How many journals is too many? When there are so many different types of journal to keep, it can be hard to know what to choose. That is why so many of us still end up with a stack of notebooks on the desk and another one under the bed.
The good news: you do not need twenty separate notebooks to stay organised. You need the right notebook for the job — and a clear reason for each one you keep.
The journals and planners we make at Yop & Tom
When this article was first published, we mostly sold dotted and lined notebooks. Today we design guided journals and planners for specific rituals — cooking, reading, travel, weddings, and more — so you can pick a format that already matches how you want to use it.
Here are the eleven collections in our range, grouped the same way you will find them in our shop navigation.
Journals
- Recipe journals — capture family favourites, tweak ingredients, and build a cookbook that is actually yours.
- Reading journals — log what you read, rate books, and keep quotes in one place (see our book tracker ideas if you prefer a bullet journal spread).
- Wellness journals — check in with mood, habits, sleep, and the small daily choices that support your wellbeing.
- Travel journals — document trips with prompts for places, meals, and moments you do not want to forget.
- Cocktail journals — record recipes, ratings, and the drinks you want to make again.
- Museum journals — a compact B6 format for gallery visits, exhibitions, and the art that stays with you.
Planners
- Wedding planners — timelines, budgets, and supplier notes from “yes” to “I do”.
- Garden planners — sowing dates, bed layouts, and seasonal jobs in one dedicated book.
- Daily planners — structured day-to-day planning when you want dates, priorities, and schedules laid out for you.
- Goal-setting guide — a three-month process for turning ambitions into clear milestones (pair with a daily planner or planning pad).
- Planner notepads — tear-off planning pads when you want flexibility without committing to a full bound planner.
Not sure where to start? Pick the one ritual you care about most this season — reading, cooking, a trip, a wedding — and let the structure do the heavy lifting.
Lined notebooks, dotted notebooks, and notepads
Guided journals and planners are not the whole story. For open-ended notes, bullet journaling, meeting scribbles, or shopping lists, our notebooks and notepads are still the most flexible option.
- Lined notebooks — hardback journals for everyday writing, study notes, and anything that needs ruled pages.
- Luxe Pattern notebooks — beautiful lined books for bullet journaling and open-ended notes. New to the method? Read our guide to bullet journaling.
- A6 wirebound notepads — desk-friendly pads for quick lists, brain dumps, and plans you want to tear out and take with you.
Many people use a guided journal for one area of life (reading, wellness, travel) and a dot grid or lined notebook as their catch-all. That is a sensible setup — two books, two jobs, no confusion.
How many journals is too many?
There is no magic number. A better question is: does each notebook have a clear purpose?
- One daily driver — dot grid or lined — for bullet journaling, notes, and life admin.
- One guided journal or planner for the project or habit that matters right now.
- Optional extras only when a chapter of life genuinely needs its own book — a wedding, a garden year, a big trip.
If a notebook does not have a job, it becomes clutter. If it has a job you love, you will actually fill it.
What about bullet journaling for everything?
You can still keep almost everything in one bullet journal. Collections, habit trackers, reading logs, and mood spreads can live in a single dot grid notebook — and many people prefer that simplicity.
Guided journals make sense when you want structure without setup: prompts, layouts, and sections already designed for one ritual. Bullet journaling makes sense when you want total flexibility or one book for work and home together.
Combining work and personal life in one journal
Combining work and personal planning in one bullet journal can give you a clearer picture of your energy. You only have one calendar and one to-do list — so one notebook can stop you overcommitting.
As one bullet journal fan put it on Reddit:
“Keeping separate bujos for work and home can trick you into thinking you have separate energy banks… Now I keep one bujo, but each daily page is split in half — work stuff and non-work stuff.”
That approach works well in a dot grid notebook: one page, two columns, one honest view of the day.
When a separate work journal makes sense
Sometimes separation is smarter — especially if colleagues see your notes, or you want a hard boundary between office hours and downtime.
A dedicated work notebook (lined or open-ended) can stay on your desk while a personal journal or wellness journal lives at home. Guided planners such as our daily planners can sit alongside either, depending on what you are planning.
How to choose your setup
Before you buy another notebook, ask:
- Am I tracking a specific ritual (reading, recipes, travel, wellness)? → Choose a matching guided journal.
- Am I planning a project or season (wedding, garden, goals)? → Choose the planner built for it.
- Do I want freedom to design my own layouts? → Choose a dotted or lined notebook.
- Do I need something quick and disposable? → Choose a wirebound notepad.
So how many journals is too many? It depends on you — but with a focused Yop & Tom journal or planner for what matters most, plus one flexible notebook for everything else, you are far more likely to use what you buy.
Want inspiration for what to put inside a dot grid? Explore moon journaling, morning pages, or the benefits of journaling — then pick the book that fits.