Junk Journaling Basics

Financially Accessible Journaling

Oct 17, 2025

There is still time to sign up for the JOURNALING GROUP COACHING session! It starts this Sunday 10/19. We will be meeting on Zoom at 7 am PDT on 10/19. This IS a time change from the original. This to make sure as many time zones as possible are able to join. Jittery with excitement over here!

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Junk journaling is one of those terms that I feel like has become an umbrella term for a lot of different things: collage, scrapbooking, literal trash glued down on some paper. I look at a lot of junk journaling and go “huh…” I look at others and go, “I think we used to just call that scrapbooking. Is that just an antiquated idea these days? Maybe regional?” I look at others, and my brain goes, “Oh… I like that A LOT.”

One of my challenges to myself this year was to be better about using my Creativity Journal by Unearthing The Gift. You can preorder 2026’s creativity journal here. This year, I have been amazing at using my creativity journal. It has been such a constant companion that I started having big feelings about whether or not one would be available for next year. I am SO excited that it is. You can see 2024’s Creativity Journal here to see the difference.

What started as monthly junk journaling reflections has evolved into weekly junk journaling. Yes, you see literal trash on the pages, but all of this? It tells a story in my mind. This was a busy 4 days. We went to The Simpsons trivia (mod and dog) on Thursday. We went to the river Friday morning and got tea. I got to go to happy hour (the chicken) with my friends. Saturday, we went to the EcoVibe fall party/sale and the art gallery across the way. On Sunday, I cleaned out our tea cabinet, and I had to take some Emergen-C after being out with people so much, haha.

What would otherwise be a page with a lot of white space is now sort of a mess, but it’s the mess of a full week. Could I have made it less messy? Probably, but I don’t wait until I have all of my bits and bobs. I just put things on as the come.

The only thing I paid for on this page was the stickers that I have had for 4-5 years. They’re free at this point. I purchased nothing new to make these memories. I saved a napkin, a receipt, grabbed a free sticker, a business card, used wrappers, etc. The story is woven, and it didn’t cost me an extra dime.

This is probably the ugliest page I have ever created, but I don’t care because again, the memories are there. Should I have put down some pretty paper? Probably, but I didn’t think of that. The outlines are from finished sticker sheets. I wanted to commemorate my Ikigai Papir stickers because Hedda is my favorite sticker creator. I’ve had some of these for a few years, but I used them, and I’m PROUD of myself.

Here’s the thing. Journaling is about YOU. It is for YOU. It is not for the likes, the traffic, the engagement. What I see here is pie party, Howl’s Moving Castle in theaters, donut date, my October bujo theme, and Super Deluxe. I see my month through the humble trash that was created and saved.

Junk journaling can be so much more than this. I use this as a way to get the exciting things down (even if it’s just a sticker of Mr. Yuk to let myself know I threw up that week) in a quick and fun way that doesn’t require me to have to get words from my brain through my hand and on to paper.

You can use anything to junk journal. There really aren’t rules although some will put rules. I use what I have or what I have collected that (hopefully) hasn’t cost extra money.

Some people go to the thrift store to buy old books and magazines. Some people collect food containers and cardboard and fast food bags and receipts. Some only do the more aesthetic brochure thing (like above). Many mix and match.

We will be doing a full week of junk journaling in the group coaching session. Consider saving your coffee receipts, a business card from your local art gallery or coffee shop or tax prep company (anywhere you go during that week or this month). If you have had a big trip with lots saved up, use those! Take that week to get it organized and glued or taped in. Remember that you can make of this whatever you want. It can have captions and writing. It can be just scraps and bits and bobs. It can be mostly writing with only a couple of small artifacts.

While junk journaling won’t keep things out of the landfills forever. It will keep it out of there for longer. Was this week a week of me just celebrating the candy I was eating and the fact that I got new candles? Yes. Yes it was. Sometimes that’s all I do in a week. I eat the candy I buy, and I document it. No shame. I am who I am. I create how I create.

Junk journaling is also low stakes creativity. You’re just using (mostly) trash after all. Again, unless you want people to see it, no one will. And honestly, I’ll be yours will be 15x nicer than most people I see. So don’t worry about it. Let your inner child out. Let them go ham on it, especially if you’re like me and failed every art class you ever had, if you got in trouble on every single art activity for not being pretty enough, if you got torn apart by adults for not having a feminine enough eye for crafts. Let junk journaling heal your inner child and free your outer adult.

I buy a lot of food off of Martie because they have some pretty interesting selections for those of us with food allergies. They don’t always have the same options though so sometimes I cut out the brands or pictures of the snacks I’ve tried because I want to remember whether or not I 1) have bought them and 2) if I enjoyed them or not. You can see the granola bar up there. They are delicious. They’re the Made Good Chocolate Drizzled Birthday Cake. They taste nothing like a bday cake, but they’re yummy.

This week isn’t quite over, but we have tea swap on Saturday and Spirited Away in theaters on Sunday so I put the stickers in there in advance. The tea bags will be used as pockets for love notes to myself, affirmations, or random bits and bobs we collect between now and Sunday.

You could also junk journal for the new moon to honor the end of the cycle. The Libra New Moon is this upcoming Tuesday (10/21) by the way.

Let me know below! Is junk journaling something you’ve heard of? Have you tried it? Are you interested in it? How do you feel about collage? If you’re signed up for group coaching, are you excited to try a week of junk journaling?

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