In the past I would have described myself as a serial hobbyist: I’ve picked up and dropped more hobbies than I can count, from roller skating to quilting, to painting and playing guitar. 

Now I’m in my early thirties, I thankfully feel like my hobbies have solidified, and I’m now left with a core few that I do consistently. I also have a love of stationery, and like any excuse to use it, so I’ve often found that I’ve ended up using stationery as part of my other hobbies. What’s better than combining two things that you love?

So I thought I’d have a closer look in this post at the ways that my various hobbies overlap with my love of stationery, starting out with the most obvious one:

Blogging

This blog is a stationery blog, so there isn’t really a way to separate this from my love of stationery! This wasn’t always the case though. I’ve actually been blogging for almost 12 years, across three blogs: the first was a book blog, the second was a writing blog, and then this stationery blog is my third. 

But stationery doesn’t just play a part in my blogging life as the subject of my posts, as I also use stationery when drafting my posts. For example, this post was originally drafted in a Rhodia notebook with my Kaweco Art Sport in Hickory Brown, inked with Diamine Oxblood. 

Journaling

I hesitated to add this one, as journaling feels like a hobby that is the act of using stationery, so does it really count as separate? But then I realised there probably are people who journal using any old notebook and biro they find, and the stationery they use doesn’t really come into it.

I, however, only got into journaling in late 2023, the same time I got into fountain pens, so these two hobbies are very enmeshed for me. But I am very consistent with it, so I would say that it’s one of my main hobbies these days. 

Writing

Aside from blogging and journalling, writing is probably where I get the most use out of my stationery. Although I’m typing the novel manuscript I’m currently working on, I draft all of my short stories by hand, and I also plot out my stories and note down ideas with my notebooks and pens. 

Reading

Reading has been a lifelong hobby for me, but it’s only recently that I’ve started combining it with the use of stationery. Whilst I always used to track my reading on apps like Goodreads, I now write a brief review of every book I read in my media commonplace book, and I note down any quotes I want to keep in my regular commonplace book.

Gaming

I don’t use stationery a huge amount in my gaming life, but I do have a Field Notes notebook that I use to jot down anything I need to remember, or information that I need easy access to. For example, I have pages where I listed all the Pokémon I still needed to complete my Pokédex in various Pokémon games, and tick lists for all the items I need for the Community Centre in Stardew Valley, or remaining bugs or fish I need to donate to the Museum in Animal Crossing.

I also review all the games I play in my media commonplace book, just as I do with books I read.

So do you tend to use stationery as part of your other hobbies?