My First junk Journal - 1973

This scruffy old book is my very first junk journal, circa 1970 something. Of course it wasn't called a junk journal then. When I started it, it was a combination of lists, recipes, things to do, Christmas Card lists, important data information, knitting know how and goodness knows what else. Today it would be a cross between a bullet journal and a junk journal, I suppose. When I made it, I wasn't thinking about keeping it forever, but the years rolled by and here I am looking at it, all those years later. I still use it. I still need it.
The reason I'm telling you about it now is to encourage you to do something similar because when you are older you will love looking back at it. I'll give you an example in a minute. So I am appealing to the younger ones on here..... Do something like this if you don't already. Don't sell all your junk journals, keep some for yourself. You will be glad later on.


The outside of my diary is dreadful! It's not dirty, but it isn't good to look at either. All these years I've been meaning to do something about it, but so far, nothing. Don't ask me why because I don't know! However, inside, and I'm giving you a little peek at one of the pages, I have my life at my fingertips. The entry for today was written in 1973 and it concerns what I needed to get for my first baby (born in 1974). Have a look at that list and see how it compares with today's list. Some of the things on the list are for me (obviously) because I'd never been pregnant before and I didn't know what to expect. The rest is for my baby - no scans - no idea if it would be a boy or a girl. We had only minimum access to throw away nappies (diapers) then. I was only expecting to use those if we went out for the day. 

There was a shortage of good quality Egyptian cotton in 1973 and I remember my mum hunting high and low to find some really nice nappies for me to use. She finally did find some and I was delighted. I wasn't so delighted later when the baby was born and I had to wash 5,6 or sometimes 7 of those things every day in a Baby Burco boiler, with a spin drier to help dry them. However, it was very satisfying to see them blowing on the line outside my flat, drying and smelling so fresh and clean. So, in the nappies were nappy liners, remember those? They would catch the worst of it and could be disposed of in the toilet afterwards. We had no baby wipes, which incidentally do not bio degrade, so nowadays they are polluting the ocean.

As I went along through the pregnancy, I ticked off the things I needed as I acquired them.
On the second page, just visible in my picture, were the consumables for baby.
Does any of it look familiar to you?

From time to time I will be dipping into my journal to tell you how things were when I did it and I hope you will join in too and share your memories or if you are younger, I would love to hear how you use your journal/s now and how you intend to use them in the future...