Brainstorming for my 2018 Bullet Journal!
A Bullet Journal is a very personal thing for most people, and for me that means making it my own in every single way possible. My previous bullet journals have been filled with sketches and doodles, full of colour. And that was what I liked most about them. I wanted to open them because of the colour and drawings that they withheld.
Recently, my bullet journal has been lacking that colour and that personality that motivated me to use it, so I've been falling behind on my planning.
For next year, I'm going to start afresh with a new book, new supplies and new ideas to fill my bullet journal with.
So in this blog post, I'm going to be brainstorming what I want for my 2018 Bullet Journal. I'm going to be deducing what has and hasn't worked for me and plan out what I would like to do for next year.
I learnt this in my first year of bullet journaling when I went through several books in one year just because I wasn't happy how the page was flipping or how the ink settled on the paper.
Last year, I chose the "Blank Slate" Buffalo Journal from Typo, and it served me well.
Having used this book, I now know what I want in next years journal.
I found in the Buffalo Journal, the pages were too thin, and ink from a felt-tip pen would leak through, so any more than a ballpoint pen would make the next page almost un-useable. Learning from this, next year I'll either draw on separate pieces of paper, draw in ballpoint, or find a journal with thicker pages.
Also, after having a bullet journal with blank pages (a trait I thought I wanted), I've finally decided that it was probably one of the most frustrating things I could have chosen. Whereas it was great for drawing, none of the writing was straight.
Now, I know for a fact that I don't want lined pages, so to help fix this problem, I'm going to go with a dotted paged bullet journal for 2018.
According to many, MANY, of people on the internet, the best book to have for bullet journalling is the Leuchtturm 1917 Journal, and with good reason. I've done some research, and whereas it might be a little pricey (it's currently on sale at Booktopia), it has dotted paper, INK-PROOF PAPER (I AM SO EXCITED) and stays flat when you write in it! If I wasn't excited before, I am now!
So that's that, the journal I've chosen for 2018 is the Leuchtturm 1917.
So that's definitely changing this time around. I'm sticking with black ink, because a) it look's better and b) I have heaps of black pens.
Whilst talking about pens, I've been thinking about what kind of markers I'd like to use, if any. And I did have a few preferences that helped me sway my decision. a) I prefer light and pastel colours in my journal, and b) I love both a thick and thin pen nib. So, when I found these markers, they immediately found themselves on my wish-list. The Tombow Dual Brush Pen Markers seem like the perfect match for me and my new bullet journal, and this 10 pack is definitely going to be one of my next purchases.
To help with this, I've been browsing Pinterest to see what I could find that was similar to what I had this year, however, more structured to allow a more organised feel.
While looking, I decided that in my bullet journal I needed a year view as well as month views and daily spreads.
My year spread, at the beginning of the book, I decided was going to have the whole year on (hopefully) a double page. I decided that this was best for me as my years can tend to be very busy, so highlighting significant events on the yearly calendar can help me get a gist of my life at a glance.
I'm thinking something along the lines of this:
This page is from Christina77star.net and I found her bullet journal post through her pins on Pinterest. Her journal is absolutely adorable, and it is set out beautifully.
Due to having the 2018 calendar at the front, I decided that having the monthly calendars at the front too would just be ineffective. So my decision for the monthly views was the same as this year. Currently, I have a month calendar stretching vertically down the page, I find this works best for me. And on the other page, I have important to-dos for the month.
I'm also going to add a goals section below my to-do list. A place where I can keep track of things that I want to achieve this month so that I can continually look back at it and work towards them.
Something kinda like this but over a double page:
Recently, my bullet journal has been lacking that colour and that personality that motivated me to use it, so I've been falling behind on my planning.
So in this blog post, I'm going to be brainstorming what I want for my 2018 Bullet Journal. I'm going to be deducing what has and hasn't worked for me and plan out what I would like to do for next year.
The Book
The book is an essential part of bullet journaling. If you don't like the book you're journaling in; you're not going to want to use it.I learnt this in my first year of bullet journaling when I went through several books in one year just because I wasn't happy how the page was flipping or how the ink settled on the paper.
Last year, I chose the "Blank Slate" Buffalo Journal from Typo, and it served me well.
I found in the Buffalo Journal, the pages were too thin, and ink from a felt-tip pen would leak through, so any more than a ballpoint pen would make the next page almost un-useable. Learning from this, next year I'll either draw on separate pieces of paper, draw in ballpoint, or find a journal with thicker pages.
Also, after having a bullet journal with blank pages (a trait I thought I wanted), I've finally decided that it was probably one of the most frustrating things I could have chosen. Whereas it was great for drawing, none of the writing was straight.
Now, I know for a fact that I don't want lined pages, so to help fix this problem, I'm going to go with a dotted paged bullet journal for 2018.
According to many, MANY, of people on the internet, the best book to have for bullet journalling is the Leuchtturm 1917 Journal, and with good reason. I've done some research, and whereas it might be a little pricey (it's currently on sale at Booktopia), it has dotted paper, INK-PROOF PAPER (I AM SO EXCITED) and stays flat when you write in it! If I wasn't excited before, I am now!
So that's that, the journal I've chosen for 2018 is the Leuchtturm 1917.
The Pens
I did a weird thing this year, I primarily used one pen, and I felt that that weirdly limited me. I started with a blue ink pen, and I don't own any other blue ink pens besides this one. It was a lovely pen to write with, I give you that. However, because I didn't want the colour change, I stayed with the blue ink and constricted myself to when I could and couldn't write in my journal.So that's definitely changing this time around. I'm sticking with black ink, because a) it look's better and b) I have heaps of black pens.
Whilst talking about pens, I've been thinking about what kind of markers I'd like to use, if any. And I did have a few preferences that helped me sway my decision. a) I prefer light and pastel colours in my journal, and b) I love both a thick and thin pen nib. So, when I found these markers, they immediately found themselves on my wish-list. The Tombow Dual Brush Pen Markers seem like the perfect match for me and my new bullet journal, and this 10 pack is definitely going to be one of my next purchases.
The Pages
After trialling and experimenting, I've thought long and hard about what I wanted in my bullet journal for next year. This year, my bullet journal had very little structure, something which I aim to change as we roll into the new year.To help with this, I've been browsing Pinterest to see what I could find that was similar to what I had this year, however, more structured to allow a more organised feel.
While looking, I decided that in my bullet journal I needed a year view as well as month views and daily spreads.
My year spread, at the beginning of the book, I decided was going to have the whole year on (hopefully) a double page. I decided that this was best for me as my years can tend to be very busy, so highlighting significant events on the yearly calendar can help me get a gist of my life at a glance.
I'm thinking something along the lines of this:
This page is from Christina77star.net and I found her bullet journal post through her pins on Pinterest. Her journal is absolutely adorable, and it is set out beautifully.
Due to having the 2018 calendar at the front, I decided that having the monthly calendars at the front too would just be ineffective. So my decision for the monthly views was the same as this year. Currently, I have a month calendar stretching vertically down the page, I find this works best for me. And on the other page, I have important to-dos for the month.
I'm also going to add a goals section below my to-do list. A place where I can keep track of things that I want to achieve this month so that I can continually look back at it and work towards them.
Something kinda like this but over a double page:
This picture was once again, found on Pinterest, however, I couldn't find the original post, and therefore do not know whose content this is. If this is yours, or you know who's this is, please contact me and I will credit them.
Last but not least, the daily/weekly kinda spread. This year, my bullet journal in this sense has been very inconsistent, and it was very much, construct it as you go. Hence why I'm deciding on more structure for 2018.
The reason why I settled for constructing my bullet journal as I went, day by day, was because I didn't know how much room I needed for that day. This got frustrating at times, for example when I wanted to write things in my journal for the next day, or something that was important for next week. So for 2018, I decided to have large daily spreads, that weren't quite a week to a double page.
Feebujo from Instagram highlights this idea perfectly with:
I do love this spread, however, if I decided at the time that I wanted a more vertical spread, yukikosakamura on Instagram also gives me great ideas:
Until then, my bullet journal is being set up in the last week of December where I will make a youtube video about it!
If you're excited to see what my journal turns out like, you should definitely go and subscribe to my youtube channel, Life with Jen!
If you have any ideas or tips for my bullet journal, please comment them down below! They would be extremely helpful! Also if you have any stationery recommendations, I am all ears! I absolutely love stationery and would love to try out your favourites!
See you soon!
Jen xx
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