mymodernmet.com: There are some things, like that receipt for your bagel, many of us classify as “junk.” A scrap of paper or a clothing tag serves a purpose but ultimately finds itself in the garbage or the recycling bin. But there's another place for them: your junk journal. A junk journal is exactly what it sounds like: a book filled with “junk,” or small paper items that you’d otherwise discard. Think ticket stubs, food labels, random stickers—anything can be fodder for a junk journal.
12 comments:
I love this! I’m often a hoarder of mementos. Mostly I save paper goods: playbills, tickets, transit passes, printed photos, etc. As seemingly infinitesimal as a scrap of paper is, I still can’t manage to throw it away. Each holds a memory of a night out with my dad, family vacations, or silly goofy times with friends. This is a lovely idea of a way to maintain the meaning of so-called junk, while preserving it in a more compact form. As someone who’s often struggled with getting my thoughts out on paper in a daily journal, maybe this can be a less constraining replacement. This has been the semester of shapes and colors and collaging. May haps this is all a sign that I need to start my very own junk journal. Summer projects here I come!
I think this is a super creative idea for things that we often throw away. I often find myself reluctant and somewhat sad at all the little tags, bits of paper, and other things that I am constantly throwing away. I think this is a super creative way for me to reuse these items so they don’t keep filling up trash cans and landfills. I have tried journaling other ways and they often don’t really grab me and want me to continue doing it. However, I think this kind of junk journal would kill two birds with one stone - being a creative outlet and eliminating the feeling of wasting things all the time. I would love to have more creative outlets out there for myself because I feel sometimes that I am not exercising my creative muscles as much as I could be. Additionally, I like collaging things together and it a great way of expressing yourself through weird object and mediums that otherwise would not be used for art.
I love the idea of a junk journal but have never successfully completed one. I personally have little to no connection to physical objects but enjoy the idea of keeping memories. I then find myself taking things in the moment to create a journal but forget about it and end up throwing it out before I find the time to do anything with it. The article also mentioned that the junk journal can be used as a creative activity but being in the world of theater so much of my time is spent in a creative and artsy space leaving me less motivated to prioritize a creative hobby. I have also never been a fan of writing in journals. I would rather fill a book with drawings and limited amounts of words because writing while tired is my worst nightmare. Lastly I found it interesting that the article specified that you are supposed to date the journal. The book is supposed to be a form of creative self expression and memory so its contents shouldn't be limited.
I really admire people who junk journal. I find the premise so beautiful, and in general it feels like something that would be really good for me. However, I think i’d need a big push to actually start. I am not someone who collects junk in any way shape or form. My housemates get onto to me for throwing out everything I can. My first knick knack (and still my only knick knack) is a globe. I feel that if I start junk journaling I am going to start keeping everything and get overwhelmed when using it. I have this same problem with stickers. I get scared that I’ll stick it someplace then later have the perfect place for it then I’ll already used it. So then I get paralysis and I cant use any of them. So in general I think junk journaling could help me get over all of these issues, however, its still a big thing for me and my brain.
I think this is beautiful. I love having mementos and little reminders of memories or special days. I have never thought to keep a junk journal of sorts, but it is something I would love to have. I think it would be a really wonderful thing to look back on and be able to hold something physical, more than just a photograph to remember specific things. It is however, very unlikely that I'll ever start doing it. However, I'm more likely to do something similar on my walls. And I think that's even better because then it's something you can see every single day, and there are so many stories hanging on your walls. If you have a friend over, they can ask about those things and you can share a special memory with them. But then again, if you had a junk journal, there's something you can hold in your hands and flip through different eras in your life.
I have always been so obsessed with junk journals, I think they’re such a cool way of scrapbooking essentially with less pressure to make it look stereotypically pretty. I love the way junk journals are naturally supposed to be a little unhinged, both in the application of materials and how the materials are acquired. Honestly if we’re talking about making memories for a trip or something of that sort, I would remember a junk journal a lot more than I would remember a little keychain I bought, and the junk journal is most likely cheaper than a trinket bought at a store. I’d appreciate it more if for nothing but the time I would spend making it would be more significant to me than anything I could purchase. Then the finding of the materials too, its so much fun to look around purposefully at what could be used as art in what most people would consider trash or you know “junk”.
I LOVE junk journals. I have a little notebook that I have with me at all times. I put museum stickers/badges in it, those free stickers you sometimes get from shops, magazine cut outs, etc. I don't think junk journaling is enough to “reduce waste”, but it’s a fun way to be more conscious about your trash output. I think the key is to not care what it looks like. It’s really easy to get caught up in trying to make your journal look like those pinterest journals, but that defeats the purpose. In order to counteract that, I give myself the goal to be as maximalist as possible. Fill up every page as much as I can. If there's no room for stickers or paper, I draw designs. I particularly like stickers because I don't need to take the time to glue them down. I just find a page and stick them on, and then later on the train I can doodle around them.
I have always wanted to create a junk journal! The way this article approaches it as a way to recycle materials is a cool perspective I hadn't thought of- most of the junk journaling I'm exposed to online is very highly curated and is closer to messy scrap booking than say recycling. Scraps like receipts and clothing tags are often seen as trash, but they hold important relevance in our lives- serving as a marker of a fun lunch or an item of clothing purchased for a special occasion. I really want to start a junk journal- I journal normally to record my day to look back on in the future, but it lacks a visual element. I think incorporating my creativity and working not just my memory but also my artistic skills would be a really good use of my time. Basic design has made me realize I really enjoy collaging, so i think this would be really fun. And I already have an empty notebook!
I have always liked looking at other people’s scrapbooks and junk journals but I have yet to make one. This article separates the two and gives me motivation to keep a junk journal of my own. I have several junk drawers full of mementos or other cool scraps, but I have yet to make a journal of them. I have been afraid of the commitment of placing and gluing them on a page, as well as that I don’t have a theme and no way to ensure the page will look good or artistically interesting. Knowing the difference between scrapbooking and junk journaling is really nice as now I realize junk journaling doesn’t need to have a theme per page just the act of the scrap pieces being things picked up from everyday living and not a store curated towards scrapbooking makes the theme for the whole journal tying everything together.
I've been making junk journals for around the past 4 years and they are such an important way to help mentally decompress. Sometimes there will be a month or two that i don't actively make new pages and spreads, but i still keep fun wrappers, small drawings, leaves and sparkles of sorts in my journal by just throwing them in. I'm a hoarder at heart and I feel that keeping little things rather than big ones is a more efficient use of my space. When the time comes I like to juxtapose my junk. I've always been a journaler and diary keeper and doodler, so my junk journals end up being a mix of pages of junk with journal entries, drawings, and collages. They've been such a cool way to keep track of time and each journal and page ends up being its own time capsule. When I packed my things for cmu i looked through the pages of my past 3 junk journals and laughed, cringed and cried. I love keeping tangible memories!!!!!
I never thought my banana sticker or that random concert wristband would end up meaning something—but then I discovered junk journaling. Honestly, it’s kind of genius. It turns the little scraps of my everyday life into this chaotic, colorful, deeply personal art piece. It’s not just about saving paper or being sustainable (though that’s a big plus); it’s about seeing value in the stuff we usually toss. Like, suddenly, that coffee receipt from a late-night study session holds a whole memory. That’s powerful. I also see a clear parallel with collage in visual art. Artists like Hannah Höch or even modern zine creators have been doing versions of this for years, recontextualizing media, texts, and trash into something new and meaningful. There’s something really punk about it—taking what society says is worthless and saying, “Actually, this tells my story.”
I used to watch videos of people going through their completed junk journals. And I gotta be real honest I do not get it. I understand the benefit of normal journals and I think they are incredibly helpful. Or maybe a bullet journal…But like the idea of just collecting things and slapping them in a journal. I guess I could see the idea of it being cool to have a collection of your “everyday” life? I also think from a theatrical perspective it could be helpful in terms or design and/or observing your everyday life. I also sit here and think about who the heck has time for this? Like maybe someone who has a lot of freetime and needs some creative tasks? I could picture my grandma doing it or something like that. And they are wicked cool to look at when they are finished. But you probably will not ever see me making one.
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