Spent 3 hours picking the wrong notebook for my bujo

Mark Gibson · 2026-07-12T11:20:04.989268+00:00

I got into bullet journaling about 2 months ago and figured any dotted notebook would work. Grabbed a cheap $8 one from Target (Mead brand, I think) and the ink from my Pilot G2 bled through every single page. After dealing with ghosting on 40 pages, I finally caved and ordered a $22 Lemome notebook. Has anyone else had to toss a half-used journal because the paper quality just killed it for you?

ellis.robert3mo ago

Read three pages? That is wild. I would lose my mind if I could see last week's grocery list through my current daily log. I thought my ghosting was bad but you win the terrible paper contest. Sounds like that Moleskine is basically a see-through curtain masquerading as a notebook. I bet it sits there all smug in your drawer. At least my Mead notebook only haunted me for 40 pages instead of the whole thing.

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rileyl983mo ago

Ellis.robert, that smug Moleskine in the drawer is basically my soulmate at this point. My half dead notebook is just sitting there too, giving me side eye every time I grab a new one.

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lilycraig3mo ago

Oh man, I feel this in my soul. I bought a Moleskine for my first bullet journal because I thought "fancy brand equals good paper," and my fountain pen ink looked like I was writing on a napkin. The ghosting was so bad I could read last week's to-do list through three pages. I ended up tearing out about 30 pages before I gave up and just started fresh in a different notebook. My half-used Moleskine is now just sitting in a drawer, judging me every time I open it.

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