Back in April, I started my first Bullet Journal.
I spent months searching layouts and finding exactly what I wanted to use for materials. I finally landed on something a bit more expensive for the journal (a Leuchtturm1917) and picked up a pack of fine tip Sharpie Pens.
It was time to dig out my colored pencils and Washi Tapes, a ruler, and set to work.
I have so far only run onto one major issue with my BuJo:
KEEPING IT UPDATED!
Really, I just suck at that sort of thing and as much as I hoped I would stay on track with it, I found myself slacking off. It got really bad while my daughter and I were in Florida, visiting my mom. I just got out of my routine and by the time we were back home, I had stopped even getting it out and marking off my goals.
But this is a new month, and I have determination to follow through with my journaling and using it to be more organized throughout the year.
Let’s start with the most important layouts for August…
My ‘month-at-a-glance’ spread butts up with my monthly to-do and goal lists. I have found this to be the best layout for me, so far, even though I have found others I would like to use. I just keep returning to my simple layout.
The daily layout, however, I have now changed up twice, giving me three different views since April. I may not keep this one, although there is a bit more freedom and less confinement with an open layout like this one. I seem to have a bad eye for placement first few tries, however, so maybe more structure really is better.
The next pages are not so much faves, but ways to keep myself accountable. Back in April, I decided I needed not just a habit tracker, but a way to track the things I don’t want to do, as well. In May, I combined them into one page and by June I had added a mood tracker as well. (It was scoops of ice cream.)
July had me use a different habit tracker layout, but in the end I did not like my choice of mini trackers and so went back to my full triple tracker for August.
I have followed that up with a step tracker for the month.
As I have and wear my FitBit every day, it may seem odd to some to have a step tracker, but it helps me to see just how much or how little I have moved around throughout the month. It gives me time to adjust my daily routine, if need be.
This next spread is just one of two, and I have not quite finished it, yet. (I need to stock back up on Post-It Notes, first…)
My minions are insistent that they take a sack lunch with them to school every day, this year. I said we could try that and then my anxiety inched upward as I thought about it being one more thing to remember to take care off every day. Then I saw a photo of this great layout idea for meal planning and thought I could totally do something like it for school lunches and snacks! (Totally got way too excited about it, too.) The hope is that this layout (and yes, I did one similar for meal planning,) will help remind me of what the kids would like as well as prep ahead snacks and sides so they can pack their own lunch sacks before school.
I really am seriously excited about this spread!
I am going to sneak in my debt worksheet here for you to see, as well.
It is such a simple layout that it doesn’t need much explanation. We (my husband and I) have three loans, two of which are student loans we have been basically been paying on since we got married 13 years ago. We have had a couple of car loans during that time, as well, and this is how I am going to track the snowball effect of getting rid of this debt a bit quicker.
This whole BuJo thing really is a great way to keep track of so much going on in my life that I am more than glad that I started it this year.
I have more than these few pages for August and the debt payoff tracker, obviously, but I don’t need to show you guys all the pages in the whole book. That would be a crazy amount of photos!
I will, however, share two more important pages for every Bullet Journal: The Index and the Key!
When you start putting year long or multi-month pages in your journal it is important to remember where they are. The easiest way to find them is an index. And having a key can help you keep things consistent across the whole journal and keep your brain on the same page with tasks and suck from month to month to month.
I have blank pages and things I still want to add in between months and such, but I don’t push myself to get it all added at once. I like to browse the net for page and spread ideas. There are so many people posting about their Bullet Journal experience that you can find all sorts of pages to get inspiration from! I scan through Pinterest at least once a week for new ideas and once in a while I find something new that stands out so much that I just have to use it.
I will gladly answer questions or offer more photos of my pages to anyone who is interested in a specific page or section from my index. Just leave me a comment and I will gladly respond with what I have!
♥
michigander♥mander 