Q&A A Day: The Journal For People Who Are Bad At Journaling

Journaling and I have a love–hate relationship. I set out with the best intentions. But fairly soon, my new, mostly empty notebook ends up shoved into my nightstand or onto a shelf after weeks or months of neglect. I want to journal, but finding the time and thinking of what to write winds up making me feel discouraged pretty fast. And seriously, at the end of the day, sometimes I just want to shut my brain off.

But I think I found a new journal that takes care of all of this.

Q&A a Day: 5-Year Journal is a journal of questions. Each page has the date, the question for that date, and five spaces to write your answer. Every year, you answer the same question, filling it out for five years. When you’re finished, you have a journal full of insights into little pieces of your life over the last half-decade. You can look back and see how your answers changed year to year, which is the feature I found most intriguing. It makes an interesting little keepsake. I keep mine on my nightstand and take just a minute each night to write my answer for the day.

I loved my Q&A journal so much that I bought one for my preschool-aged son. The children’s version is only three years long, and the questions are a little simpler and even silly sometimes, which he loves. We have incorporated his journal into his bedtime routine, and he fills out his answer to each day’s question with my husband before he goes to sleep. So far, we have learned that his favorite chore is turning on the TV, and his favorite smell is the smell of the TV. I should maybe be monitoring his screen time a little more closely. I can’t wait to see how these answers and others change over the next three years. It’s giving me a sweet peek into my little dude’s mind.

There are several versions of these journals. There are a couple for couples (isn’t that cute?) that you can fill out together with your partner. It’s a three-year journal with questions you can answer together, about each other, or on your own.

For children who are a little too old for the kid’s journal, there are also journals for teens or for your older children to document their college years. They really make a great gift for anyone. I’ve been buying them for cousins of mine who are graduating high school, and I keep a few different journals on hand to use if I need a present in a pinch.

And, of course, there is a Q&A journal for moms. These make for an easy way to document your life without feeling like you have to go overboard or commit to too much. I like to think of my grandkids reading mine one day because I am weird and think about that kind of stuff in my early 30s. But instead of reading like a memoir, my answers each year will provide little windows into what my life is like right now.

If you enjoy keeping a written record, and even if you just enjoy the idea of keeping a written record, these Q&A journals make the process simple and easy. And with so many to choose from, you won’t run out of questions to answer any time soon.

This post contains affiliate links, which means we receive a small portion of the sale if you make a purchase using these links.