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 have just downloaded a site blocker for Chrome! I spend SO much time on here that I don't get proper stuff done. I hope it works!

Shotgun I've just blocked it on my iphone: Settings > General > Restrictions > enter passcode (DH did this for me, otherwise you can just enter the passcode to access the site), block the site. Did the same for FB. I should do for my computer too but I'm not so mindless when on my computer for some reason. Like now I though, ooh, I fancy a quick check of my MN, so am here now! Quickly! :)

That's got to be the way to go for me. I actually start to hate myself at times and it's ridiculous to letso much time going by effectively doing nothing.

Shotgun so glad it's not just me not glad we feel that way though. It's a total rabbit hole. Very useful, I think that's the problem! I'm always just checking I'm not missing any awesome tips (or scandalous stories). But yes, anything that leads to self hatred has gone too far really, hasn't it!

Argh - that is me too! Can't find how to block it on my (Android) phone. I'm like you Bendy - mindless on phone but not computer. This is ridiculous. I managed a total month ban recently but have been sucked back in. Ok - I am allowing myself MN only on the pc, not phone.

If I couldn't block the site on my phone I'd be in big trouble, it's really helped. Maybe you can download an android app?
Thinking back, I've been on this site 7 years since I started working at a callcentre when I was 19, and spent all day every day on MN to keep me sane. The same threads come up every few years, it's like a cycle, think I've got to the point where nothing is new anymore and have exhausted the site. But at the same time, it's so helpful! I have become codependent I think, and always draft threads in my head if I am trying to make a decision, want to vent etc. I've lost all ability to think for myself!

What would I do on the bus? In the loo? In the supermarket queue? Oh no, no, no, that would never do!!

I was undoubtedly much more productive during my MN ban, but it seems ridiculous to have to go as far as a total ban. I think the pc only rule might work well for me. I don't actually sit down at the pc that often, whereas I have my phone glued to me a lot of the time. I am threatening myself with a total, permanent ban if the pc thing doesn't work! I actually don't think MN is terribly good for my state of mind either (apart from this thread, obvs . I get wound up by things on threads or feel dissatisfied with my lot (or occasionally just find it gives me a skewed or depressing view of the world). It is undoubtedly helpful at times, but I'm not at all sure it helps more than it hinders me!

p.s. I'm on my pc now as I'm about to do some work .

Eolian, yes definitely agree it's more of a negative affect for me these days than a positive force. Funny that we are here making the positive decision to stay away while still being here! I've never understood irony but I feel this is ironic?

Yup, definitely ironic!

O super interested in this thread! I started my bujo a month ago and am so far doing well! I have stuck to the basic original layout apart from I use a double spread page and map a week down as I find it easier to see a whole week and go from there. I hope to one day make it look as beautiful as some I have seen on Pinterest, but at the moment I want to get my flakiness under control and get some organisation in my life I have started looking at how I can use my bujo to keep me organised over Christmas so any advise ok that aspect would be great!

Oh no - I've left my journal at home today. It's feels as nerve wracking as when I forget my purse or phone. Eek, I'll be resorting to scrap paper

So instead of spending my lunch break filling in my Christmas pages, I'll spend it writing about them.

So far I have a list with everyone who I'll be buying a gift for, with a space for ideas. I have a separate page for immediate family - husband and children - who will get more than one gift. I have a space for me on there, for some things I'm coveting, so for the first time ever I can answer the 'what would you like' question from ILs and so on and actually get something I know will be really useful. That page also has a column for DC1's birthday, which is also Christmas week.

I have a friend who sells Phoenix cards, so I have my annual Christmas order from her listed, which will hopefully make it much quicker next year.

Other Christmas lists I plan to add are: cards, food (meal plans, shopping list, food to prep, freezer list etc), advent calendar (we put notes in each drawer - just things like 'write letters to Santa today' or 'xmas party at school') plus DC1s party plan. I am so happy to have my journal to put all this in as I have paperclip sheets of scrap paper wedged in the back of drawers from previous years (which I can never find until January) - Christmas is what my journal was made for I think!

Oh, and we're going away for new year, so there's another thing I can plan on there

Wow, that's some organisation! I so far have a list of everyone so when I ask for present ideas I can write them all down and work out what to actually buy people. I definitely work better with lists and having everything down in front of me, even though I have only been doing it a month, I definitely feel more organised! I don't actually know yet where we are going to he this Christmas so I need to work that out before I can start any other lists I suppose

Hi everyone, I am filling up my everyday bullet journal with wedding planning stuff - thinking I need a separate bullet journal just for wedding stuff. If you had £15 possibly £20 to spend on a nice notebook which would you chose? I've just been using cheap notebooks for my everyday journal but would like to get a naice one for wedding planning. Maybe a leuchtturm or moleskine? Do nautical themed notebooks with decent paper inside exist?

Wow at the super-organised Christmas stuff! GinThief - that's just made me realise that actually, the closest thing I've had to a BuJo before was a wedding planner notebook thingy. I'd forgotten all about that! Don't know about nautical-themed, but I'm loving my Leuchtturm.

I used a random notebook to start with to see if I would like it, and since I am loving it I have now got a brand new leuchtturm1917

I absolutely love my bujo for to-do lists and other lists/plans/thought dumps but I can't get on with it as a diary. I've tried monthly, fortnightly and weekly spreads as well as prepping a week's worth of dailies and it just seems to make me more unorganised. I've gone back to my week to view diary for dates and rotas and feel much better.

Oh thank goodness, I found you!!! I lower my MN usage for a week or 2 and you all disappear on me? Not cool guys. Dropped off my Threads I'm On list and everything.

So I take it our MN hiatuses are going well? :D

Still here! I'm trying to move house and not sure the Bujo can cope with the amount of random notes that generates - but equally, would like to keep the notes in one place I seem to have packed the journal somewhere I can't find so that's not helping

I've filled my practise bujo and was so excited for my LT1917 to arrive... and found that I'd ordered A6 not A5. Mini bujo anyone? So it's my second practise bujo so I can justify starting a proper sized one in the new year. I'm enjoying the dotted paper though.

Oh dear my bujo has become my new obsession, I love it, it is practical too I use it for everything, I have an arc a5 one which is great for me because for things I don't need anymore I can take them out and file away. I have been looking at happy planners recently though and was wondering if anyone else has one, I know they're bigger than the arc, but I absolutely love the flexibility of the arc even if i have to alter my contents list every now and then.

Hi everyone,

Newbie here. I have just stumbled onto this idea and the more I'm reading the more I'm liking it. Just ordered my first journal, leuchtturm1917 in emerald. I do love a list but what I tend to do is write lots of little ones and then lose them/put them down. I then only and up completing the items I remember.

I'm thinking of starting in the new year, so I'll have time to organise my journal and get my head around things a bit more.

About to jump in , waiting for Leitzthing in white dots to arrive. Something that will keep all my lists in one place instead of piles of loose notes and in my leaking head, i can see the point of that.

But - too many calendars >> disaster? I use my Outlook online calendar and can paste in odd dates there as they arrive, and co-ordinate this with my phone calendar, with alerts which remind me of things I'm about to miss or cancel . Now I'm to add these to a manuscript book. Do they all get out of sync? Anyone else think it's useful or should i ignore handwritten calendar inclusion?