Anyone still using a Bullet Journal?

[Fairislefandango]

It was such a big thing a few years back! I'm still loving mine (I think I'm on my 8th annual one now!), and I like to start a thread on here once in a while to see if anyone's got any great new ideas or systems, or if there's anyone keen to start using one. I've just kind of changed the way I do mine, and it's definitely better.

I've retired now but I was up until last summer and did my moving abroad planning using it.

Now I just note what we've done in the garden every day, and what plants I want and where they are going to go, it doesn't really take much bullet journaling any more.

It isn’t really bullet journaling as I don’t use stickers, mine is more of a bound notepad with a pen attached, two ribbons as markers, numbered pages and a contents page. I write everything imaginable in there so that I only have one place to look for things or to update.

I used to have scraps of paper everywhere and a few notebooks on the go at once.

Oh but that's nice though! The best way to use one is always only to use it for what's genuinely useful. I honestly think I'll never stop using one, including after I retire. It's practically the only positive habit I've ever stuck to .

Yes! Well I thought I was but now someone has said it isn’t one without stickers… shag stickers?!

Oops what an autocorrect. *What stickers I meant…!!!

Pfft - that's daft. Stickers do not a bullet journal make! I admit to using a bit of washi tape when I feel the urge, but I've never used stickers. Ryder Caroll, the inventor of Bullet Journal, doesn't use stickers or do any prettifying or stationery fetishising at all. I mean... I love a bit of fancy stationery, but it's not necessary for a bullet journal!

I didn't mean you were daft btw @WellTidy Just that it's daft if people feel their journal can't count as a Bullet Journal without stickers, since the original Bullet Journal method has nothing to do with stickers. Yours definitely sounds like a Bullet Journal to me!

I’m glad I’m doing it right! I see mine as a depository for everything - plans, lists, observations etc. Mostly lists though.

I've been bullet journalling since June 2020. Very rarely use stickers and never do beautiful layouts like the social media #bujo crowd do! Mine's a bit of a funny one because I don't usually track much work-related stuff in it, as we use shared electronic task lists on all my projects (Jira or Trello). So I have a separate scrap pad where I note down work tasks for the day. I don't do all my journalling in it either, as I have a private blog that I use for that. But I find it incredibly helpful as a home organiser.

I don't really put much work stuff in mine either. I'm a teacher, and most things I have to keep a record of would potentially need to be available for scrutiny and/or wouldn't be appropriate to put in a personal journal. Lesson plans and schemes of work are on my laptop.

But I work in multiple schools and in other settings too, so keeping my schedule and changeable working times in my journal definitely helps keep me sane and organised!

I've recently been experimenting wimy system. I used to have a monthly double page with calendar and to-do list, plus a week-to-view double page, set out in advance, even the original method advises not to do this. I've now started doing free-flow dailies with no advance set-up and am really liking it!

Yep I'm on my third. No stickers or fancy layouts for me. Just basic collections

I make my monthly calendar page a bit pretty when I set it up each month, but other than that I don't do fancy layouts.

I'm wondering if any of you have any unusual or useful pages/uses for your journal that I haven't thought of! One of my most used pages is my master shopping list, and one of the most useful (but boring!) is the page I create every year when I'm doing my tax return!

Also, we have friends and family to stay fairly often (partly because we live in a popular holiday destination!) and I find it really useful to write in my journal which walks, local places, pubs/cafés etc we take them to, so that we choose different ones next time they come!

I still do it - it is actually recommended for people with ADHD brains - no stickers, no drawings, doodles, or other ornaments for me.
Just things to do, to remember, to organize all in one place.
I tried a normal calendar, I tried apps and it simply does not work for me.
If I write it down, it sticks in my brain.

I also have ADHD, and writing things down doesn't stick them in my brain, but thankfully does on the paper It also makes me feel a lot less anxious because I'm not constantly afraid I'm forgetting something, or losing track of my entire life, which is how I feel without it.

I don't have a consistent approach to it though, it changes depending on what's going on in my life at the time.

Utterly I did not say for how long it sticks . A bullet journal just feels safe.
DD sends whats app messages with everything she needs to remember to me, just in case.

@Fairislefandango

I make my monthly calendar page a bit pretty when I set it up each month, but other than that I don't do fancy layouts.

I'm wondering if any of you have any unusual or useful pages/uses for your journal that I haven't thought of! One of my most used pages is my master shopping list, and one of the most useful (but boring!) is the page I create every year when I'm doing my tax return!

Also, we have friends and family to stay fairly often (partly because we live in a popular holiday destination!) and I find it really useful to write in my journal which walks, local places, pubs/cafés etc we take them to, so that we choose different ones next time they come!

Been using some years now and couldn't cope without. Use loads of washi tape and usually a theme or a colour per month. For example spring colours or sakura / daffodils / tulips now.

I find Christmas present idea list useful, also packing lists for different type of breaks and also for overnight work trips. Occasionally do a brain dump of ideas.

Sometimes I do a phrase or a word for a month. Currently have CALM.

can use trackers for different purposes. Do you use habitat trackers? I tried but not my thing.

I still use one ! It's great for me but it's more stripped back now. I've sort of adapted it to work for me. I've never been one for all the fancy drawing and stickers

Every Sunday I draw it up for the following week, I allocate half a page per day and the extra half a page I add tasks I need to think about or plan for generally (like buy paint for bathroom, plan sons birthday)

On each day I include cleaning jobs, anything else I need to do and events from my google calendar. It really helps me, bit more structured than a to do list but easy to do

Do you use habitat trackers? I tried but not my thing.

Me neither. I just couldn't get on with them. My bullet journal is a source of calm and brainspace-freeing. Trying to turn it into a motivational tool just wasn't really what I wanted.

Every Sunday I draw it up for the following week, I allocate half a page per day and the extra half a page I add tasks I need to think about or plan for generally (like buy paint for bathroom, plan sons birthday)

I used to draw my week out in advance, but I'm quite liking having a free-flow whole month of daily entries with no set amount of space per day.

I'm trying to get back into using a bullet journal after a few years. I want to get in the habit of writing a bit about what we've done so I can remember more, and hopefully having one go to place will help with my tendency to keep wanting to get organised and ending up with lists all over the place.

Imo one of the great things about the flexibility of a Bullet Journal (especially if you don't set it up in advance with a set amount of space per day) is the fact that you've got all the space you need to write a longer entry about what you've done that day when you've had an interesting day, or do a really short entry when you haven't!

I’ve bought a new one recently. I used it loads in 2015/16 but the second one took about 5 years to fill, as I lost my BuJo mojo between moves, and lockdowns. I’m really hoping I can get back to it again. The main reason I like it is because I fall off the wagon ever so often, so normal diaries get wasted from so many pages skipped. At least here I can pick it up even after a year and still keep going.

Very true. I like the phrase 'BuJo mojo'

I restarted mine in January this year... then broke my wrist and have had to stop again 🙄
Keeping it on my coffee table so I can re-start it as soon as I can write again

Who's excited about the school year and September starting? I am planning the rest of the year with various goals for my bullet journal.
Two questions: another poster above mentioned 8 annual bullet journals. If the book has empty pages left, do you still start a new one and in this way keep it one per year?
My current bullet journal happens to end end of December with the current pace. The one I have now is spiral bound so allows the use of stickers, cuttings, washi tape etc. but the next one I have stashed ready and waiting (as proper stationery addict) is bound. How has that impacted the use of stickers washi tape etc. for you?

Hi @timoteigirl - to answer your two questions, yes I always start a new one in September even if I have space left! And I do use some washi tape even though I don't use a spiral-bound notebook, but I only tend to use it on my future log and the calendar page at the beginning of each month, so it's not that much.

I'm a teacher, do my year always runs September to August. My bullet journalling is about to change though... I'd always been part time (sometimes very),and partially self-employed since becoming a bullet journaller, so I used my bj to keep track of all my work commitments. But I'm starting a full time teaching job in one school in September so I'll be using my teacher planner for all work stuff. I wondered if I really still needed a journal . I've decided I do, for home stuff, but I won't fill it up as fast!