Today I’m going to share my full review on the Cagie Leather Journal Tabs. While I love the free-flowing nature of the Bullet Journal system, I crave the ability to flip from month to month easily like in a more traditional planner. And while the index can help me find collections more easily, sometimes I want to flag pages that I go to more frequently. I also wanted something more refined than a self-labeled tab. Spoiler alert: I love these, and I’m so excited to share how I’m using them in my journal this year.

In my previous journals, I’ve used Post-It Tabs. This worked fine (I really liked that they were repositionable), but I was never happy with how ink sat on them, no matter what pen I tried. These tabs also wore down throughout the year and wrinkled or bent. This didn’t bother me so much, but I wanted to mention it in case it would bother anyone else.

So let’s dive into the details. I purchased a 5-pack of these and there’s one of every color option (red, pink, blue, orange, and green). You can purchase 2-packs of these in an individual color, but the 5-pack is a much better deal.

For my 2018 journal, I’m using the green sheet to go along with the watercolor-floral-botanical-pastel aesthetic I’m sticking to this year. You can see the details of the stickers I’ve used in the photo above, but basically you have 3 sections to these sheets:

• General Date-based Tabs: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Freely. I show how I use these later in this post.
• Monthly Tabs: You get 14 months on each sheet, December-December, plus January – which could come in handy depending on how quickly you go through a journal. These have the month’s abbreviation on one side of the tab and the month’s number on the other. (More on that later.)
• Other…stickers? There’s a handful of what I can only call stickers at the bottom since they don’t function like the tabs do. I haven’t used these in my journal yet, and I’m not sure that I will since I don’t quite understand their purpose. Although I wouldn’t consider these to be bulky in any way, I wouldn’t want to use them in the middle of a spread or something. If I find a use for them later I will update this post.

The best thing about these is that they are very sturdy. They’re made of a polyurethane leather and have a decent adhesive on the back. This makes it easy to readjust when you’re first placing them in the notebook, but stick together in place once they’re set. If you put them over washi, they’re more easily adjustable later on (possibly even reusable), but they will peel off a layer of the page if you try to remove them directly from paper.

I like how these are very compact and that I’m able to place the tab to where it doesn’t stick out too much from the edges of the notebook. As you can see, I’m even able to use the elastic to secure the journal with some careful placement of the top tabs.

Size-wise, the month tabs are about two squares across in my Leuchtterm, and the larger tabs span a little over three squares.

As I mentioned, the monthly tabs have an abbreviation of the moth on one side and the number of the month on the back. The way they are stamped is such that if you want the number to be right side up, you’d have to put the number toward the front of the book and have the abbreviation facing to the back. This is good because it gives the option to place it either way, but it’s a little annoying when you put the abbreviation side on top and the number is upside down on the back.

Another tip for using these: if it the tab overlapping any writing would bother you, I recommend placing the tab first (or after any decoration you’re doing around the page border) and then going in with your pen.

Other than the monthly tabs, I’ve used the four larger tabs across the top of my notebook to mark collections that I frequently reference.

• Daily: Face Mask Challenge
• Weekly: Blog Planning
• Monthly: Most-Used Makeup
• Freely: Project Pan

There’s others that I look to often, but they’re all easier to find in the front of my journal before January even starts, so I’m okay with the number of tabs.

Overall, I highly recommend these tabs if you’re looking for something sturdy, colorful, and easy to use. I can’t find an “official” listing for these on Amazon from the brand, but the set of 5 multi-color sheets ranges from $6.99-$12.99. (Click here for options to purchase on Amazon.) Since you can get this pack and use it for 5 years – I’d say this is a great deal, even if you don’t use the bottom third of the sheets like me.

Do you use any kind of product to mark off sections in your journal? Have you tried these tabs yourself? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

– Natalie

P.S. Here’s some referral links to some of my favorite sites. Use if you’d like!

• Ebates – This is a great way to earn cash back from online shopping (that you’re already doing) at many of your favorite stores! (Including Sephora & Ulta!) If you join through this link and make a purchase of $25 or more, you’ll get an extra $10 cash back and I’ll get $15, as well as your own referral code.
• thredUP – I love using thredUP to clean out my closet and shop for new pieces at a discounted price – sometimes they’re even brand new with tags! When you join thredUP through this link, you get $10 to spend and I get $10 to shop after you place your first order.
• StitchFix – This is a great way to try out some new items for your closet, without the hassle of going to the stores and the bonus of a personal stylist. If you sign up with this link, you’ll get a FREE styling fee (usually $20) on your first Fix, and I’ll get $25 credit once it ships.