Have you ever purchased a gorgeous planner at the end of the year, telling yourself that this will be the year you get your shit together, stay organized, and use this planner every day till then end? I know I have more than once. The year always starts off strong, but somewhere around March, life gets crazy, your planner becomes the extra thing in your bag, and soon you can’t even find it in our house. However, each year you buy a new one and repeat the processes over again. Traditional store-bought planners and calendars have never seemed to fit my life and what I needed them to do for it. A solution? Make your own. Creating a bullet journal is not only a productive outlet, but it gives you the ability to make the perfect planner for you.
To the left is an example of a week at a glance page from my personal planner. It is simple, but has what I need to know for the week. Within the day-of-the-week boxes will be my work schedule, any appointments, and event details. The ‘to do this week box’ is for listing tasks that, well, need to get done that week, but do not have a specific date attached to them. I have a severe and terminal procrastination condition so if I write a task on a day and know that it does not have to be done that day, I will put it off. A list, on the other hand is direct enough for me to get tasks checked off with only the end of the week as a deadline.
The meal plan section is to help mainly with grocery shopping. I like to do all my food and home shopping on Sundays. This alleviates the dreaded task of going to the store after a long day of work (though not an issue with my current ‘housewife status’, but it has been a very good habit I have adopted). Our meals may swap around days, but having a plan for six out of seven days, does help with the kitchen restocking. I say six out of seven, because things come up, and my husband and I would rather eat out at a restaurant every day if allowed.
To the right, is the lay out of my month glance. Standard calendar with small squares just to note things like ‘work’, ‘appt.’, or ‘event’, just to indicate a brief of what is going on that day with the specifics on the corresponding week page. I do not like cluttered looking calendars so having two pages may seem like a lot, but it works best for my brain. There is also a note section and the dates of the new and full moons listed for 2023, but we can discuss that after we have gotten to know each other a bit.
There are copious amount of different things you can add to your bullet journal not seen here. Take a look around Pinterest or Instagram for exam and you can pick through and find your favorites. Here is a link to my Pinterest- Bullet Journal Board as a place to start: https://www.pinterest.com/everythingwithnothing/bullet-journal/
The main point to creating a bullet journal is the fun and creative processes as well as making the exact planner you need for your life style and way your brain works. A planner you will follow through and use. Make it personal, make it messy, make it neat, how ever you make it, make it yours! By spending time decorating and handwriting the pages, hopefully it will motivate you further to not let it go to waste.
This coming year will be the first year that I am using the bullet journal style planner and will update as I add pages and discuss what work and what doesn’t work. If you bullet journal, I’d love to hear what you have in yours!
Write. Read. Repeat. 
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