How to Start a Bullet Journal in 2019

First of all, the beauty of bullet journals is that you can literally start one WHENEVER you want. With planners there’s always this feeling that if you don’t start in January you’re wasting part of the planner – but bullet journals are different, they’re crafted by you to help craft the life you want. It’s a fantastic tool to use to reflect on your life and to begin to shape your future through small manageable steps.

I’m still learning and am by no means an expert, but I love having started keeping a bullet journal and it’s honestly helped me shape my life so much. So, here are some things I’ve learned along the way to help you on you journey.

Shit I Wish I Knew Before Starting

1. I already gave this one away. Whoops. I wish i knew that you can start it whenever and wherever you are.

2. You don’t need any fancy accessories. You can start with any old pen and notebook. I’d be lying though if I didn’t tell you that the accessories can be fun and when my old notebook ran out I did buy a bullet journal notebook.

3. You do NOT need to be an artist. I repeat: You do not need to be an artist! I have started trying out drawing in mine, but only because I think it’s fun to learn a new skill.

Getting Started:

The beauty of bullet journals is that they can really be crafted for you and your life. There are tons of blogs about starting bullet journals so this isn’t going to really be a step by step guide you can check out one of my favorites here. This is going to be more of me sharing what helped me. First of all I spent a TON of time on pinterest really deciding what I wanted to be in mine. What things I felt would help me in my life the most. For instance, some people have an index, I do not. I didn’t feel like I would really use it so I opted out of this one. So here are the steps I took to start mine. I would LOVE to hear from you about what you did differently in yours (I’m always looking for new ideas).

1. The first thing I did was set up my goals for the year. I broke these out into the four main categories I really wanted to grow in this year.

2. I elaborated on two of the important goals I set for myself, reading 25 books and financial planning (writing out these words is the most adult I’ve ever felt) I created a fun way to track what I was doing. I made bookshelves for my books and little charts I could fill in to track my savings!

3. Next, I created a full calendar of all the months in their entirety and added little To Do & Events sections so I could put in everyone’s birthdays and really plan for the year holistically.

4. This one is the one I’m most shocked by and the most proud of. I made a YEAR LONG CLEANING SCHEDULE. I know it sounds completely type A and wild, BUT it literally has changed my life in just one month. There are so many random things that would slip through the cracks because I didn’t have a deadline of when they were due. This schedule really helps me know when everything needs to get done and breaks it down into bite size chunks which makes it SUPER manageable.

yep there’s a typo. nope I didn’t let my type A ass re-do the whole thing #itsthelittlethings

Daily

Morning

• Empty Dishwasher

• Tidy Bedroom

Evening

• Load Dishwasher

• Wipe Counters

Weekly

Monday

• Clean Bathroom

Tuesday

• Laundry

Wednesday

• Monthly Chores

Thursday

• Vacuum

Friday

• Catch Up

Monthly

Week 1

• Wipe Down Appliances

Week 2

• Clean Out Fridge

Week 3

• Yearly Chore

Week 4

• Dust House

Yearly

January

• Deep Clean Bathroom

February

• Organize Files (just in time for tax season)

March

• Declutter Closets/Donate

April

• Clean Out Car

May

• Deep Clean Kitchen

June

• TREAT YO SELF (come on you deserve it!)

July

• Clean Windows

August

• Clean Out Car

September

• Organize Cabinets & Pantry

October

• Declutter Closets/Donate

November

• Clean Out Car

December

• Relax & Wrap (all your holiday gifts!)

5. Now for the fun part! I love to take some time at the start of the month to get creative and create fun little drawings to kick off my month. Here are some of my favorite ones I’ve ever done:

6. Now some months I have more time than others. Some months I come up with monthly spreads, if there are things I’m working on long term. Other months that doesn’t get done. We’re human and life gets busy and that’s one of the perks to this! You create it so if you skip something one month, WHO CARES?

7. Last, but certainly not least, the weekly spread! These can be done in SO MANY ways. There is no right or wrong way. I’ll walk you through my process so you can see why I chose these things and then you can choose the right ones for you!

• Habit Tracker: I do one of these EVERY SINGLE WEEK. It helps me track what I’m doing, working towards creating overall more healthy habits while not being hard on myself if I don’t get to something. It’s a really lovely way to observe and tweak moving forward without all the negative self judgement. Here are some of my favorite habits to track:

  • Taking CBD & Vitamins in the morning

  • Eating Breakfast & Lunch

  • Listening to Audible

  • Practice Yoga

  • Go to gym, Lagree or Bouldering

  • Drink enough water

  • Clean Daily/Weekly (from cleaning schedule above)

  • No spend

  • Read Book

  • Self Care

  • Bed by 11pm

• I also create either a weekly spread or a to do list broken out by client to help me organize what I need to do when.

• Other options of things you could add:

  • Mood Tracker. This is a great one if you’re trying to see how you’re feeling overall.

  • Some people like to add meal plans in here if that’s something you need help organizing in your life this may be a great option for you!

If I can leave you with one bit of advice, throw out the rule book! This is a beautiful chance for you to let your creativity run wild. I truly hope this post helps and inspires you get started with your own bullet journal journey! Bullet Journaling shouldn’t feel like something you HAVE to do, it should be exciting and should become a part of your routine (daily, weekly, monthly & yearly). Let me know in the comments if you have any questions because I will DEFINITELY be doing more blogs on Bullet Journaling as I learn more.

Oh, and if you already have a bullet journal, please share a link in the comments so I can see your pretty pages! If you’re on Instagram tag me in your posts so I can swoon and show you some love!

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