Happy New Year! πŸ™‚

So. Before anything, a little recap of my first bullet journals (work and personal, as pictured below). 2017 has been more productive than it would have been otherwise without the help of my BuJo. I usually multi-task (even with my thought processes, so yes, I tend to overthink as well) so I tend to have a pretty short attention span and sometimes forget things. Having tasks and such written down, I could see what I have to do and therefore be able to do more.


Needless to say, I have decided to continue bullet journaling this year. Since I did not avail of the Starbucks planner or any other kind of planner last December, I was free to choose whatever journal or notebook I want for my new BuJo. Naturally, I wanted a dotted notebook to maximize flexibility for the contents. Since my options here in the province were pretty limited, I settled on the softcover Victoria’s Journals dotted notebook. The pages are already numbered and there’s an index already, so all the better for me. πŸ˜‰ The blank maroon cover was kinda boring so I decided to design/label it with a gold Sharpie.

Excited person that I am, I went on right ahead making collections and such–conveniently forgetting I need a calendar (of all things!) and a Future Log. So what I will do (because I have yet to actually execute this plan) is print out a calendar and just stick it on the front inside cover of my BuJo. Here it is (you could use it as well):

printable 2018 calendar

It pretty much follows my overall minimalistic BuJo theme, which is [fancy] calligraphy headers/titles and simple handwriting everywhere else. I use black ink (Pigma Micron, Uni Pin) for the entries and a mix of colorful pens and brush pens for accents. Here’s a look at my current setup:

Future Log

2018 future log

Because of all the stuff I put in when I got the notebook, the Future Log ended up somewhere a few pages into the notebook instead of first and foremost. πŸ˜› Still, better late than never, right? So anyway, I used the Alastair Method for this. Coincidentally, this method does not necessitate having a calendar on it so it’s just about perfect for my situation as well. I put in half a year on each page and that’s that. I just put in future events or tasks as I went along (I whited out some private entries).

Monthly Log / Page / Dashboard

January dashboard + weekly running tasks

On the left side is my January page. It’s pretty much self-explanatory even at a glance. Just a simple calendar, activities and goals. Minimal, no-fuss and functional, just the way I like it. On the right side is the…

Weekly Running Log

But in the photo above, it’s Weekly Running Tasks. Shortly after putting in entries, I realized that not all were tasks (duh!). I put in some notes as well, and I know I’ll be putting in event entries sooner or later. But I liked how my header looked to make any changes to it, so I just decided to change it the next week, like so:

week 2 running log

Can I just say how much I love this format over the traditional planner-like weekly spreads? It’s just so efficient–no wasted space if I haven’t got much going on for a particular day. Doesn’t take a lot of time to set up too; I could finish in about five (5) minutes, then just add my logs as I go along the week. It looks so neat as well.

Weekly Habit Tracker

The beauty of the bullet journal is that anything goes. Imperfection is okay (expected actually) and you can always experiment with practically every aspect of the whole thing–from formats to content to layouts to tools and materials used… the possibilities are endless, really. Something new I added for the next week’s log is the habit tracker for my daughter’s homework. It’s as much for her as it is for me. Her assignments are something I sooooometimes forget to supervise, resulting in her going to schoolΒ  the next day without the requisite project materials or missing classroom payments, things like that. Hence the tracker. And as you can see, it’s in the middle of the page since I’ve put in some entries prior before coming to the realization that I needed the tracker. Like I said before, anything goes.

week 3 running log

Here, I used three (3) different blue pens for the boxes (Faber Castell True Gel, Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust and Dong-A Fine Tech). The first two had a lot of ghosting and a tiny bit of bleeding on the other side, which I definitely do not like. So I looked for another light/aqua blue pen that would only leave minimal ghosting at the most, and got the 0.3 Dong-A pen. It’s pretty cheap too at just P24.75, so bonus points for that.

Other Trackers

monthly bills tracker

One important thing I need to track are bills. Adulting and all that, you know. πŸ˜› But seriously, it’s something nonnegotiable. That, and I like seeing all of my bills together, see where most of my money goes. So anyway, written in blue are the monthly due dates and beside are the details of the bills themselves. Instead of shading the boxes in, I opted to put the date when I paid the bill.

period tracker

This one’s pretty straightforward: a Period Tracker. My monthly visitor is kinda inconsistent–some months pretty regular, then I’d get advanced or delayed the next. I wanna see if a pattern would emerge, give me new insight as to why that happens.

fuzzy logic mood tracker january partial

I have posted about my Fuzzy Logic Mood Tracker before, nothing much to say here. Only that I’ve filled in a few boxes and so far I haven’t had a terrible day yet (fingers crossed). That, or I’m becoming a bit more positive/optimistic than before perhaps?

So there you go. My humble bullet journal, my first stab at real bullet journaling on a dotted notebook. I carry it around everyday and see myself using it for the foreseeable future. Planner peace at last.Β β™₯

callig-siggy

18 thoughts on “2018 Bullet Journal

  1. Your penmanship is on point!! I love what you did with your journal. I got myself the 365 journal, I haven’t written anything there yet since I still have my mini notebook to right down my to-dos and plans. Btw, I’m amused with your mood tracker. Haha.

  2. I love how you transformed this journal and personalised it to be yours. I like the idea of having a bullet journal, I didn’t hear about it before to be honest. But I do know that when I write stuff down for example and get organised, I get much more things done. It’s like a satisfaction to check all items on the list at the end of the day πŸ™‚

  3. Seeing and reading this blog post made me unearth all my journals and planners that I have kept for quite some time now. I just realized that one of the planners I have is a dotted one and could be used as a bullet journal. Though, I don’t know where and how to start. Thanks to your post, I finally have a grasp on how to do it! Keep ’em coming!

  4. I envy your penmanship. It is so clean and pretty. I like what you did here and hoping I can copy some. I am not good in planner designing but I wanted learn. I got the Mercury Drug planner and working something out on that.

  5. Nice penmanship! I think planners and journals are a way for us to organize our lives. I have been meaning to do that for the past year. I just can’t see myself doing it. Do you have any tips to jumpstart?

  6. I had been using a planner since I was in college. I haven’t used the bullet journal, though. But I think what is most important is that whatever planner we use, it helps us achieve our goals. That’s what they made for anyway. πŸ˜‰

  7. I truly appreciate how you gave a new look and purpose to this journal. I am convinced a bullet journal is of great use. Bulleted forms are easy to keep track of and helps get things done in systemic manner. I will try making a similar one.

  8. Woooow! I’ve always wanted to try this but I’m just not creative and persistent enough. Maybe one day? Anyway, I’m very much in love with your penmanship! <3 Keep it going~

  9. This inspires me to do bullet journal, too. I love the fact that you could doodle, scribble and just be funny, serious or anything. It may seem too hard to start at first because of the blank pages but then it also gives you the liberty to be you and perhaps be creative. I just fell in love with the idea. And i so love your handwriting. πŸ™‚

  10. Wooow, I loove your BuJo!!! I use it as well, and I am really really more productive when I jot down all the obligations on the paper. This way I am able to keep track of all the things that simply have to be done! And you are so neat. I, personally, don’t write this nice and I never decorate the pages as you do. I wish I could do it the way you are doing.

  11. I have no idea what a bullet journal was until i saw one. It’s so beautiful. But i was intimidated to start one. Pressured perhaps to come up with ideas on how to make the journal a beauty and meaningful.

    1. Have you seen the original bullet journal video by Ryder Carroll, the guy who came up with this system? If you stick to the basics he discussed there, bullet journaling is actually pretty simple. It’s just that it has gone mainstream and been adapted by so many creative people that it seems more about fashion than function, so to speak. But the real beauty of the bullet journal is that YOU can make it as simple or as ornate or artistic as YOU want to fit YOUR organizing and planning needs. 😊

  12. yey, fellow bullet journal-ist! I’m been bullet journaling since last year too and my first notebook is Victoria’s Journal as well. Since this year, I already know what system works for me, I wanted to indulge a bit and got myself a Papernotes dotted notebook. You may want to check it out too though the dots are a bit too dark for me. But the paper quality is commendable.

    1. Ooh, a fellow BuJo user! *happy dance* I am indeed considering a dotted Papernotes for my next BuJo, I just don’t know how I feel about the dark dots.. Hehe. But the 100gsm paper is exactly what I’m looking for so I could use my fountain pens for journaling.

  13. I have been using a mum planner for several years now but I find the empty boxes un-updated too disappointing and quite a challenge really, especially that I spread myself too thin sometimes just so I can update it! I thought bullet journaling would be very much ideal for mums like me who most times do not have plenty of time to update a planner. This year I am using a Starbucks {my very first} planner for my daily logs {which almost always turns into weekly logs, really! :D} and the Mercury Drug planner as my journal. I thought I’d keep everything simple and very functional this year. I soo need that bills and menstrual tracker so am incorporating those in my journal.

    I sure hope I can find enough courage one day soon to come up with my very own bujo! Thank you for the inspiratation! ^_^

    1. My first BuJo was actually a 2017 Starbucks planner. πŸ™‚ I treat the bullet journal as a system rather than a specific planner/journal, so from my POV, you can do it even on pre-printed planners so long as you do the same things like use bullets and lists. πŸ˜‰

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