My intro to Bullet Journaling

With the turn of the New Year all those weeks ago, I took on the hobby of Bullet Journaling! Having tried this before, and failed miserably, mainly due to what I now believe was simply, aiming too high! This time around, I went and bought a book! I know right - scrap the good old internet, and buy an actual book!! It worked though. This book How to Bullet Plan by Rachel Wilkerson Miller, is a beginner's guide to the pages involved in setting up and running a productive Bullet Journal. I started by reading through the book, and did so in just two days! It's definitely worth a read if you're planning to start up your own - or even if you have already started and are maybe struggling to get into the flow of it...

So, I went out and bought myself a fancy dotted journal from Paperchase and a posh pen that wasn't going to bleed through the pages and got to work. I dug out my stash of coloured pens crayons, washi tape and sticky notes and got to work. This time around my motto was easy - keep it simple!

My first set of washi tapes were a bit bright - not something that is easy to get your hands on in the UK - so I set about on the internet and ordered some prettier ones to use in the future! I even left some gaps to go back and add them to!








Using my book for reference, I set up the beginning of my journal with the obvious, year planner, new year's resolutions, goals, trackers and what not, then the fun began. I designed my weekly pages to be used daily in order to keep me on track. Since the first week of the year, my weekly layout has altered many times, as I adapt it each week to try and ensure that it is fulfilling its main objective! What began as a simple to do list, has since been split into two lists - one for personal tasks and one for my writing goals each week! I use these lists to plan out what tasks I want to achieve each day, taking into account other things which my be happening that day - like appointments or shifts at work. This is proving to keep me on task and to get things done in a timely manner. At the weekend, I put some time aside to plan my next week - I have a small calendar that I have pre planned dates on to do with my writing, deadlines, publishing dates, blog posts etc, which I use to put those plans into my weekly to do lists, I also have a calendar on my phone which has my shift pattern on for work, plus personal appointments, and I have a wall calendar in the kitchen which holds anything related to my other half, birthdays, the kids and anything else which crops up and gets scribbled on there. Using all of these tools and some women's magic to squeeze it all in around house chores, cooking, visiting family and binge watching my favourite TV series'!!

I have to admit, that now I am sitting here writing this, it all sounds like a lot of hard work and not necessarily something that you re now thinking you may want to try - however, I promise it's not like that at all! It's as much or as little as you make it! That's the main aim of a Bullet Journal - to be the aid you need, instead of using a pre-planned diary or notebook that has a lot of wasted space where you find you don't need that part of it. As well as my monthly and weekly planning pages, I have lists for books I want to read, an expenses page where I track my spending, and one of my favourites - my habit tracker, where I keep a track of some of my hobbies, how many times I see family members, and to make sure that I take my vitamins in a morning!

Yours would be what you made it - and I hope that my ramblings have maybe given you thought to try your own, and not put you off! I wholeheartedly suggest that you check out the book I mentioned at the start of this post, and that it gives you the same push to get into Bullet Journaling that it did me - having gotten into mine, I wouldn't turn back. It genuinely makes my life that little bit easier to know that I have got everything in one place, and that I have things planned into my week so that I know when things will get done in order to fit everything into the few hours that seem to spare in a day!!

Till next time :)