In December, I posted about my switch to a bullet journal and the stats to this little blog went through the roof thanks to that one post. There are a lot of you that are switching to a bujo (bullet journal’s nickname) or are just curious about how others set up theirs. I know I am! I love scrolling though IG and seeing all your pages! They inspire me. 🙂

I thought I would do an updated post since I started a new notebook for 2016. I was going to  use the same one since it wasn’t finished but I couldn’t resist a fresh start with a new year.

Before I dive into sharing my set up, please keep a few things in mind.

Stop Apologizing

It’s okay not to decorate. I don’t know how many times I have heard “I want to use a bullet journal but I am not creative” or “I use a bullet journal but it is very plain.” Stop apologizing for that! It’s fine! Plain can be beautiful. The original bullet journal is not decorated at all. I consider mine more of a bujo hybrid – taking the main aspects of a bullet journal and creatively making it my own. The main thing to consider – is it functional?? If you are stressing out over how to decorate it, then DON’T. Keep it simple!!

If It Depresses You, Look Away

Along that same line, if looking at all the artistic bullet journals on Pinterest is depressing you because you can’t draw a straight line, let alone a stick figure, then stop looking! It’s like a couple years back when I was browsing through some mom blogs and it was depressing because these moms looked like models, their saintly kids in hand stitched clothes (who didn’t know what dirt was) were gleefully helping mom in their garden so she could whip up an organic meal after homeschooling them all. Meanwhile I was sitting in front of the computer with sweats and a stained shirt, a garden of dead plants, crayon marks on the walls, pants that were hemmed with iron-on tape, pizza guy on speed dial and my kid just walked by and wiped his runny nose on my pant like I was a human tissue. I finally had to step away from those blogs and accept the fact that wasn’t me.

Eventually, I got my act a little more together and improved in many areas (even if I still can’t sew) and I’ve accepted that I have my weaknesses but I also have my talents too. I still  drool over some of the artwork and hand lettering I see on IG but I don’t despair. Instead, I get inspired. I do what I know, practice what I don’t and keep moving forward. So if looking at all the pretty depresses you, stop looking.

It’s More than Pens and Washi

And on the opposite end, if drawing or decorating come easy to you, go for it! Just make sure you are using the journal and not just wasting all your time making it pretty. (She said to herself.) 😉

You’re Gonna Mess Up

Your bullet journal will never be “perfect.” It is like nails on a chalkboard to me, but I have to accept that I mess up. My journal has mistakes. Or I wish I arranged it a little differently. But I’ll live and it still works.

Brainstorm First

If you are starting a new journal (or even a new month), I recommend sitting down and brain storming about what you’d like to have in your planner. Will you have lists? Trackers? Goals? Logs? Then decide how you’d like to arrange the pages – lists first? Or at the end? Or just add them as you go long?  Get a general idea but don’t overthink it. Next just jump in and give it a try. You will learn what works great and what was a waste of time. The next month, adjust accordingly.

So in a nutshell:

Brainstorm first. Start simple. Learn as you go. Accept your abilities. Embrace imperfection.Have fun getting things done.

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Okay, now for the tour.

I started a new book in January. I use a Leuchtturm 1917, which already has an index and numbered pages.

Opening Overview

Index/ Table of Contents

Legend / Key

6 Month Overview

2 Month Interval

I break my yearly goals into smaller bi-monthly goals. So for March/April I decide what I wanted to work on and what projects I wanted to get done. That info is kept in this section.

One of my March projects.

Monthly Section

Month cover pages for January and February. This is where I get to practice new designs. It’s not exactly what I had in my head but it’ll do.

I was actually pleased with this one. I feel like my doodling is slowly getting better.

Monthly Challenges – In this section I add the challenges I want to participate in.

In January I did the #ptldoodle challenge. I skipped it in February but am doing it again in March.

In February I did the #InCoWriMo Letter Writing Challenge

Some of the monthly challenges I’m doing in March – #planwithmechallenge, #rockyourhandwriting, #listersgottalist and #holylens. Sometimes I’ll skip days or I’ll do 4 days at once to catch up but it is still a fun activity.

Monthly Trackers

January Goal Tracker

In January, I made a cute tracker will color codes. It was fun at first but it got too complicated to implement it each night.  In February I skipped it all together. But I missed being able to look back and see how I progressed.

I brought it back in March but did a modified version without the color codes and all the drawn lines. It’s less pretty but pretty is useless if it doesn’t work. This way, in less than a minute, I can review and mark it off at night. Although, I think next month I’ll just put an X instead of coloring in the box.

Fitbit Tracker

Blogging Tracker

I write upcoming posts in pencil and once it is posted, I write the post in pen.

Gratitude Log for January

Gratitude Log for March

No matter how tough a day I am having, I write down two things I am especially thankful for that day. It helps me stay positive and grateful for my blessings.

Spending Log

Current Month Calendar and Dailies

I don’t like the vertical monthly list normally used in a bullet journal. My eyes and brain need to see a traditional monthly calendar to process quickly so I improvised.

My New Weekly Layout

I tried a new layout I for the first time this week. It is a weekly spread. I wanted an overview to see what my weekly appointments looked like. I added my menu, prayer intentions, blog ideas to work on and a section for my weekly brain dump. If I find that I need more room for the brain dump, I’ll delete the blog section next time.

On Sunday evenings I usually do a weekly brain dump. I jot down everything that has been floating around in my head. Once that is done I go over the list and assign specific days to do that item. Some tasks don’t need to be done on a specific day so I add an arrow and fit them in on days when I have a little more free time to tackle them.

Sample Dailies

My daily sheets are fairly simple but it works well for me. I have my tasks on top. Schedule to the right. Sometimes I’ll take a full page for a day. Sometimes I will fit two days.

When I’ve been sick, haven’t been able to journal or for the weekend, I’ll often just lump the days together and make note of anything important.

Since the weekends are mostly for family time I’ll sometimes record memories or funny things the kids say.

Or I’ll add the memory to the bottom of my daily page.

Future Planning

The one thing I missed about a traditional planner was having calendars of the entire year to keep track of future events and appointments. To make up for this, I made simple calendars that I cut out and washi taped to the last pages of my BuJo. As the months pass I can remove the paper calendar easily with the washi and still use the blank page for writing.

If you’d like to print out a PDF copy of the calendar, I placed them in a file on Google Drive. Enjoy.

2016 Master Bujo

Another thing I set up differently this month is that I decided to keep a separate bujo for year long lists and logs. It is my 2016 Master Bujo. In it I keep master lists such as these.

2016 Yearly Goals

Books to Read

Log of Books I Read

Movies to Watch

Log of Movies Watched (I will go back and rate the movies with stars.)

TV Shows to Check-out

Words to Ponder (Favorite Quotes)

Pen Pal Info

A master blog list with all my posts of 2016.

I also have a section with important notes/ info that I will need later that I want in a central location. There are more lists coming (including medical stuff, car maintenance, local places to visit) but this is what I have so far.

* * * * *

For more inspiration and ideas about bullet journaling, check out Tina’s Bullet Journal Pals page. She also does monthly list of bullet journal related links. Here is the Feb 2016 List.

I also started a separate IG account for bullet journaling, monthly challenges, snail mail, etc. Find me @bobbis_bujo.

Next week (or the week after, depending on life) I’ll do a follow up post about my favorite bullet journal accessories – pens, pen holders, washi, tabs for dividing sections, etc.

How about you? Do you use a bullet journal? What is your favorite layout or list? Or your best piece of bullet journaling advice? Do share. 🙂

UPDATE – Since I’ve been reading so much lately, I started a separate Reading Journal.

To read other planner posts, visit here.

Blessings to you!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd, or Spotify, 😉

PPS – Disclaimer: “Revolution of Love.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.”

In other words, if you click on my affiliated links and make a purchase, I get a small compensation that goes towards keeping the blog online. Big hugs to those who click and help support the blog! xoxo 🙂

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In my post with tips on choosing the right planner, I mentioned that I switched to a bullet journal. Here’s the story of why.

At the beginning of October I did a my big yearly post about my Erin Condren planner. I loved it! However, I was also taking Mystie Winckler’s course  Work the Plan and in it she talked a lot about the bullet journal. The journal/ planner was created by Ryder Carroll as…

“A customizable and forgiving organization system. It can be your to-do list, sketchbook, notebook, and diary, but most likely, it will be all of the above. It will teach you to do more with less.”

Imagine it as a catch all for numerous post it, lists, notes and ideas floating around in your world.

It sounded intriguing so I watched Ryder’s video and visited his website BulletJournal.com.

It was super impressive but I wasn’t convinced to switch. It sounded slightly complicated and it was so black and white… and plain. You know me, I need color and a little pizzazz in my planner or I lose interest.

It was back to my Erin Condren and Mystie’s course. I loved making goals and smaller workable tasks towards those goals but I realized the course was set up a heck of a lot like Ryder’s bullet journal. I started to see how the bullet journal could really work in my life right now. I also loved the idea of having everything in one place because it was bugging me that I had so many different notebooks, journals and pages of random notes that were all over. The appeal of having everything in one convenient spot was winning me over.

I started searching Pinterest for Bullet Journal inspiration and I realized that the BuJo (nickname for the bullet journal) doesn’t have to strictly follow the system that worked for Ryder. You can adapt it and make it your own. This was best exemplified by blogger Kara of BohoBerry.com. Looking though her beautiful artistic pages, I realized that the BuJo could be a great source of life organization AND an expression of creativity. Frankly, she sold me. I decided to give the bullet journal a two month trial. From Nov 1 – Dec 31 I would use the bullet journal. If I liked it, it would be my 2016 system. If I didn’t like it, I would pull my EC planner back out.

Setting Up My Bullet Journal

A bullet journal can easily be done in an inexpensive notebook, although the most popular notebooks are either a Moleskin or Leuchtturm 1917.  Kara has a great comparison post about the Moleskine vs Leuchtturm. Although I have no idea how to pronounce it, The Leuchtturm was my choice for these reasons:

• Hard colorful cover
• Choice of lined, graphed or dotted pages
• Acid-free paper that was slightly thicker than the Moleskin
• Numbered pages (love that!)
• 3 pages for an Index/ Table of Contents
• An elastic closure
• A book marker (some say 2 book markers but mine only has 1)

I love my Leuchtturm.

First I set up my legend or key. This is how I would label my daily tasks and notes.

Next I wrote out my yearly goals.

My 6 month overview has upcoming dates.

Next is my two-month Interval page. This is where I break down my yearly goals into small bite size tasks I want to work on over the next two months.

During my Interval, I have 2-3 Projects I want to accomplish. Since it is the holiday season, my projects were things that would help me prepare for our annual Thanksgiving trip to visit family and Disneyland and to prepare for Advent and Christmas.

Monthly View

In the bullet journal the monthly view is supposed to look something like this:

But I really don’t like the layout. My mind needs to see a traditional calendar in order to quickly process what is on the page. So I “cheated” and drew my own calendar. However, that is the beauty of the BuJo. It’s not really cheating because you can adapt it to suit your needs.

November view.

Some one asked me what the “12.2.3” represents each weekday. It is simply the school pickup times for my kids. Between the four of them, they are on three different schedules. (I spend a lot of time driving back and forth.) 😉

December view.

Daily Pages/ Nightly Review

Some people like to do their planner review in the morning before the day starts. Since I’m not a morning person, all my energy in the morning is focused on simply getting myself out of bed, ready and my four kids fed and off to school by 7:40 AM. Yeah, a morning planner review if not happening. For me, an evening review after all the kids are tucked in bed and kissed good night, the dishes are done and the next day’s lunches are made…this is my me time to unwind.

I grab my cute little square tote (that I found at the Target dollar section for $3) and my LapDesk (similar to this one) and sit on the couch to start my evening ritual.

For the last couple of months I’ve been trying to spend about 5-10 minutes in prayer and make an examination of conscience. I think about the things I want to improve and thank God for the blessings of the day, often adding 3 things I’m grateful for each night in my bullet journal.  (During Advent I have a separate prayer journal for my nightly exams and prayers of thanks. After Advent it will go back into my BuJo.) Ending the day with gratitude really helps me keep things in proper perspective.

Usually by now it is 9 PM and Brian joins me on the couch. He usually reads a little while I work on my planner then we relax to watch a favorite show.

I look over my bullet journal and review my day. I mark off what I have done and decide if the unfinished tasks should be moved to another day or deleted. I add any other notes of the day (such as online purchases). I also check the notes app on my iPhone for any notes I jotted down while on the run and transfer them to my planner.

On Mondays I have the week’s meals listed. If I don’t assign a day, I at least write six meals that I can make that week.

I don’t usually have Tasks lists on the weekends since it is mostly family time. Instead I add notes about what we did or memories I want to remember.

Many evenings I also enjoy participating in the ListersGottaList.com daily challenge. Saturday’s prompt was – What were your favorite Christmas gifts? I used to keep these lists in a traveler’s notebook but now they are kept here.

On Sunday evenings I do a weekly brain dump. I jot down everything that has been floating around in my head. Once that is done I go over the list and assign specific days to do that item. Some tasks don’t need to be done on a specific day so I add an arrow and fit them in on days when I have a little more free time to tackle them.

Once I review my current day, I make the label for the upcoming day. I write the day’s schedule, household tasks if I’m going to be home that day and any blog tasks I need to work on. I also write any tasks from that week’s brain dump assigned to that day and any other things I need to do or remember.

One of the great things about the bullet journal is it’s flexibility. Last week I was sick on Wednesday and Thursday and did not do an evening review. So Friday morning (after the kids were in school) I added the dates and noted that I was sick and anything else significant I wanted to remember, including a quote from my morning devotion. Some days take a full page and some days only 1/2. It doesn’t matter and I love that.

Other Random Pages

The bullet journal is the perfect spot to keep lists – books I wan to read, movies I want to see, recipes to try, blogs/websites to visit, local places I’d like to see during a staycation, etc. I also keep notes on podcasts or periscopes that are especially helpful.

The BuJo also works well for keeping track of blog posts and keeping a list of blogging ideas.

In December I decided to make a goal chart for my daily goals. I thought a nightly visual would help me to keep my goals in mind instead of getting lost in the shuffle of the day.

The things you can add to your bullet journal are endless!

Future Calendar

The one thing I missed about my Erin Condren is having calendars of the entire year. I liked having visuals in a traditional calendar format of upcoming events. This was especially helpful at school meetings when we needed to quickly review over upcoming events.

To make up for this, I made simple calendars that I cut out and washi taped to the last pages of my BuJo. As the months pass I can remove the paper calendar easily with the washi and still use the blank page for writing.

If you’d like to print out a PDF copy of the calendar, I placed them in a file on Google Drive. Enjoy. 🙂

Favorite Pens

Everyone has their favorite pens. The Staedtler Triplus Fineliner Pens are a favorite of mine but when I am using my bullet journal I really need the ability to erase.  I used to only use pencil in my planners until I found Pilot Frixion pens! At first I bought the smaller Pilot Frixion Colors Erasable Marker – 12 Color set because they were less expensive and I wasn’t sure if I would like them or not. I kept envisioning those erasable ball point pens that were popular when I was in grade school – the were smudgy and made a mess. However, these Frixion pens did not smudge at all. The only way they erases is with the special eraser at the top of the pen or you could purchase an extra eraser separately.

I loved the pens but I didn’t check the size and they wrote a little thick. (See sample 1.) I went back to Amazon and purchased the Pilot Frixion Erasable Gel Ink Pens, 0.7mm, Assorted Colors, 24/Pack. Although it was more expensive I knew it would be worth it because they were exactly what I was looking for. (See sample 2.)

For on the go writing, I use the Pilot Frixion Ball Knock 4-Color Gel Ink Multi-Pen and hook onto the elastic band of m bullet journal.

UPDATE (12/22/15): I want to add a note about the Frixion Pens. One of the sweet ladies from the FB group Bullet Journal Junkies just warned me that the ink can disappear in extreme heat. (The heat caused by the friction of the eraser is what removes the ink.) Supposedly it can be brought back if placed in the freezer. Sooo while I still love my pens and it doesn’t get very hot where I live, I may or may not switch back to the Staedtler Triplus Fineliner Pens. Sigh. #firstworldproblems

UPDATE: (1/10/16): I didn’t want to fill my instagram feed with bullet journal posts so I started a second IG account just for that. You can find me @bobbis_bujo.

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Well, I think that is plenty to share for now. Hopefully it gave you an overview and maybe a little inspiration. 🙂

Do you use a bullet journal? What kind of things do you keep in it? Any tips for a newbie? 🙂

UPDATE – My new bullet journal post is here: How I Use My Bullet Journal – Spring 2016 Update

To read other planner posts, visit here.

Blessings to you!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Periscope or Katch (past Periscopes), GoodReads, Letterboxd, or Spotify, 😉

PPS – Disclaimer: “Revolution of Love.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.”

In other words, if you click on my affiliated links and make a purchase, I get a small compensation that goes towards keeping the blog online. Big hugs to those who click and help support the blog! xoxo 🙂

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