Like really really basic…
Bullet Journals are these idealized items of organizational goals. Instagram accounts dedicated to luscious spreads that bring in each new month with collages,fancy pens, and amazing calligraphy. Each layout is shown with perfect handwriting outlining a goal for the month. I’ve gushed over accounts like bohoberry and Tiny Ray of Sunshine wanting desperately to emulate their style and have journals that colorful and thoughtfully planned out.
Who wouldn’t want to dutifully track each penny they’ve spent or log how much water they’re drinking everyday, while the page is surrounded in gorgeous hand drawn art and motivational quotes. Sure I’ve had my months where I’ve put down a habit tracker and vowed to track my mood, my time exercising, and how much I’ve drank, but it always sort of breaks apart. Some months I can get through about 80% of tracking before I stop updating. Other months I don’t have a lot going on so I don’t really need to make sure I’m on top of things.
In having a bullet journal I’ve had to learn more about myself and what I actually need. I’ve also had to let go of the notion that it needs to be super fancy and Instagram worthy, because in the end it’s not about that. It’s about only having what you need on each page and being okay with making mistakes and being okay with having large chunks of time where you don’t need the journal. I’ve had months skipped or pages started in the middle of the month. The journal is a tool for you to use and you get to use it however you want.
Physical Tools
All you need for a bullet journal is the blank journal itself and a pen. That’s it.
For the journal itself there are different types of page layouts, like a grid layout, dotted, blank, lined… It’s up to you. Personally, I like using a dotted layout and it’s the basis of Bullet Journal’s official bullet journal. You don’t need to get this exact journal, usually just picking based on page layout and how well it takes the ink is good. Plenty of articles have already been written about different notebooks and their pros and cons, so just pick whatever feels and look good for you.
If you want to get fancy then you can get into pens, rulers, washi tape and stickers. This is all for you to decorate your bullet journal however you want.
For me, different color pens are a great way to separate different types of information quickly as well as helping with decorations. Using this color pen for the title while another color is used for work related items and another color is for personal items. You can easily get lost in the world of pens, trying to figure out types of ink and nibs and blah blah blah. It’s all good and interesting but starting off you can just go simple. Daiso/Dollar Stores have a decent range of color ballpoint pens for cheap, though personally I like Muji’s range of click-y gel pens.
Another popular tool is washi tape which can be used for decoration and information. What is washi tape? Basically, it’s fancy masking tape, though technically it’s a type of paper from Japan. This fancy masking tape comes in a lot of different designs and you can use it in many many ways. Mainly, I use it at the edges of pages with specific information I want to get to quickly, like month layouts or recipes I want to revisit. I’ve also used it to decorate blank spaces, cover up mistakes, tape in postcards, and underline titles because I have collected some really cute tapes. I’ve seen other spreads where the tape is used to separate information in months. Stickers are similar in use and decoration. There are specific ones being sold for days of the week or to help with pointing out information, but I mainly use mine to cover up mistakes and decoration.
Lastly, a small ruler is nice if you want information to be neatly laid out, but that’s sort of why dotted journals or grids are there for you to loosely layout your spreads. Up to you!
Page Spreads
Okay, so this is the meat of bullet journals, the spreads themselves. There’s a lot of different questions to ask yourself when it comes to setting up your journal.
How organized do you want to be? What information do you need to review and keep in mind for the year, months, weeks, days to come? How much time do you have to review your journal?
For students deciding this information can be pretty easy. When assignments are due, what classes to go to when, when certain readings need to be done, making sure there’s a bit of social time, etc. I won’t be reviewing that since I haven’t had any experience with it, but the internet has plenty of articles about different spreads specific for study.
Think of the beginning of each month spread as going from broad information to then transitioning into spreads that get more specific. For me, the month layout is the one that I try to do consistently. In my journal I do a 7x7 dot grid, four boxes on one page and three boxes on the other for each day of the week. From there I look at my Google Calendar to put in information. Yes, I use a digital calendar as well. A digital calendar is very important to me to keep track of things when my journal isn’t handy, being able to get phone reminders of events, and planning for months ahead. My brain works the best when I have a digital reminder as well as a physical reminder.
I use the extra space around the calendar for goals for the month or extra information I need to keep in mind. In the past I’ve used the space for very simple habit trackers and anything not filled gets stickers!
Depending on what I need to keep track of I have different weekly layouts; if I need one. There’s the hourly week layout I use when I have to see the week by the hour, side by side. Specific events I need to get to at certain times, blocking out time during the day to chip away at a project, and being able to easily see when I have free time.
Then there’s the general one where I just need to see the week more specifically and have a few things I need to get done. This general one is new and not really my favorite way to see the week, but I gave it a try and it might be more helpful to you!
The last layout, I kind of consistently use, is a daily layout. This is where you can get really specific, write things out for the hour, or even literally journal down your feelings.
Most bullet journal articles will tell you that this is the layout is part of a nightly ritual. This is where you review what you did that specific day and then write out what is going to be happening for the day ahead.
There are custom keys you can write down that can keep track of what item is an event vs task vs note. Then you can migrate any tasks not done to another day. There’s also Future Logging, Habit Trackers, Food Trackers, Anxiety Trackers, Mood Trackers, Spending Trackers, basically you can track and log a bunch of things. They’re awesome if you have specific goals or have the energy to keep track of things, but they aren’t necessary. The official Bullet Journal site has a good starting point for how to keep track of things.
What do you think?
Bullet journals are whatever you make them out to be, whatever you need them to be. Be gentle with yourself as you use it, be okay with starting something and not needing to finish it. Make mistakes and let your needs dictate what it is for you.
So what will you use it for?