Hello everyone! I hope you’re doing well!
It’s the last quarter of 2025, and already, many planner and stationary businesses are putting their 2026 lineup: Hobonichi, Midori Traveler’s Notebook, Passion Planner, and many others just to name a few!
It’s exciting! But before I jump in the bandwagon of buying new planners as a way to jump forward and be excited about 2026, I think it’s worth reviewing my current journaling ecosystem and see what’s working and what’s not working.
This post is for anyone who’s into journaling and has a habit of carrying multiple journals at once - for better or for worse 😅. Or for anyone who’s new to journaling and would like to do some compartmentalizing.
What is a journal ecosystem?
A journal ecosystem is basically a way for your journals and planners work together as one connected system. Instead of relying on a single notebook, your multiple journals will have different different purposes—like a planner for scheduling, a journal for reflection, and maybe a pocket notebook for quick notes.
I really liked how Petya from A Reading Life worded it as “Like a natural ecosystem where diverse species fulfill distinct roles… a [journal ecosystem] assigns specific functions to different notebooks (journaling, planning, idea collection, etc.) that complement one another and collectively support the individual's thinking, creativity, and productivity.”
You can read more about the definition of a journal ecosystem in her article below:
I came across this term after going through many YouTube videos of people showing their journaling ecosystem:
I really enjoyed watching these videos because it gave me some ideas on how people are organizing their journaling systems. And each journaling ecosystem is unique to each person’s preferences and lifestyle - it feels like I get to have a peek at someone’s life based on their journaling ecosystem.
My current journaling ecosystem
So here is my current journaling ecosystem! I’ll go through each of the journal from left to right. For my Midori Traveler’s Notebook, I’ll go through each of my inserts as 2a, 2b, and 2c.
1. Weekly Planner (Shirobara Diary)
This is a planner that I bought in Yonago, Japan. The Shirobara Diary is a simple weekly planner - the left page has all of the days of the week, and the right page is blank. (You can check it out here: https://www.imaibp.co.jp/shirobaradiary/)
This keeps it organized for me so I can track down any deadlines, events, things I need to get done at specific days. And on the right I get to write down my master weekly to-do list. My life can get pretty busy so I organized my to-do’s into different categories: a tracker for the certification course I’m taking, job applications, a running to-do list for my small business, and my habit tracker.
2a. Daily Log (Midori Traveler’s Insert)
So for my Midori Traveler’s Notebook, I am using three inserts.
One of them is my daily log. It’s actually a notebook from Daiso that I trimmed down to fit in my Midori Traveler’s Notebook. I just love the tired smile of the bunny in the cover!
My daily journal is set up so that I have a to-do list on the left page, and a page where I can write random notes of what happened throughout the day.
2b. Story Idea Log (Midori Traveler’s Insert)
This is an exclusive insert that I bought from The Superior Labor store in Kurashiki, Okayama.
I use it to capture the many ideas I have for a story I’m working on. Since my ideas are always shifting and evolving, it’s helpful to keep them in one dedicated place. I set it up like a dated log—just simple notes on whatever sparks that day.
2c. Small Business Notebook (Midori Traveler’s Insert)
This is also a notebook I got from Daiso that I trimmed down to fit the Midori Traveler’s Notebook.
I have a dedicated space just for everything related to my small business. I write down ideas for my small business, notes from any webinars or workshops I attended, article ideas for my Substack, and many others. It keeps everything organized as I also have many ideas for my small business, as well as other valuable information that I would rather just have in one place.
3. Commonplace Book
This is a special journal gifted to me by my mom (hi mom! if you’re reading this - thank you again!). My mom and dad visited Ireland last year, and she bought a journal for me as a gift!
This journal is my commonplace book. This is the place where I store quotes from books I’m reading, notes from articles I read, and lists such as books to read, video game backlog, or places to visit in Japan.
I also use this journal to write down longer reflections I may have. I don’t write as much long written reflections as I used to, but when I have the urge to do so, I use this journal as the space for that.
4. Weekly Memory Log
This was a weekly planner that I bought at the beginning of the year. My initial plan was to use this as my traditional weekly planner -but then I saw the Shirobara Diary and I just had to buy it!
I then had the problem of having two weekly planners, all thanks to spontaneous spending urges 😅
But after watching some videos of how people use their Hobonichi weekly planner as a memory log, I decided to try it out!
And it worked! Whenever there’s a special event or memory or outing, I get too tired to write about it as a full page journal entry. But having it formatted as a small space in a weekly planner helps me be concise and quick when writing about it - but I can also have fun in decorating my pages with ephemera and other memories attached to it.
I usually write on this at the end of the week, and it’s been a nice way to reflect on what has happened in the past week.
And there you have it! That was a complete walkthrough of all of my current journaling system!
Next time, I’ll walk you through my plans for 2026 — a look at the brand-new journals I’m planning to use for the year ahead!
What does your journaling ecosystem look like and how does it serve you? Let me know in the comments below!