Bullet Journal thread 3: organise your life!

[Eolian]

For newbies... Bullet Journal is a special method of setting up and using a notebook as a calendar/planner/journal/habit tracker/bunch of lists/record of your achievements/diet log/exercise plan/doodle pad/anything you fancy all in one!

It is all over Pinterest and Instagram, so there's a whole world of inspiration out there. Much of what you'll see there is full of intimidatingly beautiful calligraphy and embellishment but yours doesn't have to be!

Explanation of the set-up to follow. Or you can jump right in by checking out the instructions and video on the Bullet Journal website .

The system can seem a bit strange and complicated at first, but we're here to help. And once you've got the hang of the basics, you can customise the system any way you like.

Oh and if you love beautiful stationery, this is the perfect excuse to indulge!

I'm still plodding along getting mine going. I feel not quite in tune with it yet though. It feels odd to have day pages randomly interspersed by lists etc. But I'm carrying on and hope I'll get used to it.

My meal plan and supermarket list go in the fridge and that works well for us so I'll leave it as is. DH adds to both and shops as much as I do so easier to keep current system,

Just checking in to say I'm really pleased how well it's still working for me. I never can keep up things like this but it's becoming invaluable.

That's great, J0kers! I felt and still feel exactly the same.
Cider - aspects of it may seem strange at first, but you can always adapt it to suit you if you find there are things that don't work. Instagram and Pinterest are full of alternative BuJo layouts.

I'm sure it's been said already but I'm 99.99% sure it's because it doesn't matter if you miss a day. There's no sense of failure for marking each day.

I've given up with the tracker but I haven't given up writing important shit down!

For not marking each day*

Cider - I started mine about 6 months ago and it took quite a while to get into a routine with it. I feel quite attached to it now, was panicking when I thought I'd left it at someone's house 100 miles away atvthe weekend, luckily I hadn't.

Have just realised I'm almost at the end of my index pages in my Leuchtturm, but I still have over 100 pages left to use! This is stressing me out more than it should!

Iggi - no problem! Turn to your next blank spread and continue your index there. And then write those pages in on your first index. Iyswim.

Ahh, where there's a problem, there's a bujo answer

Am now the proud owner of a Leuchtturm softcover dotted notebook. Now I'm fretting over what pen to use without bleeding through the pages.

What do you all use?

I'd start a new index on the back izzy otherwise it will end up annoying you trying to find it. Least if it's there you will always know where it is.

My was meant to be a - I'm a muppet!
The back could be a good idea, thanks. My work one has an index already so every page is allocated = can't run out.

Cheesymonster - I have used Staedtler fineliners and a Lamy rollerball. There's a bit of 'ghosting' but no actual bleeding through.

Hello! I've been lurking for a while and started my own journal this week, I'm 40 pages in already but my house has never been more organised. I'm using an old lined notebook until Xmas to see if I stick with it and then treating myself to a LT1917. I made a "supplies" master list with things like toilet cleaner, dishwasher salt etc on and felt v smug earlier.

Hi annatha! Glad it's working for you. My house is a bit more organised too, although I don't think I have it in me to be the domestic goddess type, so I'll settle for organised-ish!

Just made myself a house keeping spread inspired by this thread

We've just bought our first house and while we were doing the big 'get the deposit back' clean on our rental I kept saying that I was going to be super organised with the housework at the new place. It never occurred to me to do a BuJo rota!

Congrats on the new house Captain! I'm still not quite happy with the way I organise housework in my BuJo, but I expect I'll eventually settle on a way that suits me. That's the great thing about it - adapting and adding new ideas as you go.

I'm enjoying using my BuJo a bit more for work now. I have such a lot of different little jobs going on this year, and my journal is going to be a life-saver in keeping everything together !

Can I jump in and ask a couple of dumb questions? Have started this in a basic notebook using oencil as I'm scared of doing it 'wrong' (although I know that, strictly, there is no 'right' or 'wrong.' It's going well, and I've succumbed to the bright pink 1917.
Am poised to artfully transfer over, but I'm not clear as to how much goes in the index. I started adding in the daily task lists, but obviously that'll use up the index pages too quickly. But then, how will I find a particular day's entry if I need to go bck to it?
Also, do people do a weekly list? I'm so unproductive that I find I'm copying several tasks over each day. If there was a list covering the week, I'm thinking I could be more realistic about what's to be done on an individual day, rather than slavishly copying everything across.
Does that all make sense?
< overthinking >

Okay, have re-read Eolian's really helpful set of instructions so will aim to make more use of the monthly master list and be more judicious about what can be achieved each day .
Still not sure about indexing the daily lists though.

Hey Shotgun! I'm going to bed now but will answer your post in the morning if that's ok.

hi all, been hanging round here on and off so thought I'd say hey. I've been BuJo'ing since June of this year, and it's the longest I've stuck with any sort of planning system. I think it's that combination of being able to adjust it depending on what I need that week, of it not being a "failure" if I miss a few days and the sort of fun, creative side to it that have combined together to keep me on track with it.

Shotgun I don't know if this is helpful, but regarding the task lists I put "big" tasks on my weekly to-do list, or tasks which I don't have a specific date for yet. So I might put "organise kitchen" on my weekly and then on the daily logs put smaller tasks that contribute to that, or I might put "mow lawn" on the weekly until I have an idea which day will be dry enough to do it and then add it to that daily (hope that sense?) I then only migrate incomplete daily tasks each time I turn the page to do more dailies iyswim

For the index I only really list a month spread (so say P. 1-39 June 2016, P. 40-80 July 2016 etc) and then specific pages that I've done lists etc on - but I don't find much need to go back and look for specific days. If it's only certain days you think you might need you could just index those specific entries rather than each date?

Right Shotgun - here's what I do - hope it helps.
I have a weekly double-page spread divided into 7 daily boxes, with a weekly housework list and a weekly task list as well. Tasks and appointments which need to be done on a specific day are written in the daily boxes. Tasks which need to be done during that week, but not on any particular day, go on the weekly task list. And my housework list is just a list of the same regular housework tasks. I just tick off the things on these two lists as they get done throughout the week.

As far as the index is concerned, I put for example 'September journal pp. 6-15' or sometimes the September run of weekly spreads might be interrupted by some other list or page of random stuff. In which case my index might say September journal pp.6-9, Lesson planning pp.10-13, September journal pp.14-19.

Hope that makes sense!

That's really helpful thanks Safety. I don't have weekly spread so that's obviously what I need to include in the new journal.
Good idea re. the days as well; not that I'll necessarily need to find individual days' entries, but I'd like to think I could easily access them if I needed to.
Will be starting the new Leuchturm today. I'm actually pretty artistic, but don't feel the need to prettify it - I've so far even avoided doodling when I'm on the phone, will find a piece of scrap paper rather than sully it!
I do like the idea of adding colour-coded tapes for quick identification though.

Ha! Cross-posted with SafetyLights! Should have re-read before I posted!

Great minds think alike - thanks Eolian!