diff --git a/app/Factory/TransactionJournalMetaFactory.php b/app/Factory/TransactionJournalMetaFactory.php
index 44d4990abf..5cd8a91a25 100644
--- a/app/Factory/TransactionJournalMetaFactory.php
+++ b/app/Factory/TransactionJournalMetaFactory.php
@@ -56,6 +56,16 @@ class TransactionJournalMetaFactory
         if ($data['data'] instanceof Carbon) {
             $value = $data['data']->toW3cString();
         }
+        if (strlen($value) === 0) {
+            // don't store blank strings.
+            try {
+                $entry->delete();
+            } catch (Exception $e) { // @codeCoverageIgnore
+                Log::error(sprintf('Could not delete transaction journal meta: %s', $e->getMessage())); // @codeCoverageIgnore
+            }
+
+            return null;
+        }
 
 
         if (null === $entry) {
diff --git a/app/Repositories/Journal/JournalRepository.php b/app/Repositories/Journal/JournalRepository.php
index d46576e4b7..3eca0906eb 100644
--- a/app/Repositories/Journal/JournalRepository.php
+++ b/app/Repositories/Journal/JournalRepository.php
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ declare(strict_types=1);
 namespace FireflyIII\Repositories\Journal;
 
 use Carbon\Carbon;
+use Exception;
 use FireflyIII\Factory\TransactionJournalFactory;
 use FireflyIII\Models\Account;
 use FireflyIII\Models\AccountType;
@@ -376,6 +377,9 @@ class JournalRepository implements JournalRepositoryInterface
      */
     public function getMetaField(TransactionJournal $journal, string $field): ?string
     {
+        $class        = new \stdClass;
+        $class->value = 'hi there';
+
         $value = null;
         $cache = new CacheProperties;
         $cache->addProperty('journal-meta');
@@ -394,7 +398,18 @@ class JournalRepository implements JournalRepositoryInterface
         $value = $entry->data;
         $cache->store($value);
 
-        return $value;
+        if (is_array($value)) {
+            return join(',', $value);
+        }
+        try {
+            $return = strval($value);
+        } catch (Exception $e) {
+            Log::error($e->getMessage());
+
+            return '';
+        }
+
+        return $return;
     }
 
     /**