My Bullet Journal

My monthly view 

Back in January 2015, I decided to get myself together. I had already fallen into the deep, black hole that is the awesomeness of planners, but I just didn't feel like I had all my eggs in one basket.

Enter bullet journals.

In my research on Pinterest, I had come across journals that people kept their to-do checklists, book lists, wish lists, ideas, lists of lists they wanted to make. It was just LISTAPALOOZA!

I've always been a list maker and my personal planner was shedding post-it lists, not to mention the piles of lists strewn through my whole house. One place for all of that?? SIGN ME UP!!!

Now to decide on my notebook. I'll admit, I could have started with a spiral notebook, but I'm a paper snob and I have been known to lovingly stroke paper if it's smooth, gorgeous, and the texture of a cherub's backside. Cheap spirals have cheap paper and if I'm going to make this happen, I needed something I WANTED to write in daily. So I decided on a large Moleskine with grid paper. I've always been a sucker for checking boxes. The instant gratification of seeing a task completed by a checked or filled in box gives me the warm fuzzies inside. Yeah, I'm weird. With the grid paper, I can draw my checkboxes IN boxes. Redundant? Maybe. But hey, weird, remember?

So over the last few months my layouts have changed. They started simple. Just a list quickly jotted down, items ticked off. But something wasn't setting juuuuuuuust right with me. I needed to get my doodle on.

One of my earlier layouts. Just boring ol' lists.

I've always been a doodler. Doodling my way through school, irritating teachers left and right because it looked like I wasn't paying attention. Doodling actually helps me focus and it seals in my memory what page has what on it.

LOTS of migrated tasks going on here. 

I'm not an artist by any means, but I have fun and enjoy my quirky, little sketches. It helps me relax and focus on one thing for a while.

Recently, I discovered the Bullet Journal Junkies group on Facebook and that place is BURSTING with BuJo inspiration. Not to mention, Kara Benz aka Boho Berry. She is what I aspire to be as a Bujoist. (I don't even think that's a word, but it is today!) Her layouts, lettering, and ideas make my brain jump for joy and my fingers itch to grab my pen and get after it. I also stalk her on Pinterest and YouTube. She has great walk-through posts that make me feel like I CAN make mine as beautiful as hers. *big fangirl sigh*

I've been playing around with my BuJo lately, shaking things up, so I decided to post a few pages in some Facebook groups I'm in and the interest was insane! You wouldn't believe how a little book of lists got people's attention. That's when I decided to blog about it. I've also sucked a couple of my best friends into this fun, yet useful stationery addiction. I'd apologize, but it's totally a "sorry, not sorry." ;) What's better than something fun AND productive? It doesn't make you gain weight (except in office supplies) and you don't have worries about jail, unless someone stole my BuJo, then I'd probably cut a B.

These are things I track in my BuJo right now:

*Daily to-do lists

*Monthly calendar views

*Weekly menu plans

*Monthly goals

*Favorites lists

*KonMari Categories (from the book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up)

*Christmas Shopping list

*Books to read

*Favorite quotes

*Blog ideas

*Future to dos

*Ideas for my 2016 BuJo

You can check out the official Bullet Journal website and watch their video to see what it's all about and how to set yours up. I started out with their ideas only, but have modified mine to suit my needs. For instance, the vertical monthly view doesn't work for me. My brain says, "THAT is not a calendar!" So I make my own calendar view for each month.

REMEMBER: If it doesn't work for you, you're not going to use it.

You may like the look of mine, but it may not suit your lifestyle. That is okay! Customize it! If you want to do something, but you don't like it and it feels forced, you're not going to stick with it. Quitting will defeat your purpose if it's to enhance productivity in your life. And who says they all have to be uniform or you have to stick with one way for a year?? Change that stuff up! HAVE FUN!

Anybody else rocking a BuJo or prepping one for 2016?