Thanks for sharing all the ideas. I hope you find a system that works for you. I often buy decorations because they are so cute, but then don’t know how I would use them 😅
I agree you need to find the method that works for you. Sometimes it's a bit of trial and error. Instead of setting hard deadlines just start with the ideas that feel right and go from there. 😊
It’s fun to collect all the fun and beautiful things until they become overwhelming. You’ve inspired me to get serious about cleaning up my space and my stuff. If I really like a sticker, I tend to hoard it versus using it 😩. For this reason, I love digitals! I like the ability to reprint and use them in different journals.
I transfer stickers from their sheets to the sticker release paper refill so that I see them more often (as you seem to do already!) and stuff the folders inside my TNs with memo sheets + PET samples. I also store my washi sample cards in a Hobonichi card holder so they're all in one place and more visible to me. Once I feel like I'm running out of materials to journal with, I go back and do a "refill" of everything! Also, I hear you on the no spend part - I don't think I'm a no spend person, either. I certainly admire the people who manage to do it, but I inevitably find something I absolutely love throughout the year or the right opportunities to get something I've wanted for a long time, and I tend to go for it then. Thank you for this video, I really enjoyed watching!
@@seemownay Every once in a while I go through them and do a clear-out where I stick them on older spreads or a happy mail I'm working on. It's not perfect, though - I do have some old stickers and washi bits that sit inside a sticker book a little too long 😅
I have about 8 Happy Planner sticker books. Some that I have had for 3-4 years and I loved the idea of it when I got them of course and then it ebbs and flows over time. But they do take forever to use and then you feel like you've seen the stickers so much that they are stale and unexciting and then you buy something else cute or new kind of novelty themed thing and add it to your stash. I even bought 1 flat box of various washi from Amazon that i've had for a year and used it off and on and I feel like I might have those forever just like the 2 washi roll tubes I bought from Michaels a few years ago that still aren't done. I'm just amazed how long these things last. in 2022 I used a composition notebook and made a planner for the year and used those two tubes of washi tape throughout the entire year and still didn't finish one roll. My plan is to use atleast one sticker a day in my journal entry and more in my work planner and health journal to move through the collection that I have. I tried to keep things visible on my desk but it just added more clutter.
An interesting set of questions to contemplate, thank you, and I enjoyed watching you sort and cut out items in your stash. I have tried a few different approaches to accumulation in supply-based hobbies. For YARN, I had so much of an overwhelm because I started buying yarn without specific projects in mind, and my tastes in yarn and also in the types of items I wanted to make with it changed a lot over the years. I feel like I see this in the stationery world too. I've done a couple of big purges of my yarn stash and have not missed anything that I've given away or sold, which gives me confidence that I understand myself, my style, and my preferences better now. Because of the yarn accumulation (which felt uncomfortable for me), I knew I didn't want to be in this same position with stationery. I also realized that many people end up buying the exact same sticker sheets or planner cover-up kits, and that makes a lot of people's planners and journals look the same. Creative journaling for me is about INDIVIDUALITY. So this helps as a grounding point when I am tempted to buy items that I see in a video or social media post: "Yes, you like the look of those stickers in that person's journal, but do you want your journal to look the same as someone else's?" The answer to this is always "no". So this helps me release that "wanting-stuff" feeling and get back to the root of the desire which is wanting to make interesting and beautiful pages, to be inspired and express myself creatively. Also I make a distinction between "ephemera" and "decorations". Decorations are items that are purchased purely for their design and beauty, they do not hold any kind of personal connection. I do not buy decorations as a general rule. Ephemera are items that are collected in everyday life based on a personal experience, i.e. business cards, logo stickers, or receipts from somewhere I traveled or from an event; receipts, packaging, etc from something I purchased; items that a friend sent to me (so it's an item that I might use to decorate but also reminds me of the person who sent it); clippings from magazines or catalogs that I received (often junk mail) that I can use to illustrate a personal experience or idea, and so forth. This saves a tremendous amount of money and I still have more material than I need. BUT it doesn't accumulate that much, because ephemera are also time & place sensitive: it's an item from a specific event or time period, and it doesn't make sense to keep it if it doesn't go in my journal to help document that experience or illustrate an idea. Use it or recycle it is the result. I also share extra items with other pen-pals (so like you were saying if a friend sends me 10 stickers, I might pick my 3 favorite and send the rest to others). I also set challenges for myself so that things like stickers and washi tape get used up before the adhesive wears out. I try to use up or give away all of a certain design or in a certain category or season by the end of that month or season. Or I might put together a "use it or lose it 2025" folder of stuff that I have to use next year or give away if I don't use it. Doing this regularly is a fun way to challenge myself to figure out what I really like, what I want to create, and what is just hanging over my head making me feel weird about desk drawers that are stuffed full. Obviously we are all different as you said in the video, so these ideas won't work for everyone. I like seeing how we have many different ways of using items and supplies to express ourselves.
Thank you so much for sharing your process! I definitely need to clarify that I classified all the bits and pieces that could be added to a journal or planner as ephemera, which is not correct.
@@seemownay Thanks for reading my dissertation on stationery 😬. And I don't think you were not-correct. In fact I think most folks would put stickers, receipts, postcards, and other mementos together as "ephemera" - making a distinction between bought and found/gifted items just helps me in my own approach.
I appreciate all of the tips that you summarized in this video. The struggle is real. I also feel so overwhelmed by my stationery / ephemera / ink, etc. collection and am still searching for the right solution that will work for me. I will keep trying! Similar to you, I know a no-buy won't work for me. I go ham once my "no buy" is over. It's like dieting, but for stationery. HAHA! Not a sustainable solution for me.
Thank you for sharing this video. I don't have that much ephemera. I have just purchased my first Traveller's Notebook Sticker Release book 🤗. I'll see how that goes.
Digital Printables - I have photoshop so I'm able to pick and choose which items I want to print. I do use the Printables from the creators I support quite a lot!
I definitely love digital printables (of course bias because I design them) but it’s because I can pick and choose what I print and change the scale. It’s also helpful when you actually need to make a whole bunch of the same trying, like cards, tags, etc. but I can understand it’s a problem if you bulk print and don’t have a use yet… then it just piles up like other supplies.
Hi! Maybe you could do a gradual budget cut. Say for example that you will allocate $120 for your journaling in January, but because you need different every month and flexible, then in February, do $110, March $100, and so on.. and the money that you did reduced put it in a jar. The money you didn't spent from your allocate budget put it in the same jar. And at the end of the year you'll have extra budget for a pen show 😊
Thanks for sharing all the ideas. I hope you find a system that works for you. I often buy decorations because they are so cute, but then don’t know how I would use them 😅
I agree you need to find the method that works for you. Sometimes it's a bit of trial and error. Instead of setting hard deadlines just start with the ideas that feel right and go from there. 😊
It’s fun to collect all the fun and beautiful things until they become overwhelming. You’ve inspired me to get serious about cleaning up my space and my stuff.
If I really like a sticker, I tend to hoard it versus using it 😩. For this reason, I love digitals! I like the ability to reprint and use them in different journals.
That is a great argument to know that you can print something again and thus be able to use it.
I transfer stickers from their sheets to the sticker release paper refill so that I see them more often (as you seem to do already!) and stuff the folders inside my TNs with memo sheets + PET samples. I also store my washi sample cards in a Hobonichi card holder so they're all in one place and more visible to me. Once I feel like I'm running out of materials to journal with, I go back and do a "refill" of everything!
Also, I hear you on the no spend part - I don't think I'm a no spend person, either. I certainly admire the people who manage to do it, but I inevitably find something I absolutely love throughout the year or the right opportunities to get something I've wanted for a long time, and I tend to go for it then. Thank you for this video, I really enjoyed watching!
That's what I used to do too. What do you do with stickers that you just don't use? Those that are already in your sticker book?
@@seemownay Every once in a while I go through them and do a clear-out where I stick them on older spreads or a happy mail I'm working on. It's not perfect, though - I do have some old stickers and washi bits that sit inside a sticker book a little too long 😅
I have about 8 Happy Planner sticker books. Some that I have had for 3-4 years and I loved the idea of it when I got them of course and then it ebbs and flows over time. But they do take forever to use and then you feel like you've seen the stickers so much that they are stale and unexciting and then you buy something else cute or new kind of novelty themed thing and add it to your stash. I even bought 1 flat box of various washi from Amazon that i've had for a year and used it off and on and I feel like I might have those forever just like the 2 washi roll tubes I bought from Michaels a few years ago that still aren't done. I'm just amazed how long these things last. in 2022 I used a composition notebook and made a planner for the year and used those two tubes of washi tape throughout the entire year and still didn't finish one roll. My plan is to use atleast one sticker a day in my journal entry and more in my work planner and health journal to move through the collection that I have. I tried to keep things visible on my desk but it just added more clutter.
An interesting set of questions to contemplate, thank you, and I enjoyed watching you sort and cut out items in your stash. I have tried a few different approaches to accumulation in supply-based hobbies.
For YARN, I had so much of an overwhelm because I started buying yarn without specific projects in mind, and my tastes in yarn and also in the types of items I wanted to make with it changed a lot over the years. I feel like I see this in the stationery world too. I've done a couple of big purges of my yarn stash and have not missed anything that I've given away or sold, which gives me confidence that I understand myself, my style, and my preferences better now.
Because of the yarn accumulation (which felt uncomfortable for me), I knew I didn't want to be in this same position with stationery. I also realized that many people end up buying the exact same sticker sheets or planner cover-up kits, and that makes a lot of people's planners and journals look the same. Creative journaling for me is about INDIVIDUALITY. So this helps as a grounding point when I am tempted to buy items that I see in a video or social media post: "Yes, you like the look of those stickers in that person's journal, but do you want your journal to look the same as someone else's?" The answer to this is always "no". So this helps me release that "wanting-stuff" feeling and get back to the root of the desire which is wanting to make interesting and beautiful pages, to be inspired and express myself creatively.
Also I make a distinction between "ephemera" and "decorations". Decorations are items that are purchased purely for their design and beauty, they do not hold any kind of personal connection. I do not buy decorations as a general rule. Ephemera are items that are collected in everyday life based on a personal experience, i.e. business cards, logo stickers, or receipts from somewhere I traveled or from an event; receipts, packaging, etc from something I purchased; items that a friend sent to me (so it's an item that I might use to decorate but also reminds me of the person who sent it); clippings from magazines or catalogs that I received (often junk mail) that I can use to illustrate a personal experience or idea, and so forth. This saves a tremendous amount of money and I still have more material than I need. BUT it doesn't accumulate that much, because ephemera are also time & place sensitive: it's an item from a specific event or time period, and it doesn't make sense to keep it if it doesn't go in my journal to help document that experience or illustrate an idea. Use it or recycle it is the result. I also share extra items with other pen-pals (so like you were saying if a friend sends me 10 stickers, I might pick my 3 favorite and send the rest to others).
I also set challenges for myself so that things like stickers and washi tape get used up before the adhesive wears out. I try to use up or give away all of a certain design or in a certain category or season by the end of that month or season. Or I might put together a "use it or lose it 2025" folder of stuff that I have to use next year or give away if I don't use it. Doing this regularly is a fun way to challenge myself to figure out what I really like, what I want to create, and what is just hanging over my head making me feel weird about desk drawers that are stuffed full.
Obviously we are all different as you said in the video, so these ideas won't work for everyone. I like seeing how we have many different ways of using items and supplies to express ourselves.
Thank you so much for sharing your process! I definitely need to clarify that I classified all the bits and pieces that could be added to a journal or planner as ephemera, which is not correct.
Also - I've been doing the use it or lose it approach a lot too. It's a great challenge.
@@seemownay Thanks for reading my dissertation on stationery 😬. And I don't think you were not-correct. In fact I think most folks would put stickers, receipts, postcards, and other mementos together as "ephemera" - making a distinction between bought and found/gifted items just helps me in my own approach.
I appreciate all of the tips that you summarized in this video. The struggle is real. I also feel so overwhelmed by my stationery / ephemera / ink, etc. collection and am still searching for the right solution that will work for me. I will keep trying! Similar to you, I know a no-buy won't work for me. I go ham once my "no buy" is over. It's like dieting, but for stationery. HAHA! Not a sustainable solution for me.
You are not alone! I have definitely been there.
Thank you for sharing this video. I don't have that much ephemera. I have just purchased my first Traveller's Notebook Sticker Release book 🤗. I'll see how that goes.
That sounds really fun!
Digital Printables - I have photoshop so I'm able to pick and choose which items I want to print. I do use the Printables from the creators I support quite a lot!
Great point, I often just print the whole sheet and then send the ones I don't use to friends.
I definitely love digital printables (of course bias because I design them) but it’s because I can pick and choose what I print and change the scale. It’s also helpful when you actually need to make a whole bunch of the same trying, like cards, tags, etc. but I can understand it’s a problem if you bulk print and don’t have a use yet… then it just piles up like other supplies.
Hi! Maybe you could do a gradual budget cut. Say for example that you will allocate $120 for your journaling in January, but because you need different every month and flexible, then in February, do $110, March $100, and so on.. and the money that you did reduced put it in a jar. The money you didn't spent from your allocate budget put it in the same jar. And at the end of the year you'll have extra budget for a pen show 😊
That's a great idea! Thank you so much for suggesting this.
I just gave away many stickers, etc that I had collected for a decade. You can also donate to a local thrift shop.
Yes, that's another option. Thank you so much for sharing!