Starting a new Bullet Journal

Seeing as it’s time for the start of the new academic year, for me that also means it’s time to start a brand new bullet journal. This is always my favourite thing to do and I thought I would take you guys with me in a step by step guide on how to start a bullet journal.

For those who aren’t sure what a bullet journal is, (here is the original website explaining it in more detail) it is a form of diary that you can completely taylor to meet your own needs. It has a simple key system for tasks/events that you need to complete throughout your daily life and can be personalised however you want it to! You can be incredibly artistic with it or keep it as a plain list, whatever you prefer. Bullet journals can be used as trackers for water intake, meals, blog posts, how ever many dogs you’ve seen in a day – whatever you want! Here is how I personally set up my journal…

THE KEY This is the formula that most bullet journals use. A task is shown by a dot then once its completed you cross it. If you don’t complete a task one day and want to move it to another one then you put an arrow next to the dot and if there is more information you need to add then draw a line under the dot and add in a note. If it is an event like a party or an appointment then put a circle around the dot and if it is something really important you need to get done then change the dot to a star. Simples.

YEAR AT A GLANCE (I apologise for the change in colour for the photos I was using natural light on a cloudy day!) This page is basically a calendar. It allows you to see the whole year ahead of you, which is handy for making future plans. Last year I added a quote to the left page but this year I decided to use some decorative paper from hobby craft to add some colour.

FUTURE LOGFor the next 4 pages I layout all the months with a small calendar and a lot of space underneath. This is where, throughout the year, I can add in future events/holidays/appointments/plans that I make as the weeks go on and need to jot down somewhere. When I go on to make my month at a glance spreads (coming up) I will check this future log of that month to see what things I have coming up.

MONTH COVER For the start of each month I will always do a bit of designing and give it a title page, so to speak. Sometimes I just write the name of the month, other times I will put in a relevant quote or image that I really like. This is another place to use decorative papers, washi tapes or stickers just to break your journal up a bit and have some fun!

MONTH AT A GLANCE I find these pages to be some of the most helpful in my journal. To begin with I will always put a big calendar from the month that I can then fill with notes or doodles if I feel like it (plus it’s just really helpful seeing the whole month for when you’re planning things). Underneath the calendar I put a blog post and Instagram tracker so I can see when I’ve posted and when I’ve slacked throughout the month for an extra bit of motivation. On the right is where I put the information from my future log as well as birthdays and any holidays that I need to remember throughout the month.

WEEKLY SPREADS Here is the part of bullet journaling that you will find yourself using the most. For my weekly spreads I use the right column to highlight any main events or key things that i get up to on those specific days. On the left I write things throughout the week that I need to do (like washing or food shopping) and cross them off as I go along. I have a section for urgent things that I have to do as well as a place to write a quote from the week (just for a sentimental thing really)! Some times I will end up with 2 weekly spreads over a double page but, seeing as I’m returning to university this week, I used the right hand page to make some lists of things I need to pack and buy so I stay a bit more organised.

And then my bullet journal is good to go! If you want to see some other ways of setting up weekly/monthly spreads here are my June and July (Disney) layouts. I hope you enjoyed this post and found it helpful if you want to start your own bullet journal.

Go and grab another cuppa on me, Em x

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LIKED THIS POST? read my other post on My favourite journal/design pen