Bullet Journal Set Up 2018

Hopefully you'll have seen my post in September about starting a bullet journal and after starting one mid-way through the year, I'm excited to be starting a fresh in a whole new book for 2018. My previous journal was lined, and whilst this was absolutely fine for starting out, I am definitely on the side where I want to use my journal as an artistic outlet and so this year I have gone for the cliche Leuchtturm1917 journal which is dotted. Even just from the set up I've found that the dots allow you to draw lines, and for doodles it's a lot more free and doesn't leave a massive line cutting through the image. I mentioned this in the other post, but my previous notebook did not have numbers and I'm so glad this one does as it will make it really easy to find certain spreads that I need.

Recently I've seen a lot of videos around setting up a bullet journal for the new year and so I thought I would share mine with you to hopefully provide some inspiration, and as a way for me to go through what formats I have found work for me etc. I'm fully embracing the bullet journal as a way of keeping track of what I have going on, as since my previous post my filofax snap broke and so this now holds information on all aspects of my life in one place.

I've kept the 'Books to Read' spread as one of my goals for next year is to read one book a month. As a English Lit student I used to read so much and although it's great that I can now read whatever I like, I think it's one of those scenarios where you have too much choice you know? I miss being told what to read and discovering new gems of literature that I wouldn't have chosen whilst walking into the bookshop. If you have any recommendations for books that you love and couldn't put down whilst you were reading them I'm all ears as I would like to read a range throughout the year. Alongside this I have created a 'Places Travelled' spread to keep a track of the different days out or trips that Tom and I take throughout the year.

For Christmas I asked for some new felt tips that I could use for my bullet journal, and I was lucky enough to be gifted with a set of 50 Crayola Super Tips. As a nice visual and a way to test out the different colours, I drew a thick/thin line of each colour on a page, as well as sticking different washi tapes in that I have. Obviously this could be done with any material and at any time of the year, but I think this type of page will be great for inspiration for designing throughout the year. 

 

As my filofax is no longer in use, for the 'future log' I have drawn out a month to a page and can refer to these throughout the year when booking events, or for putting reminders of things that need renewing in a certain month. On each calendar I have drawn a balloon on each date when there is a birthday, and have put details of these and any other information below the calendar.

 

Something I want to do this year is have a title page for each month and I'm going to work out what the best way is for me to draw out each week of the month. For January I've gone with splitting one page into weekdays, and then on the other page after the weekend I have left a section for our food shopping list for that week. I'm not sure how much I'll use the weekday spread as whilst I'm at work everything I need to do is on google calendar/on a notepad I keep at work. I don't know in future months if it will become more of a week to one page spread and then have a to-do list/shopping list on another page. What's the best way you have found in your journal to write out the weekly spreads?

At the moment that's all that is in my bullet journal and how I do things will change throughout the year but I hope this has provided some inspiration for your journals! If you have any posts on setting up a bullet journal or any examples of spreads you find particularly useful please link them in the comments. I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops throughout the year and having a record of the year to look at come this time next year.

As this is my last post of 2017, thank you to everyone for all of your support and for continuing to read my ramblings - bring on 2018!

Jess x