Day planners, calendars, bullet journals, what do they all have in common? They all can either help you out or frustrate you to no end. Have you ever forgotten something because you didn’t write it down? Or you wrote it down, but it was somewhere you never look so it totally slipped your mind. Yep, I’ve totally done that, more than once. So what is the solution? Well, I think the answer is different for everyone. Ha, I bet you thought I had all the answers since I’ve got 8 kids and I’m living my best life, right? Nope, I sure don’t. See, everyone is different and what works for Susy Homemaker doesn’t always work for Alice Executive. Still, here’s my system.
I was totally intrigued by the idea of bullet journaling when a friend introduced me to it. The idea that my journal could be my day planner, or my day planner could also be my journal sounded like an interesting idea. I’d journaled for years, but lately it’s been harder to make the time to sit down and write, yet I was making daily lists all the time. My first try was not great and I learned a lot. I tried to put more into the journal than I needed to and it was super disorganized, despite the index I put in the front. Then I figured out the system I use now. I’m on my third journal and to me that means it’s working, at least it is right now.
Ok Tasha, so what do you do? How does this work for you? Well, I’m glad you asked. Each journal only has 6 months in it. I wanted a book that would fit inside my purse so I could use it as a planner, but it wouldn’t be too bulky. I already carry around a diaper bag, I wanted something small enough that I wouldn’t need the diaper bag to hold it, yet I needed enough room to add all my daily to do lists and all our family’s appointments. When I got my first book and started filling out the days and weeks only 6 months fit and I decided I could give it a try for 6 months to see if it worked. If it didn’t then I could move on and try something new. Also, I started it in May so my monthly tabs don’t exactly line up with the months of the year, and that’s ok. I wanted to start now, not wait for some perfect future day.
Here is the first page of each month. I have the days of the month going down the side and next to it I added what day of the week each day falls on. I use this as an overview of the month. When I get my kid’s sports schedules I first put all their games on my monthly pages. When I need to schedule dentist and doctor appointments I put those on my monthly overview. Birthdays go on the monthly overview. I just barely started working on my new journal, so you get an almost blank page to look at.
The next two pages are my weekly/daily pages. I wanted to be able to see most of the week at a glace, but I also wanted a lot of room to put down activities and my daily to do lists. My kids have a Monday through Thursday school week so I have those four days all at a glace, and then the weekend all at a glance. On these pages I transfer over all the stuff from my monthly page. Games go on each individual day, along with appointments and birthdays. I can also add things I personally want to get done, like grocery shopping, making my weekly menu, blogging, paying bills, or whatever household project I want to make sure I accomplish, like painting the living room or canning jam. Opposite of my weekend daily page is a big, blank page. This is where my journaling comes in. I use that page to journal about the week. The daily pages will tell you if I went anywhere or what projects I had, but this page I can tell funny stories about the kids, or vent my frustrations about being stuck home. It’s bite size enough that it doesn’t take a lot of time, but it also allows me to remember the things I think are important to remember.
It does take a little bit of time to get my journal set up and I’m still tweaking a few things. My current journal has a section in the back for some goals I have. I haven’t found a great way to track my goals in the past so I’m trying something new. I got my journal from Erin Condren and there are a ton of fun stickers, markers, different planners, and accessories on there. I have decided that I’m more of a simplicity type of gal. I love the cute decorations, but I don’t want to take the time to decorate my pages and they never look as cute for me. However, I did find some stickers that I could use to track my goals, and they actually made it easier to set up my journal because then I didn’t have to do so much writing.
Just like everything else in life, I think each person should take what they like and make it their own. This works for me. If it inspires you in any way, then you should grab onto that and mold it to fit your personality. If you love the big journals that help you plan out your goals, dreams, schedules, and have sections to pay your bills, budget your money, and track your food and exercising along with inspirational quotes on every page (I do love me some inspirational quotes), then get one like that. If that works for you, you keep doing that! But maybe, just maybe it doesn’t work. Maybe you’ve been trying to find something else. Maybe you don’t love that calendars and planners all go from January to December and you want something now, but you don’t want to waste half a planner/calendar by starting one now. That’s why I make my own. I can start it whenever I want, and it can go for as long as I have pages in the book. I can add the things I think are important and only those things. The biggest thing is that you want something that you will look at. If you need something to write everything in so you don’t forget it, you may need something bigger, and that’s ok. Nothing works if you don’t look at it or use it. Also, I needed something pretty. I tried using a plain notebook once. It didn’t bring me joy, but it may be all you need.
As a side note, now that I’ve got my system down I could probably find a cheap dot grid journal to use, but the truth is, I love the quality of my Erin Condren journals, and I also love that I can get all the colors and they will match each other. This post isn’t sponsored in any way, it’s just what I use in case anyone is wondering.
A Cup of Crazy and a Dash of Love 