Bullet Journals 20 November 2016 at 10:13PM in Debt free diaries 49 replies 6.1K views

Tinkerbelle2000

I'm hoping this is ok for this diary to be here as I know the information has already helped a few of the readers of my thread.

A few months ago I decided I needed to get more organised and came across the bullet journal. It was initially invented by Ryder Carroll as a basic listing system. Some have taken it to a different league by using nice fonts, stickers, washi and coloured pens. There are also special notebooks that you can use but one thing you must know is there is NO wrong way to bullet journal. Mine is an A5 notebook that I bought from A$da and even though I have been doing it for a few months, I am not even a quarter of a way through it.

The idea is to plan you month and week out so you can keep track of everything. You can also include habit trackers, lists of things to do, books to read and films to watch. There are no limits.

What has helped me most is that I have included a budget planner in mine where I write down what my budget is and then on the next page I write any unplanned spending. I also keep a track of my mood on that day to see what triggers make me overspend and not keep to my budget. I also have a meal planner and a standard shopping list and I also keep track of NSD's.

There are so many variations it can suit and help anyone. There is so much inspiration on Pinterest and YouTube but a lot of them can be intimidating. A good YouTube channel to watch is Boho Berry. She is very inspirational and she actually got me started with mine. The only problem I found was that I had such a nice notebook I didn't want to write on the first page and go wrong. I have made quite a few mistakes since I started and have got over it by sticking pages over the mistakes. I include things like colouring pages or make a mood board. Mine is quite basic. I sometimes add some washi tape but I mostly just split sections with different coloured pens.

If you actually got to the end of this and you are still interested, I will be adding a list tomorrow of many lists that I have found that you can also add, depending on your lifestyle.

Tink xx

Houseplant26

Thank you! I want to be more organised and I've wanted to try bullet journaling for a while. I have a diary at the moment but I never write anything in it! I find it hard to get organised and motivated and actually sit down and write things out. I'm also a perfectionist and worry about 'going wrong'. Your line about sticking pages together made me smile - I used to do this at school!

Bobarella

Sounds interesting Tinkerbell thanks for sharing.

mfmaybe

Someone suggested a bullet journal to me when I was returning to work after mat leave. On first reading I thought it was too complicated, but I gave it another go and it really really isn't. The key for me is just to get things out of your head. It's incredibly liberating to not have to keep thinking "licence car. When is that again?" The more I feel the admin in life is under control, the more everything else slots into place. And from a debt perspective it can cut late fees, make sure you seek cheaper insurance in time, etc.

I use mine for work and home combined. And it's a bog standard A4 work issue notebook. No coloured pens. No tabs. No washi tape.

My advice. Just do it. Basic, cheap, score out mistakes, start again if you need to.

EssexHebridean

I'll second this - I class mine as a "Bullet-ish" journal as it technically doesn't follow the "rules" for bullet-journalling proper.

Mine is a £1 sectioned A5 book from Poundland - I use a section for "To Do" lists, and general notes. A section for Finances, a section for Planning, and the final one is for what is effectively a week-per-page diary. I also include meal planning, along with lists of stuff I want to focus on using up, and a list of the meals we eat on a regular basis as a source of inspiration. My "Diary" page has a section for anything I need to book, or arrange, a section for the week's meals, and my monthly planners include space for birthdays and similar. I also have a "forward planner" for 2017, and a "notes" page for 2018 stuff.

For me, this is used in conjunction with a small handbag size diary in which I can put the straightforward stuff - the important bits like places I need to be, on the basis that I can always have something that small with me.

I'm not artistic enough for the doodles, drawings, and beautiful lettering that some folk use in theirs - so to tick my "make it pretty" itch I use different coloured pens for different things, and try to make my handwriting as neat as possible.

EssexHebridean

mfmaybe wrote: »

Someone suggested a bullet journal to me when I was returning to work after mat leave. On first reading I thought it was too complicated, but I gave it another go and it really really isn't. The key for me is just to get things out of your head. It's incredibly liberating to not have to keep thinking "licence car. When is that again?" The more I feel the admin in life is under control, the more everything else slots into place. And from a debt perspective it can cut late fees, make sure you seek cheaper insurance in time, etc.

I use mine for work and home combined. And it's a bog standard A4 work issue notebook. No coloured pens. No tabs. No washi tape.

My advice. Just do it. Basic, cheap, score out mistakes, start again if you need to.

Yes!! This is exactly it! :T

MuffinTops

Yay! Mine is slowly coming along but will be good to have some help on it.
MTxx

loveis

I kind of have one. I carry my life around with me in it. I have a week a page kind of deal, with daily to-do notes. I have a month ahead page so I don't forget to put things in my daily to-do lists.

I also use it to 'brain dump' and track habits. It's getting easier to accept the mess that it is, and with that using it honestly. I tried the pretty doodles and washi tape. I'm just not artistic and it caused added stress which is opposite to what it should do.

I should help though and never feel like a chore.

doingitanyway

I am a recent convert (thanks to Tink.) I am still making mistakes but it doesn’t seem to matter to me. My advise is start from where you are. There is no need to wait until the new year because of the way the future log works.

So, for instance there should be a monthly task list on the other side of the calendar page and recently I notice I’ve been using my daily log for ‘brain draining,’ I’m going to make an effort to sort this out.

I’m still learning…I haven’t been checking actions carried forward at the end of each month for instance

I don’t use special colours, or art but I’m thinking of a system of mini bull dog clips as I always seem to be shuffling through. I use the same pen a 0.5 Muji that I keep inside my bullet journal so it is always to hand

I use a financial log page and for the first time my bank account and my bullet journal tally.

I don’t separate any area of life so work and everything else goes in. This way I can clearly see when I am free.

I have creative ideas and they too go in the bullet journal.

Oh, and I invented an ideal week timetable. When I put in study after work, I could see the only free days I had were Thursday or Friday. I found the ideal course and within 2 weeks after a 2 year procrastination I had booked and paid for it.

In short this system makes me more organised, relaxed and creative. And no, I don’t have shares

Tinkerbelle2000

Houseplant26 wrote: »

Thank you! I want to be more organised and I've wanted to try bullet journaling for a while. I have a diary at the moment but I never write anything in it! I find it hard to get organised and motivated and actually sit down and write things out. I'm also a perfectionist and worry about 'going wrong'. Your line about sticking pages together made me smile - I used to do this at school!

Houseplant - Just go for it even if its just the end of a notebook you have lying around. I tried to go down the perfect looking journal and it took too long to make it look nice. Now I would be ashamed to show some of the pages, they are that messy, but it works for me.

Tink xx

Tinkerbelle2000

mfmaybe wrote: »

Someone suggested a bullet journal to me when I was returning to work after mat leave. On first reading I thought it was too complicated, but I gave it another go and it really really isn't. The key for me is just to get things out of your head. It's incredibly liberating to not have to keep thinking "licence car. When is that again?" The more I feel the admin in life is under control, the more everything else slots into place. And from a debt perspective it can cut late fees, make sure you seek cheaper insurance in time, etc.

I use mine for work and home combined. And it's a bog standard A4 work issue notebook. No coloured pens. No tabs. No washi tape.

My advice. Just do it. Basic, cheap, score out mistakes, start again if you need to.

Hi Mfmaybe - I use mine too for work and home but I know some people like to have separate ones for each. That's why I like to use the coloured pens to see different parts of my day. I agree about life feeling in control when admin is sorted out. I have separate pages for all my debts and cross out each payment as they are made. Might be a bit over the top but its working lol.

Tink xx