What will you Need to Start a Bullet Journal in 2023?

Essential stationery supplies for bullet journaling.

5 min readDec 17, 2022

With New Year just around the corner, I’m sure a lot of you are planning to try out (or get back to) bullet journaling. And naturally, you might be wondering what supplies will you need.

Seeing all the artsy BuJos online could be extremely overwhelming. Does that mean that to start bullet journaling you now must go out and buy tons of pens, markers, stickers, and washi tapes? Maybe even order a whole bullet journaling kit?

Definitely not.

The only two things you need to start a Bullet Journal are a notebook and a pen.

But what kind of notebook? What type of pen?

If you’re just starting out — anything will do. I’m sure you have at least one blank notebook and a simple ballpoint pen at home. This is more than enough. Bullet journaling is all about the system and its adaptability, not the stationery you use.

That being said, there are some stationery products that could make your whole experience a little more pleasant… As someone who has been bullet journaling for 6 years, I’ve found my absolute favorites and now I will gladly share them with you.

Notebook

When I first started bullet journaling, I had a blank paged Moleskine notebook at hand, so that’s what I used. And pretty soon learned a few things:

Blank pages are not a great option because to have at least decently tidy spreads you’ll need to use a ruler constantly. Choosing dotted or even squared-paged notebooks makes bullet journaling much easier.
The thickness of the pages matters a lot. If the pages are very thin, any pen you try using will inevitably feather and bleed through making the whole experience nerve-racking. I suggest using at least 80 GSM paper (I personally opt for 160 GSM).
A5 notebooks are considered the golden standard for bullet journaling and that’s also the size I find most comfortable to use.

In 6 years of bullet journaling, I’ve tried many different notebooks.

My favorite notebooks for bullet journaling

You can’t really go wrong choosing any of these notebooks since they all come with premium dotted paper, elastic bands, back pockets, ribbon bookmarks, and pen loops.

However, these notebooks differ in their additional features, like page numbering or pre-made pages (e.g. index and color code) as well as in the color of the paper (from creamy to stark white) — so just choose whichever feels right for you.

What about the original bullet Journal notebook— Leuchtturm 1917?

It was a good upgrade from Moleskine, however, the pages are still too thin for me. With only 80 GSM paper they don’t feather and bleed through as much but the ghosting to the other side is pretty intense with most pens.

Pen

You might have noticed that most bullet journals out there are written in black ink. It’s like this unwritten rule. Of course, it doesn’t mean that you can’t write in blue or any other color you like! And if you’re just starting out, the color of your pen should be the least of your concerns anyway.

However, I must admit that black ink just looks very aesthetic.

After many trials, my pens of choice for bullet journaling are Sakura Pigma Micron fineliners. I love that they come in many different sizes (as someone with very small handwriting I really appreciate thin nibs) and dry super fast (which means they don’t smudge).

And if I don’t have Sakura Pigma Microns at hand, I simply opt for any black gel pen that has a thin nib and doesn’t skip too much when writing.

My main criterion for a pen (besides being black-inked) is that its nib should be very thin.

Colors

There might come a time when you’ll need to introduce some color to your BuJo. Whether you’ll want to color in the habit trackers or color code your collections — the dilemma of colorful pens will arise. So here are my top choices!

Tombow Dual Brush Pens

If I’d be forced to choose only one colorful stationery product for my BuJo, these would definitely be it. They have a flexible brush tip perfect for coloring and calligraphy, as well as a fine tip for writing. But the most attractive part is the colors. There are like a million of them and they come in gorgeous light pastel tones that so many of the other brands lack.

I love that you can buy these individually as well as in packs. I’ve hand-picked most of mine.

Budget-friendly alternative — Crayola Supertips

This is a super affordable alternative to Tombow Dual Brush pens (which tend to be pricey) and a perfect choice for beginners. These pens come in every color you could possibly need + you could use them for calligraphy.

I have a 50-pack and it’s more than enough for me.

Zebra Pen Mildliners

If you’re more of a highlighter person, then these are probably one of the best choices out there. They are double-sided, so you’ll be able not only to highlight but also to write in them. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they look very aesthetically pleasing too!

Have in mind, that pastel ones are rather fluorescent. However, there are many other lovely colors to choose from!

MUJI Gel Ink Ballpoint Pens

These are for all my fellow gel pen lovers out there. Although the grip of these pens is not the most comfortable, I love that they are perfectly thin for daily writing (not merely for headers like most colorful pens).

My top choice when I want to write in other color than black.

Sakura Gelly Roll Pens

The last item on my list is more traditional gel pens. They come in many many many different colors + glittery options, and honestly, they just make me very happy. Whenever I get to use them, I feel excited like a child.

And that’s it! Hopefully, this list will help you choose the best supplies and make the start of your bullet journalling journey a very exciting one :)