A Week Of BuJo

beachysonja
Apr 15, 2017
3 min read

If you read my last post you know of my love of lists, charts and all things organizational - it makes the annal retentive girl in me breath a huge sigh of contentment. Seriously. I know that is a little crazy - but I've embraced it. This in NO way means, I'm always organized or have a spick-span clean apartment (GAWD, I wish!) BUT it does mean, that when that is the case, I function best.

Shortly after finding TIU, I decided to delve into bullet journaling. I head been hearing about it for a bit - and it seemed like a vague concept, but an intriguing one. Ryder Carroll invented bullet journaling - yes, there is a person who came up with it - and the internet true to form, helped it explode into a whole universe. Do not enter "bullet journal" in youtube or pinterest unless you are prepared to lose a LOT of time - they're the rabbit hole to Wonderland.

I'm not entirely sure why I needed someone to give me the go ahead to put everything in one place - but I did. Your calendar? Sure. What books you want to read? Why not. Those podcasts you're listening to? Of course. The notes from said podcast? Absolutely. It's kind of genius.

I'm not going to do a whole post on bullet journaling or the background - that's been done enough, no need for me to flog a dead horse. Are you new to bullet journaling? Here's what I recommend: take a look at the original bullet journal concept, get a notebook (or loose sheets of paper) and pen. And give it a try. Seriously. Stay away from insanely complex spreads (that's what a chart, etc is referred to) or the rabbit hole. Yes, you can totally go there - but make sure the concept actually works for you before you spend ten hours drawing a spread (yes, I'm exaggerating).

At some point, I'll do a post on my bujo (you're catching on to the lingo!) setup - maybe when I finish the notebook I'm using. For now - and because the Bikini Journal was released (gawd, I KNOW I don't need it - but seriously *grabby hands* cuz it's so puuuuuurty!) - I'll walk you through my weekly setup. Plus, ya know, it's the end of the week!

I use a Leuchtturm 1917 dotted journal - currently on my third one & it is blue. I dot the dots to be able to connect the dots of my layout. Every time I smudge something; which is annoying but also keeps it functional... it's not perfect. It's a system that needs to work.

Here is what I setup each week - in addition to whatever else I need (or strikes my fancy): a weekly spread, a WO schedule, a meal plan and a habit tracker. Please don't look at mine and think, I can't do that! - it's not about "how pretty" - yes, I like to embellish and add pseudo calligraphy and washi tape (basically colored, expensive masking tape). That is the beauty of bullet journaling: don't like it? Just don't do it!

Also: these are what work for me - and it's by no means a fixed system - that's the beauty of the bullet journal. I learned, through trial and error, that my habit tracker needs to be weekly; I just lose the monthly somewhere along the way. Additionally, I'n trying to establish routines for myself (I work irregular hours so these small routines save me a lot of energy). I also have a card taped to a spread in the front titled "next week." Here I jot down stuff that I have scheduled for the following week - and things I need to take care of. It's next to the same concept for "next month."

I setup my dailies every evening - so they're nothing like my templates. Again, this is what works for me. Plenty of people skip a weekly spread and just set up a week of dailies in advance. Do what works for YOU!

xx