Key Takeaways
- Junk journaling is the sustainable trending hobby that everyone should get behind.
- The hobby involves creating journal collages with receipts, wrappers, stickers and more.
- It’s also a great way to save sentimental scraps from traveling.
Today is Earth Day, which means that climate-friendly activities and sustainable actions may be top of mind for you. And I can relate: in typical Gen Z fashion, I’m always thinking of ways to to lessen my carbon footprint through charitable donations, routine swaps and, most recently, through my creative hobbies.
I always hated throwing away old receipts, food packaging, tickets, stickers, junk mail, flyers—I hate throwing away anything, really. Lots of these things are sentimental in nature, and even seemingly minute things like a receipt from my favorite coffee shop might be something I want to remember.
That’s why I picked up the hobby of junk journaling, a scrapbook-like pastime where the pages are made through found and recycled materials. One’s trash is another’s treasure, and this new hobby proves that to be true.
All you need is a journal—I used a random blank journal I already had on hand, because when you’re a writer, you tend to get one as a gift every holiday season—plus a pair of scissors, a glue stick and any glueable scraps you want to display in your journal to reminisce on later.
As for what scraps to include, I go by the rule of “If I can glue it down, I can use it.” You start to notice how many things you would have thrown away if it wasn’t for the journal, from museum maps to old birthday cards. Giving these materials a new home has been rewarding, and as someone that loves to travel, I now have an excuse to keep a nifty patterned napkin or an airport luggage tag.
A lot of the junk journal spreads you will find on TikTok uses scrapbooking materials like Washi tape, themed stickers and construction paper to spruce up the pages. Definitely go for it if that’s your thing, but I like my spreads to be made up with 100% of materials that I already have. Also, it keeps the hobby accessible for all and entirely free—until I run out of glue!
So grab that journal and glue stick, put on The Lorax and start collecting paper scraps around the house to start. The collaging comes naturally, and it’s not about being perfect from the get-go (or at all!), as you get better at making pages more aesthetically pleasing with time. But trust me, as someone that is the least artistic person in my family, this is the easiest, most fun crafty hobby I have ever done.
