What is a Bullet Journal?

Bullet journal or “BuJo” is a way to help you “track the past, organize the present, and plan for the future.” Think of it as putting together every calendar, planner, to-do list, habit / goal tracker, and even journalling all into 1 notebook.

DON’T think of it as daunting and overwhelming because it needs to be absolutely beautifully drawn, painted, and curated. If you have amazing hand-lettering and calligraphy skills, that’s fantastic! A lot of people use their bullet journal as a creative outlet to create some gorgeous pages. But that’s not necessary.

The amazing thing bullet journaling is that IT IS 100% CUSTOMIZABLE TO YOU.

But here are the main components of a bullet journal.

Index Page

The first page is your Index page, which is like a Table of Contents. This is why it’s important to either number your pages or get a notebook that has each page numbered. It will make things easier to find.

You don’t have to put every single page down, just the important pages you want to find. With an index, you can also have non-consecutive pages in each category / collection. For example, “blog ideas” can be on page 4, 15, and 29, so I can write down ideas whenever I have them, but the index will allow me to find everything easily when I want to refer to them.

Key

The second page should be your key. This is how you indicate what symbols you will use for your bullets.

Again, while it’s all customizable to you, the ones that Ryder Carroll, the creator of the Bullet Journal method, are tasks, events, and notes. You can read more here.

Future Log

A future log is basically a year at glance. But again, because it is your journal, you can do it however you like. We’ve seen some people do it 6 months at a time.

Grace does a year at glance and highlights important dates, such as birthdays and holidays.

Monthly Log

Monthly logs can be broken down into a calendar and a task list. You can log the events in before or after they happen, but it’s to provide an overview of your month.

We like having a monthly task list because we can jot down everything in one spot then organize it later. We actually take our monthly task list and organize them into weekly tasks lists, which then get put into our daily logs. Even though it’s repetitive, it’s the best way for us to remember each task.

Daily Log

Finally, there’s a daily log, where you can log all your tasks, events, and appointments for the day. You can also jot down notes from the day or inspiration you may have found.

While there are a lot of ways you can do it, we’ve found that using an entire page per day works best for us. We use the split the page in half, left side is for appointments and events while the right side is for tasks. We’ve tried other ways such as using 2 pages for 1 whole week, but we like having all the space to write down anything we need.

Other Page Ideas

Because you can tailor your bujo to your needs, you can include whatever other pages you’d like. Jot that list of books you want to read or places you want to travel to here instead of a piece of paper or Post-it you’ll misplace.

Here are some ideas:

• Budget tracker
• Habit tracker
• Gratitude log
• Food journal
• Goals page
• Sleep tracker
• Packing lists
• Travel wishlists

Bullet Journal Supplies

1. Notebook – Use a dotted or square one. We find this Leuchtturm one to be the best.
2. Pen – Any pen that doesn’t bleed through or smudge will work. This Sharpie Fine Point pen is a good option if you like a darker, more marker-like pen.
3. Ruler – This is optional, but since we like to split our page in half, we like to have our lines straight.
4. Wite-Out
5. Colored pens / mildliners – Optional, but if you want to add any color to your page, mildliners like these are a great way to add some color without it bleeding through or being too harsh.
6. Washi tape and stickers – Fun way to add color and texture to your journal!

Tips for New Bullet Journalers

1. It takes time to figure out what spread works for you! Just try it out, and remember if you hate it, you can change it for the next week.
2. Don’t beat yourself up over mistakes! You can just use some Wite-Out. We know it’s UGLY. But guess what? Mistakes will keep happening! It’s ok. Just move on.
3. Don’t compare yourself to the beautiful bullet journalers out there! You don’t need to be able to hand-letter each month and have the prettiest doodles. But on the other hand, if you can and you want to, go for it! Here are some Instagram accounts we love to look at: @showmeyourplanner, @planningroutine, @pages2plan, @journalspiration.
4. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t fill out a couple days…or weeks! We rarely fill out my bujo when we’re on vacation. Start up again whenever you want.
5. Remember – your bullet journal is YOURS. You can create whatever pages you want, or keep it as simple as you’d like.

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Can’t wait to see your bullet journals! Tag us if you start one.

J&G