c/bullet-journaling

Six months of daily bullet journaling finally paid off yesterday

I was at the front desk of my dentist's office in Portland trying to remember my next cleaning date. I pulled out my journal and the receptionist said 'I wish I had one of those, you always seem so organized.' It just felt good to know the habit is actually working.

Question about index vs. disc bound journals

I keep seeing people post setups in cheap spiral notebooks, but the pages tear out and the whole thing falls apart in 2 months. Has anyone else found that disc bound systems hold up way better long term?

Ditched my complex monthly layout for a simple weekly spread

Used to spend 2 hours each month designing detailed monthly logs. Switched to a single page weekly layout three weeks ago. Way faster and I actually use it instead of just making it look pretty. Anyone else find simpler spreads work better long term?

Spent $45 on a leather cover and it fell apart in 6 months

Bought this nice looking A5 leather cover off Etsy back in February because my old cardboard one was falling apart. The stitching started unraveling after 3 months and now the spine is completely detached. Anyone else had better luck with a specific brand that actually holds up?

My Sister's Advice About Page Numbers Fixed My Whole Setup

My sister Sarah told me to stop numbering my monthly spreads in order. She said to skip around and label each page with just the month and year instead. I tried it for my September 2023 layout and suddenly spreads feel way less cramped. Has anybody else found a better way to handle indexing in their journal?

A buddy at the coffee shop last Tuesday convinced me to try weekly spreads instead of daily logs

He showed me his two-page weekly where he just stacks tasks under each day and I realized I was wasting pages on empty dailies, has anyone else found weekly layouts easier to stick with?

Hot take: The whole "minimalist" spread trend is just lazy journaling

I was at a bujo meetup in Portland last month and this girl showed off her weekly spread that was literally just a black pen line down the middle of the page with the days written in tiny script. No trackers no colors no collections nothing. She called it "minimalist" and everyone nodded along like it was genius. I asked her what happens when she has more than two tasks in a day and she just shrugged. I get that decorative stuff can be extra but stripping everything down to nothing defeats the purpose of having a system that actually helps you organize your life. Am I the only one who thinks the minimalist craze is just an excuse to avoid putting in the work to build a real habit tracker or monthly log?

My January spread already fell apart and it's only March

I spent like 3 hours setting up this gorgeous January spread back in December with watercolor headers and all these little habit trackers. By February 2nd the glue on my cheap little corner bookmark thing had already given out and pages started tearing out because I used too much water on the paper. Three years ago I would have just started a whole new notebook but I'm trying to actually commit to one for a full year. Last week I finally just taped everything back together with some washi tape and called it a day. Now my March calendar is literally held in with packing tape on the back side. Is anyone else dealing with their journal falling apart halfway through or am I just too rough on mine?

Hit 500 pages in my bullet journal today and it's basically a time capsule

I started a fresh notebook back in April and just counted up - 500 pages of daily logs, habit trackers, and random doodles. I flipped through old entries and found a note about my oil change schedule from June that reminded me I still owe a buddy $40 for helping with that job. Has anyone else looked back at old spreads and realized how much random life stuff you've crammed in there?

That Wednesday last March when my whole weekly spread actually worked perfectly

I had this week last March where everything in my bullet journal lined up. You know how sometimes you set up a migration log and then just ignore it? Well on this Wednesday I actually used it to catch a task I would have totally dropped. I had a doctor appointment and a work deadline both landing on the same day and my time blocking in the journal actually helped me fit both in without rushing. The weird part was that my habit tracker for drinking water that week had a full row of check marks for the first time ever. I used a new color coding system where I put little dots next to events and it made flipping back to find things so much faster. Has anyone else had a week where their system just clicked into place like that

My neighbor (a retired engineer) told me to never use washi tape in my bujo, and I laughed at him

I ignored his warning and spent 3 hours last Sunday decorating my weekly spread with a cute floral tape from Michael's, only for the ink to bleed through 4 pages and smudge my entire habit tracker. Has anyone else had washi tape ruin their spreads, or is my cheap tape just cursed?

Hot take: I think the minimalist spreads are overrated for actual planning

I was sitting at my kitchen table last Tuesday trying to set up a new monthly layout and got so caught up making it look clean and pretty that I forgot to actually add my appointments. Ended up missing a dentist visit because my fancy spread had no space for time slots. Does anyone else feel like the aesthetic layouts sometimes get in the way of just getting stuff down?

Tried a weekly spread with no boxes just a line for each day...

I drew a single straight line for Monday through Sunday with no boxes or grids in my bullet journal last week. My tasks ran together and I couldn't tell where one day ended and the next started by Thursday afternoon. Has anyone else found a minimalist layout that actually keeps things separated?

Serious question, that whole "don't start a new monthly spread until the old one is full" advice

My friend Jen from the Austin meetup kept insisting I stop my dotted spreads early and just keep the same monthly log going until every last line was used. I tried it for 2 months straight and ended up with a messy October that had November tasks mixed in. Has anyone else found that forcing yourself to fill every page just kills the whole system's flow?

I used to cram every task into monthly logs and it was a mess

For two years I packed my monthly log with appointments, habits, and to-dos all mixed together, which made it impossible to find anything quick. Last January I switched to a separate weekly spread just for tasks and kept the monthly log only for dates and events, and my whole system finally clicked. Has anyone else found a specific layout change that made a big difference for them?

Am I the only one who ditched monthly spreads for a single running task list?

Everyone in this group seems to love making detailed monthly calendars with trackers and everything. I tried that for 3 months back in January and hated flipping pages just to check what's due. Now I just have one long list in my journal with dates scribbled next to each task. It's way less pretty but actually works for me in real life in Chicago. Anyone else prefer messy over fancy?

Appreciation post: The conversation that made me rethink daily logging

Honestly, I had a chat with my coworker Jen last Thursday about her bujo setup, and she said something like, 'You're tracking too much stuff nobody cares about.' At first I got defensive because I love my habit trackers with 12 columns and a mood graph. But then I looked at my last 3 months of spreads, and she was right. I was spending 20 minutes a day filling in details I never looked at again. So now I'm debating between a simple rapid logging format versus keeping my detailed weekly layout. Has anyone else had someone's offhand comment totally shift how you bullet journal?

A coworker made me rethink my whole habit tracker setup

I was showing my new habit tracker to Sarah at lunch last Thursday, all proud of my color coded grid. She just looked at it and said 'but do you actually enjoy filling that thing in every day?' and I honestly didn't have an answer. It hit me that I was spending 10 minutes each morning tracking stuff like 'drank water' and 'did 10 pushups' just to feel productive, not because it helped me. Has anyone else had a moment where they realized their journal was more about checking boxes than actually being useful?

Bought a $50 bullet journal 'starter kit' and barely used any of it

I got suckered into that fancy kit with the dotted notebook, stencils, and like 8 different pens. I've only touched the notebook and one black pen, the rest is sitting in a drawer. Anyone else regret buying those overpriced sets?

Tried a weekly spread with minimal decoration after seeing all those elaborate ones online

For the past two years I was doing these heavily decorated weekly spreads. Stickers, washi tape, multiple colored pens, the whole thing. It looked great but I was spending nearly 45 minutes every Sunday setting it up. Last month I tried a bare bones approach. Just black pen, a simple grid, and a small box for each day. No frills at all. I actually get more use out of it now because I'm not afraid to make a mistake or mess up a pretty design. Has anyone else found that simpler spreads work better for actual tracking?

Hot take: I actually hate the "rapid logging" method

I had a woman at a coffee shop in Portland tell me I was doing bullet journaling wrong because I didn't use rapid logging. She saw my weekly spread and said "that's not how it works, you're just making a planner." It stuck with me because I was actually happy with my layout tracking my cleaning jobs and appointments. Has anyone else gotten crap for not following the original system?

Figured out a hack for habit tracking at my dentist's office

Sat in the waiting room last week staring at their wall calendar. Got the idea to put my monthly tracker on a small whiteboard I keep on my fridge. Anyone else use non-notebook items to track stuff?

Hit 300 pages in my bullet journal this week and it's kind of wild

I was flipping back through my journal from last year and realized I filled up 300 pages. That's like three whole notebooks for someone who started out thinking they'd barely use one. Most of it is daily logs and random collections like my reading list from March. Has anyone else been surprised by how much their journal grows over time?

Hot take: fancy washi tape is a waste of $30

I dropped $30 on a pack of premium Japanese washi tape from a shop in Portland thinking it would level up my monthly spreads. Turns out the cheap $5 rolls from the craft store stick just as well and look basically identical. Am I the only one who thinks the markup on these tapes is just for the fancy packaging?

My bullet journal spread got ruined by a coffee shop pour over drip at Stumptown