Since I peruse Pinterest on a fairly regular basis, I kept seeing pins about bullet journaling. It looked interesting mainly because of all the doodles and fancy fonts, so I decided to try it out. At any given moment I have about a million things going on in my head and I’m always jotting them down in various places. Plus, I have to keep up with all the regular daily life things – errands, cleaning, groceries, etc. I’ve tried different methods to keep up with all this and had settled on using a 3 ring binder with print outs. I actually had 3 binders for different things. This was okay, but not really working that well for me. Bullet journaling has changed the way I look at keeping up with all the stuff floating around in my head. I don’t follow the exact method listed when you look up bullet journaling – I do what works for me. Here’s how I started out, my thoughts on the process, and what I’ll be doing differently in the future.
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The Journal
I started out with a regular graph composition book because that’s what I had available. It was a leftover from school supplies needed and never used by my son. I didn’t want to invest a great deal in the journal until I knew if it was something I liked. I don’t like the darker blue grid lines in the one I currently use and there is too much bleed through from the pens. Since I’ve decided I love keeping up with all my “stuff” this way, I will be investing in a higher quality journal, like this one from Inkwell Press or this one by Northbooks. 
Setting Up Pages
I don’t follow the standard bullet journaling guidelines. I use what works for me and adjust as I go along. The biggest takeaway for me was the index page. Number your pages and then list what page everything is located on. Simply brilliant. It’s one of those things that seems so obvious, but I never thought to do. If you like the printout on my facing page, sign up for Elegance and Enchantment emails. She sends out a free printable download every Monday morning.
These pages contain an overall calendar for the year and all the important dates I like to remember.
This is a monthly calendar spread. I use different pen colors for different categories on my calendar. Some people that use bullet journaling like to have a key for what symbols and colors mean. I didn’t feel the need to do that.
I use the calendar pages to have an overview of the month. My daily pages are for noting what I need to do, what I hope to do, and what I did. It only has to make sense to me!
This is a larger view of my date title. I was filling in the blank spots in my letters, but it bleeds thru too much. Doodling little spacers is very stress relieving to me.
All the Extras
I like keeping lists and records of just about everything I do. Here are some of my slightly obsessive lists. I won’t show you all my craziness!
First up is the library. I still have much to add here because I’m an avid reader! Highlighted = read.
I listen to podcasts or watch Netflix while I’m doing chores and creating. I keep up with recommendations here and my thoughts on them. Websites I want remember go here too.
Crochet alongs and my progress. I have pages for quilt alongs too.
DIY project ideas.
This is supposed to be my health log area. I’m terrible at keeping up with this, as you can see!
A place to keep my measurements for sewing clothes.
Conclusion
I am in love with bullet journaling! Well, my version anyway. This is very freeing to me. I’ve tried for so long to use standard planners and I even designed my own pages – print for free here. Nothing has worked as well as this and here’s why:
- I can jot down what I want to on any page and find it easily with my index.
- Doodling helps clear my mind.
- A journal is more compact than a binder or some planners are.
- My ideas and schedule are in one place.
Some things I will change:
- Get a higher quality journal with a dot graph or very light grid.
- Get archival style pens. Currently I’m using Paper Mate felt tip pens. Not the greatest, just what was available.
- I think I’ll add tabs to the pages I use most, just to make it easier to find them.
My journal may not be “pinterest” ready, but I’ve finally found something that really works for me. That’s worth my weight in gold and we won’t say how much that is! How do you keep up with your daily ins and outs? Are you a persnickety list keeper like me or do you just wing it? I’d love to hear about it the comments below!
