Okay, real talk: how many finished bullet journals are sitting on your shelf right now?
I counted mine last week. Six. All different heights, all different colours, one of them slightly warped because I left it near a window. They look less like a collection and more like six strangers who happened to end up on the same shelf.
And every single time one fills up, there’s that whole thing — copying the future log, redoing the index, deciding which collections make the cut. Migration. We all love it and dread it in equal measure.
So when I started seeing refillable covers pop up all over bujo Pinterest, I got curious. Here’s what they actually are, whether your notebook will fit one, and some setup ideas worth stealing.
Featured Image Credit: Asperaria
First — what even is a refillable notebook?
It’s two things, not one: a cover, and the notebooks that live inside it.
The cover has thin elastic cords running down the spine. You slip a notebook under a cord and it sits there, open flat, easy to pull out. Most covers hold three at a time. Some hold five.
That’s it. No rings, no hole punching, no special refills you have to buy forever. Your Leuchtturm goes in whole, exactly as it came.
Photo credit: Asperaria on Instagram
The cords are the whole trick, and once you see it you can’t unsee it. Three cords means three notebooks. Which brings me to the setups.
Setup #1: The Migration Trick
This is the one that sold me, honestly.
With three cords, you can run your old journal and your new one at the same time, in the same cover. Old one on the left, new one on the right, both open on the desk while you copy things across.
No balancing two books on your knees. No losing your place. No abandoning the migration halfway through because it got tedious (…just me? okay).
When you’re done, the old one slides out and goes on the shelf, and the new one moves over. Your cover never changes.
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Setup #2: Three Journals, One Cover
Here’s the thing — most of us are already running three systems. We’re just doing it badly, across three books that live in three different places.
The setup I’ve landed on:
- Cord one — the bujo. Dailies, monthlies, trackers, the whole thing.
- Cord two — work. Meeting notes and project scribbles that have no business cluttering my personal index.
- Cord three — the messy one. Doodle practice, brain dumps, lists I’ll throw away. No rules, no pressure. Predictably it’s the one I use most.
All three go in the bag as one object. Nothing gets left on the kitchen table.
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Setup #3: The Memory Keeping One
If you’re a paste-things-in person, this one’s for you.
Refill paper comes lined or blank, and blank is what you want if you’re gluing in photos — no ruled line running straight through someone’s face.
Quick maths that saved me a lot of trimming: a standard 4 × 6″ photo print is 102 × 152 mm. That sits comfortably on an A5 page (148 × 210 mm) with a nice margin. But an A6 page is 105 × 148 mm — four millimetres shorter than the print. On A6 you’re trimming every single photo. Ask me how I know.
Pair it with a leather insert on one of the cords, and all your ticket stubs and receipts have somewhere to live until you get round to sticking them down.
Photo credit: Asperaria on Instagram
Setup #4: The One That Ages With You
Card and fabric covers wear out and then you replace them. Full-grain leather does the opposite — it darkens where your hands hold it, softens at the fold, picks up marks from whatever bag it lives in.
Two years in it looks like yours specifically, in a way a new one never could. Which matters more than I expected for something you touch every single day.
Add a monogram or a date if you like, but keep it short — initials still read well in ten years, a phrase from this particular month usually doesn’t. And it’s permanent, so triple-check the spelling before you confirm.
Okay, but will it fit my notebook?
This is the question, and the answer is almost always yes — you just have to check the numbers instead of trusting the name on the label. Notebook sizing is genuinely a mess.
The rule: the cover is always a bit bigger than the paper, so your notebook tucks inside instead of poking out.
Photo credit: Asperaria on Instagram
| Size | Cover | Paper it holds | Notebooks that fit |
| A5 | 6″ × 8.5″ | 148 × 210 mm | Leuchtturm1917 Medium, Archer & Olive A5, most dot grid notebooks |
| B5 | 7.2″ × 10.2″ | 176 × 250 mm | Big spreads, sketch-heavy setups |
| B6 | 5.2″ × 7.2″ | 125 × 176 mm | ISO B6 (not JIS — see below) |
| A6 | 4.5″ × 6″ | 105 × 148 mm | Hobonichi Techo Original, Midori MD A6 |
| Regular | 4.8″ × 8.8″ | 110 × 210 mm | Traveler’s Notebook Regular |
| 4.3″ × 5.4″ | 102 × 130 mm | Not Moleskine Pocket — see below | |
| Field Notes | 3.8″ × 5.8″ | 89 × 140 mm | Field Notes, Moleskine Pocket |
| A4 | 8.9″ × 12.6″ | 210 × 297 mm | Full-size sketchbooks |
If you’re a Leuchtturm person, you want A5. The Medium is 145 × 210 mm and slides into an A5 cover with room to spare. Same for Archer & Olive.
Two traps worth knowing about
Moleskine Pocket does NOT go in a “Pocket” cover. I know. Moleskine Pocket is 90 × 140 mm — same footprint as Field Notes. A Pocket Size cover is 109 × 137 mm, which is three millimetres shorter. You want the Field Notes size. This catches out more people than anything else.
B6 comes in two flavours. ISO B6 is 125 × 176 mm; JIS B6 (the Japanese standard, which most Japanese notebooks use) is 128 × 182 mm. A JIS notebook will go in an ISO cover, but it’ll sit flush with the edge rather than tucked inside. Check which one you’ve got.
Where to actually get one
Etsy is full of them, and quality is all over the place. If you want something handmade that comes in every size above — including the weird ones like Field Notes and B5 — Asperaria’s refillable leather covers are worth a look, and every one can be personalised.
A few questions I had before I switched
Does it fit any brand?
Any brand, as long as the size matches. The cords hold the notebook at the centrefold, so there’s nothing proprietary about it.
How many notebooks fit?
Three is standard. Some covers hold five, some two. You can mix, too — two notebooks and a leather insert.
Can I use my Leuchtturm1917 in a leather cover?
Yes. The Medium A5 is 145 × 210 mm and fits an A5 cover (152 × 216 mm) with room to spare. Same for Archer & Olive A5 and most dot grid notebooks sold as A5.
How’s it different from a disc-bound or ring planner?
Those refill by the page and need punched paper, so you’re tied to their refills forever. A cover refills by the whole notebook and takes anything. Rings win if you reorder pages constantly; covers win if you want your notebook to stay a notebook.
Is it worth it if I only keep one journal?
Honestly? Less so. It earns its keep when you’re running more than one, or when you’re migrating often enough that the shelf is getting out of hand. If you fill one notebook every couple of years, a nice hardback is fine.
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