My Bullet Journaling Process

My mom always says that my sister is super organized with her things and I am super organized with my time. Peek into Mallory’s shower and I guarantee she has her shampoo and conditioner and shaving cream all lined up shortest to tallest. Her closet is arranged by color and season.

I, on the other hand, am not so organized with my things but I am all about organizing my time & tasks.  Enter Bullet Journaling. I have toyed with different approaches to bullet journaling before but a recent post by Kristin convinced me to take the plunge.  I bought the notebook, did my research, and jumped in.

I am a list maker.  At this very minute, I have three notebooks at home with running lists.  I have no fewer than 7 post-its on my desk at school awaiting my return.  Don’t even get me started on the loose pieces of paper in the bottom of my purse with book titles, blog post ideas, to-do’s, things the girls have said, etc.  Bullet journaling provides me with a way to streamline all this and get it together.

I’ve only been using this method for about three weeks, but let me tell you my favorite things about bullet journaling so far.

• All my lists are in one place–personal, blog, and work.
• I can actually keep up with the things I right down.  I have been great for a while at writing down (or typing into my phone) the funny things the girls say, but more often than not they get lost.  Or deleted.
• I am more intentional about my day.  That insurance phone call I have put off for weeks?  When it’s written down, I am less likely to ignore it.  I subconsciously want to check that box as completed.
• It is SO much smaller to carry around than my Erin Condren planner, but there is SO much more space to write in.
• As an avid memory keeper, I like that it provides me with a short-handed journal of our day.

I love the Classic Colored Moleskin Journal.  It has a band to hold it closed as well as a small pocket at the back to hold loose items.  It also has a ribbon marker to help save pages, which I use to direct me to my current page.

I arranged my journal much like is recommended on the bullet journaling website–starting with an index.  (This has already been helpful when I was searching for a list of photos I had written down.)

(Please excuse the quality of the following photos.  My camera is going capoot–see those spots on the left?  I think they must be on the inside of the camera because I can’t get them off.  Womp womp.)

Following the index, I have a space for long term planning. Honestly, I’m not sure how I will use this, so I just stuck a few post-its there for now.  One big negative of the Bullet Journaling system is the lack of long-term planning.  Personally, I don’t mind keeping my calendar at home and referring back to it in the evening for appointments.  (And since I’ll be carrying my Moleskin around with me for tasks and the like, I can buy a cheaper, less cute calendar just to keep track of my appointments, birthdays, etc.)

I included a Booklist to keep track of books I have read and those I want to read.

My June calendar is in list form, and next to it is the list of June tasks.

I loved Kristin’s blog schedule and prep pages, so I utilized those too.

I have recently started attempting ‘dailies’, things I try to do every day.  These things include my quiet time and exercising.  I made a small chart to check off each daily–hopefully this will keep me more accountable to them.  (The Accidental Creative is a huge proponent of dailies-you can read more about them there if you are interested.)

I also included a June Prayer page, to list prayer items for the month of June.  I love being able to go back and look at what I prayed for in the past–I especially love being able to mark off a topic when God has answered!

Following all those June charts are my June daily journals.  Some days have a lot of notes, some do not.  I love how it’s a combination of my entire day–things I do for home, personal, blog.  I’m not working right now, but when we start back in August, I can only imagine how beneficial keeping those library tasks together with everything else will be.  I also love writing down at least one inspirational nugget each day and the things the girls say/do.

I reserved the last few pages for lettering and doodle examples I can refer to when bible journaling.  This notebook is going to be my one-stop shop.

Right now, I am only using the monthly section of my Erin Condren to keep up with appointments.  Each night, I sit down to think about the following day.  I refer to the Erin Condren to see about any appointments, I look at the previous day in the bullet journal to see if any tasks were left unchecked, and I think about what needs to happen that day.  All these things get written in the journal for the next morning.

Using this method helps me start my morning off productive–I know what’s happening and what needs to be done and I don’t waste hours just hanging out on Pinterest and Instagram.  (Well, I don’t waste as many hours!)

Do you bullet journal? Share your process! If you don’t already utilize this method, give it a try and let me know how it goes!

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