April 2017 Bullet Journal Update & Look Through.
April 2017 Bullet Journal update.
It's been little over a month now since I shared my 2017 Bullet Journal set up with you where I outlined my new approach to journaling and all the things I'd included for the new year.
Since then, a lot has happened in the old bujo so I thought what better way to show you than a cheeky look through at what's new, what's working and how I'm finding it.
As ever, I am obsessed with making it as pretty as possible so lemme know if you like the doodles and the layouts and the spreads and send me photos if you use any in your journal!
Coupla new things happened at the beginning of my bujo - I have already filled in the entire index/contents page list and I'm not even into May.....
Tbf the index was one of the things I said I didn't intend to bring over from my initial bullet journal but the Leuchtturm I currently use has an index built in that looked kinda crap when it was empty. I intended to just fill it in until it was complete but I never had any intentions to finish it or create another as I simply don't use it. I genuinely think in my next journal I'll do exactly the same.
I also finally committed to a front page! I like to start my journal on a double page spread meaning the initial first page is always blank. In my last journal I filled it with transferrable tattoos someone sent me and this time I have filled it with adorable ghost stickers from Tiger.
My monthly spreads are very much the same as ever and I don't see that ever changing. I set out a monthly calendar and a monthly habit tracker for each month of 2017 in the beginning of my journal and I'd definitely do the same again. Having the calendars and the habit trackers, both of which can be very time consuming to lay out, already in the journal means no more getting to 2 weeks into the month and not having found the time to draw them.
I already noted down important things for the whole year on the calendar pages such as days bills are paid and events I already knew were happening and now as I go through the months I add in commitments, engagements and events as they are planned and having the whole year ahead of me means I know exactly where I am. I also fill in days after the event if I didn't have anything planned but then found myself up to something - I like to use it as a diary of what I did as much as I like using it for forward planning.
I do however like to have a significant break between each of the months so I use a 'monthly look ahead' kinda page. It's almost like a title page of sorts and I amended it from my old journal to make it a bit more workable. Each month contains different elements depending on what I have on such as work or events or tasks but each page includes a calendar, a to do list and a 'future' box so I have easy access to what's coming up.
One thing that I didn't initially have in my journal was a blog schedule. I use a Bando planner normally for my blog calendar but I found myself never using it as I was only using the calendar page and not the day by day function. In the end I admitted defeat and drew up a blog planner for March and have so far used 2 for April because I kept shifting my content around so much I required a new one! I have one drawn up for May already as I normally like to plan roughly my content for the upcoming month around a week before the end. As you can see from May, there is very little schedule at all; I map out when my consistent series fall, add a few seasonal posts and then just add in content as I go, a week or two ahead of time.
I also have a blog ideas page but this month I added a separate Bullet Journal blog post ideas page because seriously I have so many it's filled a double page spread already. Obvs didn't photograph the whole thing because I don't want too many spoilers.
I completed my film tracker as I knew I would; I left it as a single page initially just to fill an empty space I had but it filled quickly so I simply drew a new double page spread in the next free space in my journal and this one should last me longer.
One thing I kinda regret not putting in sooner is my NYE 2017 lists. I only had the foresight to include them at like the end of March which is a little late I understand. I think they'd have looked nicer at the beginning of the journal nor randomly a quarter of the way through the year but hey, we can't have everything.
My 'This Time Next Year', NYE Resolutions and my 2017 Bucket List were actually all blog posts but I kinda liked the idea of having them in paper form to refer back to. I'll do a blog update on all of them soon I'm sure (spoiler - you may as well forget my resolutions now).
As ever, my favourite part of my bullet journal since I last updated you has been the inclusion of random pages as and when I have needed them. From lists of things I need to buy, to supermarket lists, to packing, to holiday reservations to plans for London, I love that they break up my journal and I always try and make them look as cute as possible.
FYI on the double page spread with my London packing list/to do list was a really cute page which had doodles of a little car weaving it's way to Big Ben but it had detailed instructions on how to get to Sarah's house and appazzzz she didn't want me to publish where she lives. Selfish if you ask me.
I think May will be another cute month for random pages because I'm going away twice on long weekends and it's my anniversary and my niece's birthday so lots of out of the ordinary stuff to plan which naturally means a page of it's very own. And doodles.
WHAT'S THAT? COLOUR IN MY BLACK AND WHITE BULLET JOURNAL??
I love that my journal is all black and white, as much as I love other people's colour coded systems it just ain't for me and I like that my journal is all tonal, all about linework and flows really nicely. However, I massively fucked up a page to the point I couldn't salvage it and hated looking at it so instead of ripping it out (which was my intention but I'd already drawn a cracking spread on the other side of it) I covered it up with wrapping paper and tape and stickers from my Bando planner and Paperchase and I actually really love it?
Andddd finally (dw we're at the end, I know these are photo heavy) - my weekly spreads. In my last journal I think I came undone with the weekly spreads and I think in the end it was what I hated most about my journal.
In my old bujo I was drawing out 4 week blocks of weekly spreads in an attempt to be organised and be able to see what was coming up but that meant I had the exact same layout week on week with no room for compromising or changing things up. For example, if I had a hectic week but a quiet weekend I had the same space for each day of the week meaning weekdays were crammed and I forgot things whereas the weekends were blank. It just totally took the enjoyment out of it for me so I'm doing this journal better.
Definitely the monthly spreads and the way I use them has helped my need to know what's coming up but now I draw my weekly layouts on the weekend before they need to be used. This means my 'random' pages fall more nicely in line with what week I needed them on but means I can plan my layouts based on what I have on that week.
You can see a whole range of layouts here and in my last update and you can see I regularly use single pages for a single day if it's a busy one or for what I deem to be a 'master to do list' which is basically all the little random jobs I need to do in a week which I write all in one place so I can effectively spread them out during the week ahead without forgetting a single thing.
It's 1289274874734 times more productive for me so if you're struggling with your weekly spreads and productivity I'd definitely recommend a more laid back approach to your week.
And that's it for this time! No doubt I'll be back with another peep at my journal soon but in the meantime there's definitely more bujo inspired content coming your way!
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