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!

Oh that meal planner is GENIUS!

Pinterest, YouTube and these threads! Look up BohoBerry, TinyRayofSunshine and PrettyPrintsandPaper on Instagram/YouTube.

Sticky labels have been a revelation - I also do lists for fridge/freezer/cupboard, take them off when I run out (and sometimes stick straight on to shopping list. Sometimes put on sell by dates or when opened jars went into fridge

Sticky labels have been a revelation - I also do lists for fridge/freezer/cupboard, take them off when I run out (and sometimes stick straight on to shopping list. Sometimes put on sell by dates or when opened jars went into fridge

REALLY liking that sticky label usage there! Housepoint to Theknittinggorilla :))

Moggle & JingleBells I love the look of that holder, but as someone who is left handed it means I lose a third of the page. That's why a notebook works better for me. But then, I have the angst over writing in my notebook because when I make a mistake I can't take it out like you can in a planner.

BendydickCuminsnatch Thank you for the HHP love [Grin]

BendydickCuminsnatch What's a habit tracker? Is it where you document all the good stuff you do with something? Like eating better? Thinking more positively? If I wrote down all the meh stuff I'd be there a long time!! Training my brain to think more positively?

Oh I'm so pleased I found this thread, I started my bullet journal on Tuesday and it's already made a massive difference in helping me get organised. Excited to see what other people are doing with thier journals, and get some tips.

Christmas I too am a lefty and I just embrace the wastage and the ink stains on my fingers! Also in BoJu world I think a mistake is forgiven - cos you can just cross it off like you have achieved it, turn it into a doodle / arty scribble or a flower or something!

Christmas My habit tracker has things I need to incorporate into my day, like pelvic floor exercises, morning vitamins, moisturising... All pretty meh but I find I feel bad and like they're hanging over me if I don't do them. So I have the task down the side and the date along the top, and colour in the correct square if I did the task each day.

I'm a lefty too, now I've learnt to use it as an everyday document I don't worry so much about ink smudges.

Wow - lots of new people! Brilliant! It's good to read how everyone else is using theirs. Does anyone have any great ideas for lists or pages we might not have thought of?

My most used ones in my current (almost finished) BuJo have been my supermarket shopping masterlist, my birthdays calendar and my wishlist of things to buy (this includes ideas for birthday presents for other people).

I also enjoyed doing a proper holiday diary for the two weeks we were away this summer, with a full written account of what we did each day. I let my children write and draw on these pages too, although it was still mostly me.

My most used "non-standard" section is my allotment diary. I don't incorporate it into my normal diary pages as I want all the information in one place to refer to in future years, but it is really useful to know what seeds were planted, planted out, harvested etc when, varieties, tips I've picked up etc. I think next year I will start it at the back of the book and work back in order to keep it continuous.

Theknittinggorilla where do you get those sticky labels from? I've been looking for some but can only see post-it style ones in the shops which tend to lose their stick?

My bullet journal is just a cheap notebook that I found in a sale, but I'm really enjoying it. It's not beautiful, I'm not very artistic, but it's very useful to make my days more profitable and to take notes about anything I might need to know later. I love technology, but there's something more tangible about writing stuff down!

Marking my place because I really want to start a bullet journal for the new school year...

oneway think they are from wh smith

Marking place for a catch up :)

I really want to get into this. Must have a look for the Ideal Diary.

Lol. I used to have one of these. It was called a filofax. You may have seen one in a museum or something

I do everything digitally now, but the old filofax was kind of satisfying. Thanks for the intro!

Didn't this used to be called a Filofax back in the pre-hand held computer days. I ditched my filofax as soon as I got a Palm Pilot.

I have a Filofax, this is very different! You aren't restricted by pre-set layouts and the symbol system can be very useful for categorising tasks. Some people like pen and paper, I can't bear being on a screen all the time and things don't stick in my brain vey well unless I write them down.

I had a Filofax too, but the love was different Bullet journal fits into life better.
Off to consult my work one about what hell awaits me this week...

I am trying to keep up - it's nice to see some new people.

Yes I suppose a BuJo could be seen as being like a Filofax and it is but it's definitely not as expensive and it's super flexible.

I have another question Eolian how does your supermarket list work? I've tried to create something like that before... I need to re work bits of my BuJo to make it work better.

But thank you for the extra tips so far!!

My supermarket list is just a list of everything I regularly buy, divided by category. Whenever I'm making my weekly shopping list, I have my master list page open and it stops me from forgetting anything I might need.

I also tried having a freezer inventory list, as I have a big chest freezer which is always full of stuff, and I forget what's in there! I didn't keep up with that one very well, but I'm going to try again in my new BuJo because it ought to be really useful. I list the categories in pen, then put the items and how many portions etc in pencil so I can change them.