I’ve been lurking around over here and have been inspired by the pages everyone has shared. I’ve never made one, am a little frightened at the idea of starting one, but have this urge to try it out! Any recommendations on a quality journal or names of favorite ones?
Come to the dark side!!!
I just use an Exceed Journal from walmart - they come in a variety of sizes and colors and are readily accessible and affordable. I found that starting with a cheap journal took care of the worry about mistakes and ruining a “nice” piece of stationery so I could just dive in and experiment. The worse that could happen if I well and truly ruined my first attempt was that I’d need to spend another $5-$10 dollars to start over from scratch.
I use the small size, which only comes in the lighter paper weight, but I am tempted to buy one of the larger versions with thicker paper just to see what it’s like. I found the 78gsm paper to be pretty close to what was in my moleskine notebooks.
You may also want to check out the other notebook reviews on the site linked above. Generally once you find a good notebook/pen match all you can make things as complicated/artsy or as simple/minimal as you like. Personally I’m on the plain end of the spectrum - I use a pencil and eraser when planning new pages, but otherwise my only supplies are two pens (one black, one colorful) and a ruler, with an occasional sticker or piece of washi if I’m feeling really wild. My one real tip for supplies is go for a clear ruler - it makes things way easier in the long run.
Thanks so much for the information! Pinterest sent me down a rabbit hole and by the end, it seemed a little scary. There seems to be bullet journal lingo too, like specific themed pages, mood trackers, spreads, etc. Guess I will figure it out!
Yeah, looking at Pinterest or IG first is a sure-fire way to get overwhelmed and freeze up.
I’m also find it amusing that every Bullet Journal tutorial or explanation starts with a “you can really use any journal/pen” and then they all proceed to use a fairly fancy pen on a pricey dot-grid journal.
I had to finally stop looking at other peoples’ bujos, and dive in. I “splurged” on a fresh notebook but just used pens from my near-infinite stash until I found one that I liked.
The lady who has the review site I linked above made a pretty good “just get started” guide. Nothing says you have to go that route but it does kind of take some of the intimidation out of the bullet journal process.
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Lots of the Pinterest spreads look nice but honestly don’t seem to make life easier. Many look like they were made to show off rather than to use. Of course go ahead if you like drawing and being creative, but don’t feel like that’s a mandatory part of bullet journaling.
One of my most used pages is a savings tracker and a friend of mine with debt to pay off has a really great motivating tracker: she has drawn a big mountain and every square in the mountain represents an X amount of money that she colours in when paid off. Thankfully I don’t have a mountain of debt to pay off but it was really helpful for her. She had a hard time keeping up motivation when her debt was just numbers on a screen.
This is all valuable info, thanks! It was overwhelming reading about how to start, materials others owned, blah, blah, and it is relieving to know bullet journaling can start with a $2 notebook and a pen.
@Immaculata, the debt tracker is a brilliant idea. I think I want to gift the finished journal to my daughter (do people do that? Can you make a semi-blank one to be filled out?) who has student debt.
I get sucked into the Bujo set-up videos that are all over the place on youtube at the beginning/end of the year. They’re fun to watch but a little repetitive after a while. I did run across this pair that has more of a crafty bent.
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Thank you for sharing! I’m going to bookmark these so I can watch them when I have more time (now I’ll just need to remember to look at my bookmarks in order to remember to watch the videos…).
Her pared down spreads and calendar ideas are great. So many (do-able) ideas! Thank you!
I’ve done it. I bought a journal. Looks like I am going to go on this bujo ride!
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I got myself one too. I love cats and orange so this one was a must. It’s a Dingbats and heard they are highly recommended, so It’s what I picked.
I’m nervous to start in it since the pages are not refillable. Which is why I also have a pile of unused notebooks. Too afraid to ‘ruin’ them!
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And one would think that by using it, it would become even more precious!
I knew I would be doodling all over the pages, so I opted for a 140 gsm journal. After completing a few pages with mostly Microns, I am happy to see there’s no bleed- through.
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Still no ghosting or bleed-through, even with 800K dots from a Micron…that’s amazing!
I’m really enjoying this bullet journaling thing. Thanks to everyone that has shared their ideas and knowledge!
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I’m in a few FB groups now for these and have started copying my favorite quotes done into my journal. I just made one myself though and love it.
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Those are amazing pages, @LuckyXIIICreations!
I may need some pages like these: Adulting
When I’m busy household chores are the first thing I skip and I really shouldn’t do that.
Lol love some of those “adulting” items. “Shaved” “didn’t spend $ on amazon” …
I feel like a pretty competent adult most of the time - keeping to a budget and paying bills is not an issue - but I really struggle with things like eating actual food instead of a bowl of yoghurt because I"m tired, washing up after dinner, putting away laundry, not snoozing in the morning etc. I really don’t know how other people do it. And I love the Tetris idea instead of a boring list.
Loving all the colorful and doodly spreads I’m seeing. I went out on a creative limb (for me) last month and used… washi tape! (* gasp *) I also shook things up a little on the weekly spread front and left myself room for lists and brainstorming. The end result was I hated it and barely looked at anything but my daily to-dos all month. So this month I’ve gone back to my usual minimalism, with only a blue pen for accent.
The weekly spread is actually just dividing each page up into quadrants than can be further subdivided however strikes my fancy for the week. Currently I’ve got my habit tracker in one corner and space to write in meals and steps, but those might disappear next week. Who knows!
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