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Dine and Dish

Food blog with family recipes

December 18, 2018

Bullet Journal Ideas For Getting Started

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Are you looking to start a bullet journal? Here are a few easy Bullet Journal Ideas to get you started on the right foot!

Collage of various bullet journal spreads with pictures and text

If you’ve followed Dine & Dish for any length of time, it’s probably pretty obvious that I love the peace bullet journaling brings to me. In fact I wrote an entire blog post about how keeping a bullet journal in a simple Leuchtturm Notebook has been a great way to keep track of everything in my life. As a working mom of 4 and business owner with a traveling husband, there are a lot of irons in the fire at all times. This system is the only one I’ve managed to use and keep up with through the years.

As a self proclaimed planner addict, I’ve had my fair share of Erin Condren, Commit 30, Passion Planners, Happy Planners, Day Designers and more. I have a drawer full of barely used planners…purchased with the greatest of intentions. The perfectionist in my had a really hard time with the less flexible structure of traditional planners. If I’d miss a week or two, It would bother me too much to pick it up again with those blank pages. Every time I’d open it up, those blank pages screamed “failure” and I just couldn’t deal with it. The only traditional planner I’ve been able to stick with is the Nourished Planner – but I use that one solely for Dine & Dish stuff.

Bullet Journal page with green christmas ornaments stamped on

Bullet Journaling has been such a different experience for me. I’ve been able to stick with bullet journaling for several years now, and have found that it absolutely works for me.

What I Love About the Bullet Journal Method

1.  Bullet Journaling is Flexible.

I admit that traditional planners haven’t worked well for me because I’m an all or nothing type person. When I would miss a week or two I’d have a hard time picking up a half empty planner and starting where I was. With bullet journaling, there are no empty pages because you create it yourself as you go along. If you don’t do a week in October, no one even knows because you seriously pick up where you left off with the next page you create.

With Bullet Journaling I’m able to also have everything in one centralized location. I can have notes, to do lists, lists of books I want to read, memories, and more. I create the notebook to be exactly what I want it to be.

2.  Be as creative or minimalist as you’d like.

I appreciate that bullet journaling allows me to have a creative outlet. I enjoy sitting down and creating my habit tracker pages or working on new layout ideas. Each day I get the chance to not only be organized, but to also put my own touch on my planner pages. The original bullet journal method is very minimalist, and there are days where that’s all I want. Ryder Carroll, the creator of the official bullet journal, had no intention of this method being as creative as it has gotten. As you can see, Bullet Journaling can be made to be exactly what you want it to be.

3.  Keep everything in one place.

I mentioned this under bullet point one, but it’s worth mentioning again. I no longer have 10 different notebooks, sticky notes, and to do lists all over the place. Everything is in my bullet journal under different layouts and collections. From my gratitude log, to lists of books I want to read, to what the builders said about building a new deck…it’s all in one bullet journal. The bullet journal key as well as the numbered pages and index help me to find what I need, fast.

white notebook with Monday through Friday bullet journal to do lists

Whether it’s the beginning of a new year, or smack dab in the middle of a month, you can start a bullet journal now. Don’t wait until the perfect time, just jump right in and do it! Here are some ideas for you to get started.

Bullet Journal Ideas for Starting On the Right Foot

1. Throw perfectionism out the window

I recently started a bullet journal club for high school students. This method of planning is a HUGE thing among young people, which makes me so happy. The first thing I tell the girls in the club is to throw perfectionism out the window. Bullet Journaling is essentially about getting stuff done – so “ordering the present”. If you get caught up in trying to make your bullet journal perfect, you’ll never actually get anything done. Throw perfectionism out the window and just have fun with it!

white notebook page with brown lettering sharing bullet journal instagram accounts

2.  Find Your BuJo Tribe

The bullet journal community is an amazing one full of people willing to swap ideas, support each other and just have fun. Whether that community is online or in person doesn’t matter, there are resources and people to share a great idea with everywhere. One of the first people I started following in this community was Boho Berry. Her site has layout ideas, free printables, stickers to shop for, etc. Following Boho Berry opened my eyes to an entire community of people doing really cool things with their bullet journals. Here are a few of my favorite:

My bullet journal weekly layout above was inspired by Plans That Blossom. She has an incredible instagram page full of inspiration.

Instagrammer Coffee and Sarcasm has been a constant source of inspiration. She combines the use of watercolor painting with the pages in her journal. Even though her pages are artistic, they also have a very simplistic quality to them that I love.

Blue Sky Designs is a one stop shop for bullet journal inspiration. From layouts you can purchase to walkthroughs of journal pages, you’ll find all kinds of inspiration in the Blue Sky Designs community.

A full and always changing list of Instagram accounts I love as well as bullet journal hashtags to follow are in the image above. And guess what? It’s a collection in my bullet journal! I also can’t recommend enough starting a local club of people who get together in real life to bullet journal together. Bullet Journaling with friends is the best!

a bullet journal page with photographs for November Memories

3. Document the Memories

As much as I love my BuJo for keeping me organized, I absolutely love looking back and reminiscing. My favorite pages are my monthly memories pages or vacation memories pages. I highly recommend devoting a couple pages a month in your bullet journal to documenting your memories. I use my Polaroid Zip Printer to print out some of my favorite photos of the month and just stick them on the page with a few words about that months highlights. In addition to maintaining monthly and vacation memories pages, on each daily page I write a little one sentence highlight from each day. This is my way of “journaling” without really having to write a whole lot. (PS this printer makes a great gifts for teens…they love this thing!)

I have an entire blog post about the Polaroid Zip Printer. You can check out How I Use My Polaroid Zip Printer for Bullet Journaling here.

An open notebook with a Christmas tree drawing and a bullet journal spread of Christmas Books to read

4.  Narrow down what spreads and collections really work for you.

A bullet journal is essentially a custom planner / journal tailored for the user. There are so many options for different things to track it can sometimes get overwhelming. For example I loved the habit trackers I was seeing all over Instagram. For 2 months I decided to create a full on habit tracker for my bujo. Well, that was a big FAT fail. It turns out I was over ambitious with the number of habits I wanted to track (so there were a lot of blank days – and we’ve already addressed how I feel about that). Secondly, tracking habits didn’t bring me joy – or provide a lot of insight into myself. The only insight I really got was I’m horrible at tracking habits consistently!

flat bullet journal with craft paper embellishments

When you are creating your bullet journal, first understand there is nothing set in stone. That’s the joy of this way of planning. Secondly, if something isn’t working for you, stop doing it. I don’t do a year at a glance calendar because I use our family shared google calendar for that. It doesn’t make a lot of sense for me to spend unnecessary time duplicating something just because. So I don’t do it.

Here are a few ideas for spreads/trackers/collections for your bullet journal. I’ve tried to link to examples as well for you to peruse. You can also check out my favorite Pinterest Board for hundreds of ideas!

  • Track your habits with this collection of 50+ Habit Tracker Ideas
  • Keep a log of the books you have read throughout the year
  • A color coded monthly mood tracker has given me incredible insight into my behavior
  • Here are some bullet journal ideas for travel. This spread is such a fun way to plan your future
  • Follow my Bullet Journal Pinterest Board for all kinds of great bujo ideas and inspiration

Bullet Journal ideas for a weekly spread with a white background

 

In the end I hope that you remember it’s important to make your bullet journal work for you. Customize it so that you love it and want to spend time with it each day. Also, remember to throw perfectionism out the window. When you try to make your bujo too perfect, it simply leads to frustration and anxiety. Have fun and enjoy finding planner peace with the Bullet Journal Method!

For my other posts about Bullet Journaling, including a list of my favorite bullet journal supplies, click here. 

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. At no additional cost to you, Dine & Dish may receive a small fee for any shopping done through these links. Thank you for supporting Dine & Dish in this way. 

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Filed Under: Bullet Journal, Previous Tagged With: bujo, bullet journal, bullet journal ideas, habits, journaling, organization, planning

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Michelle @ Taste As You Go says

    January 16, 2019 at 9:31 am

    I just published a new post about my bullet journal experience. I’m in my second year of organizing my to-dos this way and I’ve shared some insight about what worked last year and what I changed for this year. I totally agree — the bullet journal method is the most flexible way to plan, and, ironically (I’m Type A), that works better for me than a rigidly outlined traditional planner.

    https://www.tasteasyougo.com/2019/01/bullet-journal-year-2.html

    Reply
    • Kristen says

      January 16, 2019 at 10:35 pm

      Oh yay! I’ll go take a look!

      Reply
  2. Dianr says

    August 12, 2019 at 5:44 am

    What kind of pens do you use that won’t bleed thru the pages

    Reply
    • Kristen says

      August 19, 2019 at 10:36 am

      Hi Diane! My favorite pens are Staedtler Pigment Liner pens. I get them off of Amazon and usually use the 0.8 or 0.7 point. I also love the Tombow Brush Pen markers for anything I want with color.
      The notebook I use is the Leuchtuurm dot grid, which I love because of the paper. It’s quality enough that bleed is very rare. Thanks and feel free to let me know if you have any other questions!

      Reply
  3. Lily says

    August 14, 2019 at 3:49 am

    I’ve just try bullet journal for a month and I really love it, although I’m not creative and talent enough to decorate my journals like other people. Thank you for sharing the post, it’s very inspiring.

    Reply

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I believe that in order to live a happy life, you have to make happiness happen through implementing simple things that make you happy into every day. Here are a few of the things that bring me happiness - I hope they do you too.

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H is for...high!
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It was so strange being on a plane again. I’m so thankful I have the antibodies because the flights were full, which seemed wrong, but everyone around me did seem to keep their masks on, so that was good.
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I can’t wait until travel becomes a regular part of life again. I’ve missed it so much!
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 @kimklassen_innercircle @southwestair @windowswap #cloudphotography #cloudsofinstagram #flightview #iflyswa #imisstravelling #skylove #planepics #myviewtoday #beautifulviews
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G is for...oh so grateful!

I flew to South Texas yesterday to visit my parents whom I haven’t seen in 2 years. They live around 17 hours away from us. We typical get to see each other a few times a year but with the pandemic and other health issues it just wasn’t able to happen and I’ve missed them soooo much.

Grateful to have had COVID last month. Although it was not at all fun, it gave me the antibodies to make this trip possible. My dad is having surgery tomorrow so I’m helping with my mom so my dad can recover without having to worry about her.

Kansas is enjoying frigid temperatures and snow. I picked a great week to head south.
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#palmtrees🌴 #palmtreesfordays #blueskiesandsunshine #wintersun #texasskies #kimklassen_innercircle @kimklassen_innercircle #silverlining
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F is for...food photography.
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This time of year especially, food photography (and I guess all photography actually) is a tug of war with time and light. I had planned on making and photographing a delicious pasta recipe, but my grocery delivery ran a couple of hours late because of snowstorm. So, at the eleventh hour I decided to make a cake...that took over an hour to bake and I had about 90 minutes of natural light left...leaving me with about 30 minutes of ok light to work with.
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Anyway, this wouldn't work for a client shoot because the cake, although delicious, didn't turn out looking so great. But it will work great for today's F photo for the @kimklassen_innercircle A-Z photo project:) Lemon Citrus Yogurt Cake from this weeks @cabotcheese newsletter. So good!
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E is for...Excitement!
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There’s a lot of excitement in Kansas City as our beloved @chiefs head back to the Super Bowl this weekend! #runitback 🏈
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It’s so strange because winning the super bowl last year was the last “normal” thing that happened before the pandemic hit. We went from a city full of excitement to shutting down and sheltering in place. Maybe when we win and bring the trophy home this year, it’ll be the start of something great. Let’s hope!
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Who are you rooting for Sunday? Chiefs, Buccaneers or tacos? 😂
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D is for... Dreary (and Dog)
February has always been my least favorite month. I have a special name for this month that may start with another not so nice F word...🤭.
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In Kansas, the sun usually doesn't shine that often, it's cold, and just kind of gray and blah.
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My indoor jungle makes me happy though...especially this space in my office. Houseplants almost makes me forget we’re in the “F” month 😂.
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Also, my dog (my favorite d word) would not sit still for a picture when I had my tripod set up, but I finally caught her sitting on her bed and had to catch a picture with my phone. Swipe and you’ll see she is much overdue for a haircut.
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C is for Coaching, Coffee and Crystals! Lots of C words today. My @rockyourhappy coaching practice has been the best thing. I am so lucky to be working with really great clients who are doing the hard work and making big changes in their lives. It’s been the perfect fit for me and I know it’s what I am meant to be doing. Coffee, of course, is my favorite C word and Crystals…my daughters got me into the energy powers of crystals and it’s been really fun to learn all about them.
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My beautiful, custom, Rock Your Happy bullet journal is from @maisielaneco . Coffee/espresso is from @mistoboxcoffee Fabulous photography backdrop is from @poppybeesurfaces . Crystals are from a wonderful local shop here in town.
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There’s still time to join in the @kimklassen_innercircle photography group, where this months theme is A-Z. Join us!
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B is for Books! Are you a big reader? I wasn’t really a reader growing up. Well, I take that back. In junior high I plowed through the Sweet Valley High series (anyone else?) 😊 And when I was in elementary school I would bust my butt to get to the highest level in the SRA Reading box before anyone else. But I wasn’t a kid who you’d find with their nose in a book, ever.
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It wasn’t until I was an adult, and my kids began to sleep through the night, that I started reading for fun. Now, I read all the time and it’s one of my favorite pastimes. I love talking books with people and sharing recommendations. I really don’t watch TV, so books, especially right now, is my main form of entertainment.
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This is why for the @kimklassen_innercircle A-Z photography challenge, I knew that Books would be my B. It’s my favorite B word (beating out Bullet Journaling, Bread, Blankets, Be Happy, etc).
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#simplepleasuresoflife #prettylittleinspo #bookcommunity #slowliving #cozyvibes #bookphotos #bookslove #beautyyouseek
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A is for Alone. I think one of the hardest things for me to get used to this past year is rarely being alone. My husband used to travel all the time. My school aged kids were in school all day while I worked. I’d even get several days a month in a hotel room by myself for my work travels. I like my alone time and it’s definitely something I miss.
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I’m easily distracted so you will usually find me working in complete silence…maybe just the hum of my essential oil diffuser and the sound of my fingers on my keyboard. I need the quiet and treasure silence.
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With that said, I’ve loved the extra time with my family - and we’ve all learned over the past several months how to give each other space and recognize when we need that space. As of today, my kids all are back to school full time in person 😢. Nick is still working from home and will be for the time being, but now the aloneness feels strange. I’m sure we’ll get used to this “new normal” yet again!
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This month in @kimklassen photography Inner Circle, we’re tackling the alphabet, with an A-Z photography challenge (interpreting that however we see fit). If you want to join us, check out this wonderful community of photographers at @kimklassen_innercircle 📷.
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