Why you hoard unused notebooks

If I had a dime for every beautiful blank notebook I’ve found in my clients’ homes and offices……just WOW. Some blank notebook hoarders genuinely struggle with compulsive shopping in many life areas, and others just compulsively collect in this one area. There sure is something irresistible about a clean new notebook:

Beautiful notebook on sale at the bookstore that I have no plan for? Check.

My favorite notebook on clearance so I’ll buy 6 of then? Check.

Notebook given to me as a gift, but it’s not really “me” but I should be able to use it for something one day? Check.

You don’t need me to tell you how these add up to a shelf-full of blank pages. Meanwhile, you’re using scraps of paper or a $3 office supply store notebook.

Author and artist Austin Kleon nails it in his post The problem with fancy notebooks. He features podcast host Merlin Mann who says:

"You start out thinking, “You know the nice thing about paper is I can do whatever with it,” but the irony becomes, “Yeah, but I don’t want to screw up this pretty notebook that I kind of don’t deserve.”

We do deserve the pretty notebooks piling up in our drawers and on our shelves, so let’s start using them (and slow down on buying them!). What intentions have you had for your notebooks? When do you commit to start filling them? Even if you have some really beautiful ones, are you willing to part with any? Please share in the comments.