I discovered bullet journaling just over a year ago, and I knew immediately it was something I needed. I am now a stay-at-home mom, but previous to that, I taught for ten years. That meant I had a schedule and a routine, and sticky notes all over my desk to keep track of my to-do list. When I stopped teaching, I lost that built-in organization. Enter bullet journaling to save the day!
If you're not familiar with bullet journaling, you can check out the official website here. There are some standards, but basically you create the organizational system that works for you. Over the months, I've played around with my weekly and monthly setups, and I'm pretty happy with what I'm working with now. I love seeing the bullet journals of people who spend hours creating their spreads, but I am not that person. I spend about an hour and a half at the beginning of the month setting the whole month up, and then I'm good to go. I do like fun pens and pretty colors, but I keep things pretty simple. Without my bullet journal, I would only get a fraction of things done that I am able to get done now.
In honor of completing one year of bullet journaling, I thought I would share how I set up a typical month.
If you're not familiar with bullet journaling, you can check out the official website here. There are some standards, but basically you create the organizational system that works for you. Over the months, I've played around with my weekly and monthly setups, and I'm pretty happy with what I'm working with now. I love seeing the bullet journals of people who spend hours creating their spreads, but I am not that person. I spend about an hour and a half at the beginning of the month setting the whole month up, and then I'm good to go. I do like fun pens and pretty colors, but I keep things pretty simple. Without my bullet journal, I would only get a fraction of things done that I am able to get done now.
In honor of completing one year of bullet journaling, I thought I would share how I set up a typical month.
This is my monthly spread. It's a lot simpler than it was when I started out! The calendar on top gives me an overview of events for the month. The to-do list are bigger projects I want to complete during the month, and I refer back to it when I'm setting up my weekly spread.
This is my daily tracker. I used to have a whole grid and about 15 items I was trying to accomplish each day. Eventually I realized I was coloring in squares just so I wouldn't break my streak, even if I hadn't quite accomplished the goal that day. Kind of takes away the point. So in June, I switched the this style. If I complete the goal that day, I color the number. If I don't, oh well. At least I'm honest now. :)
This is my weekly spread. On each day, I write events happening that day, as well as my to-do list for the day. The bottom section is for meal planning and areas to clean during my Ten Minute Tidy time. The facing page is blank. Each night, I write down several things that happened during the day that I want to remember (usually cute stuff my kid did).
So that's how I keep myself sane and organized! Anyone else out there keep a bullet journal? What works for you?
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