Dot grid notebooks. New ones seem to be coming out all the time. So what makes one better than the other? In terms of bullet journaling basically just the page quality and whether the pages are numbered or not. If you’re not too fussed about it and just want a notebook to jot down to do’s etc., then the Scrivwell notebook would be a good option – it’s a cheap and basic dot grid notebook that’s not very wide making it ideal for list making.

Before the Pen

My favorite layout is days of the week on the left and list making space on the right. However I knew I’d run out of space since this notebook is quite small (approx 5.25″ wide x 8.25″ high) . So I opted for 2 pages for the week and more pages for notes as needed (one of my favorite parts of bullet journaling – just add more pages as you need them!)

The We R Memory Keepers day of the week washi that I used has a big gap between each day. It felt like a waste to throw them out so I took the middle parts and stuck them to the pre-plan / weekly to do list page. I don’t like how it turned out – looks a bit weird. Guess I’ll just throw out the excess next time.

After the Pen

Blogging post planning / weekdays on the left

To do’s / weekend on the right

I ended up adding a strip of washi to the side of the page to find the week easier in the notebook. The We R Memory Keepers day of the week washi that I used has a big gap between each day so I took the middle and turned that into the page marker.

I don’t know why but I have this thing about not wanting to start weekly spreads at the front of a notebook. Maybe I’m subconsciously leaving it for reference notes since that is how I set up my discbound planner.

Supplies Used:

I considered using the Caliart mint pen and the Papermate Flair UF but the Staedtler looked better with the We R Memory keepers washi tape.

Pros

Bright white paper
Notebook is light

Cons

Scrivwell notebook does not have page numbers
Boring black cover
Would go through the notebook quickly as it’s not as wide as the Leuchtturm, so some tasks extend over multiple lines unless you have small handwriting
The Carpe Diem numbered stickers are a bit fiddly to handle and the punch outs in the numbers didn’t come out easily – I had to poke / tear them out.
Since I write on every 2^nd line to avoid bunching, I ran out of space quickly. I ended up using 3 pages for the week.

Would I use again?

The Scrivwell notebook does not have numbered pages. For me it’s not a big deal since I switch to a different planner each week but if you did bullet journaling every week you might want to keep the Scrivwell for weekly spreads (or experimenting with bullet journal layouts) and use another notebook that has numbered pages for your collections.

I probably won’t use the notebook again as it’s too narrow.

If you like this notebook, it’s available on Amazon (affiliate link)