Back in June, I finished my Scribbles that Matter Journal. The entire first half of 2020 fit into the journal which was great! Overall I very much enjoyed my journal the first half of the year. I felt like I grew so much! I always consider myself very minimalist, but this year I wanted to go outside my comfort zone and get more creative. I have used this journal as a creative outlet for me and it’s been very therapeutic.
I wanted to take this time to reflect on some of my favorite spreads in this journal and to reflect on the journal itself. I always see a lot of questions about which journal to use and there are a lot of mixed reviews, so I thought I’d give you a review on my experience with a Scribbles that Matter journal.
This blog post contains affiliate links to products. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. All of the products I share have either been items I have purchased myself and love, or items that come highly recommended and I would purchase in the future.
The Good
Disney World Countdown
This is one of my favorite spreads of ALL TIME! Despite COVID-19, we still have a trip planned to Disney World in September, and I spent the first half of 2020 filling in this castle counting down the months until our trip. It was super effective and I love the look of it all filled in.
Annual Cover Page and Word of the Year Spread
Next on my favorites list is my 2020 cover page and my word of the year spread. I don’t know about you but I started out 2020 super optimistic. I was super excited to revisit the 1920’s with the art deco theme. I was super excited to continue to work on myself and grow more in the habits and changes I made in 2019. Little did we know what 2020 would have in store. I am so proud of these two spreads and looking back on them gives me hope that the second half of 2020 could potentially be better than the first half.
My New Weekly Adventure
I felt like I didn’t really hit my stride with my monthly and weekly spreads until June. I love this weekly spread. It’s functional but also visually appealing. It’s more artistic than I tend to be which I thoroughly enjoyed. By default, I consider myself a minimalist. While I like the simplicity and functionality of a minimalist approach, I like getting outside of my comfort zone. The more artistic I get, the more therapeutic I find journaling. You can check out how I set this spread up HERE.
The Bad
Key Page and Index
First up with the bad spreads is the key and index that come with the journal. I appreciate these two pages, but honestly, I never once used the key, and it was a struggle to keep my index updated. I just don’t find value in these two pages and won’t be adding them into my future journals.
Old Weekly Spread
While I love how simple this weekly spread is, it just wasn’t functional and it was tedious to create. The nice thing about a bullet journal is that you can try out different spreads and if you don’t like them you don’t have to keep using them. I did take some aspects of this spread that I liked and still work them into my weekly bullet journal spreads today.
Blog Planning Page
Finally, the blog planning spread. When I first say this idea, I was super excited. I thought it would be great to plan and track my blog ideas and social media posts in my journal. After 3 months of trying this, I’ve given up. I am so inconsistent with using this that at the end of the month I find myself in a mad rush to fill everything out instead of just doing it as I go. One month I didn’t even fill it out at all. While it is a great idea, it just doesn’t work for me. I have since migrated to using a google spread sheet and it works wonderfully.
Supplies used the first half of 2020
Scribbles That Matter A5 Planner – https://amzn.to/2ZWY95B
Staedtler Pigment Liner – https://amzn.to/2ZZNp6M
Zebra Mildliners- https://amzn.to/2YU0n5x
Scribble Stuff Pens- https://amzn.to/2yzu6Wk
Ohuhu Art Markers – https://amzn.to/2MnkjpP
Stencils – https://oopsadaisyuk.com/product-cate…
Coloring Pages – https://oopsadaisyuk.com/product-cate…
Kingart Gel Pens – https://amzn.to/3fqHR9W
Scribbles that Matter Review
Pros
There are many things I really loved about this journal. I loved the color and style. I’m used to a very plain, black journal and this one was really exciting and colorful.
Price point. I feel like $25 is the perfect price for a bullet journal, especially if you’re just starting out or don’t like to spend a lot of money. (Buy one HERE!)
Next, I really loved that the pages were already numbered AND they had marks on the pages indicating the center of the page and the center of the rows and columns. This was so helpful because I didn’t have to count everything out anymore.
Finally, I loved the weight of the paper. It was thick enough to prevent bleeding but the paper was still soft and flexible. I loved how it felt and looked. I used a lot of black pen and marker and none of it bled through!
Cons
This is kinda a huge one, but sometimes the rows of dots didn’t line up! It wasn’t on every page, but there were several pages where they didn’t line up! It was very annoying.
This is a personal preference, but I wish the journal was longer. I used a Minimalism Art journal previously and was able to fit my entire year in there. I wish this journal had more pages in it so I could fit the entire year in it, but I at least got half of the year in it.
Overall
Overall, I would definitely recommend a Scribbles that Matter bullet journal. I feel like the price is perfect for the quality you receive. The best part of the journal is the markers on the pages that indicate the center of the page, column, and row. I honestly miss that in my new journal. The paper quality and thickness is good with minimal bleeding and for the majority of the pages, the dots lined up. I would definitely buy another Scribbles that Matter, especially if it was double the amount of pages.
