Setting Up My Bullet Journal
No way was I going to buy into spending hours on a planner or worrying about pens that would bleed through the paper. No way. Uh-uh. I was sticking to my faithfully giant and bulky Franklin Covey 2-page a day planner and I was going to love it forever.
And then I heard about bullet journals.
Sigh.
In all fairness, bullet journals are the perfect blend of everything perfect about paper. They’re a tool for organizing, an outlet for creativity, and a blank slate for all of the jumble that tumbles out of my mind on a daily basis. I can make it what I want, doodle and draw as much as I want, and create any page I can think up. See? Perfection.
Meet my January 2017 Bullet Journal. I haven’t named her yet, but I’ve been noodling some names in my mind for the last few days. Sad, I know. She’s bright, cheerful, and wonderfully yellow – not to mention she has grid paper. She’s an official Leuchtturm1917. *swoon*
(Warning: The pictures are pretty big, but I’ve blurred out the words to protect the innocent – and my job. But you get the gist of it.)
The Leuchtturm1917 comes with a built in Index, so I’ve just used that. I did add a key though, because I kept forgetting what my symbols meant.
Next comes my yearly spread and future planning combo. I know it’s not part of the original bullet journal set-up, but for me, this is what’s working this month. I may change it in the next one, but we’ll see. I have all 12 months planned out – two per page
After that I have my goals for 2017 and our favorite meals. Obviously, the pictures were taken before I started filling any of it out. I have goals for the year – honest!
After that comes a couple of blank pages that I intentionally left open for a book log and a Soul Food (Bible verses) page. Next up is the garden of gratitude page and my cleaning schedule. I have the DC (Daily Clean) at the top and then the focus areas underneath.
Flip the page and you’ll find my Fitness Log for the month. I’m doing a squat and step challenge this month in addition to my regular workouts, so I’m tracking those in the lower part of each box.
Up next is a weight tracker and my mileage tracker. I’m not really going to Rehoboth Beach – it was just a random location.
Pages 18 and 19 are my monthly habit tracker and my IG challenge tracker.
Up next is my monthly overview spread followed by my weekly and daily spreads. They’re filled out a bit too much right now to show you, but I’ll take some pictures when I do February’s to give you an idea of what I use.
Do you have a bullet journal? I’d love to know which pages you can’t live without and which ones you’ve ditched along the way!