing yourself to do that.
Literally scheduling time in the same way you would homework.
The same would you would, you know, would with extra work or
laundry or cleaning, like give yourself 30 minutes one day a
week to spend time on that and kind of just really dedicated to
it. And I think that's like a really
good way to like force yourself in there and it's actual time
that you're giving towards that versus trying to find it in
between calls or find it in between going out or chores or
whatever that might be. Yeah.
And I think also just letting yourself, if you're reminding
yourself that it does take time to learn, like you're allowed to
be a learner, it's allowed to be something that's new and a
little challenging and daunting and such.
But I think that the flexibility of the system does lend itself
very nicely to practicing techniques and skills.
And also if you have other creative hobbies that you enjoy,
you know, in particular, I'm thinking paper crafting ones,
but technically speaking, transfer skills are everywhere.
So you can probably apply it in other areas as well.
This is a really good opportunity to let your junk
journal be the practice and the play space, and then you can
bring those techniques into other areas, areas of your
creativity. One of the things I've seen
people do that I absolutely love and have not tried for myself,
but I'm very curious about is the idea of taking a piece of
sellotape, putting it over something that you want and
rubbing over that to really secure the tape and then just
like ripping it off the thing. I feel like that one is probably
a knack. I would end up like ruining so
many things, but I love the idea of it and I want to try it out.
I just haven't gotten myself there.
I've seen the same videos you have.
I see all the time. It's like how to create a cool
font. They're like, it's like they're
waxing someone like that's what it looks like.
I just know that I would do it. It would just RIP a hole in the
paper. Like I don't think that I'm
going to get the transfer that I'm looking for.
But I, I think the idea is that again, you're trying it right.
You're giving yourself the time, the space to give it a try.
And it probably is a skill that you have to figure out like what
is the right angle or have to hold it a certain way or how,
you know, how long do I, you know, go over top of that tape
over the thing before I pull it up?
Like, I'm sure there's a lot that goes into it, but I think
that's just something that could be really exciting about just
having a junk journal or a play journal even.
You know, like you don't want to give it a specific name or, or
again, it's almost like a research and development journal
for your junk journal, which I know goes against like
everything that we've talked about in this episode.
But I also don't think there's anything wrong with having like
a curated junk journal. You know, like I think that is
something that's super fun as long as it's not holding you
back from using it. I guess like that's where I'm
kind of coming from is like, there's nothing wrong with
having a bunch of pocket notebooks and being like, hey,
the same way you would with like a travelers notebook.
Like this notebook is for this topic.
This is for this topic. I mean, I have 3 kind of
versions of like my little like stamp Chuck journal things now
because I'm always just, I'm in my experimentation mode.
I'm like, oh, do I want it on a line?
Do I want it on a dot grid? You know, I've been thinking
about maybe using one of my blackout journals because I
think that would look really cool, right?
Like it's opening up ideas to me.
But I also have to really hold myself in and be like, Mark,
finish the one before you pick up the next one because then I'm
going to have like 4, like not even partially started junk
journals just because I know that's how I am.
So I'm I'm trying to be very focused about this one.
Yeah. I also think that another kind
of benefit of letting it be the play space, the experimental
space and all of those kind of things is that at least you're
experimenting with materials that in theory, we're just gonna
go in the recycling anyway. Like you're giving yourself an
opportunity to, you know, play around with collaging and you're
ripping things up and all of that type of thing with
materials that you didn't hopefully pay an arm and a leg
for. That's kind of nice.
Yeah, that's how I feel about a lot of stuff, especially when
I'm seeing people use, like, grocery items to do it.
Like I've seen some people like punch out like chip bags and I
don't know how that works because I feel like the plastic
would just like RIP, like it wouldn't work out.
They figured it out though. But what I also really love
about this whole hobby jug journal thing and we've
mentioned a few times is paying attention a little bit more to
the things that usually you just pass by.
Like this seems like a very stupid one, but I was changing
out my air filter for my AC system and the packaging on the
front of the the filter actually had some really cool icons on
it. It was like, you know, for dust
and clean and all these things. And I haven't years I've been
using the same filters, never even look twice at it.
I crumple it up. I put that in recycling.
I take the plastic wrap, I put that in the trash.
I've been doing that for years. But when I started doing this, I
was like, OK, like this is actually kind of cool.
Like this is something that is neat and it looks really
awesome. I've also been doing it.
This is one of those other bad things too.
But I feel like a junk person. But like Chipotle, for instance,
right? If you I don't know, do you guys
have Chipotle in New Zealand? We don't.
We know what it is. We don't have it.
So like their bag, I mean, this is just the bag that like the
Chipotle food came in, but they've got such cool
illustrations on their bags and stuff like that.
And again, I mean, I've seen it as a designer, I pay a lot of
attention to packaging, but that is something usually I would
have just thrown away, right? But now I'm like, RIP out that
part. I didn't keep the whole bag
after it was done. I just kept the part that I
wanted. But that is just something that
I would never have looked twice at it before.
So it also I think, gives a lot of appreciation for art and
design on what we think is just trash at the end of the day.
Yeah, it's kind of almost becomes like a mindfulness
activity because you are paying attention to things and being
more mindful about the design elements on things and such and
whether they could be, you know, supporting materials in your
junk journal, if it's more for memory keeping or actually the
kind of feature, if it's really just that kind of creativity
aspect. But of course, Planet Pals, we
would love to hear from you. Have you tried junk journaling
or, you know, what are your kind of thoughts about it?
Do you like it? Do you loathe it?
Let us know either in the comments on YouTube or you can
hit us up at planetpalspodcast@gmail.com or
over on Instagram at Planet Pals Podcast.
Well, thank you so much, Jess. I this is a great topic.
I love being able to talk to people about this because
everyone in my house right now is like, will you stop grabbing
every piece of paper that you see everywhere?
So it was a great topic in Planter Piles.
We could not wait to hear from you down in the comments.
And until next time, friends talk to you later.