Bullet Journaling for the Unaesthetic: A Look Inside My Bujo

I'm going to do something today that I've wanted to do for awhile--show y'all my (completely unaesthetic) bullet journal! Are you excited? Because I'm excited. 

Before we start, what is a bullet journal? It's a way of organizing your life on a yearly, monthly, weekly and daily level, as well as keeping track of various things in your life, all of which with one notebook, so everything can be in one place. There are some constants (an index, future log, monthly spreads, and so on), but everyone chooses to add different things. So what works for me in my bullet journal may not work for you, and that's okay!

When I first heard about the idea of a bullet journal, it was from talented people. People who spent up to five hours working on their artsy monthly pages. *stares in disbelief* And their pages were all artistic and gorgeous and beautiful and intimidating. And I thought: "Huh. I am not artistic, and I don't have time, so there is no way I'll be able to do this." But then Emily Grant encouraged me to try it out...so, when I finished my school planner for the summer, I got a fairly cheap and thinnish bullet journal to test it. 

And after trying it out for four months, I am here to tell you that even for us non-artsy, impatient, and busy types, a bullet journal can be an excellent way to keep track of what is going on in our lives. I don't need fancy colors or fonts or themes or good handwriting or lots of time to create a useful organizational tool (heck, I don't even need a ruler)--I only need a pen! Bullet journals do not have to be aesthetic to be awesome, and I'm going to show you the inside of mine, with all its workings, to prove it. (Apologies in advance if some of the pictures are a tad blurry. And also, I did "white-out" a few things, because, names. And personal stuff.)

 

My first page is an index. I generally put a month header, and then include underneath anything that's not standard in the month (e.g. I don't put the weekly spreads in the index, or the sleep tracker, etc.) since I like to interrupt my month with useful but one-time spreads or note sheets on occasion

The next page after that is a Future Log, which is messy, and I let it be. It's rather like my life! I didn't allot quite enough space for each month, I think, but I enjoy the aesthetic, honestly. The next page is my long-term goals (for during and after COVID). This is one of the few pages where I use check marks instead of x's to cross things out. 

I then have two blog trackers, which really track arbitrary measurements of my "success". The blank page is because I was trying to decide if I wanted to do month dividers/starting pages. The consensus was "no". Cuz it was too artsy.

It took me a couple of months before coming up with this particular format for the beginning of my months, but I have found that it works well for me. The month is laid out in small squares (4x4) which are the right size for noting events in tiny handwriting. Underneath is my goals for the month--those can be breakdown of my long-term goals, or things that are unique to the month. On the other page is a reading list for myself (what I want to read in a month, combined with assigned school reading), and a list of my blog posts.

Right after the month layout pages, is a page for memories, and a page for quotes. I usually fill up both! I've found this really fun to keep up. (Yes, my handwriting is horrid. I have made peace with this). 

After that is a "read" page, and a "watched" page, so I can keep track of what I have and have not read and watched. I use asterisks for rereads and rewatches here as well as on the blog!

Here I have a budget tracker (which didn't get a whole lot of use in October! Apparently I was just a cheapskate that month?) and a gratitude list, titled "Reasons to Smile" (thanks to Nicole Dust for the idea on that one!). I really love having a place to write down at least one good thing that happened in my day. 

I try to organize my beginning-of-the-month pages in order of use, so the most frequently used ones are closer to my weekly spreads. So here are my most frequently used pages: sleep tracker, and habits. (I added a place to note my morning routine, but I didn't end up doing that!). The sleep tracker has a place to put a graphic representation, as well as total hours slept. It helps me figure out when I need more sleep, and how much sleep I usually need. The habit trackers are simple--just a drawing of a month with one square to fill in per day!

Here's a good example of how I interrupt my month with pertinent things--this is a list of what I need to bring to Rivendell when we go overnight, and the beginning of my notes from the second Brandes/Ella webinar. 

More notes! Yes, my handwriting is truly awful.

This is a mutt page if I ever saw one--the last of the webinar notes, a presents list, and notes from the Megan Whalen Turner webinar. I let my pages be messy, and don't mind it! It's rather freeing.

Here's an example of my weekly spread (and you'll see another one below). It took me around five iterations to find a version I liked for the school year (my summer one was much simpler!). It has places for appointments, "easy school (morning routine school)", "offline school", to do, online school, online to-do, due dates, and a small space for notes. I've found that separating my online and offline to dos is really helpful in prioritizing, and feeling like I've done things! I do have fewer categories for Saturday and Sunday, leaving more space for notes. It usually takes me about fifteen minutes to set up my week's spread.

Here's another week with the same format. You'll see that I add a quote at the bottom of each week's page (this one is from Return of the Thief...the one above is from Monsters, Inc.). This quote is always from my "Quotes" page for the month. I also have a weekly to-do list to the left. It is messy! There are crossouts, I cross things off the list with x's, and things get cramped some days! But it works for me.

I know a lot of people do daily spreads along with their weekly spreads, but I find that just putting a full and complex week on one page works best for me. 

So there it is! My unaesthetic, color-free, fancy-font-free, and theme-free extraordinarily useful bullet journal! I hope it inspired you to try it out, since you really don't need all the fancy frills to have an organized and excellent bullet journal.

(If you're new to bullet journaling and want to see some people who do make aesthetic spreads, check out Nicole Dust's posts HERE and HERE, Emily Grant's post HERE, and Savannah Grace's post on her (now defunct? sadness) blog HERE.)