If you’ve been following my blog for a while I think it’s fairly obvious that I hoard pens…. So why do I have so many? Besides the fact that they’re cheap and different brands come in different colors, I prefer to use different pens for different things:

When I use each type of pen

Fineliner pens

When I can take my time to write slow / neat (as they tend to scratch through whiteout correction tape if I make a mistake)
When I need lots of colors – not sure why it is but fineliner pens always seem to come in big pen packs (Staedtler Triplus Fineliner, Caliart etc.)
Color coding (again, because there’s tons of colors)
Ombre weekly spreads (same reason as above)
When I’m trying to color match a washi tape or planner sticker – they tend to come in more unique shades e.g. purple-pink instead of just hot pink

Gel Pens

When I have room to space things out (i.e. can have large gaps between text as gel pens are more prone to smudging)
When I want a pretty spread (Gel pens tend to have vibrant ink than other pen types)
Wider variety in tip sizes – some brands e.g. Pilot have multiple tip thicknesses for the Pilot Pop’lol all the way from 0.3mm to 0.7mm
For rainbow spreads (the BLOT and PaperMate Inkjoy are almost an exact match for my rainbow planner stickers)
When I’m using good quality, thick paper and don’t need to worry about ghosting and bleed through

Ballpoint

When I’m using thin paper and want to avoid ghosting and bleed through
When I want to write quickly
When I’m travelling (ballpoint pens are cheap and readily available so it’s not as sad if you lose them)
When I want to write a lot (ballpoint pens last ages before drying out)
Tend to be more water resistant than the other pen types on this list
Less prone to smudging
Write best on washi tape (as they’re less prone to ink smearing)

Erasable pens

Bullet journaling (I won’t use any other type of pen when ruling up bullet journal spreads)
For anything and everything!
Just be careful not to leave your planner in a hot car. Most erasable pens erase using friction (heat)