The Chronicles Of Nay

So most people that know me know that I like a good list. Heck I even like a bad list. I like to make lists all kinds of lists; to-do lists, grocery lists, lists of things I like, books I have read, books I want to read, movies I wanna see, Movies I have seen, TV shows that people recommend and the lists go on! you see what I did there! haha The problem I had was that I was creating lists all the time, everywhere. I would write them on the backs of envelopes, post it notes, scrap pieces of paper, notebook paper, everywhere! That was until I came across a video that changed my life. When I first started doing it I tried to do so many of the things that he does in the video but I have been doing  it now for a quite a few years I have revised a lot of spreads.

Let me start from the beginning. The video is called How to Bullet Journal I will link the video if you want to check it out. I personally use a spiral journal that I usually get from TJMaxx or something.  This year I am trying a bound journal, we are only 3 days in and I don’t know how I feel about it! haha. The ones I like are usually leather type covers with some sort of saying on it. There are about 92 lined pages. Most people that bullet journal use a bound journal with dots instead of lines. I personally like the spiral so that I can close it back on itself. It keeps it more accessible for me. Usually people use the moleskin ones. His entire system is based on the notion that you do whats best for you. 

I usually start a brand new journal at the beginning of a year, the beginning of a school year or when I need a fresh start. Again do what is best for you! haha whenever I am starting I start with a glance at the next 6 months. I divide both pages in to three. Put the next 6 months down and then fill in important things. I don’t put holidays but you can if you want to. I usually put things like trips I’m taking, deadlines that need to be met, appointments that are already set, and just important dates to remember like weddings and parties. These would be things that are scheduled months in advance. When I get my syllabus I go through and fill in all the important dates of when things are due and when we aren’t having class. This is what that looks like

Then after that I make this months spread. I have tried a few different things. I started out with the system from the video which is just a list of the numbers and put things on the days that needed them. I have since moved to drawing the boxes and making it look more like a calendar. I decided I needed to see the month at a glance, I liked to see the weeks the list of numbers didn’t work for me. But again this should be a tool for you so make it your own. The month also didn’t quite work for me so I actually make a 3 week spread. It allows me to make the boxes bigger so that I can write in the boxes. This also allows for a little more flexibility with when you refresh things.

After I have filled in the important dates for the month (often using the 6 month glance first) I start on the week. I have been through so many week spreads. The one that I keep going back to has a column on the right page cut in to 5 equal size boxes and a 6th box slightly smaller(sometimes I will do 6 or 7 smaller boxes). The journal I use lends itself to this format. In those boxes I put things that are coming up in the next 5 days. Anything beyond that goes in the smaller “later” box. Then going back to the left page I start making my list. I write everything that I need to do for the day in a list form. So for this example I would have started with Monday: then my list. This would be considered a floating week. This works well for me because some days I have longer lists than others. So some weeks especially the ones right when school starts back up I am only able to get one maybe two days per page. 

This should really be what makes your life easier! This year I am trying to spend 1000 hours outside so I have a create a tracker for that, I have created a space to keep track of something that I am grateful or something good that happened each day of the month! When I need to do something in the journal I just turn to the next page and title it and do what I need to do. I have a small obsession with washi tape so I also use that to sort of color code things. So if I need to take notes at a meeting that page gets the “meeting” tape along the side then if the next page is notes from one of my classes I use that color coded tape and just take those notes right there. It is a system that I have been perfecting for a while!

Here is the video : bullet journal Like I said I really made it my own. I use the parts that made sense to me and adapted the ones that didn’t! Now I also make it fun and colorful but of course it doesn’t have to be. People have really made it a lot mroe complex thing that it set out to be. If you search bullet journal spreads it can be overwhelming! If you have any questions about setting up your own, please ask me! I love talking about it!!! haha I hope that everyone has a great week!