Use them to take notes from learning. Even if you are not a student and might very likely be still furloughed, make the most of your free time and the notebooks you already have. I, for example, started learning Arabic during the quarantine and it would have been impossible for me to memorise the alphabet and the basics of the language unless I had them written down several times in one of my notebooks. 

With plenty of free learning resources available on Udemy, YouTube, Khan academy and TedEd, there always something to suit your learning wants. And noting down what you want to memorise is one of the techniques to learn faster and more effectively! 

I have always loved cooking myself and remember my mum having a thick A4 journal where she would collect cutout magazine pages with recipes of family meals. I loved the 'Desserts' section the most as it was the tastiest and largest collection of her recipes with the Russian Honeycomb cake being among my favourites. 

Years have passed and I am now into healthy eating and sustainable living so if I were to collect recipes in a notebook it would be a long list of protein packed meals and guilt-free desserts... 

If you are a fan of taking polaroid pictures during your travel, collecting these aesthetic images in a notebook alongside noting the feelings you'd experienced during that trip will turn this notebook into something special. Collecting memories of the places you have been to and peoples you'd spent those days with will bring out your creativity at its best. In the past, I used to collect everything from my travel trips, including travel tickets, museum tickets, photo cards and even maps and stamps! 

Blogging for me means 24/7 search of new ideas and ways to memorise those ideas and use them when putting together a new article!

While a friend of mine uses a notebook to write down lists of books, movies, vinyls and quotes she wants to share on her next blog post. Ideas come and go and she always keeps her pocket-size notebook handy to write those down as and when. It helps her to stay organised and she even has a special section on the right hand side of her page where she marks down the dates the blog is due to be released. 

I know. Sounds like gifting a notebook you already have might not be the best idea but you never know that someone might need it more than you do! Ask around to see if someone else from your friends and family is looking to buy one for their course, school or university degree they are doing. At the end of the day, this will be one of the ways to practice minimal living with little to no waste disposal. Buy mindfully, live greener...

Yours, Zalina M