Hello everyone! I hope you are well! You guys know I love to plan. You also know I love my Erin Condren Life Planner. But this year with a wedding to plan for, a blog to run, and trying to open an Etsy store, I’ve felt a little all over the place. I feel like I have all of these things I want to accomplish, and I hadn’t been getting anything done. I wanted to have a place where I could keep all of my lists and keep myself on track. Enter my bullet journal! Today I’m sharing a flip through of my bullet journal that I started in July in a video , and I’ll also share some pictures of my favourite spreads.
(affiliate links used for convenience)
What’s a bullet journal?
If you’ve never heard of a bullet journal, it’s basically a notebook. You can use any notebook, but I bought a Leuchtterm 1917 in the A5 size (link at the bottom of the post). It’s got a dot grid instead of lines, so it’s much more open to whatever you want to create! Below is a flip-through where I talk a little bit about each of the spreads.
bullet journal flip-through
Why a bullet journal?
I should mention that my bullet journal did not replace my planner, it is just an additional space for me to keep track of things. “Traditional” bullet journaling is creating a planner that is more flexible than something like an Erin Condren, that already has boxes for each day. With the bullet journal, because the pages are blank, you create whatever you like. I used to use the pages in the back of my planner for some of the lists I moved to my bullet journal. Things like tv shows I want to watch, movies I want to see, and books I want to read all have their own pages. Below I’ve shared some of my favourite pages so far!
Some of my favourite spreads
I like to keep track of my blog stats, from the google analytics side to the social media side, and I’ve left room for 2018 as well, so I can see (hopefully growth) across two pages. I’ve covered up the numbers for privacy, but you can see how the charts are set up!
I love to read, and I usually always have a list of books to read on the go! I’ve been making an effort to read more lately, so of course I had to have a list of the books I want to read! On the next page I drew a bookshelf, and with every book I finish, I fill in a book. I think it will look really neat as it fills out more!
I created two pages with flags for each month to keep track of birthdays and anniversaries (which I spelled wrong in my journal!). Then hopefully I can be that person that is really on top of those things!
Each month I write down my goals for the month, the habits I want to improve on, and I also track my mood. I wanted my bullet journal to help me get a better picture of how I’m feeling, and how often I’m doing the things I want to be doing.
I have a brain dump page, and a wedding related brain dump page, because sometimes I just need to write out everything that needs to be done. It helps just to get in the right headspace so I don’t feel so scatterbrained!
Since I started my other YouTube channel and starting using more stickers in my planner, I moved my expense tracker (which I used to just enter at the bottom of the days) to my bullet journal. I covered up most of the things I wrote down, but you can see how I set it up below. With a house and a wedding to pay for, it’s definitely helpful to have a budget!
Basically I go through the credit card statement and my bank account to write down what we’ve spent, then move that information to a spreadsheet that is categorized and colour-coded for if we go over budget. once I’ve added it to the spreadsheet, I check it off. So satisfying to see all the checkmarks! Again the information is covered up, but you can see the general way it’s set-up!
I hope you enjoyed taking a look inside my bullet journal today! I feel like I’m still finding my groove in it, but it’s definitely made a difference, and I find myself getting more done! I’m a bit of a perfectionist that I sometimes want to re-do the pages, but I’m trying to just accept how it is, and if I finish that page and want to make a new one, I can make changes! Let me know if you would be interested in seeing an update as I continue to add to my bullet journal!
Accessories and links
You can find the coloured pens I use in my bullet journal here, the sharpie pen here, and the brush tip pen here. And here’s the link to my bullet journal!
What do you use to stay organized? Let me know in the comments!
Thank you so much for joining me today!
Lila Silver says
I recently bought a planner at Indigo and looove keeping track of things and planning. But your organizational skills put me to shame! You go girl!
adisneyobsession says
You definitely have to do what works for you! I like keeping track of all of the things!
Stacie says
Totally get the perfectionist thing! I’ve tried to do a bullet journal so many times but I always want to redo everything lol I love some of your ideas though! The bookshelf for what you want to read is so cute. I also really love the blog stats, I think I’ll do something similar was well!
Thanks for sharing!
adisneyobsession says
Thank you for the kind words Stacie! I definitely try to do the pages in pencil first to see how I like the look, but I’m also trying to be less of a perfectionist as well! It’s nice to keep track of the blog stats, so you can see (hopefully) growth, and what months bring the most traffic. Thank you for reading, and have a great day!
Michelle says
I tried journaling but my perfectionist streak got in the way! I made myself journal on my holiday though! I’d like to give bullet journaling a go one day but I think I’d start and then neglect it after like a week. Love the spreads you’ve done though.
adisneyobsession says
Thank you Michelle! That’s the nice thing about the bullet journal though, you won’t have empty pages of days you didn’t fill out, you just keep it flowing! And you can start with just a simple notebook! I hope you can keep up with your journalling!