Sisters Paper Scissors | From Filofax to Bullet Journal

Happy June! This month is all about staying organized and planning. I recently got back into Bullet Journaling after coming to the realization that using a Filofax as my planner just was not my thing. Don't worry my Filofaxes have found a wonderful new home with Francine. I had tried the Bullet Journal (Bujo) a few years ago when it first became popular and really liked it. Then for reasons unknown to me I fell off the wagon and went back to tracking as much as I could digitally with random notes and lists in random note books. Then Francine got into planning with the Filofax and made it look so easy that I decided to try it. That lasted as long as a minute. Fast forward to this April/May when I discovered Kara's blog Boho Berry and her awesome posts and YouTube videos on Bullet Journaling and realized that this was what I wanted to use. I was also definitely drawn in by all the various hacks for the Bujo that have been developed since I last tried it.

So I spent some time devouring Bujo information on the internet and came up with a plan to start mine in June. I decided to mostly follow Kara's layouts and ideas to get me going but I know that I will be tweaking this as the months go by to customize my Bujo to be unique to me. That's the beauty of this system. So let's take a look at how I set up my Bujo in general and also my June pages.

I decided to change from a Moleskine squared and go with the very popular Leuchtturm1917 A5 dotted. I liked the lighter look of the dots as opposed to the heavy lines of the squares. I also love that the Leuchtturm comes with a pre printed Index and as you can see this is the first thing that I set up.

I then added a page for the Bullet Journal Key as I knew I would need to refer to them often until I have a few months under my belt and know what the heck I am doing.

I had no clue what to put on the page opposite the Key and then I had an ah ha moment and used a printable from one of Francine's Printably Kits. I also added a printable to the page opposite my Yearly Calendar spread. Since I started in June I did a full year that takes me through till next May. I am not sure if I will add this in my next Bujo as I find that I hardly ever turn back to use it.

Future Planning

The next thing that I added was three months for Future Planning. I find this to be one of the most useful pages in my Bujo. Essentially it is a place to dump appointments and events that are coming up in future months or that I want to remember for a particular month but may not have an exact date for as yet. These get migrated to my Monthly Log eventually but more on that later. I had an idea for the blank page next to my future planning but of course I did not write it down and now I can't remember. Oh well there is always another printable that can go there.

Collections

After my future log I started to add my various Collections. Simply put, these are one or two page spreads for me to put lists of things that I want to keep track of such as books to read, movies to watch, random thoughts etc. What I like about collections is that you can add them anywhere throughout your Bujo and then add the page that they fall on into your index. Another reason why I love this system. It is so very flexible.

I have already added some tweaks that I want to make to my Bujo next month on this page.

I plan to change this up a bit next time I do it. I realized that I did not leave enough space for the titles. My plan is to eliminate the Format column and use a color key and to also remove the Read column and just do a check mark next to the title. That should free up so more space for my title and author sections.

I have changed the headings on the Fiber Projects page a few times. Initially I had it set up with a column for project name and one for supplies but then I realized that I wanted to add more details to each project (thank god for correction tape). So I turned it into just a place to list my fiber projects and I created another collection (see below) for details about each project. These I will add in as needed and then log the page numbers in my index but also on this page for quick reference.

This also shows how I added a collection in between my daily log pages as I had mentioned before.

Notice the color key at the bottom. Color keys are a great tool to use for lists.

Still working on filling these pages in. I really need to think of some goals for the rest of the year (humm).

Monthly and Daily Pages

I had mentioned my Monthly Log previously and here it is. Of all the monthly logs that I saw I really liked this idea from Kara and so decided to just go with it for now. I put all my appointments, birthdays, events, and objectives for the month here and notice again the color key!

See the dates on the July calendar circled in red. This is to remind me that these are appointments or events on my future log page so that I remember to add them to July's Monthly Log when I set it up.

I added a page for my drawing and handwriting challenges and I love that I don't have to go online to find out what I am supposed to be doing for a particular day. It is also a great way to keep a record of all my monthly challenges together in one place.

When I saw this idea for a Monthly Tracker I just knew it was going to be a part of my Bujo. I have been using an app on my phone called Streaks but it only lets me track six things at a time. This is much better and also the entire month is right in my face. Clearly as you can see I have some work to do in some areas (hee hee). I am also planning to tweak this a bit next month. I find it to be a bit too messy for my liking so will use either a single colored dot or X instead of coloring in the entire box.

I love the idea of a Gratitude Journal, however I need to think of a better or different way for me as this just isn't working and looks too messy. Still thinking about this one. Also, clearly I need to lighten up on pen pressure when doing my Daily Tracker. I guess the new method of X or dots will help to solve that problem.

And last but not least my Daily Log. When I first started my June dailies I was doing them one day at a time but then quickly realized that I needed to have at least two or three future days available to add tasks. So I decided to do a two page spread with six days at a time. What I like about this is that if I don't get to a particular task on a day I can still see it and will only migrate it if it is still undone when I turn the page to set up the next six days. I also loved the idea I saw of adding the weather and temperature for each day. This set up is working for me for now but I am sure that I will be tweaking it in future months.

So there you have it. It is still a work in progress but I am really loving my Bujo! I have some ideas for other collections that I want to eventually add and I am sure I will be constantly tweaking my monthly and daily logs. I also want to see if I can incorporate some elements from Francine's Printably Kits.

One important thing I would say is that you can make your Bujo as simple or as complicated as you want. Do what works for you and don't try to compete with other Bujo's that you see online. This is all about you and how you want to plan and organize your life. Also you will make mistakes either just deal with it, cover it up with something pretty, or invest in some correction tape (ha ha).

Now off you go to see how Francine is using her planners to stay organized. Word on the street is that she is revamping her system.