I’m a huge bullet journal fan, and this year (can you believe it’s February already?) I’ve had questions about my process.
One of the most popular questions is about art in your bullet journal.
Your bullet journal and art: do you need to make your journal pretty?
You can use as much or as little decoration in your bullet journal as suits you.
Although I’ve used a Hobonichi Cousin for several years, I didn’t buy one for 2019. The Cousin’s too large for my purse. This year, I have a soft-cover Rhodia Goal Book, which is perfect. It’s still an A5, but takes up less room in my bag.
For decoration, I use washi tape, stickers from my stash, and I create a watercolor header for each page. Although the water makes the tops of the pages ripple slightly, I don’t mind that.
Let’s look at some tips if you’re just starting out with a bullet journal.
1. Decide on a convenient size for your bullet journal
Your journal can be any size you choose.
It depends on how you’ll use your BuJo:
How much space do you need?
Will your favorite size be easy to carry around?
Are you picky about paper? (You may be, if you intend drawing in your BuJo, or if you use fountain pens.)
I like an A5 size for my primary BuJo, and use Field Notes’ notebooks (A6) as fiction BuJos, and for my Collections. My A6 Collections journal acts as a bookmark for my A5 journal.
2. Develop a BuJo habit: journal at the same time every day
Your bullet journal only takes a few minutes to maintain each day if you don’t get too fancy with it. I don’t have hours of time for decorating my journal, and I don’t use my BuJo as a my daily calendar. (I use Google Calendar.) So I spend just five to ten minutes morning and evening reviewing my journal and making notes.
Consider scheduling 15 minutes on Friday or Saturday to review your week. If you keep moving tasks from one day to another, move the task to a “Later” Collection.
3. When you have BuJo pages you need to keep handy, snap a photo of them
You can spend a lot of time rewriting and copying notes you’ve taken in your bullet journal.
Try these ideas to cut down on these activities:
Whenever you create a reference item like a price list in your bullet journal, consider snapping a photo of it. I keep these kinds of photos in Evernote, but you can print out a photo, and add it a Reference Collection BuJo.
Paste notes into your BuJo. For example, when you scribble items onto a sticky note, paste it in. Or you may have scribbled notes on a notepad — just paste the sheet into your bullet journal, or use washi tape to create a tip-in.
A Regency time travel romance... What if you could escape across time, and find your soulmate?
Pure evil dispatches gorgeous Tara Ballantine across the centuries, to Regency England. Tara lands on Adam Jervoise, Earl of Hillingworth -- literally -- as he's riding through a bluebell wood.
Hillingworth is handsome, rich, and kind. He's also set to propose to an heiress.
When Tara realizes that she's falling in love with the earl, she fights the feeling.
At 24, not only is Molly Ballantine stunning, she has two sisters she loves, and a wonderful career. Then her eldest sister Tara vanishes, and her life disintegrates.
Molly's life is about to become even more chaotic. She wakes up in a brothel with a man who's too good-looking for her peace of mind.
22-year-old Priscilla Ballantine wakes up 200 years in the past, naked in the arms of handsome aristocrat, and master spy, Dominick de Roche, Lord Bellemieux. Priscilla's accused of spying, and is in danger of summary execution. She can't help thinking that she wouldn't be in such a mess if Dominick de Roche hadn't mistaken her for one of his contacts...
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