Bullet Journal 101

Hi everyone!  Last week I shared my favorite bullet journal supplies, and today I'm going to show you how I use my journal.  One of the things that I really love about this system is the freedom to use it however best works for you.  I've already changed things up a lot in the few weeks that I've had mine, and I love how adaptable it is!  I'm sure that my needs will change as the year goes on, and I can keep changing my journal to keep up with those changes.

For now, this is the way that I'm using my bullet journal and I hope this gives you some inspiration to start yours!

Calendex

The first section of my bullet journal is for my Calendex.  This is a method that was "invented" by Eddy Hope, and it works really well for me.  I like to keep mine color coded to help visually see what types of events I have coming up, and mine is currently set for three months.

To create a Calendex, just set up your page with the months going horizontally, and days going vertically.  I divide mine into weeks as well.  Then, I write down all of my bills and pay days with my green marker (color code for money) and mark any holidays or birthdays with orange.  From there, the calendex becomes very interactive.

On my daily spreads, which I'll talk about below, I'll write down appointments or events as they come back and color code them for the category.  Then, I'll come back to the calendex page and write down the page number next to the correct date.  Once I'm in that week and I'm setting up my weekly spread, I'll write down the events so that I know what's coming up.

This seems like a confusing system at first, but once I started using it and getting the hang of it, I really like it.  I love how I can see what's coming up without having a ton of details.  This helps me plan better, because if I can see that I have a really busy week, I might want to plan out blog posts ahead of time.  If I have a slower week, maybe I'll add in more things to do or use it as a catch-up time.

If you want to see a more in-depth explanation, make sure you check out Boho Berry's post!

Monthly Goals

You should already know that I'm all into goals, so it should be no surprise that I have to dedicate a section to my monthly goals.  On one page, I have a list of all of these goals divided by category (you can see these on my blog here), and on the other I keep a habits tracker.

Most of my goals are broken down by week (things like no spending, keeping my savings goal, etc.) and others are divided by numbers (every 25 miles on the way to my goal of 100 miles in a month).

For my monthly habits tracker, I wrote down things that I want to do every day, like foam rolling and keeping my cleaning schedule.  I also included my cleaning schedule I shared here and broke it down by room and day of the week.  In April, I forgot to add this to my monthly spread, and I can tell you that I haven't been keeping up my cleaning at all lately!  I can definitely tell a huge difference when I keep up this system.

Weekly Spread

My weekly spread helps me organize meal ideas, blog posts, workouts, and events.  First thing that I do is look in my calendex and see what events or bills I have coming up that week.  All I have to do is look up the page number that is written down, and find the colored box.  Like I said, this seems confusing at first but now that I've been using this system for a while it works really well for me.

For blog posts, I like to plan out what I'm going to be posting every day.  I also have a spot for social media sharing (Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest) so I can remember to share my posts online.

I also keep track of my workout for the day, as well as meal plan.  I realized that I was moving around meals during the week, so I've since adapted this to just have a blank cell where I can put down meal ideas.  This is working great so far!

Daily Spread

Next up are the daily spreads.  This is where I list out all of my tasks for the days, along with any events that I have going on.  This is also where the calendex comes in.  During the day, if an event comes up, I'll write it down, and color code it.  Then, I'll write down the page number in the correct date in the calendex.

I also like to write down the weather for the day, as well as anything that I have to remember about the day.  The daily spread reminds me of a diary, where I can write down what happened that day.  I know that some people also use it to track nutrition, a running log, gratitude journal...the possibilities are really endless!

Collections 

Finally, the last thing that I use my bullet journal for is collections.  These are all of the miscellaneous things that you want to document that don't really go in a monthly, weekly or daily spread.  I like to make collections of doodles, packing lists, keep track of my 30x30 list, or add anything that comes up.

In order to keep your collections organized, it's important to use the index at the beginning of the notebook.  I use the Leuchtturm A5, which comes with a printed index and numbered pages.  When I create a new collection, I write down the page number and title so that I can refer back to it.  Instead of having to flip through all of the pages of the bujo, I can look at the index and find exactly what I'm looking for quickly. 


Have I convinced anyone out there to start a bullet journal?
Do you have any other questions about the bujo?
What kind of collection would you start?

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