I had been toying with the idea of starting a bullet journal for a few months now (I think I first heard of it from Lily Pebbles), and I figured the beginning of a new year was the perfect time to start. I really dove head first here, watching tons of YouTube videos and pouring over Pinterest boards for inspiration. It's definitely a work in progress, and I'm still figuring out what's going to work for me and what isn't, but I was just too excited to share what I've been doing so far to wait until I had perfected it a bit more.
I first started in a notebook I already had on hand for a few days to make sure it was something I'd really want to do - I'd definitely recommend this before spending the money on more "official" supplies. Once I got hooked, I placed an order on Amazon for a Leuchtturm1917 dotted notebook (I got the medium size in navy blue, but there are a lot of colors available) and a set of Pigma Micron Pens (the set I got comes with 9 pens in different thicknesses including one with a brush tip). I already couldn't be happier and can really see myself sticking to this.
I started with the usual Index and Key pages. A lot of people then start out with a Year at a Glance page, but I just didn't think it would be useful to me. Instead, I liked the idea of combining the mini calendars into a Future Log - I got this idea from a Sunshine Sticker Co. YouTube video. Most I've seen only go six months ahead in the future log, but I went ahead and sketched out spaces for the whole year - I like that I can fill in birthdays for the year and any plans farther in advance. For example, my annual family vacation is in July, so I wanted to be able to write down those dates for when I got to take the time off of work. I figure if I run out of room in this notebook before I get to those later months, I can always carry those events over into a new one.
I really wanted a page to document ideas for blogposts as well as posts I've committed to write for brands. The "Blog Ideas" page is definitely a work in progress - I should have given more space to the Brandwork section and less space for the Waiting On section, but it's ok. And rather than stressing about leaving enough pages, I just left the one and am planning on just starting an identical page later in the notebook and marking it down in the index. If that ends up not working for me, I can always fix it when I get to a new notebok.
Along with a page for blogposts, I also wanted a page to keep track of any Instagram posts I've committed to. I've left a space for the Brand/product, as well as boxes to check off when I've taken the photo and when I've posted it. I also made a wishlist page to keep track of any products I'm wanting to save up for.
My next page is my monthly spread for the month of January - I just drew out a calendar with enough space to write in the boxes, and I also have some boxes on the right page for a To Do list and a Goals list. I really wanted to do a habit tracker, but I didn't want it to take up a whole page. So instead I just included it at the bottom of this monthly spread. So far this is really motivating me to keep up all of these habits. (Side note: I always play with Lilo whenever she's up for it, so I included that one more just to see if she really does want to play every day)
My favorite spread so far is this week's spread - I got the idea from this photo on Instagram. I liked the idea of tracking my sleep and water intake, but I'm already thinking I'm going to ditch these next week and replace it with a list of my expenses or something. I'm finding it's a bit of a pain to keep track of how much water I'm drinking, and I know it's more than enough, and I've been waking up at night thinking about how much sleep I'm getting. So those just might not be the best things to keep track of for me. I might not include the little weather forecasts either, as cute as they look, because I drew these up on Sunday and the forecast has already changed for the second half of the week.
The last page I have so far is a review page for the month of January (I left enough pages in between for the rest of my weekly spreads). This is also more of a trial run - I think I want to track more stats than just Instagram, Bloglovin, and Twitter followers in the coming months. I'm planning on using the "Loving" section to help me put together my Monthly Edit at the end of the month. I've started using the "Notes" section to keep track of a couple packages I'm waiting for, but maybe that's something I can include in my weekly spreads instead.
So there are definitely a few things I'm going to tweak as I go, but that's what I've really been loving about bullet journaling so far. I've never been able to stick to using a planner, but with something like this that's entirely my own where I can include whatever features I want/need, I definitely think it's something I'll stick to. I don't have many tips yet since I'm so new at it, but I'd definitely say look everywhere for inspiration if you're stuck, and start out sketching layouts in pencil first in case you don't like them. If you're too lazy to make super neat boxes in pencil like I was, just sketch out the corners of each box to get a feel for how they'll look.
Have you tried bullet journaling before? If you've done a post on it, please link it in the comments!
