How Do I Even Start A Bullet Journal?

In this post, I’ll tell you how to start a bullet journal, a little about my journal, and some tips on how to format it!

STEP ONE: Decide what kind of journal you want. 

There are tons of different journals out there, and most bullet journalers swear by one.

I personally swear by the grid notebook. I got mine on Amazon for $10 and it looks like this:

 

 

AmazonBasics Classic Notebook

Grid Style

This notebook also comes in plain (blank) and ruled (lined.)

It’s pretty plain, but there’s others like these from Bando or this legit bullet journal from Amazon.

STEP 2: Get your supplies.

The beauty of the bullet journal is that you don’t necessarily need a ton of supplies, but you can use them if you want.

For me, I think you definitely need a ruler, white-out, and a pen.

Other supplies you could get are different colored pens, highlighters, stickers, watercolor paints, brushes, scissors, tape, and/or washi tape.

I’ve linked all of my favorites from Target!

STEP 3: Get some inspiration.

Pinterest and YouTube are the best places to find some different formats and ideas!

Make a board or a list of pages you’d like to do, or make a list of consistent pages and pages you may do in the future.

My consistent pages are two for my calendar, a habit tracker, a vertical calendar with a budget next to it, and two pages for each week. My future pages are lists, pages of doodles, pages of favorite things, apartment checklists, etc.

This is my journaling page on Pinterest!

STEP 4: Decide on your pages. 

I mentioned consistent pages above, and I believe these are the best to start with.

Your first page is always going to be your index.

I like to go to the calendar next.

Here is an example of a filled one from October 2017 with color coding, drawing challenges, and my old format.

This month, June 2018, I tried to do the set up a  little different while still keeping my three goals and quote at the bottom.

Next, I like to do my habit tracker and either mood tracker or vertical calendar and budget.

After that, I do my weekly spreads.

STEP 5: Fill it in! 

This is the learning process! Some people fill everything in and then check things off as they go, some people just use it to keep track of what they did after it happened, and I like to use a little of both.

You can use it as a to-do list or an art journal. You can use an actual bulleting system or just write things as you think of them. Some people have boxes for their to-do’s and boxes for random thoughts.

I use (sometimes a variety of) systems with a square for “to-do” and:

• Finished task = filled in square
• Started task = half-filled square
• Cancelled task = X through square
• Moved task to different day = arrow down in square

I usually either use a > or a • for events.

I like to also keep an overall weekly to-do list somewhere on my weekly spread so that if I have to move things around a lot, I have an overall list to come back to.

Don’t be afraid to experiment! I kept the same formats for months but eventually I changed them and my bullet journal has become better and better since I started last August.

Remember: IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE PERFECT. I highly encourage getting white-out but sometimes you just have to cross stuff out and move on. As you can see, my journal isn’t at the level of Pinterest aesthetic I look at for inspiration, but it doesn’t have to be.

What’s important is that it’s organized, readable, and personalized.

Now you can get started!

Comment any pictures below or tips you liked and share this on Pinterest if it was helpful!