So the time has come! I have bought a new bullet journal and am in the process of setting it up for the new year.
When I got my first bullet journal I immediately headed to Pinterest and Instagram and looked up ALL the pages. ALL the ideas. ALL the beautifully illustrated pages. I had plans to give each month a title page with gorgeous drawings around the month name. I was going to draw out beautiful weekly spreads each month, and to track all sorts of bits and pieces about my life.
Well, reader, that didn’t happen. My finance tracker lasted just a couple of months, and my habit trackers lasted until about mid-way through the year (although they were super useful, so they might be reinstated)
Sadly, I don’t have the time or the energy to spend making this book pretty, but what I have ended up with is almost actually exactly what I need. A minimal fuss, maximum results, diary, that I can fill with what I need when I need it.
In 2017 I didn’t use a Future Log, because I still had a weekly planner in the kitchen. Next year I am ditching that completely and going full on bullet journal.
Right now, I’m at the bare bones stage. I traditionally fill in people’s birthdays, upcoming dates etc in my regular diary on boxing day, as I’ve always received one for Christmas. It’s a nice, relaxing thing to do in the post-Christmas period, so I’ll be doing that this year. This means my Future Log looks a bit empty, but I’m sure that will correct itself pretty swiftly.
You might also notice that there’s a big error in April! Eek, I somehow completely messed the dates up. One of the things I’m changing for next year, is going back to a regular biro pen, rather than a special erasable one, so no changes allowed!
I’m changing pens for a couple of reasons, but mainly because it makes me feel less precious. Having the entire of 2017’s journal in the same pen was nice, but meant I didn’t write stuff down if there wasn’t one to hand. Also, there was more ‘ghosting’ (when the pen shows through the paper) with that pen than with a regular bic.
Other pages I’ve started to set up are the pages I loved most: The books I’ve read (for my favourite books of last year, see this month’s newsletter – you can see a copy here and sign up here, if you aren’t already subscribed), my memories and highlights from the year, January weekly pages, and a spread for Theo’s birthday, which is at the beginning of January. It’s dinosaur related as he’s currently obsessed. This will show who came to his party, what he got, and a snapshot of the things he loved when he was turning 3. I love looking back at that page in particular from my 2017 diary, so I’m looking forward to filling it out for his 3rd birthday. He comes out with some crackers, that’s for sure.
What pages have you enjoyed filling in most from your journals? Which pages are you carrying on to the next year and what will you be leaving behind? Are you going to try anything new this year? Although I’m not going to be making this a full on decorated bullet journal, I love looking at other people’s. If you’ve set yours up, please share photos or blog posts about it in the comments!
If you liked this, you might like to look at my previous posts on bullet journalling – the start and two months in.