The beginning of the school year is a great time to get a new calendar or planner. I've read a ton about Bullet Journals (BuJu) and decided I NEEDED to start my own. It has helped my days in so MANY ways and I wanted to share what I like using a Bullet Journal!
There are so many tasks, routines, jobs, random events that dictate my days. The urgent keeps me spinning in circles a lot. I hate that. It makes me crazy and overwhelmed.
Chaos chains me to a place where I’m NOT peaceful or joyous. I've been working on finding my sweet spot for knowing what needs doing each day and what is most important to do. Those two things are not always the same thing by the way.
I'm also still working though Make Over Your Mornings and getting all my priorities figured out and written down. No to-do list, planner or reminder system will do much to reduce your stress if you don't figure out how you are going to do what is most important to YOU in your day-to-day life!
10 Things I like about using Bullet Journal
1. Work plus Creativity
We all have work to do but how many of us get to integrate drawing/coloring/art into our daily work? BuJu life means that if I want I can doodle and draw all over my list for the day. Bullet journaling takes a mundane, not fun thing like a to-do list and transforms it into something I can’t wait to do! Before using this method I dreaded picking up my list to see what was next. That feeling isn’t gone but there is a reward for using it now!
Honestly I've been loving having all my stuff in one place so much I haven't done a lot of doodling and special lettering but I WANT to and that's next on my list for developing the use of my journal.
2. Visual appeal
I’m a visual person, as I talked about in learning styles post last week. Needing to see things laid out is a BIG thing for me. If I can make what I'm looking at cute, pretty and attractive then I am drawn to it. My journal is a basic black one from Walmart that set me back about $10. But inside it I have color and fun happening!
3. Fun to using colored pencils!
Using good colored pencils, like Prisma, is such a pleasure. They create a work of “art” and bring color into my life. Being creative is a stress reliever and coloring is the ultimate peaceful activity for me. BUT I rarely get to use my pencils because of the "busyness" of life. So combining a must-do daily activity with coloring is a win-win.
4. No “right” way to do it
One of my mottos is that Peace is better than perfection. This journal brings me much peace because the basis of BuJu life is that there is no right way to set up your journal. There are TONS of sites out there that give great ideas and I have a whole Pinterest board that is about BuJu inspiration. BUT however you choose to create your is perfect even if it is messy and a work in progress. Make it something that you use and like to use!!
5. Crafty and functional results
My journal gets thrown in my rolling backpack a lot. I’m afraid that the pages are going to get beat up so I solved that problem by making a Bullet Journal Pen Ribbon to hold my pens in place and keep the pages protected.
I like the ribbon that I have now but I’m on the lookout for fun buttons and ribbon for a new one! Yay because craft time is a great stress reliever.
Bonus: I love when crafts are functional and fix a problem!
6. Flexibility allows tailoring to my needs
With a traditional calendar I would often use it for a while but then stop because it never seemed like there was enough space for all the areas in my life. Sometimes I would end up with a calendar for family things and another for home schooling. Then when I needed to organize my blogging I needed a third calendar for that. Sigh. Too many places to look for what I needed. I have consolidated all my calendars in to one in my BuJu. As I use my journal longer I hope to share how I have combined it all!
7. New ideas can change the old ones if like better
Now that I’m in my second month of my bullet journal I can see that some of the pages I created for August weren’t exactly what I needed. Some I eliminated totally and others I took from being a whole page to just being a portion of a page. I knew I needed a place for monthly goals for Home, Homeschooling, Blogging and Personal. But I found that I didn’t need a calendar type page to keep track of everyone’s health. Instead I made a 1-30 list on part of a page and now each day I can jot a note if needed.
8. information and lists in one place
In the past I’ve had binders for school, notebooks for keeping track of joys, journals for my daily thoughts and more. Again too MANY things to keep track of and not loose. Part of my goals for this month is to continue combining my information into my bullet journal. I need an address section so that when we do Christmas cards we can consult that page and have all the information in one place. Another goal I have is to get a cleaning schedule set up and track when we’ve done certain bigger cleaning jobs. It’s all a work in progress and it takes time. I work on it as I have a few minutes here and there because every part helps me get away from the chaotic scattered feelings of disorganization.
9. Feeds journal, notebook, pencil, pen love/addiction
I confess that not too many things please me more than shopping for journals or notebooks. Unless it is checking out cool pens and mechanical pencils. Weird I know. It just makes me happy to have a blank page ready to fill up with words, color and ideas. So bullet journaling definitely feeds my addiction with paper, pens and all things used to create!
10. New day—>new list
I think this is the best thing of all. My list is NEVER done as I’m sure yours is not either. Bullet journaling allows me to make my list and the migrate the tasks that didn’t get accomplished to the next day. No guilt, just move it on to the next day. Any progress is celebrated with a big X on the task so I know it is done. More time another day? Just put more tasks on that day. Easy peasy.
There are WAY more things that I love about my bullet journal experience but these are the top 10! Now for the few things I don’t like. It is a short list.
Things I don’t like about bullet journaling
1. Drawing the lines takes time
It seems silly that I love the color and creativity but don’t like making the lines. Mainly because it takes time to do so. I’m ready to get to the planning and making lists and I have to pause and create the structure. Luckily I’ve found a layout that I like and it goes really fast. Then I’m set to go!
2. My lettering
Right now I feel like my titles and headings are ultra BORING. I want to learn how to do more creative types of lettering! This is on my list to learn in the coming months but right now time is tight so I'm just researching and pinning my ideas. This 31 day love your lettering series looks really good!
That's it! I haven't really found a lot that I don't like with this method!
Are you a bullet journaler? I would love to hear about what you love or don't love about it!
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