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!

XmasBaby you sound a lot like me - did you see my post? I use a Filofax diary with plenty of extra notes pages for BuJo lists, in their own section. I made custom diary pages so they had space for to do lists but you could also add a notes page after each week maybe? Or you can get little half size Filofax notebooks with just three holes that would only cover up half the page at a time.

I have found my mumsnet people! I have been a convert for about 6 months. No artistic frills but use stickers to highlight and adorn. My DD's stash of unicorn and ice cream stickers may have mysterially disappeared!

My question is has anyone found an A5 ring binder system that is not fat like a Filofax. Currently I have moleskin A5 diary and the buju journal. I love both. I don't use bullet journal for any diary stuff as that did not work for me.

So I want my journal to be more flexible. To be able to take pages out like my weekly to do lists. I also worry about what will happen to the journal when it is full. How can I have two long term lists (like things to tell my DD when she has grown up ) in different books?

Have you seen the Filofax Clipbook jinglebells? I've not seen one IRL but they are certainly less bulky than a standard one - and you can get diary inserts as well as plain/lined etc refills. Yeah I would've liked an A5 size wise but the final size of the whole thing is always significantly bigger!

I've bought a Leuchtturm. Now if I can just stop stroking it and actually write something in it... .

I tried a bullet journal some time ago but only for a few days. My biggest issue is procrastination and it beat me that time.
Ready for a fresh start although will probably wait until September as the new school year always feels like 'new year' to me.

I have to make a confession - we own a luxury stationery business and I still can't get around to bullet journalling properly. What I do, is use my day to view diary and section it out - home & family - Hope House Press (work) and then at the bottom, I have a third of my page for my 'attitude of gratitude' - I'm working hard to be more positive and appreciative, so it's kind of taking some of the bullet journal stuff and doing it for myself.

Things I'm learning:

1. It's ok to be afraid to write in a really nice notebook / diary / journal! We all have to 'christen' the page.
2. It's ok to not be as consistent as you want to. Progress is progress.
3. I don't have to follow any set rules with how I do this.
4. Don't draw out too far ahead - as I go on with this, I'm evolving what I do and don't want to 'ruin' the diary for future things I want to change.

I realise I sound really earnest about this now. Sorry. I am clinging onto the hope that if I can do this, I'll manage the madhouse and all that comes with it better this school year!

I love taking 15 mins to do my layout for the next week and get everything planned out and sorted in my head :) I find it very therapeutic. I just did next week's layout. As you can tell I have stopped caring if it looks perfect or not (the habit tracker is a state!! ). Also, can't locate my tippex.

I do a bar across the top which I fill in to show how I'm allocating/wasting my time throughout the day, and a nice big box for exercise as I'm focussing on losing weight lately (actually, have been for my whole life 😄). First time trying a weekly habit tracker so hopefully I'll use it more.

Christmas Love the 'attitude of gratitude' bit, and I just had a quick peep at Hope House Press - beautiful!

moggie yes I looked at it this week with high hopes but it still clunky is not very beautiful. So another hope died!

Hi everyone, I am new to this and looking for hints and tips, thanks in advance.

jinglebells just found Upscale Sewn Waterproof PU Leather Note Binder Portfolio Card Holder A5 (White) [[https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00P7T7PZW/ this]] on Amazon - it is a few cm narrower than the Filofax a5- 17.5cm wife instead of 21.5. No popper though to keep closed but guess you could use an elastic band. Still not very attractive though and only seems to come in white :-(

Sorry for bad link - try again?!

< tentative >
I might make a start on this. I still have my old Filofax which, although I never felt it at the time, did keep me relatively organised. I think I stopped using it one year when I didn't replace the calendar, and also felt downhearted that my lists were getting added to at a much faster rate than they were being deleted also I discovered MN.
It's weird reading this thread, it reminds me of all the self-help 'get your life organised' books I used to read - feels retro but strangely sensible.
The thing I liked about the Filofax system was that you could tear out pages as you completed the tasks, although I suppose some things would need to be carried forward.

I've had my bullet journal 'kit' for a couple of weeks now but haven't got started yet... it's made me start thinking about what exactly I want to do in life, which got a bit distracting!

I'll aim to make a start this weekend with inspiration from here...

Any top tips for a newbie? What do you wish you had/hadn't done when you first started your bullet journal?

Moggie thanks you. I have ordered it!

I've found you all. Yay! I've been bullet journalling for about 18 months. I couldn't live without mine now. It's used for work,home and health management. I love everything being in one place and it enables me to pace my energy across the day chronic fatigue sucks. When i first started I was worried it didn't look as pretty/neat as others i had seen but now I treat it as a working document that is there to be used not a piece of artwork although pretty doodles do make it look better

Marking my place :) I've bought Leuchtturm notebooks and tried to start a personal BuJo a couple of times, but never stuck with it. I'm thinking I might have better luck with one for work... does anyone have any suggestions for how a work BuJo may differ from a personal one?

Checking in. I've had my bujo since March but I lost it at the beginning of August. Luckily some kind soul handed it in and I've got it back. So my August planning has been shot to shit and I'm hoping to get back into it properly for September.

Hi! I've just started bullet journaling and liking it so far.
Ravenia - I have work and personal and use them differently.

My work BuJo has been really good for making sure I don't miss tasks and ironically i write less notes.
For each meeting I have a double page spread, I make short notes and code them whether they are tasks, urgent tasks, tasks I need to delegate, things to look into, general points of interest. The right hand page is for more extensive notes if I need them. Then at the end of each day I review each page and any tasks then go into either my daily, monthly planner or on to an unscheduled tasks list. I mark off a task when I have moved it. I use the index which is great when I have multiple meetings on the same subject as I can list all the pages under the same entry.

My personal BuJo is all about trying to capture all my millions of thoughts, ideas, things to do, life planning! I have a book split into sections, the first section has a few pages for an index, then has my monthly planners until the end of the year (dates down one side, to dos on the other), weekly planners that I do as I go along and an unscheduled/future tasks list. The rest of the book is a variety of lists, thoughts as I go along. Again I regularly review the lists and move any tasks into the front of the book either into the month/week or unscheduled lists. I have habit trackers, exercise and water trackers, gift ideas, business ideas (for when I quit the rat race!), books to read, house renovation plans, things to do with the kids, literally anything! But regularly reviewing it and moving tasks into the front is making me feel much more on top of the million things I am trying to do at any one time!

Thank you knitting Yes, something to keep on top of tasks and not accidentally miss anything is exactly what I need.

I just hope I don't end up wasting (or appearing to waste) time on it!

ravenia it's the coding that has made the difference. I make sure I address everything I have written down in some way or other, even if I cross it out. Then once I have done something with each task on a page I mark it at the top that the page has been dealt with (so can still refer to the page for information but I know there are no forgotten lurking tasks on there). I have a job where there are lots of different things going on and short deadlines so working really well for me.

I like the ides of jotting 'random thoughts as I go along' knitting but then moving them on to a task list as and when. I use the notes app on my phone to jot things down, but don't then add them to a to do list as such, so they easlily get overlooked.

Blimey. Sounds very useful but also utterly overwhelming

Sounds very useful but also utterly overwhelming

Yep! You just have to begin and see what happens. I'd recommend copying someone else's weekly layout and seeing what works for you, and tweaking.

I had the exact same thoughts upon discovering the BuJo as I did discovering cloth nappies: "oh my god, this is ME!!", "oh it is all too overwhelming!!", "just copy what someone else does and tweak until it works for you" And if it never works for you, well at least you tried and now you know

Ars there examples of what others have done? Pinterest?

Pinterest is good.
Here is my meal planner and shopping list - I use sticky labels so I font have to rewrite and can choose from meals I make regularly