15 [fun]ctional journal prompts: January

Although I’m very much into journaling lately, I definitely don’t consider myself a journaling expert. But with that said- I do love peeking into other people’s journals for inspiration and new ideas! So each month I hope to share some [fun]ctional pages out of my journals to hopefully provide that for others as well.

What are [fun]ctional journal prompts? Just a silly little name for how I think about my journaling practice: equal parts fun and/or useful! I don’t often resonate with the really reflective journal prompts that are commonly seen. I prefer to use my journal for playing around OR to serve a specific purpose. You’ll see examples of both on this post!

You will see two notebooks used in the pictures below. The one with square pages is from Archer and Olive, it has very thick paper. The other notebook is my more “casual” journal, it uses Tomoe River Paper which is much thinner. I purchased it from Sterling Ink but it is currently [almost] sold out. This one from Amazon is similar. You can see a mini notebook tour here and see my favorite supplies here.

TBR Tracker: These ”bookshelf” style trackers are super popular but I’m using mine to serve a specific purpose this year– see how many books I can read off of my own shelves! One of my 24 in 2024 goals was to read 24 books that I already owned; this is helping me keep track! A side benefit is that taking inventory like this really helps you see all you have and cultivate an attitude of contentment (which in turn helps reduce the urge to shop!)

TBL Tracker: On a similar vein, one of my “fun” goals for this year is to listen to 24 new music artists. I crowd sourced a list on IG and came up with a long list (there are two full pages!). I’m excited to listen to tons of new-to-me music this year!

Visual wishlist: In an effort to be more intentional this year, instead of buying everything on my wishlist, I’m journaling about it instead 😉

Purchase tracker: Similarly, I’m keeping track of the things that I DO buy. I’m such a visual person that seeing them all laid out like this is really effective for me. I also think it will be fun to look back on someday- a small snapshot of what our lives were like at that moment in time, through the lens of “stuff”.

Clothes out/in lists: This is the second year I have kept a list of clothes that I’ve decluttered. I try and name exactly what I don’t like about an item, in hopes of doing more intentional shopping in the future.

Bingo cards: I’m having a moment with bingo cards. I created three in my journal this month as a fun way to stay motivated. I also made some printable versions that you can find here.

Paper quilt monthly page: I’m also having a moment with quilts (is this middle age sounding or what?) but I think that are so beautiful- and rather than starting a new hobby (that I don’t have time or $ for!) for now- I’m going to make paper ones. A new one for each month!

“currents” page: This one is directly inspired by @natashainyourphone’s post. I love the idea of having a snapshot of what is happening in my life and the world & then comparing it to a version in the future!

Book reviews: This is nothing original, people have whole journals dedicated to reading! But I’ve been loving having a page dedicated to each [good] book & adding doodles to mine this year, inspired by @ammieyall!

Checking in with my word of the year: My word(s) of the year are “show up”- so every few weeks I’m checking in with myself to see how/if I’m showing up in the world the way I want to be! You could do something similar no matter what your word is 😊

Flower garden: I CANNOT find the original inspiration for this post and I’m so sorry. If you know- please tell me and I will add it. But I saw a video on TikTok where a woman shared that if she has a particularly emotional journal entry that she doesn’t necessarily want to reread (or have others read) she covers them up using this method. After writing, go back and circle any positive words. Then use those positive words as the center of flowers and draw a garden! I thought this was such a fun way to turn an otherwise negative entry into a beautiful one! @ammieyall also uses this method of covering up private writing and these flowers are heavily influenced by her as well!

Favorite _____ list: This is obviously a favorite journal supplies list. But you could make a similar list of any of your favorites, in any category. Just a fun thing to look back on to see what has remained favorites and what has changed!

“These are the days” page: Parenting can be really hard. However, I try to remain conscious of the idea that someday my kids will likely read through my journals. This kind of list- of good/cute things that my kids do at their current ages is something that both made me happy to write and I hope will make them smile when they come across it.

Notes from books I read: I know this is not a mind-blowing concept 😉 but including notes from nonfiction books that I’ve read has been really helpful for me! 1. It helps me actually retain the information better! and 2. I will always know where the notes are if I need to reference them again.

Commonplacing: A commonplace journal is one that contains information, quotes, ideas, observations etc- aka a mismash of stuff! My entire journal is pretty much one but I like to have specific pages where I include this type of stuff. This one has some stickers from ______, some magazine cutouts and quotes and an image that I was inspired by. It just gives you one place to collect inspiration 😊

That’s all for this month! I just counted and between the two journals I filled up 68 pages this month!! I’m sure a lot of it is *new year’s energy* but I’m excited to continue this year! I share this number not to say- wow look at me! But as a reminder that it took 68 pages to have these 15 that I felt were worthy enough to share 😉 There were a lot of repeat pages (like lots of book reviews, etc) and a lot of just “regular” memory keeping among these pages

Anyway- I’m hoping to share a post like this every month or so- I hope it was helpful! 🙂 & If you’d like to save this post to refer to later you can tap or hover over any of the images to save to Pinterest! Thanks so much for being here ❤️