Week 1 With My Bullet Journal.

Visit my bullet journal inspo board on Pinterest here!

It's May! Which means I could FINALLY start using my bullet journal on the 1st because I could not deal with starting partway through a month. No sir.

When I first heard about bullet journalling I knew it was the one for me because I already use 179847391792 lists and notebooks and for a lover of stationery what better excuse to go on a haul?

I didn't want to fork out for the traditional notebook of bullet journallers (is that the technical term for us?) so I snapped this pink beauty up in TK Maxx in Bristol for fiver at the beginning of April. It's got a really thick matte finish on the cover which is really durable which I love and the pages inside are lined and reasonably thick so ghosting is kept to a minimum.

Without further ado here's a cheeky run through of my bullet journal and how I'm using it so far!

(Oh little side note for you, I have yet to fill out anything on the first page because I have that fear of messing it up like in school so maybe I'll fill it out when I've finished the notebook?)

So I couldn't wait to use my bullet journal so when I wanted some time to kill I spent a few pages doodling and designing headers and banners and handwritten letters so I always have some inspo to turn back to when I'm working on my notebook. This has already saved my life a thousand times because sometimes when a gurl don't have internet you just need a notebook full of doodles to get your creativity going.

I actually didn't know if I'd use a key or an index but seen as it's essentially the key(GEDDIT GEDDIT) to the bullet journal, I thought I'd put one in there and actually I have been using it so we'll see how long that lasts!

After my index I have a few calendar pages. The first set is a look ahead over the next 12 months just for an idea of dates to refer back to on the go (iPhone calendar who?) and I've started marking dates I'm away for with a circle too. I then have 2 pages of monthly calendars with dates by the side for birthdays. I do have a birthday card book where I keep my stack of cards and have everyone's birthdays written down but I thought this would be a handy on the go record so I don't forget anyone!

I wanted to do some goals pages but to be honest having a set goal I can fix on is a little difficult when I don't have a regular income, Working for myself means I can't say 'I'll save £100 a month' because I plain might not be able to so I don't want to set unrealistic goals that'll depress myself when I don't hit them. Instead I included a few tracking pages so although I headered my savings page as 'goals', it's more a visual way of marking where I am every month and how much I managed to save. Again with books, as you can see I haven't finished the one I'm reading this week but it'll make it to the bookshelf soon I hope!

I also included a 'money I owe' page. This page isn't for the odd twenty quid here and there, it's for the big investments I still have to pay off like my car so each month I am going to cross off my payment so I can still see how far I have to go.

This is a very important page in my BuJo and one I am referring to frequently already - my Twitter chat schedule. With so many really good Twitter chats happening every day and sometimes at the same time it's hard to keep track so this is my go to for when I can't remember what time one is or who the host is or what the hashtag for that chat is. It is by no means a comprehensive chat schedule but it's the ones I try and take part in regularly - I know there are 4058-304573895628736467153 more. You'll also notice there aren't any chats scheduled for Tuesdays. That's not because there aren't any chats but because I spend every Tuesday evening with my Nan and Bampi at their house without internet so I just know I couldn't take part. I'm thinking of doing some printables about blogging or bullet journalling so I'll be sure to add a Twitter chat schedule to that list so keep your eyes peeled for the near future.

*FYI #socialbloggers on a Saturday night is also hosted by SkinnedCartree so watch out for that if you can't find the chat.

After all my 'filler' pages and my scheduling, goals and tracking pages are done it's on to my month of May! I have decided to start each month with a 'Look Ahead' which features every day with boxes big enough to write a few details in. This page is updated as and when things happen and means I can flick to it and with a glance see the bigger things I have going on. It's more for reminders and days out or trips away and birthdays or things I need to remember rather than the days to do list which comes later in the journal.

So I wasn't really sure if I wanted to include a habit tracker in my journal because I wasn't sure if I 1. Had anything to track and 2. Would ever used it but again it seems one of the founding pages of the BuJo so I entered one and I thought if I don't use it it I can always cover it up. Oh how naive I was. Not only do I use it every day and am OBSESSED with it but it's also my favourite page of the whole journal. I have included a close up of things I am tracking from internet things like days I blogged and days I took part in chats and days I live tweeted as well (or instead of) scheduled to things like when I filled my car up or washed my hair or didn't eat meat or didn't drink fizzy drinks.

My absolute favourite is my water tracker. I don't drink enough water, probably one glass a day on average, sometimes none at all but I drink tea multiple times a day. You're supposed to drink 8 glasses of water a day so I decided to include it in my habit tracker to make it a daily goal and I am now OBSESSED with doing it. I have yet to cross it off as you can see but even going up to 2 glasses a day is a step for me and the day I drank 6 was unheard of! I track my daily intake on my daily log (coming in a bit) with a little symbol of a glass for water drank and a little cup for tea drank. I love it.

The last few pages of my journal so far are my daily trackers. I have decided to do them in 4 week blocks because I like to transfer to do's over days or weeks and I like to know where I am and what I am doing a few weeks ahead. I am so far using this daily log as a mixture of things to remember and daily tasks or notes when things like bills are going out and for just noting things like booking references for hotels and stuff like that. My daily log is essentially what I use instead of jotting things down on 2849023798467364 post its like I normally do!

So that's how I'm using my bullet journal so far! I think in between all my monthly logs and daily trackers I'll just use the pages as and when I need to for example as packing lists for my upcoming nights away in the next 3 weeks or if I see other pages in other people's journals maybe I'll include something like that.

One thing I am not using it for is work/blogging/business. I write down my chats and I track what I do but my notes are very vague and this is because I have a journal which has a page for every day which I use for blogging and business to do lists because I can be much more detailed.

Utensils wise I have broken the BuJo code and I am only using black and white. I don't mind the odd bit of colour from a post it note and I LOVE seeing colourful bullet journals from other people but for me, I wanted my journal classic and black.

I am using fine liner pens for my journalling which were gifted to me on my birthday (they're 005) so I don't have a link but I stocked up on some similar ones from Tiger on the weekend which were 4 for a quid. They're really nice for writing my notes but take a bit of effort to colour something in naturally but they don't ghost that much and certainly don't bleed so they're perfect for me.

I am going to end this post but echoing the sentiments of Sarah from ItsSarahAnn in saying that Hannah from Hannah Emily Lane was one of the biggest reasons I started a bullet journal. I knew I liked the idea but it was her boards on Pinterest and her walk throughs of her bullet journal that made me sure it was the one for me. Definitely check the both of them out cos they are slayin in the BuJo world.

Hope you've liked seeing into my Bullet Journal!

If you liked this you might also like 'My New Studio Tour.'

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Week 1 With My Bullet Journal.