My Favorite Christmas Gift

I was blessed with many beautiful and amazing Christmas gifts this year, many of which will make their way onto the blog in the form of a review, tutorial, or outfit. But one has definitely been chosen as my favorite for many reasons: the Journal 10+.

I originally wanted this five year journal, but after reading Janet’s post on This Bug’s Life about the amazing diary where you can record over ten years of memories, I was hooked. I asked for it from my husband since I found it sentimental and fitting that I record the next ten/eleven years of our life with a gift from him.

I just started it January 1, and am loving it so far. It is a pretty large book, at 10.25″ x 7.5″ x 1″. Here it is in comparison to my 15″ Macbook and personal sized Filofax organizer:

It’s size certainly makes it less portable than some of the other multi-year journals out there, but considering it will record the next 11 years of our life, I can hardly complain. Plus, it’s larger size and weight (mine weighs 2lb and 1/2 oz or 922 grams) allows it to lie flat, at least in the middle of the year. I imagine that after more use, it will be even more malleable. The genuine leather cover seems pretty sturdy and is very soft to the touch.

After an interior cover page, the first pages are page to note your name and address, along with a contents page. Because the journal covers over ten years, it even has a spot to write a new address or phone number if you should happen to move.

The next three pages contain information on how to best use the book, including ideas for how to use the lines, monthly overviews, etc.

From there, the book has a “long-term planner” page, followed by a “looking ahead” page for each year, giving plenty of space to plan each year if that’s how you choose to use the book. I personally will probably use these as a year-in-review type section so I can have a one-page overview of the highlights of each year.

Up next is a 12 year calendar, with monthly calendars for 2014 to 2025. These are really only useful as reference, but I’m sure there are many times they will be used to look up a date!

Then there is an 11 year spread of monthly calendars with each year from 2014 to 2024 getting a column for each month. The boxes are pretty small at 7mm x 25mm, but I think these pages will be a good place to record multi-day trips, etc.

The daily pages are next. Each page is for a specific date, with the years running down the edge of the page. Each line is about 5 mm and each day gets four lines of writing space. The whole concept is for the user to be prompted to write, but not feel overwhelmed. I’m not sure what type of paper this is, but it is pretty thick and wonderful to write on with Pigma Micron 01 pens, which are pretty much all I use for archival purposes.

The pages also have a few additional features, including two boxes at the top where the company suggests noting special re-occurring events on that date. Each day also has two circles and a slash, where you could record anything from the weather to blood pressure readings.

My favorite feature of this book is the carry over pages – there are just over 40 lines pages in the back that can be used on any day you have more to write than the typical four lines allow. If you look in the photo above, there is a small hand with a ‘p’ next to it for you to notate where the entry continues if you use the carry over pages. Since every page in the book is numbered, it makes finding info super easy.

After the carry over pages, the book has space for addresses, a “keeping track” section for medical and auto information, and a special dates section for each month of the year.

There are also two ribbon page markers (mine are black and dark blue in the black covered book) that can be used in whichever section you choose.

My final favorite feature is how the months are easily visible by slightly bending the outside edge of the book – this makes it really easy to quickly flip to any date.

I’m so excited to use this book – as I mentioned earlier I started right away on January 1 so I’ll have a full 11 years recorded once I’m done. But since the company designed the book to start at any time during the starting year, as long as you start in 2014 you can still record a full 10 year span.

The company’s website is here, though Brian ordered it on Amazon to make sure it arrived in time for Christmas. And just to be clear, I haven’t been paid, perked, or prompted to write this post – Journal 10 doesn’t even know I exist! I’m just incredibly happy with their product and thankful that I saw it on Janet’s blog!

Have you ever used a multi-year journal? I’m excited to start, and am open to any additional questions y’all have about this book!