Sustainable ADHD Witch

Life with ADHD and as a practicing witch means I write a lot. ToDo lists, grocery lists, schedules, important dates, herb correspondences, crystal meanings, spells and recipes… the list is endless. Two swaps I’ve made to attempt to be more sustainable is using fountain pens and using whiteboards.

Fountain pens are fun but can be very intimidating at first. Start with a solid starter pen, like a Pilot metropolitan, TWSBI ECO, or Lamy safari. These are reputable fountain pen brands and their everyday/beginner model pens. Ink can be tricky. I prefer bottled ink over cartridges (less waste) which means for the Lamy safari you may need to purchase a converter (an insert to use bottled ink instead of cartridge ink). It’s very easy to want to buy all the ink colors but that will get pricy very quickly. For a first time pen I recommend a solid black ink and a fun red or blue ink. The black as it is a foundational ink color that will get lots of use. The blue or red as it will showcase the shading properties of the pen much better than your average black. For starter inks I recommend checking out Noodler’s, Diamine, or Pilot brand inks. For my US folks, check out https://www.gouletpens.com/ they have a wide selection of pens, including the ones I listed as well as inks (with the ones I mentioned too). My go to pens and ink are the Lamy Safari with DeAtramentis black archive ink, and the TWSBI ECO with a colored Pilot or Sailor ink.

Whiteboards are my friends. In the hallway right in front of my bedroom I have two: a blank one for writing lists and schedules, and a calendar for keeping track of dates and appointments. I find this keeps me from needing to have paper planners or calendars and also helps me to keep track of things I need or want without a bunch of paper floating around. I do keep journals which is what the pens are for but I find the whiteboards paired with today’s smartphone calendars work well enough for my ADHD mind. I got my whiteboards at Target for those who are curious.

Now the whiteboards and pens are not the most sustainable options in the world, but I do find they balance usability with sustainability. Let me know your sustainable writing swabs in the comments!