What is Bullet Journaling?

Last fall, some of my students launched a BuJo club, which lasted about three months, but most of us continue to bullet journal, and I wanted to do an overview since I've gotten asked about mine a lot!

Bullet Journaling is a trending hashtag on Twitter (#bujo) and it's everywhere on Pinterest. I'm on my second bullet journal, and I love it as a method of organization and as a journal/memory-keeper. It gets my face out of my iphone, and it's colorful! The major point is that it's totally customizable, but doesn't require crazy amounts of creativity or artistic skill.

Here's what I use my Bullet Journal for:

Monthly Spreads
I do one to two months at a time, building my own calendar and adding all my dates. It does take a little time, but once I had a layout I liked it was easier. It's therapeutic to lay out the month's plans and see where we have free weekends for intentional family time and evenings for dinners. I still use my Google Calendar app (which syncs with Hubster's gcal so we can keep track of meetings) but I like the physical act of writing things down.

February's spread, minus a few events

Sermon Notes
I am not able to take notes during Sunday services as I'm usually wrangling my kiddos, but I take my bullet journal with me to our school's weekly chapel service. It helps me focus on the message, and I can refer to it later during student discussions. For my faculty devotion earlier this semester, I reviewed lessons from chapels, and the process was surprisingly encouraging for me to remember those hours of the Word. It's also a great example for my students. We sit through approximately 40 sermons during the school year, and this way they don't slip in one ear and out the other.

Notes from Veterans' Day chapel, with the armor of God

Check Log
I use a check book to write our tithe checks and daycare payments; that's about it. But I lose my check register regularly (not very adult-y of me), so I rewrote one in my Bullet Journal to keep track with the rest of my budget when I don't have my checkbook with me.

Future Log
I write out the next six months to keep track of drill weekends, vacation days, Packer games, etc. My future log is also a quick reference for scheduling well baby visits and dentist appointments that I can flip to at the receptionist's desk instead of waiting for my phone to load and search for a date.

Forgive the boxes - you don't need to know EVERYTHING about me:)

Blog Ideas
I just started a spread to jot down ideas for future posts as I work on posting more regularly. Looking forward: Spartacus' reading list, natural family planning, and Plato's treatment of addiction.

Daily Logs
Sometimes I keep daily logs or weekly spreads, but recently I just haven't had time. Instead, I jot down a fun thing that might have happened or something memorable my kiddos said or did. It's a nice journal activity to remember without having a separate journal to remember to write in. At the end of the year I put together a family yearbook using Shutterfly, so this way I can remember all the little details we experienced during the year.

Budget Goals
I use EveryDollar.com app for my budgeting usually, but I have a savings page and lots of various budget spreads that I put in my bullet journal, including a yearlong expense table to help me track variable and fixed expenses before they get paid.

Gift Lists
You know when you see something and think, this would make a great Christmas gift for--, and then when it's birthday or Christmas time you forget all of those things? I have a page for those ideas when I get them! And then I add what I do end up making or buying so I don't accidentally double-gift (it happens, I know it).

Lots and lots of lists
To-Do lists and daily lists and shopping lists and grading lists...anything I'd write on a post-it note and lose, it goes in my Bullet Journal.

WHAT YOU NEED TO GET STARTED

I use my bujo for a whole lot more than this, and I really like how it traces my days and months. I like the idea of a biographer someday having my journals, like Thomas Jefferson's, to write about my life. Or maybe just my great-grandkids, if I'm end up less famous.

If you want to start a Bullet Journal, here's what you need:

• Blank journal: I use a Leuchtturm 1917 Dotted Notebook,* which has the "bullet" dots already in there, but any blank journal will do. The Leuchtturm is a little more expensive than the average blank book but it's very pretty and durable, since I bring it everywhere, and has a little pocket in the back for stuff, a bookmark, and an elastic holder. Also they come in bright happy colors.

• Pretty pens: I use these ones because they are bright and inexpensive (less than $5 and Amazon Prime), but they do bleed just a little sometimes - colored pencils also work well. I also got a set of stencils for Christmas that are fun to liven up spreads. You don't HAVE to have colors but they make it so much more fun!*

• Table of Contents: this is the key to finding things later: I build a table of contents as I fill up the pages, so if you have a blank notebook, be sure to allot a few pages for this at the beginning

Table of Contents that grows with the journal

• Page #s: the Leuchtturm one has page numbers and a table of contents already printed, but you can always write your own in.
• Inspiration: I go to Pinterest for Bullet Journal inspiration, or my students: they create reading logs and mood trackers and college application deadlines and travel ideas and summer bucket lists and exercise logs and habit trackers - it's totally customizable, and the best part is, if you don't use it for a few weeks, you won't have all those blank calendar planning pages mocking your lack of organization. If it goes beyond a calendar year, you don't have to throw it out. That's always my struggle, but now I don't have to feel guilty!

One of my student's habit tracker spreads

Happy journaling! Let me know how it goes!