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Bullet Journal - 2018


Just Kate
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I think this is year #4 that I will attempt to bullet journal. I love list making. I love planning. Therefore, the bullet journal should work for me...but so far, it hasn't. Honestly, I'm just not great at keeping up with things sometimes, so I've spent the past few weeks trying to figure out how to really simplify my journal so I actually stick with it. But of course, I also want it to have enough in it to keep me productive.

 

Anyway, since we are finishing up the final week of 2017, anyone else planning their journal for next year? I would love to hear from anyone who has been successful with their bullet journal. Any plans for next year?

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I have multiple tabs open on my laptop with BuJo ideas. My DH bought me the Leuchtturm1917 bullet journal for Christmas and I am thrilled. I used an inexpensive spiral I picked up at Walmart last year just to see if I would stick with a BuJo. I took that notebook with me everywhere. I love it.

 

TBH, I can't bring myself to put a pen to the paper in the Leuchtturn. My perfectionist side doesn't want to mess it up or make a mistake.

 

I didn't use my 2017 BuJo as a calendar. I have a planner from my employer and I used that for daily stuff. I did have 1/2 page monthly future logs for writing in things that needed to be on my radar. I  also had 1 page monthlies with the list of days and dates to write down important things I did during the month.

 

I used my BuJo more as a tracker of things that were going on like savings goals, payment plans, tracking my reading, tracking tennis statistics, things I liked, etc. I wrote in it almost everyday. It's a mess since I didn't give myself enough space for some things and too much for others. Did I mention that I love it?

 

I am by no means a BuJo expert (far from it) but my guess is that if you're hitting a brick wall with it in March or April than the system you're using isn't right for you. I could never do the whole migrating tasks thing, for example.

 

Check out Boho Berry. She has some great BuJo ideas.

Edited by Scoutermom
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I’ve been using one for 2.5 years because it works for me. I don’t “keep up with it.†It’s just part of my daily routine and a tool to help me keep up with all the stuff I need to do. I don’t do much pre-planning of pages or fuss with all the trackers and spreads you see in Instagram-worthy BuJo posts. If modifications work for other people, great, but a lot of the bells and whistles and additions to the basic system feel contrived to me and I wouldn’t use them even if I spent time creating them.

Edited by Word Nerd
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Last year was the year I finally got my bullet journal off the ground, so to speak. 

 

At the moment, it's a homemade calendar and a carry-around notebook combo.  For example, right now it has all the Christmas gift lists and the Christmas card list all in one handy place that I didn't lose track of during the holiday -- a Christmas miracle!

 

I love that I can change it up into something else, though.  In another month it might be something totally different.  For a while last summer it was a space where I did art each day.  I'm quite okay with not having the entire journal "match" in concept -- I just keep adding index entries and coloring the page edges so I can figure out what's where, and go along my merry way.

 

Best of luck to all, and I"ll be following along to get new ideas.

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I have multiple tabs open on my laptop with BuJo ideas. My DH bought me the Leuchtturm1917 bullet journal for Christmas and I am thrilled. I used an inexpensive spiral I picked up at Walmart last year just to see if I would stick with a BuJo. I took that notebook with me everywhere. I love it.

 

TBH, I can't bring myself to put a pen to the paper in the Leuchtturn. My perfectionist side doesn't want to mess it up or make a mistake.

 

I didn't use my 2017 BuJo as a calendar. I have a planner from my employer and I used that for daily stuff. I did have 1/2 page monthly future logs for writing in things that needed to be on my radar. I  also had 1 page monthlies with the list of days and dates to write down important things I did during the month.

 

I used my BuJo more as a tracker of things that were going on like savings goals, payment plans, tracking my reading, tracking tennis statistics, things I liked, etc. I wrote in it almost everyday. It's a mess since I didn't give myself enough space for some things and too much for others. Did I mention that I love it?

 

I am by no means a BuJo expert (far from it) but my guess is that if you're hitting a brick wall with it in March or April than the system you're using isn't right for you. I could never do the whole migrating tasks thing, for example.

 

Check out Boho Berry. She has some great BuJo ideas.

 

I got the Leuchtturm 1917 for Christmas too and I am so excited/nervous to get started (also a perfectionist and scared of messing it up).

 

One of the things that I really want to do in my BuJo is goal setting/tracking. Would you care to share how you tracked your savings goal? Goal setting/tracking is one thing that I really want to do better next year. I'm actually planning to make 90 day goals and use my BuJo to track them. Just not sure how to do so.

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I’ve been using one for 2.5 years because it works for me. I don’t “keep up with it.†It’s just part of my daily routine and a tool to help me keep up with all the stuff I need to do. I don’t do much pre-planning of pages or fuss with all the trackers and spreads you see in Instagram-worthy BuJo posts. If modifications work for other people, great, but a lot of the bells and whistles and additions to the basic system feel contrived to me and I wouldn’t use them even if I spent time creating them.

 

Does your journal look like the original BuJo, created by Ryder Carroll? Do you use all of the sections that he recommends on his website? Trying to figure out how those who are successful use it...so I can be successful too. :)

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I am by no means a BuJo expert (far from it) but my guess is that if you're hitting a brick wall with it in March or April than the system you're using isn't right for you. I could never do the whole migrating tasks thing, for example.

 

 

Migrating tasks has tanked every non-electronic time management system I have ever tried.

 

But!  I am optimistic about post it lists.  Have you seen those?  Basically they are longish strips of lined paper that attach and detach like post its.  So you can put tasks on them and move the whole list from one day to the next as needed.  I'm going to try that this year.

 

Having said that, hauling gear around is kind of tanking my BuJo plans.  By the time I assemble the journal, the planner, the ruler, the pens, the markers, the post it stacks, and the highlighters I start feeling like this is more trouble than something that is supposed to simplify my life really should be.  Thoughts?

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I've used all sort of planners through the years. Bullet journal was something I tried, at least the Ryder system, I'd done something similar for a while. I really prefer set up planners, I tried the Hobonichi last year, but don't really need daily pages. 

 

For 2018 I bought the Jibun Techo. I've used it since November 1 and it's been ideal for me. It has a weekly vertical list, monthly pages and some set out planning pages. I added two of their Idea notebooks, one for long term projects, another for more of a daily to do list - although I don't use that much since the week is set up nicely. It's the closest I've come to planner peace in a really long time. 

 

So if the empty notebook, bullet journal isn't working, perhaps something a little more structured would work better. 

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I got the Leuchtturm 1917 for Christmas too and I am so excited/nervous to get started (also a perfectionist and scared of messing it up).

 

One of the things that I really want to do in my BuJo is goal setting/tracking. Would you care to share how you tracked your savings goal? Goal setting/tracking is one thing that I really want to do better next year. I'm actually planning to make 90 day goals and use my BuJo to track them. Just not sure how to do so.

I began with the 52 week savings challenge. Have you heard of it? The goal is to save the amount equal to the number of the week.  If you follow the plan for 52 weeks, you should save $1378. I figured that would be easy enough.

 

This page was pretty simple. I hand wrote 52 Week $1378 Challenge on the top line in black ink.

I split the rest of the page into two columns and wrote headings:

Week  Deposit  Balance       Week Deposit Balance

 

Then I numbered the rows 1-26 in the first column and 27-52  in the second. I initially wrote down the anticipated Deposit amount next to the Week since they should have been the same number. I found that some weeks I would have a bit more to save and then I would cross out that number, write in what I had saved, and then transfer that number to the appropriate week. For example, during Week 9 I had $52 I could save. I crossed out the 9 and wrote in 52. I then went to Week 52 crossed off 52 and wrote in 9. I did this a lot and there were few weeks I actually saved the amount equivalent to the number of the week. This year I'm not going to write in the anticipated amounts but will go with the flow and write in whatever I can. It was great fun. When I completed the challenge I wrote COMPLETE and the amount saved across the page in watercolor pencils.

 

I also had pages for things we wanted to pay off. I wrote the name of the loan (my car) at the top of the page. On the second line I wrote the web address for the lender. The third line had the Beginning balance. The next few lines were in column format: Payment schedule & Balance. I wrote out the month/Day/Year of the payment schedule we hoped to pay it off in. Most everything was written in black ink with the exception of the Goal month (July). That was written in green. This is one page where things didn't go as planned. I had only created 7 monthly payment lines but we found ourselves making payments every three or four days. We were cutting back expenses every place we could and putting that money onto the loan. If we went grocery shopping and saved $50, I would run home and make a $50 payment. We would decide to go out to eat, change our minds, and put the money we would have spent on the loan. I created a third column, Actual Payments.The list of payments is rather amusing and colorful but we paid it off in 7 weeks. Yes, weeks. Not the 7 months we anticipated. I wrote in the dates and amounts of payments, the day we submitted the final payment, and the date I cancelled the automatic payments. This only took up half a page so I put another payoff challenge on the bottom half. I used the same method as before listing the name of the loan, the website, the beginning balance and wrote down the number of payments for our goal payoff. I also wrote down the payment dates and amounts and the payoff date. It sure was fun to watch those balances disappear and to have them paid off.

 

No artwork, no fancy banners. Just my handwriting in Sharpie pens.

 

I love my finance pages. Having our progress in my BuJo was empowering, especially on those days when things seemed to be stalled or moving backwards.

 

I'm going to create a saving page, a loan payoff page, and a wedding (DD) planning/expenses page for this year's BuJo. I might get a pretty wedding/bridal sticker to add to the wedding page to dress it up a bit.

Edited by Scoutermom
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I have been using the bullet journal for a couple of years now and love it.   It replaced the calendar and notebook I used to carry around.   I can't quite remember the layout recommended on the original video, but mine includes:

 

(1) the index: this is key!

(2) six-month out planning: this is not as useful and I might get rid of it

(3) monthly calendar: I draw this

(4) monthly task list

(5) monthly menus

(6) daily to-do list

(7) book lists: at the back of the notebook, for myself and the kids

 

For everything else, I just take notes and then add it to the index.  So, for example, if I'm at a meeting, I'll turn to a fresh page, take notes, and then add "XYZ meeting, 12-26-17, p. 119" to the index.  

 

I don't use any highlighters, fancy tape, or anything like that.  Just the notebook and a pen.  I fill up a notebook maybe every 4-5 months and then replace with a new one.  I save the old ones for reference.

Edited by JennyD
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I've been putting together one in a disk journal for the last few months.  I don't do the daily,weekly,monthly, that's too much for me.  I have a monthly calendar and a to-do list.  Then I have sections for things I'm planning or doing.  Right now I have: recipes to try, prepping, beach trip, a habit tracker, and scriptures.  I did buy nice pens which I love, but washi tape is proving to be very simple and fun.  I just put a cute strip at the top of the page as kind of a separator and go.  It looks nice without too much trouble.

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Does your journal look like the original BuJo, created by Ryder Carroll? Do you use all of the sections that he recommends on his website? Trying to figure out how those who are successful use it...so I can be successful too. :)

 

I primarily use the Daily Log and add other modules/collections as I have a need for them (like project planning pages, meeting notes/action items, or vacation to-do and packing lists, for example—another example of a page I added on the fly was a collection listing the Year in Review/Looking Ahead prompts and my answers for the items Scoutermom has been posting here daily), and I note those with the page number(s) in my index. I also add a Weekly Preview page to my journal on Sunday night (or Monday morning) that gives me an overview of due dates or appointments in the coming week, to-do items I want to take care of at some point, and a short list of things I want to read/watch/listen to during the week. The weekly page has essentially replaced the monthly planning page I used to do. I don't really use the future planner. 

Edited by Word Nerd
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I sort of use a Bullet Journal.  I use a notebook.  Whatever kind I find that I like.  It changes each time.  I am not married to a particular brand or even paper type.  I do not use the index.  It drove me mad.  I will fold pages, tab pages, washi the edge, whatever works in the moment for me to find what I need.  I also bought a set of stamps that is just a small calendar to stamp on the monthly pages.  I need to be able to see the month.  Nothing fancy and only takes a few minutes to get the whole year in the book.  I don't really follow any of his rules.  I just do what works for me.  But everything is in one book and everyone in my family knows to stay away from my book.  The book has it all and it goes everywhere.  

 

To be honest, the Bullet Journal system is not a whole lot different that what I did before kids, it just helped me get the notebook and calendar into one book instead of two.  I also only carry two pens at most.  I like the inkjoy four color pens for that.  Lately though, I just grab a different color for each day of the week and call it good.  Next season that may not work so I will adjust.  I find that the openness to adjust is the key for me.

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Migrating tasks has tanked every non-electronic time management system I have ever tried.

 

But!  I am optimistic about post it lists.  Have you seen those?  Basically they are longish strips of lined paper that attach and detach like post its.  So you can put tasks on them and move the whole list from one day to the next as needed.  I'm going to try that this year.

 

Having said that, hauling gear around is kind of tanking my BuJo plans.  By the time I assemble the journal, the planner, the ruler, the pens, the markers, the post it stacks, and the highlighters I start feeling like this is more trouble than something that is supposed to simplify my life really should be.  Thoughts?

I am really basic. I have my journal and a set of 6 colored Sharpie pens. I have an old set of Stampin' Up water color pencils that I have on my desk at home. If I have free time I might use the colored pencils and a blender pen to add some spice and color to the pages. Mostly I just use a Sharpie pen.

 

My current journal is a lined spiral from Walmart. I didn't really need to use a ruler or anything to keep things straight. I don't what I'll do with my new "real" BuJo.

 

My advice is this. Ask yourself what you want your BuJo to be? What do you want it to do for you? then make it exactly that. Don't get caught up in what people say a BuJo should be or what the proper layouts are. Do what makes you happy and encourages you to use it.

 

I will never have doodles or mandalas because...nope. I don't want to set it up. I'm thinking about the year in pixels mood tracker but the thought of creating those little boxes makes my eye twitch. Other people love those pages and that's great for them. 

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I began with the 52 week savings challenge. Have you heard of it? The goal is to save the amount equal to the number of the week.  If you follow the plan for 52 weeks, you should save $1378. I figured that would be easy enough.

 

This page was pretty simple. I hand wrote 52 Week $1378 Challenge on the top line in black ink.

I split the rest of the page into two columns and wrote headings:

Week  Deposit  Balance       Week Deposit Balance

 

Then I numbered the rows 1-26 in the first column and 27-52  in the second. I initially wrote down the anticipated Deposit amount next to the Week since they should have been the same number. I found that some weeks I would have a bit more to save and then I would cross out that number, write in what I had saved, and then transfer that number to the appropriate week. For example, during Week 9 I had $52 I could save. I crossed out the 9 and wrote in 52. I then went to Week 52 crossed off 52 and wrote in 9. I did this a lot and there were few weeks I actually saved the amount equivalent to the number of the week. This year I'm not going to write in the anticipated amounts but will go with the flow and write in whatever I can. It was great fun. When I completed the challenge I wrote COMPLETE and the amount saved across the page in watercolor pencils.

 

I also had pages for things we wanted to pay off. I wrote the name of the loan (my car) at the top of the page. On the second line I wrote the web address for the lender. The third line had the Beginning balance. The next few lines were in column format: Payment schedule & Balance. I wrote out the month/Day/Year of the payment schedule we hoped to pay it off in. Most everything was written in black ink with the exception of the Goal month (July). That was written in green. This is one page where things didn't go as planned. I had only created 7 monthly payment lines but we found ourselves making payments every three or four days. We were cutting back expenses every place we could and putting that money onto the loan. If we went grocery shopping and saved $50, I would run home and make a $50 payment. We would decide to go out to eat, change our minds, and put the money we would have spent on the loan. I created a third column, Actual Payments.The list of payments is rather amusing and colorful but we paid it off in 7 weeks. Yes, weeks. Not the 7 months we anticipated. I wrote in the dates and amounts of payments, the day we submitted the final payment, and the date I cancelled the automatic payments. This only took up half a page so I put another payoff challenge on the bottom half. I used the same method as before listing the name of the loan, the website, the beginning balance and wrote down the number of payments for our goal payoff. I also wrote down the payment dates and amounts and the payoff date. It sure was fun to watch those balances disappear and to have them paid off.

 

No artwork, no fancy banners. Just my handwriting in Sharpie pens.

 

I love my finance pages. Having our progress in my BuJo was empowering, especially on those days when things seemed to be stalled or moving backwards.

 

I'm going to create a saving page, a loan payoff page, and a wedding (DD) planning/expenses page for this year's BuJo. I might get a pretty wedding/bridal sticker to add to the wedding page to dress it up a bit.

 

Wow! Super impressed that you paid your car off so quickly. Thanks for sharing your set-up! I am going to try something like that on a blank sheet of paper to see if I would like it for my BuJo.

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My favorite pens are Pentel EnerGel Liquid Gel Ink and Pilot G-2 pens. Ghosting doesn't bother me, but YMMV. 

Ghosting. That's the word. Sometimes it bothers me, esp when I'm trying to make the page look nice. Like on my "My Favorite Things" page. The ghosting from the page behind it makes it look a bit messy but I used a lot of dark blue, purple, and black. The green didn't ghost as much.

 

I'm going to look up pens on amazon.

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Migrating tasks has tanked every non-electronic time management system I have ever tried.

 

But!  I am optimistic about post it lists.  Have you seen those?  Basically they are longish strips of lined paper that attach and detach like post its.  So you can put tasks on them and move the whole list from one day to the next as needed.  I'm going to try that this year.

 

Having said that, hauling gear around is kind of tanking my BuJo plans.  By the time I assemble the journal, the planner, the ruler, the pens, the markers, the post it stacks, and the highlighters I start feeling like this is more trouble than something that is supposed to simplify my life really should be.  Thoughts?

 

I just went back and watched the bullet journal intro video  to refresh my memory, because I didn't remember any of that stuff.   I get that you want to add the post-it lists, but highlighters, colored markers, etc are all optional.  In the video, the tools are the notebook, a black pen, and a ruler (actually triangle) that is used once.

 

Bullet journaling still didn't really work for me (google calendar and tasks lists are better for me), but I think a lot of people (general people, not pointing fingers at the quoted poster!) make it much more complicated than it needs to be. I get that some people want it to be artistic, etc., and/or like color-coding, and that's fine.  But for some people, that makes it too complicated, right?

 

I know someone who carries around a bunch of colored pens because she likes color-coding notes and such.  But once she lost one of her pens. She went nuts trying to find that pen, questioning people about her pen, sending email around asking if anyone saw her [whatever color] pen. Her whole system was messed up because she lost a pen!  

 

(I'm not equating anyone who likes color-coding with someone who is neurotic about their pens.)

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Having said that, hauling gear around is kind of tanking my BuJo plans.  By the time I assemble the journal, the planner, the ruler, the pens, the markers, the post it stacks, and the highlighters I start feeling like this is more trouble than something that is supposed to simplify my life really should be.  Thoughts?

 

Oh, I don't haul around gear.  My color pens, ruler, and washi tape are in the kitchen, and every so often I do a bunch of the pages that need those things.  Other than that, I write in it with any writing implement that happens to be handy, which is usually a black ink pen.

 

I'm okay starting pages on the go, and coming back later to ink the colors I want around the edges, or apply washi tape later.

 

My pages will never make it onto Pinterest, and I'm okay with that.  Function comes first.

 

Dd also has bullet journals.  Hers are much more visually pleasing.  Also, she keeps taking my pens.

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Oh, I don't haul around gear.  My color pens, ruler, and washi tape are in the kitchen, and every so often I do a bunch of the pages that need those things.  Other than that, I write in it with any writing implement that happens to be handy, which is usually a black ink pen.

 

I'm okay starting pages on the go, and coming back later to ink the colors I want around the edges, or apply washi tape later.

 

My pages will never make it onto Pinterest, and I'm okay with that.  Function comes first.

 

Dd also has bullet journals.  Hers are much more visually pleasing.  Also, she keeps taking my pens.

I forgot about the washi tape and about color coding the page edges.  That will definitely help.

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I'm on my third bujo now. I just use a simple 50 cent comp notebook so there's no fear of "messing up". I use it for a pretty wide variety of things - menu plans (I do 6 weeks at a time), gift idea lists, school ideas, new recipes, notes from podcasts or books, books read, phone numbers, cute things the kids say that I want to remember, etc. It's basically a big brain dump, but with the index it's very easy to find stuff when I need it again. I sometimes do a weekly spread which includes school plans, other times (especially during breaks from school) I don't bother with the weekly.

 

Sometimes I don't use it for months at a time, other times I use it daily. What's nice is that I am free to use or not use as I please and it's easy to pick back up right where I left off. My first one spanned a little over a year, the second one was about 1.5-2 years. This third one is new so I have yet to see how long a span it will cover. I often reference my old ones, both with The index and with folded pages.

 

I don't bother with a yearly or monthly calendar. I just use my pain old wall calendar for that. I also don't typically take it anywhere with me. It stays in one place on the dining room table so I always knew where to find it. Sometimes I try to make it pretty, but must of the time it's pretty messy.

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I have been using the bullet journal for a couple of years now and love it.   It replaced the calendar and notebook I used to carry around.   I can't quite remember the layout recommended on the original video, but mine includes:

 

(1) the index: this is key!

(2) six-month out planning: this is not as useful and I might get rid of it

(3) monthly calendar: I draw this

(4) monthly task list

(5) monthly menus

(6) daily to-do list

(7) book lists: at the back of the notebook, for myself and the kids

 

For everything else, I just take notes and then add it to the index.  So, for example, if I'm at a meeting, I'll turn to a fresh page, take notes, and then add "XYZ meeting, 12-26-17, p. 119" to the index.  

 

I don't use any highlighters, fancy tape, or anything like that.  Just the notebook and a pen.  I fill up a notebook maybe every 4-5 months and then replace with a new one.  I save the old ones for reference.

This is pretty close to mine.

 

1) main index

2) phone call index (if I write notes while on the phone w someone, I add their name, organization, and pg number to the index)

2) 12-month spread for future tasks (takes up 4 pages)

3) monthly spread broken into weeks (1 page)

4) Daily spread- I write the days activities at the top, my tasks listed below. Takes up 1/2 to 1 page

5) I have pages dedicated to things like

   *my schooling

   *my son's caseworkers, medical stuff, various things to keep track of

   *trip planning

I just toss them in and index

 

I use a Leuchturm1917 and love it.

Edited by Sassenach
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Here are some photos of mine

 

Index

 

IMG_2907.jpg

 

The last page of the index is my phone call log

IMG_2908.jpg

 

Here's one page of my yearly spread. This follows my index. I got the stickers from Hobby Lobby

IMG_2909.jpg

 

Monthly spread broken down by week. Washi tape is my monthly attempt at artsy.

IMG_2911.jpg

 

 

This is a very typical looking couple of days. You can see my little round bullet points are appointments for the day. Following that is my task list, which I either got done (check) or migrated forward (arrow). At the bottom of Wednesday, you can also see a few notes I wrote from a school tour. Also note the pink pen at the bottom of Monday, which has nothing to do with color coding. It was just the first pen my hand found.

IMG_2912.jpg

 

My school page. I went the extra fancy step of using TWO types of washi tape since I'll be referring back to it all year.

IMG_2910.JPG

 

ETA: You'll notice that I don't use this as my calendar. I have an integrated digital calendar for dh and I and I never use my BJ as a scheduler. Instead, I copy my daily calendar at the top of my day. My yearly and monthly spreads are for tasks, not events.

 

SaveSave

Edited by Sassenach
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I've been using one for over a year now. I actually started one at the beginning of the last school year because I realized that my old methods weren't going to work at keeping up with our schedule and routines.  I used a composition notebook and then one with graphs. I picked up a Leuchtturm 1917 recently and have started setting up the new year in it. 

 

Big advice:  Make it work for you. Make it what you need it to be.

 

What it is for me/how I set things up:

 

I have a key and I color code days of the week and activities (work, school, errands, etc.) 

Love having a collection of pens because I use them to do color themes for my weeks to match the washi tape. Generally each set of pages has 3-4 color scheme I use.

 

Key--first page

Table of contents--usually tracking groups of pages and I often don't fill it out

Words/focus of the year

Future log--18 months to keep track of upcoming important dates & appointments

Mood tracker--new for me but I thought it would be fun & helpful

Health trackers--weight & period since we're entering that time of life

Important numbers & info

Goals

 

Then I start my quarterly pages which include:

a 4-month calendar to keep track of dates

books read list

Movies and TV shows list

Playlist--songs that I'm listening to a lot as I enter this period

Meal idea list

 

Then my monthlies/weeklies:

Month pages featuring a calendar, habit tracker, show tracker and to-do list

Weekly pages featuring to-do list and time tracker for each day, menu space, and a quote to keep me positive that week

And 2 blank pages for anything that comes up during that month that I need to make note of.

 

Back of my planner:

Need to buy/repairs list

Chore routines

Watch lists

tracker to see which streaming sites I use most

Eating out list by $ amount 

 

It's worked very well for me over the last year and I was happy using the "cheap" notebooks to figure out my system and what I would really keep up with. I don't take it with me everywhere. I do check it in the mornings and the evenings. I generally have it set up for 2 months at a time while working on a 3rd month. I write appointments in pencil then a week before (usually on Thursday mornings) I fill out the upcoming week in pen and highlight my time.

 

Hope you find your groove.

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I had a BoJo last year but about June I decided to go to a travelers notebook. I needed the ability to add and subtract things as I needed. So far it has worked great and I had room to put all those things that collect in a purse in one spot. I have posted about this before but here is the video I made of my system. 

 

I am adding things right now to it, but it is more or less the same as this. I needed daily's as there have been times that I had too much going on to fit on my monthly calendar. My biggest problem with the BoJo was the time I needed to do things EVERY week. I needed something simpler for that. 

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Listening along I'm going to try using a journal this year. I won't be using mine for a calendar b/c we've moved to Google Calendar for everything but more for all those lists and such. I'm enjoying reading everyone's ideas and am thinking of things I'd like to keep track of. I've been using a basic notebook for planning a lot the last year or so but would like something for more longer-term things, as much as I've loved my basic notebook I'm anxious to see how this works for me.

Exercise log

Books read (I've failed at tracking this online)

Items needed (for thrift store shopping)

Clothes needed

Budget/Savings goals- still thinking on this

meal plans

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I started out with a more traditional bullet journal, but it gradually evolved into exactly what works for me. I also tried to be artsy, but I'm really just not, and even my fancy handwriting is atrocious, so I just stopped with that :lol:

 

Here's how mine works:

 

I do not use it as a calendar/scheduler. Google Calendar works too well for that, and I have my devices all set up to manage events and scheduling. Everyone has their own calendar, and each calendar is shared between me and that person, so I always know who's doing what and when. (The kids are old enough to have lots of classes and social stuff, but still young enough for me to be the arbiter of all of it. I still have to do all the driving!)

 

In my bullet journal itself, I do use the index page. I LOVE the index page and the freedom to just start lists and project management pages right where I am. 

 

For day-to-day usage, I started using a left page for a weekly list (things that just need to get done at some point this week but aren't tied to a specific day--that seems to be pretty much how I operate). Then I start the day lists on the right page and list all the day specific tasks, plus I add in anything from the weekly list that I can get done that day. I stick a post-it flag or some other kind of marker on the weekly page so I can always find it quickly and I use the ribbon marker to hold my place for the current day. 

 

I keep a small section of post-it notes stuck inside the front cover of my (hardcover) journal. When I need one, I can pull it from there, and when I run out out, I stick in another section. 

 

I do have pens I like more than others, but I'll use whatever I have handy. I do wish I could find a pen loop that would actually stay adhered to my book, though. I've tried an add-on one and a DIY one, and neither held for more than a few weeks  :glare: I almost always have some kind of pen floating around my car or bag though, so it's been OK. 

 

It's not pretty or decorative, but it works! One of my goals for the current year is to include more general thoughts on what's happening each day.

Edited by ILiveInFlipFlops
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I know someone who carries around a bunch of colored pens because she likes color-coding notes and such.  But once she lost one of her pens. She went nuts trying to find that pen, questioning people about her pen, sending email around asking if anyone saw her [whatever color] pen. Her whole system was messed up because she lost a pen!  

 

(I'm not equating anyone who likes color-coding with someone who is neurotic about their pens.)

 

 

Yep this is me....  i either cant mark in it because its not perfect or not color coded.  So I put it together on my phone.  I can make all my coloring pages, add in photos, notes, etc, make perfectly aligned lists and grids and not have messy eraser marks.     Works pretty well for me on my phablet.

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Here are some photos of mine

 

Index

 

IMG_2907.jpg

 

The last page of the index is my phone call log

IMG_2908.jpg

 

Here's one page of my yearly spread. This follows my index. I got the stickers from Hobby Lobby

IMG_2909.jpg

 

Monthly spread broken down by week. Washi tape is my monthly attempt at artsy.

IMG_2911.jpg

 

 

This is a very typical looking couple of days. You can see my little round bullet points are appointments for the day. Following that is my task list, which I either got done (check) or migrated forward (arrow). At the bottom of Wednesday, you can also see a few notes I wrote from a school tour. Also note the pink pen at the bottom of Monday, which has nothing to do with color coding. It was just the first pen my hand found.

IMG_2912.jpg

 

My school page. I went the extra fancy step of using TWO types of washi tape since I'll be referring back to it all year.

IMG_2910.JPG

 

ETA: You'll notice that I don't use this as my calendar. I have an integrated digital calendar for dh and I and I never use my BJ as a scheduler. Instead, I copy my daily calendar at the top of my day. My yearly and monthly spreads are for tasks, not events.

 

Save

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Thank you for sharing the pictures!

 

I'm not worried about getting things perfect, but I have had a hard time actually wrapping my kind around how to make this work and your examples are way more helpful to me than the pretty setups I have seen in tutorials.

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This has been an interesting thread. I read about bullet journals several years ago; they were intriguing, but seemed like too much for me to keep up with - I'd spend all my time setting it up and then get overwhelmed with my own organization scheme and abandon it.

 

I've kept a non-bullet journal for the past few years - very bare-bones - I just date and title each page. I start at the beginning of the notebook and go from there - so everything's in chronological order by default. I find things by remembering roughly what time of year I wrote them down. It's less a planning/task journal and more of a reading journal - I mostly use it to take notes and reflect on my reading, and for general musings and ideas. But I carry it with me everywhere and also use it to take more mundane notes - it functions as my everything journal. I keep my pen in the notebook at the next blank page - so I always have it, plus the pen functions as a bookmark. It bends the cover of the journal, but I just use 50 cent comp books, and they get banged up just from going everywhere with me anyway.

 

But this thread has inspired me to add an index to my next journal - I think that would be really useful. And maybe a future log and a books read log. When I started this thread, I thought there was no crossover between my reading journal and a bullet journal, but now I see how I could incorporate a few bullet journal ideas into what I already do that would be helpful.

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This has been an interesting thread. I read about bullet journals several years ago; they were intriguing, but seemed like too much for me to keep up with - I'd spend all my time setting it up and then get overwhelmed with my own organization scheme and abandon it.

 

I've kept a non-bullet journal for the past few years - very bare-bones - I just date and title each page. I start at the beginning of the notebook and go from there - so everything's in chronological order by default. I find things by remembering roughly what time of year I wrote them down. It's less a planning/task journal and more of a reading journal - I mostly use it to take notes and reflect on my reading, and for general musings and ideas. But I carry it with me everywhere and also use it to take more mundane notes - it functions as my everything journal. I keep my pen in the notebook at the next blank page - so I always have it, plus the pen functions as a bookmark. It bends the cover of the journal, but I just use 50 cent comp books, and they get banged up just from going everywhere with me anyway.

 

But this thread has inspired me to add an index to my next journal - I think that would be really useful. And maybe a future log and a books read log. When I started this thread, I thought there was no crossover between my reading journal and a bullet journal, but now I see how I could incorporate a few bullet journal ideas into what I already do that would be helpful.

This is pretty much my Bullet Journal based on the original video. I think the index and writing a monthly page are the only difference.

 

I don't set anything up ahead of time except leaving a few pages at the beginning for the index. Even the monthly overview doesn't happen until it is the first of the month and then I just flip to the next page.

 

Some of the online stuff called "bullet journal" seem, imo, to be more "make your own planner".

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My new pens and stencils arrived today!

 

I ordered the Huhuhero fine line drawing pens in 10 colors. They were inexpensive so I thought I would give them a try. I also ordered some BuJo stencils by Yalis. It's a nice set and I think I will use them. Lots of arrows, banners, shapes, etc. I can fit them into the back pocket of my Bujo or keep them in the bag with my colored pencils (which hardly ever get used since I can't draw).

 

I've been working on creating pages for savings, bill pay off, and exercise challenges for 2018. I do much better when I can see progress.

 

 

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I'm using this with books for collections (dot grid), a calendar, a commonplace book (lines), a sketchbook and a scribbles book (dot grid). My finances are in a pocket folder and my cards are in clear card case right beside it. I have a folder with upcoming important papers (tickets and brochures) and a clear zipper pocket for my phone if I'm running out. It's extremely malleable. There's more than listed but it's very small.

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I don’t really do a bullet journal, like the original videos. I don’t use colors and tapes and cute things. 

 

I have a hardcover Moleskine notebook that I use. I like to do a week at at time. I take one page and draw a column about 2 inches on the right side. Then I divide the larger section into 5, one for each day M-F. On the day section I jot down things that need to happen that day. Like if I need to remember to take something to co-op that I usually wouldn’t take. Or if I need to make a phone call or send an email on a specific day. in the right hand column I make a list with little squares to check off of all the things I need to do that week. If something doesn’t get checked off I do draw an arrow and then I know to carry it over the next week. 

 

I usually end up having a page just for Sat-Sun with tasks for the weekend. That’s because my weekly tasks are more things that I don’t feel the need to write down (go to work, exercise, teach kid). But the weekends are where I am more likely to have errands or unusual tasks to get done. 

 

I also use the back section for notes for specific things...like i just used it to make notes about some school planning for dd for January. Or I had Christmas ideas back there. 

 

Occasionally I make a page with bigger projects...like in January I want to do some major decluttering and I’ll make a list of areas to clean. I did that back in November for a major kitchen clean and reorganization. It helped me get it done when I could see each individual task and then check them off one a time rather than think “I have no time to do this massive job.†

 

I like that the hardcover makes it easy to slip in papers that I need. 

 

ETA: I also use a digital calendar that syncs with the rest of the family. So I don’t use the notebook as a long term calendar. I found doing monthly pages really wasn’t helpful to me and was just added work. I think I did it one month and then never again. 

Edited by Alice
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I seem to be posting a lot on this thread.  :)

 

I chose to stick with my spiral bound notebook that I began in Jan 2017. I had lots of fresh pages and challenges still in progress. I went through and determined where the blank pages were and used those for 2018 challenges and tracking. I'm actually quite content with it and am looking forward to filling it before moving on to the Leuchtturm1917. 

 

I created the Looking Forward half pages for each month as well as monthly pages to write down appts or unique occurrences.

 

I hope you enjoy your BuJo, Maize.

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I love a fresh start! Been working on some pages in anticipation of a new year to document.  I have pages to log movies seen, books read, and things like that. Habit tracker, spending log, the usual stuff. New this year is a place to write down the funny things my grandkids say/do. They love 1000+ miles away but dd and the oldest two are in touch every day and she's always telling me stuff they said or did and I wish I had started writing this down years ago. So this year I'm doing it. Looking forward to being able to re-read it when I'm missing those sweet kids. 

 

My bullet journal is a combination of pretty, colorful pages where I document things like books read and messy, cluttered, black and white nitty gritty day to day stuff.  I like it this way. It's pretty much how my life is...sometimes pretty and organized but other times cluttered and messy. 

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OP here...and I still have t taken my beautiful new journal out of the package to get started. I’ve thought so much about how I want to use my journal and now I’m scared I will mess it up. Ugh...

 

But today is the day. We have been so busy lately and there is really nothing planned for today. So I will finally get started with it.

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I love a fresh start! Been working on some pages in anticipation of a new year to document. I have pages to log movies seen, books read, and things like that. Habit tracker, spending log, the usual stuff. New this year is a place to write down the funny things my grandkids say/do. They love 1000+ miles away but dd and the oldest two are in touch every day and she's always telling me stuff they said or did and I wish I had started writing this down years ago. So this year I'm doing it. Looking forward to being able to re-read it when I'm missing those sweet kids.

 

My bullet journal is a combination of pretty, colorful pages where I document things like books read and messy, cluttered, black and white nitty gritty day to day stuff. I like it this way. It's pretty much how my life is...sometimes pretty and organized but other times cluttered and messy.

Oh...I love what you said in your second paragraph!!! I’m going to remember this as I work through my journal this year.

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Oh...I love what you said in your second paragraph!!! I’m going to remember this as I work through my journal this year.

It’s a good quote to put in the front cover, or at the top of your index page - someplace you’ll see it often to remind you to embrace the mess.

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<snip>

 

My bullet journal is a combination of pretty, colorful pages where I document things like books read and messy, cluttered, black and white nitty gritty day to day stuff.  I like it this way. It's pretty much how my life is...sometimes pretty and organized but other times cluttered and messy. 

 

I love this too.  

 

I don't keep a bullet journal as described in the original video by the creator, but I keep a notebook which is mostly related to reading.  So I'm a bit sporadic with it.  But it seems as I talk to people, read blogs about bullet journaling, etc., I have the impression that some people really want it to be pretty - suitable as a keepsake - but also usable as a day-to-day help.  I think embracing that it's not all going to be pretty all the time is a key to success. 

 

These threads are so fun for me to read, because I end up inspired.  I use super-cheap composition books which I cover with wrapping or scrapbooking paper.  I have about 30 pages left in the 2017 book, and am sick of the cover, but I'm going to keep using it till it's full, and start a new one then, rather than starting a new one now.  

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Love this thread!

 

I am setting up a new one today. I love my bullet journal that doesn't look much like a bullet journal lol. I have used one for about 18 months. But I use it my way, some things are too much for my probably-ADD brain. A brain dump notebook is probably a more accurate description. It goes everywhere with me. I joke (not really a joke) that it is my paper brain.

 

I don't use the index. That extra step of flipping the pages back got dropped after a few months. I just tend to remember where I wrote something, I am liking the coloured edges idea though. I keep a 4 colour pen with it and that's pretty much all I use, unless I can't find my pen so I use whatever is handy.

 

I also don't do the dot/cross/arrow thing, for the same reason that I don't write daily task lists - too much wasted time writing out the same thing every day!

 

I do like to put a calendar in the front so I can see dates at a glance. I can also highlight school terms and get a nice visual of the year.

 

I love to use it for school. I like to plan out a subject into lessons and have tick boxes down the side. Very simple, literally 3 columns: Lesson #, Lesson info (read pages x-z), tick. I don't even rule the column lines, I just free hand it. This is the single best planning tool I've ever found to keep me on track. It doesn't matter what day we do the lesson, I just tick it when we're done.

I would like to expand this idea to trackers but I am still thinking this through. I know from experience that if I make these lists too complex or detailed they don't get used.

 

I also use it for taking random notes. Phone call details. House building details. Book lists. These are scattered randomly as needed. Again, no index, but I seem to be able to find what I need. I try to start a new page if it's a completely new topic.

 

I also use it to copy scripture and quotes. I write these in cursive so they stand out and are easy to find.

 

Oh, it also has to have a cover. Something with pockets to store bits of paper. Not too many though, or I end up using the pockets and scraps of paper again instead of the actual notebook.

Edited by LMD
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