BuJo Wankers 2 - declutter your mind!

[mercifulTehlu]

Woo hoo! It's the second Bullet Journal thread! For the benefit of newbies - Bullet Journal is a brilliant way to organise your whole life in a lovely notebook. Perfect for anyone who has tried every app and every scheduling system but just can't seem to get on top of things. Also perfect for lovers of beautiful stationery and especially for people who like lists!

Sooo - get out your fineliners and your washi tape! Stroke your Leuchtturms! And get all that stuff that's whizzing round in your head out onto paper instead!

website here

Hello. I've been lurking but BuJo and these threads have proved so inspiration for me that I need to post and thank you all. I'm 8 days in and I don't think my life has ever felt so in control. It's so good that my 11 year old DD has copied and has her own journal, and my mum has also ordered herself a Lechtturm.

This week, I've been finally able to sort out my finances and I've got back on top of the kondo-ing I started 15 months ago. I'm a huge sucker for stationery, so this seems like it could be the perfect organisation system for me.

Just coming out of Lurking to say I am converted!!
I tried a couple of moths ago with a very pretty, lined paperchase notebook. BUT I tried to make it too pretty and lost the functionality really and gave up on it. I have recently started again (2 weeks ago) with a lovely turquoise DOTTED moleskine which has worked MUCH better...and I am amazed at how organised I am becoming!
I am much more motivated to get things done , rather then procrastinating, so I can cross them off my lists! I have always loved lists (and stationary!) so this really appeals to me.
I am using one BuJo for work and home combined as in the past separating the two hasn't worked so well for me. I work slightly odd and variable hours and often flit between home/work mode so need to have combined lists.
I love that I have EVERYTHING in one book. It is still evolving for me, and working on making it work perfectly for me. I have found I need to have weekly as well as monthly pages as I need to plan a week at a time for certain things.
I have ds1 doing A levels this summer and DD1 doing GCSEs so I am about to add there exam timetables into my BuJo so I can keep track (if ds ever gives me his....
I think I wil lonly get 3 months out of this notebook...but thats ok cause then I get to buy a new one! (going for a leuchtrum(sp?) next I think!)

thanks all you BuJo wankers for inspiring me!

(oh, and I have bought and used washi tape for the first tie ever!!)

Ah... Happy lurkers de-lurking :)

I took some time with mine deciding what would work for me. The first 10 pages or so are "permanent" pages with things like an appointments page with dates/times in pencil, a page for post it notes of shopping lists, a birthdays page and a page with post its for packing lists.

I've now settled in how my "diary" pages will work - I've printed out blank weeks and have 2 on the go at a time. One for this week which is a double page spread folded and glued onto a single page andone for next week which is a double page spread folded a put next to This Week on an elastic strap threaded through the spine of my book. I can then stick Next Week in when it becomes This Week and move the elastic for a new Next Week. The blank page opposite the stuck in calendar is where I note down the things I've done and anything I need to remember.

So, This Week is glued in where the movable arrow page marker is, Next Week is held in by elastic and the page with the box on it is for notes...

Ive been using a bullet journal since November and have just started my 2nd one. I find it a fabulous system. For the first time all my lists are in one place and it helps that my new book is very beautiful (purple lecterman) - it makes me happy.

I am on my THIRD freezer list.

This version has everything on sticky labels which I moved to the right as we use them and move to the left when I buy more.

Stuff with small A are adults only food and small C are children only food (as in what they will actually eat)

Different colours depending on which drawer I keep the food in.

Stickers at top are in number of meal portions and stickers from bottom are on number of packets.

So I have one meal worth of beef mince in in my second drawer and one carton of soya milk in my chest freezer !

It is working well for me :)

I am also on my THIRD weekly layout...I think this is working well for me. I write regular events on right side and one off things on the left. Sun symbol means no school on that day, rather than the weather.

Here is my meal planner which I love and use every day. I food shop on a Wednesday. Hence I plan my week Wednesday to Tuesday.

Green tag shows my current day and this planner is only for our evening meals and the children often eat different things than us, as they are very fussy but I am working on this.

Hi everyone, I posted in Chat and was directed to this thread. I have only been bu-joing for 2 days but am already addicted

soupdragon Can I see how your post it's help with packing lists ? I hate packing and I am determined to get organised before our family holiday !

I'm afraid its really very dull and is just a list of the "odd" things that tend to get forgotten! Unfortunately - when it comes to the clothing side, I tend to wing it!

Eg my dog is going to "foster care" when we are away so I am making a list of what he needs to take with him and there are some things I need to remember to take to my parents when we go. I would also like to avoid buying yet another set of snorkels when we go away this summer to add to the ones already in the loft.

Babieseverywhere, that freezer list is genius! Tidying out my freezer is on my master list. Once its done I think I will adopt your system.

Just ordered a Leuchtturm notebook... will be starting a new post at work with lots more responsibility and bullet journaling should (fingers crossed) help me feel more in control.

Okay trying to gety head round this please don't shout at me if I'm being rude! Firstly why not just use a diary? Saves dividing up blank pages?!? Also how does this save time when there's so much work going in to it? It looks confusing but very pretty. Is it something that you have to work hard at getting used to?

A diary is just a diary. Nothing more. The bullet journal has everything in one book and you create an index so you can find things. So, a list of DIY jobs, what there is in your freezer to stop you buying more when out, a tracker to keep track of how you're doing with, say, weight loss, to do lists....

A diary is a set format and limited in what it does. The journal is designed by you to be exactly what you need.

It doesn't have to look pretty, it can just be functional. The prettiness is what makes me want to use it though. Once you have the layout set out in your head, it doesn't take long to do at all.

I posted on the first thread and decided to give it a try as of a couple of months ago. I have to say it's useful but not lifechanging for me. I already had a lot of other systems for organising myself and I wasn't prepared to ditch those in favour of the bullet journal as they worked really well, but as a rolling to do list plus a few extra lists it works well for me. I have nonjnteredt in prettifying it so am not getting distracted by stickers, coloured pens etc. The main problem for me is keeping it to hand all the time, if I put it in the kitchen I forget to take it to work, if I leave it in my bag then I'm not going to traipse all the way back through the house to fetch it because I've put something in the freezer. So I'm forever thinking "must write that down" and mot doing so.

So, where do you all keep yours?

No interest in prettifying that should say.

I can see that it wouldn't be life-changing if you're still using all sorts of other systems alongside it WhoKnows - one of the main benefits of the BuJo is having everything together in one place.

Viloot - a diary wouldn't really work. Where would you put all the other stuff that goes into a BuJo that isn't your daily diary pages? Also I genuinely don't find it takes much work to do it. Certainly no more than inputting things into calendars and apps.

I don't prettify mine much unless I happen to have time on my hands, and no, it didn't take time to get used to it for me. It was immediately helpful and a blissful relief from disorganisation! It's clearly not for everyone, but I am finding no downsides to it at all.

I tend to keep that sort of info on my phone so it's always with me (I wouldn't carry my book out shopping as it's too heavy, A5 moleskine, it is only for work and home).

My main diary is in my phone too, I only copy pages over to the book for the next week or two. Then it's detailed daily to do lists, copied backwards and forwards from a monthly one. I'm keeping a record of what I do on the allotment on a separate page, with a few other long term lists. However I'm finding I only actually look at it about once a day to update it (the act of writing lists for the next day tends to be enough to make me remember them).

I think for me its the having everything in one place that's so useful. I had wunderlist and the calendar on my phone, but also trello for work and sometimes for home, a paper calendar, and usually several different notebooks on the go for different projects. That meant I got confused or missed things. I think putting everything in one place is going to be really useful. It's what I always did for work in my previous role.

Incidentally, I've started a separate BuJo for work. My home one I want to make pretty because it encourages me to use it. That would feel stupid at work though, so for work its purely black ink.

Babieseverywhere your freezer list is amazing. Great inspiration, thank you!

Someone asked about packing lists. These are 2 generic "one adult female" lists for a hot holiday which I found and put in my bujo.

This is an example of what I'm finding so useful. I'm working for a piano exam and I have notes in my book and in a notebook my teacher writes for me. I also want to check I am fitting in enough practice. So I've created a piano work collection. Not beautiful - all black and white - but really useful. And the ticks are really motivating, as I won't want to miss any.