Should You Use a B5 Notebook for Your Bullet Journal?

From May 2023 to December 2023, I used a B5 notebook for the very first time as my bullet journal. I remember being a little apprehensive as I was so used to using an A5 notebook. However, I wanted to give it a try and so I thought I would share my experience. I’ll compare the B5 notebook with an A5 notebook in terms of size, share some spreads I’ve made and talk about the pros and cons!

Firstly, the notebook I will be using for reference in this post is from the Ink Pot. You can get 10% off on orders over £15 at the Ink Pot using my code “BETH10”. As a disclaimer, this is not an affiliate code. I don’t receive any commission from sharing the code with you all. This also is not a sponsored post. Although I have been gifted the notebook I am mentioning, I am not being paid to do this post and all opinions are my own. With all that being said, let’s get to it!

The Difference Between B5 and A5

First things first, it’s important to distinguish the difference between a B5 sized notebook and an A5 sized notebook.

An A5 notebook has dimensions of approximately 14.8cm by 21cm. By comparison, a B5 notebook has dimensions of 18.2cm by 25.7cm. This means that a B5 notebook is approximately 3.4cm by 4.7cm bigger than an A5. That may not seem like a lot just reading this, but when you get a ruler out, it certainly shows there’s a big difference. Below are some pictures for comparison.

Advantages

Before I get into the next section of this post, I want to reiterate that this post is simply my opinion. What might be an advantage for me could be a disadvantage for you. Equally, what might be a disadvantage for me could be an advantage for you. Everyone has different needs and preferences so please don’t feel bad if I say something you disagree with! With that being said, let’s get to the advantages.

One of the advantages of having a B5 notebook is that there is more space. This is a positive as it means that monthly setups take up fewer pages which I personally like. I always feel guilty for how many pages I end up using so a B5 actually works for me in reducing the page quantity.

Another advantage of a B5 notebook is I feel like it’s brilliant if you have bigger handwriting than the average person. Again, this relates back to there being more space.

Disadvantages

You may have noticed that I have not used a B5 notebook since. I also haven’t included many advantages either. Unfortunately, the B5 notebook does not work for me which leads me on to the disadvantages.

Firstly, it’s simply too big for me. I have quite small handwriting and so I don’t need all of that space. I felt like I was limited on to the types of spreads I could create. Let me show an example in the following pictures with a vertical spread.

Ordinarily this would be spread across a double page spread like the picture above. I normally go for 6 dots across when making this layout, and it works perfect for me.

In the B5 notebook, because of the height however, this is far too much space for me. Therefore, I tried it on one page, both portrait and landscape as you can see, but I wasn’t keen.

Another disadvantage for me is I find it too inconvenient to carry around. It takes up too much room in my bag, and that was particularly annoying when I was at university.

Overall, unfortunately the B5 notebook was not for me. I really wanted to try it to see how I got on with it but I have found that the A5 is where it’s at for me!

And that’s it! Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to read this post and I will see you soon for another one!

Beth