My first Bujo

[vampiresincowboyboots]

I've recently stumbled across bullet journalling on youtube and I'm gearing up to start my first notebook. I'm literally just using a pukka pad I had lying around the house and a black biro, nothing fancy until I know if the system is going to work for me.

I've got plenty of ideas spinning around my head over what I think I want to include and how I think I'm going to use it.

What would you say are your essentials for your bullet journal? What's worked best for you? What's not worked? And... what did you wish you knew before you started?

thank you in advance! :)

Comments

[yhlee]

Yeah, nothing fancy is definitely the way to go if you're still trying things out. I think I started out in a notebook someone had given me.

One thing that helped me out early on was figuring out whether fancying things up a bit was motivating or tedious. For example, I stocked up on washi tape because I really love looking at the colors and patterns. But for someone else, that could be distracting or annoying. I look at some of the really fancy watercolors/art/etc. things that people do and I'm just not that motivated. (I do sketch frequently, but I've moved that to a separate sketchbook because I use dot-grid for my bullet journal and the dots became distracting.)

I ditched some of the standard symbols because I couldn't keep them straight, not like anyone's grading me. ;) I don't do monthly spreads because they're a pain to make; instead I just do one for the year to keep track of appointments (because otherwise I would be so screwed) and refer back to it as needed.

I really like habit trackers as a concept but discovered that I personally get overwhelmed if I try to track more than two or three things--four at the absolute most. You might have better luck, though!

[vampiresincowboyboots]

I'm torn between 'if I make it pretty, I'll use it' or if making it pretty will be too time-consuming and put me OFF using it. I don't have a lot of stickers or washi, but I have plenty of different colour pens and pencils so I'm hoping mostly the basic format with some bursts of colour will work.

Habit trackers I definitely want to incorporate, I've got like 5 things I want to keep track of but I don't know if weekly or monthly will work best. Only one way to find out, I suppose!

[yhlee]

I hear you! My use of washi tape is pretty minimal--I use it at the end of a day's entry to make an easy dividing line. Possibly also motivated by my mom giving me cat washi tape (I'm a cat person, haha).

Have fun!

[telophase]

I thought I was a don't-make-it-pretty person, but after a year looked back and realized that the weeks I'd spent some time on making my weekly spread somewhat attractive (I don't go all out) were the weeks I actually got stuff done. I think it might have to do with spending some time each week consciously thinking about the week ahead and keeping it all in my mind. So I'd suggest doing both and seeing what works for you!

I do everything on a weekly basis--I need to keep it all visible because if I turn the page, it's out of sight, out of mind. So yearly and monthly don't work for me, and taking more than two pages for daily doesn't either--all 7 days need to be visible.

[misslucyjane]

The index. Absolutely the index. I've been keeping notebooks for years and I have no idea what's in most of them, and I think the adding of an index is the most useful part of the whole system.

Some kind of to-do/appointments list is also helpful. The spread depends on how busy your are: classes or kids' activities or project tracking for the self-employed, that sort of thing.

I tried out a key at first, but don't bother anymore because I was changing it all the time anyway. I don't do a habit tracker, as such, but I do mark off that I've taken all of my medications every day using a habit tracker-style grid. And I have no artistic ability whatsoever so I don't do things like Hello pages. (I do use washi tape to jazz up various pages, though, and sometimes small dot or heart stickers. I love washi tape.)

I was introduced to it basically by Ryder Carroll's original concept, so I've always had the idea of a KISS journal as the starting point.

[seascribble]

Seconding the index comment. As long as I remember to use it, hugely helpful.

I tried monthly spreads, and found them less useful than a well-spaced yearly calendar where I could put trips and appointments and things all together.

I do my habit tracker week by week, as well as a mood tracker using the same format. Having it on the same page made it way easier to use than the big monthly tracker, although the visual breakdown isn't as satisfying.

[java]

I think watching Ryer Carroll's intro video is essential.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm15cmYU0IM
As the creator of the system, he had developed it for years before he released it. And I think it shows. He is completely focused on functionality, whereas every other YouTube channel & Insta account is about making it look good for the audience.

A few useful things have risen from the 'community', a couple of different yearly calendar page setups, (you can find introductions at bulletjournal.com) threading (also explained at the website), and monthly mood trackers.

I started my first bujo in a lined notebook. I made all these collections and wrote down like six months of monthly pages in advance. I just wanted to fill it with a lot of stuff. I also used washi tape and stickers. I ended up not using most of the collections, redoing the monthlies and scrapping the weeklies altogether. I think one of points of the whole system is, that you don't need weeklies. Rapid logging is the core of the system, and everything else grows organically from that.

I also scrapped that notebook soon after. The lines were too constricting. Dotted pages are for me the perfect balance between giving guidelines and allowing the freedom to draw/doodle.

Don't buy a moleskine. I did that, and I could only use ballpoint pen and coloured pencils on it. All markers I had, bled though. The paper is 70gsm, and that is really thin, thinner than a regular copy paper (which is 80gsm). I haven't used Leuchtturm notebooks (they have 90gsm paper pages), so I don't have first hand experience on those. I've seen people use markers on it and not have bleedthrough.
But I think that also depends on the markers you use. One of the sets I had (I had several sets at one point), was a Staedtler coloured markers, and I swear those bleed through anything. Text written with them also changes colour on the long run. So not recommending them to anybody.

If I were to buy a notebook (once I'm done with the moleskine, I'm going to make my own*), I'd buy Nuuna. Those have thick paper, and you can get them with turquoise dots and holographic covers. So pretty :]

After I noticed that the moleskine was what it was, I decided the next notebook was going to suit my needs exactly. So after using the moleskine for some time, I noticed that I have three kinds of collections:

A) calendar-type collections; yearlies, monthlies (and a monthly mood tracker), dailies (= rapid logging), and budget**

b) 'single use' collections; like planning for an event, even something as simple as a dinner party, (who are invited, who is coming, who has what allergy/diet, what am I going to serve, the shopping list, if and what stuff I need to borrow etc.) or a project (anything can be a project, new living room curtains was a project in my bujo :D), something that once it's done, I don't actively refer to that collection anymore, but it's useful to keep for next similar type of event/project, and

c) information collections; something I refer to every now and then.

I don't have collections like books to read or books I've read, shows to watch, games to play, I track my media consumption digitally. And aside from the mood tracker, which I keep for mental health reasons, I don't have any other trackers, I find them completely useless.

I also have a bit of an OCD. I don't like that these different types of collections are mixed together in one book. But having three separate notebooks is ridiculous. Then I found out about Midori/travellers notebooks. Which is, in essence, x number of notebooks in one cover. *So my next notebook is going to be a DIY travellers notebook. I actually have planned it all out, up and including where I'm going to get inexpensive acid-free 120gsm paper (Clas Ohlson, they have stores in Scandinavia, I don't know about the rest of the world) and I'm almost done with my moleskine. I'll post about the process in my DW, and here.

** It didn't occur to me before, but my budget page setup is something I haven't seen a lot, I could post about it here if people are interested?

Oh my $deity, I've written a novel here /o\


Tl;dr: Rapid logging is the core. Everything else grows from that. The point of the system is to put everything on paper, so that you can focus your mental energy on doing things and not trying to remember what you should do when with whom.

[lunabee34]

Thank you for mentioning the Nuuna notebook. I've never seen those, and they are so cool.

[seascribble]

Yes please to budget!

Also, ohhhh noooo, I bought a Leuchtturm based on recommendations when I first started and it's fine (I use writing markers) but I recently picked up a moleskine, because I liked the dots and the larger size, and now I'm worried about the bleedthrough. WOE.

[telophase]

I previously used a Leuchtterm, and it worked well with minimal/no bleedtrhough. I've currently got a Lemome, and my pen (fine tip Sharpie) doesn't bleed through, but my markers do.

I'll have to try a Nuuna. Those look nice!

[clare_dragonfly]

I think you have the perfect way to start out! Keep it simple!

I agree that the index is the crucial part. To me, that's the most useful thing about a bullet journal.

I went back to the basics for my latest bullet journal, just a pen and notebook, but I've found that I want a little more color just as a visual cue, so when setting up my monthly pages for February (a regular monthly and a meal plan), I used three pen colors. Not sure if I'll continue with pen colors for the dailies. It might be fun. I enjoy using washi tape and stickers as decoration, but they were easy to drop when I decided I wanted to keep everything really simple.

Habit trackers and weekly spreads didn't work for me. The only thing I wish I'd known before I started is that I would gain an interest in fountain pens and want notebooks that work well with them ;)

[spindle_ella]

My basic advice would be to try something if it seems interesting, but if it doesn't work for you then just dump it, and be completely ruthless about it. If a spread is annoying to do, and it doesn't save you time/effort in the long run or make you feel happy, just drop it. Even if everyone else is doing it. I think a notebook you had lying around is ideal since you're less likely to feel precious about some unused spreads than you might if you'd gone out and bought an expensive one especially.

I do use weeklies, and I like my washi and stickers (while my active brain is working out where to put those, the back of my mind is rummaging about remembering peripherals and matching tasks to an efficient time-frame, in a way it doesn't if I just employ bullet-points, so I find that my life is smoother if I take the time to decorate). My monthly page isn't set up as a traditional calendar, but rather as what the type of thing is, because my brain parses it better. Appointments: these dates. Markets: these dates. Pharmacy: these dates. Bills: these dates. etc. Then I just pop those dates into my weeklies to keep track of the time. Traditional habit trackers don't do it for me either; I have a little icon for each habit in each day's section. But that's the beauty of bullet journalling (and variations thereof), you can just change it up; you don't get one month into using a planner you thought would work for you and then think 'meh', or try to force yourself to fit the planner.

My most useful spreads are a log of a particular medication I take (I've just got month at the top, dates down the side, then I colour in the square if I took it. I have three colours depending on which problem I took it for, and I can just show my specialist that page); and one for my direct debits (month at the top, bill name at the side, once the bill goes out I write in the box how much went out. Means I can easily spot anomalies, and I can add up what's missing to quickly work out what's due to go out of my account still). A spread I love, even though it's not massively useful, is my reading log: I do one for each month, number the dates down the side and just fill in on each date what book I read that day, with an asterisk if I finished it. Pain, mood and sleep trackers should be useful to me, but I genuinely just forget to fill them in so I don't bother. I'm contemplating adding it to my daily space and then correlating the info for doctors appointments. Doing a medication habit tracker was a goddamn menace because I'd take the pills, forget to mark off the tracker, and then second guess whether or not I'd taken the pills, so if you decide to track an existing habit then I guess I'd say be wary of the possibility.

Have fun!

[hedwig_dordt]

To me, it meant that I keep my notes in my agenda, basically.

I've never liked the day-by-day calenders, so I work with four-or-five weeks. Top third of the page: appointments, roughly organised by time of day, the "day of"/birthdays/notable moments.

Lower two/thirds: to-dos, usually assigned to a day.

My favourite thing: I added my habit tracker to the week. Not a massive change, but it means I... you know... track my behaviour properly.

I'm not much of a decorator. I use felt-tipped pens to space out the days and the dates, which adds a splash of colour. And I splurged on Frixion pens, which you can erase and write over, and they too come in various colours.

[biodamped]

I started mine on an A4 piece of paper, folded in half with a printed calendar on one side and space for notes/tasks on the other. :P For exactly the same reasons you are - I didn't want to waste time unless I knew it would work for me.

Having spent a good 18 months using the system (I upgraded to proper Leuchtterm journals about November 2016), I've found that my essentials are:

1. A monthly log
2. A habit tracker (which I often forget to fill in, but I'm trying to make THAT a habit as well). I do mine as a month, not a week, and set it up exactly the same way as my monthly log, with a vertical column of dates, and then each habit in a column to check off as I go.
3. A very simple key. I use the traditional dot for tasks, crossed through for completed or X'd for cancelled, along with a dash (for notes), a heart (for memories), a circled plus and/or minus sign (for good/bad things throughout the day) and a $ for bill reminders. So far, that's all I've needed, but I did leave space in my key in case I need to add more.
4. Colour coding. That's a thing I've done throughout my life, because I find visual navigation easier to track with colour.

I also always have a list for books read/movies watched, since I like to keep track of those. Things that DIDN'T work for me were:

1. Goal pages - these just filled me with guilt when I didn't complete them or they took 'too long'
2. Weekly spread - too much effort for too short a time
3. Yearly spread - too much time for me to conceive of as a whole
4. Extensive decorating - more guilt at not doing "enough" and frustration when it didn't turn out how I wanted. I keep my colours to underlines, slightly decorative header text, and marking off my habits.
5. Using it for shopping lists
6. Using it for work tasks - I keep these in an app instead.

In terms of journals to use, I am 1000% behind the dotted Leuchtterm. I've never liked line ruled pages in my notebooks, so always had blank ones, but I find the dots help keep the neatness I want and can't always achieve without a guiding line to write on. ;)

Good luck experimenting! I love this system, and once I found what clicked with me, it definitely helped me be not only more productive but also more mindful.