60 Junk Journal Ideas: Pages, Themes and Layouts to Try

The hardest part of junk journaling isn’t the gluing. It’s sitting in front of a pile of receipts and tickets with no idea what page to make.

So here are 60 junk journal ideas: pages you can make from an ordinary week, themes for a whole journal, layouts for a two-page spread and a few small prompts for the writing. Each one works with scraps you probably already have.

The best junk journal ideas start with a scrap you already have: a receipt becomes a pocket, a ticket stub anchors a page about the night, and a tea bag turns into a see-through layer. Pick a page idea below, add one small technique, and write a line about the day.

What can I do with this scrap?

Tap something you have lying around.

Receipt

Fold it into a skinny pocket and tuck a note inside.
Glue it down and write what isn’t on it: who you were with, what you talked about.
Make a “week in receipts” page, overlapping them like roof tiles.

Nothing here is stored or sent.

Quick takeaways

60 ideas in four groups: everyday pages, whole-journal themes, spread layouts and writing prompts.
The tool above gives you three ways to use the scrap in your hand, from receipts to pressed leaves.
Everyday pages are the easiest place to start: a week in receipts, what you ate or things found in your pockets.
A theme, like one trip or one year, turns a pile of scraps into a journal you’ll want to finish.
Simple layouts, like half collage and half writing, stop every page looking the same.

New to all of this? The junk journaling guide covers what you need, how to make your first page and six beginner techniques.

Junk journal page ideas from an ordinary week

Everyday junk journal pages record small things from your week using the paper they left behind: receipts, tickets, wrappers, notes and lists. They’re the easiest ideas to start with, because the materials turn up on their own and each page only needs one scrap and one line of writing.

A week in receipts: overlap them like roof tiles and write one line under each.
What I ate today, using wrappers, labels and a sketch of the plate.
Overheard: three sentences you heard in public, written on tags.
Things I found in my pockets this week.
A day in tickets: bus, parking, cinema, the cloakroom.
This week’s weather, in five words and one scrap of the right color.
Currently: what you’re reading, watching, listening to and looking forward to.
Small wins: one tag for each thing that went right.
A letter to future you, sealed in an envelope pocket.
Things I want to remember from this month.
Favorite words, cut from magazines and packaging.
A map of my week: every place you went, circled on a printed or hand-drawn map.
Colors of the week, using paint chips, wrappers or fabric scraps.
Gratitude tags: one small thing on each, tucked into a pocket.
A page for one person, built from things that remind you of them.
A birthday page with the card, the wrapping paper and the candle.
A page for a bad day: glue down the parking ticket and write what you’d rather have done.
Meeting doodles, rescued from the margins of your notes.
A shopping list, kept as it was, with a note about what else happened that day.
Screenshot of the week, printed small and captioned by hand.

If you like the gratitude tags idea, 100 things to be grateful for is a good list to borrow from on the days nothing comes to mind.

One scrap, one line of writing, one page.

Junk journal themes for a whole journal

A junk journal theme gives the whole book a purpose, so you know what to save and what each page is for. Good themes have a natural supply of scraps: a trip, a year, a hobby, a garden or a person. Pick one that produces paper without you having to go looking for it.

A year in one journal: a page for every week, even the quiet ones.
One trip: tickets, maps, receipts, sugar packets and a line from each day.
A garden journal: seed packets, plant labels and pressed leaves, with what you planted where.
A kitchen journal: recipe cards, labels and notes on what worked.
A reading journal: a page for each book, with a bookmark, a favorite line and a rating.
A tiny things journal: nothing bigger than a stamp, and a sentence for each.
A letters journal built from the mail you get, envelopes and all.
A nature walk journal: leaves, feathers (photographed or drawn), trail maps and weather notes.
A coffee or tea journal: sleeves, tags and notes on where you drank it and who with.
A music journal: gig tickets, wristbands, set lists and what the night felt like.
A family history journal, using photocopies of old photos and documents so the originals stay safe.
A seasons journal, split into four sections and filled as the year turns.
A “firsts” journal for a new city, job or baby.
A journal of one ordinary street: the shops, the signs and the people you see.
A comfort journal: things that help on hard days, ready to flick through when you need it.

A theme tells you what to save.

Junk journal spread and layout ideas

Junk journal spreads look best when each one has a simple structure: one large anchor piece, a clear space for writing and a few small details. Try these layouts when your pages start looking the same. Each works on two facing pages with scraps of any size.

Half and half: collage on the left page, writing on the right.
One big anchor: a single large scrap in the middle, everything else small around it.
The grid: four or six small scraps in neat squares, with a line under each.
The bridge: a strip of paper or washi tape running across the fold to join the two pages.
The hidden page: a flip-out covering a paragraph you only want to read yourself.
The pocket spread: two envelope pockets, each with a stack of tags.
The window: a small hole cut into one page that shows a detail from the next.
The fold-out timeline: tape two pages end to end and fill them left to right, oldest first.
The border: frame the whole spread with torn strips, then leave the middle nearly empty.
The diagonal: arrange everything along one slanted line from corner to corner.
The stack: layer five papers in the same spot, each a little smaller than the last.
The plain page: one scrap, one sentence and a lot of empty space.

An anchor, a bridge and a grid, on one spread.

Junk journal prompts for the writing

Junk journal prompts give you something to write beside the scraps: a short question about the day, the object or the person it came from. Keep the answers short. A line on a tag or the back of a receipt is enough to make the page mean something when you find it again.

What’s in your bag today, and what does it say about your week?
What’s the story behind this receipt that the receipt doesn’t tell?
Which three things from this week’s recycling would you save, and why?
Where were you when you got this ticket, and who was with you?
What would you tell someone who finds this page in twenty years?
What did today smell like?
Which small thing this week do you want to remember?
What’s one thing you’d change about this week, and one you wouldn’t?
Who would you give this page to?
What’s a word that sums up this month?
What surprised you today?
What did you make, fix or finish this week?
What’s one thing you want to try next week?

How do you come up with junk journal ideas?

Start with the scrap, not the page. Look at what you saved this week, pick the piece you like most and ask what it’s from: a place, a person, a meal or a moment. That becomes the page. The layout and the writing follow from there, one small decision at a time.

A few habits keep ideas coming:

Save first, decide later. Keep an envelope for scraps and sort it once a week.
Keep a list of page ideas on the inside cover, and add to it whenever something occurs to you.
Repeat what works. A weekly receipts page or a monthly “currently” page gives the journal a rhythm.
Let pages be unfinished. Glue down the background now and come back when the right scrap turns up.
Borrow from other journals. The r/JunkJournals community on Reddit and junk journal channels on YouTube are full of page flip-throughs to learn from.

Junk journal ideas FAQs

What should I put in my first junk journal?

Start with whatever paper passed through your hands this week: receipts, tickets, envelopes, wrappers and tags. Add a background page from an old book or map, and write a line or two. Your first pages don’t need a theme. They just need to exist.

What can you use instead of junk journal ephemera packs?

Old books, maps, sheet music, calendars, envelopes, food packaging and tea-stained paper all work as ephemera. Bought packs are pretty but optional. Most of the best pages use paper you already have.

How do you fill a junk journal quickly?

Use a theme with a steady supply of scraps, like a year or a trip, and make one small page every day or two instead of saving up for big spreads. Everyday pages from the list above are quick, because each needs only one scrap and one line.