Bullet journaling is a concept I hadn’t encountered until recently. Now I can’t imagine how I ever managed without it. I’ve always considered myself “a serial killer of lists.” I constantly scribble them out for every aspect of life. This includes groceries, ongoing projects, personal goals, and family plans. The lists seem endless. Bullet journaling has given me a way to corral that chaos. It turns scattered notes and ideas into an organized, creative system. This system tracks everything from daily tasks to long-term aspirations, all in one place. It’s like taming the wild sprawl of my mind onto the pages of a single, beautiful journal.
This bullet journal system is a complete way to keep all my lists together and a whole lot more. It is a yearly calendar. It keeps me on track for good habits I start as a New Year’s resolution. It helps with financial obligations and goals. It also helps me work more thoroughly on this blog.
What to purchase to get started.
I finally made a decision to do bullet journaling for an entire year. It didn’t take too long to decide. I went to my trusted Amazon account online. There were so many different journals to chose. In the end, I found Natural Cork Hardcover Bullet Journal with Dot Grid Notebook with Pen Loop. The pages are 120g thickness for no to less ghosting and there are 180 pages for one year of journaling.
I love to see all the beautiful drawings, doodles, graphs, and charts throughout Pinterest. I decided to get a set of beautiful Bullet Journal 18 Fine Point Colored Pens. They really complete my journaling experience. All in all my Amazon purchase only cost me less than $20.
You don’t have to invest in specialized supplies if you don’t want to. A simple lined spiral notebook you already have at home—or pick up on a back-to-school sale—works perfectly fine. It won’t be the traditional “bullet” style. You won’t have precision layouts and dotted pages. It still lets you organize your lists, goals, and ideas in one convenient place. The key is getting started, not the perfect notebook.
How to plan out your journal.
I bought my journal and pens, now what? My starting point turned out the be January 2019. You don’t have to start at the beginning of the year. Start journaling whenever you want. I am particular and always need to start at the beginning of the year, but that is just me.
I did not want to mess up my beautiful new book. So, I first jotted, on a separate paper, all the different lists I wanted in my journal. These included collections, trackers, and spreads. These things are personal to you, and yours can be different than mine. First, I knew I wanted to divide my bullet journal into yearly and monthly. You can have daily pages but that was going to be way too much for me to keep up with.
My yearly pages would consist of
entire year calendar
color key
random goals and ideas
books read
family savings and emergency fund tracker
finished craft projects
finished mountain cabin projects
amount of visits to the mountain cabin
blog social media follower tracker
My monthly pages would consist of
a monthly calendar
self–care and health daily tracker
good habit tracker
meal planner and new recipes to try out
Making your journal decorative and special.
I don’t have a single artistic bone in my body. My brain just doesn’t function that way I guess. But I wanted my bullet journaling to be visually appealing. I wanted it to look like all the other books I have seen on Pinterest. There are 36 pcs Bullet Journal Stencils purchase online or even at your local craft shop. The scrapbook section can give you lots of helpful tools with your bullet journaling.
My decision was to opt-out of purchasing any more items for this notebook. Instead, I found images on my tablet from the handy dandy internet that I wanted to use. A tablet provides the perfect light as it is lit up. It also serves as a flat surface to trace any images onto the pages. Later I colored or shaded in areas that I wanted of each picture. Boom! Cheap, fun, and easy way to decorate. Yes, it is kind of cheating, but I don’t mind that.
Bullet journals to work on in the future.
Our mountain cabin build started in 2018 and continues. Because of this, our homesteading work has come to an abrupt halt. We are slowing getting rid of our chickens, haven’t gardened or planted any new crops. I would love to start a sole homesteading journal or incorporating more homesteading things in my future journals. Keeping better track of outdoor chores, egg counts, garden planting, and harvesting would all be wonderful and helpful.
Terminology
A bullet journal, or {BuJo for short}, is a notebook made with a dot grid system. It keeps all your thoughts, ideas, goals, and work organized. This is done in a system of charts, graphs, trackers, and lists.
Key – a page dedicated to keeping up with all the colors and symbols you may use throughout your journal. I like mine to be at the beginning of my book.
Spread – refers to the actual pages you are designing. They can be a single page or double page. They can also be monthly, weekly, or daily. The content consists of anything you want on them.
Trackers – a specific habit, goal, or work you want to keep up with as you do them. These can be yearly, monthly, weekly or daily events. For example, I want to keep track of how much money I put into saving throughout the year. I have designated an entire sheet of paper in the journal. This helps me to keep track of my goal of $20,000 in savings by the end of the year. I can add to that page throughout the year.
Page breakdowns and examples
What is great about bullet journaling is that you can change up your journal as the year goes on. When I first started, I only wanted to include a few different attributes. These included my fitness goals, weight loss goals, a monthly calendar, and keeping up with our mountain homestead building progress. I started to work with it more. I realized I wanted to put in different things. Eventually, I decided not to include some things at all. Here are some pictures of what I like to use on a daily and weekly basis.
A reading log bookcase. This page is a pretty design to keep track of all the books I finish reading. The duration depends on how many books you read. It also depends on how many books you draw. This page can last you 6-12 months of personal tracking.
A mountain visit tracker. One of my personal favorites that track how many visits me and my family make to our family mountain land. When I make a solo trip, I draw a small pine tree. I draw a large tree for when the entire family comes with me. I hope to have a large forest drawn out when I am done.
My blog’s social media tracker.This page works great for a colorful follower tracker for this blog. It’s fun but informational to see if I am gaining more followers in certain social media outlets. This shows which ones I need to focus on.
Savings trackers. I am a saver and thus have two individual trackers for my two separate savings accounts. One is for a larger saving goal. It should not be touched. The other is for smaller things like car and home repair emergencies.
Reusable lists. Going to our mountain land and camping are regular trips for this family. I am always packing for them and sometimes forget to pack the most needed item. This list has saved me on a weekly basis.
Read more
List of great blog posts to find out more about bullet journaling.
