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Bullet Journal

967 replies

mercifulTehlu · 23/01/2016 21:18

I've just found out about this fab way of organising your life, thanks to a kind poster on the 'people who are efficient ' thread. I was wondering if any other MNers are Bullet Journalers? here is the website if anyone's interested.

It's only a couple of days since I started my journal, but I can already see that it's going to revolutionise my ability to be organised. I've tried loads of apps, lists etc in the past, but have never really hit on a system that worked for me. I have very high hopes of this one though (plus it involves pretty stationery Smile )!

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ContentsPage · 28/01/2016 19:27

MercifulTehlu

That's great! I'm trying to convince DH to have a Bullet Journal for work but hes proving hard to convert!

BTW, what does your name mean? I'm intrigued!

mercifulTehlu · 28/01/2016 19:33

Aww - you're the first person who's asked what my (relatively new) name means! I am a bit of a geek sci fi/ fantasy fan. Tehlu is the name of a deity in my favourite book, and the characters in the book quite often say "Merciful Tehlu!" as an expression of surprise or alarm, like OMG. My previous and long-standing MN name was Sherlock-related .

My dh isn't much interested in the bullet journal either, but he might notice the house is running a little more smoothly...

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mercifulTehlu · 30/01/2016 14:55

How's everyone getting on with their Bullet Journals? I'm about at the point where I'd normally start to slack off from a new system/app etc but BuJo is still going strong.
I've even done a few pretty coloured-in titles here and there when I had a spare few minutes Blush.

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ZappDingbat · 30/01/2016 18:05

Hi Tehlu, I have followed you from the other thread about being efficient. This time last week I was so overwhelmed for a variety of reasons. Something happened that made me feel I was close to having a nervous breakdown.

I stumbled across the other thread and felt the bullet journal was made just for me. Have started my bullet journal with really good effect so far. I am ignoring my crafty side and just working with whatever pen happens to be close to hand, rather than decorating it just yet. I still have loads of lists I want to add in, at the moment it really is just a to do list. I even have a list of lists I want to add.

I have also engaged help (I am that annoying person who doesn't accept help!) and feel like someone has turned the light on at the end of the tunnel. We have planned out jobs that will make a big difference to how our lives run, once completed.

Feel like this could be the year that I make a lot of things happen. And the bullet journal will help me along the way. Instead of a frazzled brain, and collapsing as soon as nothing is demanded of me, I will be more able to utilise little pockets of time to be productive. It will also allow me to make the bigger things happen after years of wanting to get them done.

Aims: to improve our home, my health, my organisation & productivity, my relationships and most importantly- to get some joy out of life! I am going to set a monthly reminder in my phone to read this post to keep me motivated.

I realise it is me who has to do the hard grafting, but the bullet journal will help my head to stay clear, and focused on why I am slogging away, spinning eleventy million plates all at once. Grin

I would love this thread to run and run too. To report progress and get tips from others to make it even better. Thank you for starting the thread. Flowers

ICJump · 30/01/2016 21:26

Zapp there is a series if threads in general health you might be intrested in. They focus on making one small change a week . We are 5 weeks in and I'm already feeling loads better and finding that is spilling into other areas. Organising being the big one

OneThingAndThenTheNext · 30/01/2016 21:32

Cheeky place mark to come back and read through later - things falls off my "I'm Watching" too easily!

Seems complicated Confused

ContentsPage · 30/01/2016 21:55

merciful

Ahh. I thought it was a Persian word or something!

I started my journal 6 days ago and ive not been on top of it since Thursday! Blush

Do you guys have it with you pretty much all the time? I sort of keep mine in the desk as have to keep it away from little hands.

ZappDingbat · 31/01/2016 07:32

ICJump, thanks for the heads up on that. I saw that thread in week one but had too much going on to join in. I am usually an all or nothing person which means I usually fall at the first hurdle. I have realised I need to change things slow and steady, which should have a higher chance of changes sticking! Therefore you would imagine that thread is perfect for me. The risk is that I am already addicted to mn and putting myself on another thread like that is another excuse to "just have a quick look". I really need to have a ban on picking my phone up between the hours of x&x.

Contents:
No I haven't been carrying mine around with me. I don't feel there is enough in it yet. On a work day, I won't get anything else done outside the house apart from the taxi-ing to clubs for the children. They are so routine now, I dont need to write them down. I realised during the week that I already kinda do a bullet journal at work by writing to do's on my diary page for that day/week or even months ahead if it is relevant. I still had precious scraps of paper floating about, so this week i have been more mindful of making those notes in my diary look like the bullet journal method.

At home, it really is still a baby bullet journal. I have so much floating in my head, I first got an old notebook and wrote everything that was in my head. What I need to do, what I would like to do, important dates, things I need to buy, a list I feel would be useful in the journal etc. It was all such a scramble in my head I just had to scribble it on paper first before I could put it in order. I haven't got it all on paper just yet, but its a work in progress. I then transferred it into the bullet journal in an orderly fashion.

As time goes on, I imagine if I am going out and about, I will bring it with me. For eg yesterday I saw some lovely curtains that would suit once I have painted a room in my house. I left them even though they were a bargain as I have no idea what the dimensions of the window are. Long term I would like to have that kind of detail in my journal so I could whip it out of my bag and just "ta da" I need this size for my window. Equally, if I was out shopping, I could look and see whose birthday is coming up and buy something appropriate rather than scrabbling around going shopping specifically at the last minute.

Buying lightbulbs is also another cause of unnecessary stress in this house. I remember the days when you only had to know how bright you wanted the bulb eg a 40w bulb. Simple as. Nowadays there are so many different types of bulb I stand in the aisle with the old bulb in my hand with a rabbit in headlights expression on my face. But of course you need to remember to take the bulb with you in the first place. I want a list of the right bulb for every fitting in the house. I then intend to buy one spare for each of the essential lights. As a bulb blows I know I just need to add "bulb" to my shopping list, and whip my book out when in the shop, rather than trying to remember to put the bulb in my bag etc. We recently spent a week without any light in the bathroom as I couldn't get to a shop sooner than that. Every time I went to the bathroom I would have that "argh-lightbulb!" thought. That negativity really adds up when you are juggling lots of things and just adds to my sense of failure.

This may all sound really rambly but that is how my head is. There are way more important things going on in my life than curtains and lightbulbs. I think by sorting these easy, relatively minor things, I will be better able to cope with the bigger things and not always be frazzled with really important scraps of paper all over the place.

Time will tell. Grin

Allgunsblazing · 31/01/2016 09:57

Hi,
I've started mine. So far, my main focus is my finances.
The daily tasks are my flylady jobs, the 52 weeks challenge and the frugaleering (non spending days).
The monthly tasks are my savings. Since I'm severely dislexic, this is all a laugh, as you can imagine.
My yearly list is contracts expiry. Be it BT, orange, CC offers, ISA interest terms etc.
Another list is for appointments (optician, dentist, MOT/service).
And another list for exercise.

I do have a wall callendar, so my rota, appointments and other stuff like menu planning go on there, I am using the BJ as strategic planning.

ZappDingbat · 31/01/2016 10:39

All guns blazing: I highly recommend ynab for finance management. It is the one thing I feel I have a handle on. And that is thanks to ynab. I have been using it for 3.5 yrs and it has truly taken away the brain space of worrying about money. It's not that it has given me more money, but helped me to get the most of what I have. I plan ahead with money, and after about 8mths of using it, I got into the black, and its been all "up" since then. I had an expensive unexpected car bill a week before Christmas, but there was money sitting there in my emergency fund so while I cried about it, (it was a lot of money) it wasn't that I couldn't afford to do a food shop or suddenly regretted what I had spent on Christmas. It was more that I could have spent that money in so many other ways that would have given me a lot more pleasure.

Ynab has changed recently in that it is now web based and has a different fee structure, but I would still recommend it for someone who wants to get a grip on their finances. Ynab is short for "you need a budget".

AllMyBestFriendsAreMetalheads · 31/01/2016 11:55

Well I spent most of yesterday tackling the kids bedroom. I'd broken it down into smaller tasks using my bullet journal and it wasn't as overwhelming as it had first seemed Smile

I'm supposed to be carrying on today but I've been slacking and watching the tennis and now I'm here! Grin. Quick dinner break and then back on it.

I've done a double page spread (ha, that takes me back to school!) for February so I'm ready to go tomorrow.

mercifulTehlu · 31/01/2016 11:58

ZappDingbat - I'm so glad that Bullet Journal seems like something that could help you. Sounds like you've got a lot going on. I can identify with lots of things in your posts. I have suffered from fairly major anxiety in the past, and am familiar with that feeling of lack of control over your life, where little things like not knowing which lightbulbs to buy can feel like yet another piece of proof that you are not on top of things.
I'm a lot happier and more chilled out these days, thankfully, but we are going through a bit of a family crisis atm (dh is about to chuck in his career because of stress and take a job which pays just over half what he's earning now). This means I need to go back to work full time, possibly in a job that I'd vowed never to do again. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to handle it tbh.
But... I'm starting from a point where I feel mentally in good shape. And I think that if I get my Bullet Journal habit well established, it will really help me stay on top of things once I go back to work.

Oh and I totally understand your point about not wanting to join other MN threads! I spend much too much time on here and have to force myself to have a total break from MN once in a while!

Anyway, Flowers to you and anyone else for whom Bullet Journal might be more of a lifeline than a diary-substitute!

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mercifulTehlu · 31/01/2016 11:59

Eek - apologies for the unreadably long first paragraph!

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mercifulTehlu · 31/01/2016 13:54

Oh and Zapp - I've just been checking out ynab on your recommendation. I'm quite tempted to get it.
Allgunsblazing - I have a wall planner too, so that the rest of the family can look at it.

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ContentsPage · 31/01/2016 19:07

merciful I have got YNAB. it is awesome! Get it! Have been using it since October last year and I can honestly say it has really helped with being on top of our finances. That is one area now that I feel comfortable with in regards to how its managed. It tells you everything in a clear and easy way.I think it has turned into a subscription thing though so not a one off purchase.

I too, sometimes feel quite overwhelmed with all the little things that i need to keep on top of on a day to day basis and Im hoping this journal will be my lifeline. I have always made lists and lists of things but never seemed to have developed a system to keep on top of them so they just sort of got forgotten about.

To help with this, a few weeks ago, I started reading Getting things Done which I didn't really find inspiring so then I started on 'How to be a productivity ninja' which is a similar concept but a much easier read. I was almost finished when i discovered the Bullet Journal from the other thread and haven't even bothered to finish the book off now!

FairNotFair · 31/01/2016 22:28

Just finished organising my Monthly Log for February. Bullet Journaling is definitely helping me to get on top of my previously out-of-control task list. It's making me feel less overwhelmed and more in control.

mercifulTehlu · 01/02/2016 08:26

Yay - glad to hear that Bullet Journal is already making a real difference to people!

It's funny isn't it - because I always used to naively think 'Oh, all I need to do is find the right system/method/app and I shall be transformed into a super-efficient person!'. But then I'd reluctantly come to the conclusion that I'd been fooling myself and that a leopard never changes its spots and I'd be disorganised forever.Then along came Bullet Journal. And I really believe I'm in it for the long-haul this time!

Oh I'm a bit Sad that ynab is changing to subscription - the last thing I need is something else to spend money on!

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dottypyjamas · 01/02/2016 08:50

Ooh this looks fab, am off sick today so shall spend some time reading about them and looking on Pinterest for inspiration. I love a list but do have lots of them floating about, consolidation in a pretty notebook (and I have a perfect a5 notebook just waiting to be used) sounds a plan! zapp I love your idea of having window sizes and lightbulb types written down, genius.

AllMyBestFriendsAreMetalheads · 01/02/2016 13:17

A lightbulb list is genius!

Some things ticked off today's list already Smile

Smurfing · 01/02/2016 13:27

I don't have anything to add on the bullet journaling, but I will warn that a year ago I came across some planner/Filofax set up videos on you tube and now my house is full of stupidly expensive planners and notebooks. I have files of stickers and drawers of washi tape. It is a slippery slope of addiction! I don't really plan/journal that much but yet I waste hours watching other people's planners on the Internet giant saddo so just be careful before you innocently Google bullet journaling!

dottypyjamas · 01/02/2016 13:34

Ha smurfing having been looking today I agree that Pinterest is a bit like going down the rabbit hole! Some of the examples are lovely but I don't think I'd have any time to do any of my jobs if I followed their examples, might stick to simple black ink!

mercifulTehlu · 01/02/2016 13:44

Grin smurfing - I didn't even know what washi tape was until I discovered Bullet Journal! It's very pretty... No, so far BuJo has cost me a grand total of... zilch. I had the notebook already, and the dc have shedloads of coloured pens and pencils if I have a creative urge!

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Smurfing · 01/02/2016 17:26

Smile Stay strong, you are doing very well managing to keep it on a zero-spend merciful and dotty watch out, Pinterest is a well known gateway drug to harder things like Etsy

mercifulTehlu · 01/02/2016 19:24

Gateway drug Grin. For me the peril is time-wasting rather than money spending (am having to be thrifty atm so random spending on stationery is really not an option).

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ICJump · 01/02/2016 19:40

I'm considering purchasing coloured dots! But we already have washi tape and coloured pens.

I've promised myself the real bullet journal when it gets in stock but for now it's a cheapy I had lying around