A $3 Thrifted Wallet Becomes the Chicest Notebook Cover You'll Ever Own

When it comes to journaling, how good the cover looks can really make or break your motivation to keep going. Leather notebook covers usually don't come cheap, but US-based Instagram creator Kaitlyn Mini (@its.mini.made) found an affordable workaround: pick up an old wallet from a thrift store and DIY it into a notebook cover yourself.

In the Instagram video where Mini demonstrates the technique, she uses a trifold wallet. She lays a thick black rubber band along the center line of the opened wallet, then flips her notebook open to its middle pages and slots it directly between the rubber band and the wallet — the rubber band's position essentially becomes the spine. Next, she tucks some paper and Polaroid photos into the wallet's card slots on the side, a nice-to-have but not essential decorative touch. Finally, she secures everything with two binder clips: a small one clipped at the top of the notebook to keep the pages from falling open, and a larger one clipped at the wallet's opening.

In another video, Mini uses a brown leather wallet with an autumnal red plaid pattern. This time the notebook is slightly smaller than the wallet, but the same rubber-band trick holds the spine together, and the wallet's original double snap closures keep the whole thing from coming undone.

The wallets in the two videos cost just $2.99 and $3.99 respectively — and that price tag is exactly what makes this hack so appealing. That said, since the materials come from thrift store finds, there's a fair amount of luck involved. Instagram user @laureldidthis commented, "I've been looking, but they're either too small or not my style — still, I'm patient, and I know thrifting isn't something you can rush." If you don't have that kind of patience to hunt around, using a brand-new trifold wallet for the same DIY works perfectly fine too.