My First Bullet Journal

This is the problem when you have too much time on your hands (thanks early maternity leave), you end up stumbling across all sorts of crazy ideas on the internet and all of a sudden, you’ve found yourself with a new obsession. This week, I found out about bullet journal-ling and it wasn’t long before I had my hands on a brand new notebook, ready to begin my very own first bullet journal.

Now, the basic principle of a bullet journal is really very simple (and I’ll leave it up to this handy video by creator Ryder to explain) and doesn’t require any great skill or specialist equipment… but if you’re a self confessed stationery addict, naturally obsessive, crave organisation as well as being desperate for a creative outlet, you’re in trouble. In fact, if this sounds like you, I’d stop reading now. Go on. Shut down. Go and see my flapjack recipe instead. Trust me.

Before I knew it, I’d ordered not one but TWO notebooks (Leuchtturm1917s in Navy dotted and Emerald gridded) and several rolls of washi tape from Amazon as well as a new supply of colourful pens. And on Thursday, I spent pretty much the whole day setting up my first pages. So what did I decide to put in my first bullet journal? Let me show you!

I weirdly enjoyed writing and drawing out these grids… And I love how it looks!

I started off with a page that simply has the year at a glance. A quick and easy reference. I quite enjoyed the maths of spacing it out nicely and equally and whilst I’ve been gawping in awe over on Pinterest of beautiful month handlettering with fake calligraphy, I decided just to stick to my own handwriting for now.

I still haven’t written anything in this spread yet… but that’s mainly because I’m wary of making future plans at the moment with Pickle on the way!

My next page is my Future Log, a place in your bullet journal to make a quick note of future events without requiring you to have all your future months and weeks set up way in advance. Here I did a bit of research and strayed from the BuJo (Bullet Journal shorthand!) norm and followed what’s called the Alistair method. This means when I have a future events, I just shove them in this list (no matter what the chronological order) and use the grid to make a note of the month it relates to. When I get to setting that month up in my BuJo, I can just migrate the tasks or events over. Easy peasy.

This page was a bit of an experiment… this is probably the page that is likely to change the most in the coming months.

Next I did my first month at a glance – May. For ease and with future time keeping in mind, I decided to use a ready-made printable from Miss Tiina. I cut it in two so I could split it over the two pages, made a note of upcoming birthdays, added a pertinent quote (!!!) and a notes section. I’ve got a bit of blank space at the top of the left page which I’m not sure what to do with yet… but that’s part of the fun of doing your first bullet journal – I’ll see what I feel like I’m missing over the next coming weeks and can amend the layout as necessary for next month.

I can’t wait to make a note of Pickle’s feeds and sleeps… hoping we’ll spot some kind of pattern, but maybe not!

Part of the appeal of the BuJo to me, was a handy way to track Pickle’s feeds and sleep. I thought it might be nice to see visually how well he/she feeds and sleeps which might enable me to see or pick up any patterns in behaviour. I feel a little sad that it’s likely this spread won’t even get half used depending on when this little wriggler decides to make their appearance, but it was quick to set up and next months should end up looking brilliant! Not bad for a first bullet journal, I reckon.

Hoping this will help me keep on top of all things blog related in the busy weeks and months as a first time parent!

My May tasklist is a dumping ground for all the bits and pieces I need to remember to do during the month. ‘Have a Baby?’ is top of the list, obviously. I’ve then done a tracker page to help me keep on track of things with this lovely little blog. I’ve got a chart to help me see how often I post blogs, use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. and a way to track stats within the month. I’m hoping I’ll see a correlation between my stats and how frequently I keep up to date with social media. We’ll see… I’ve also set myself some goals so FINGERS CROSSED I can hit some targets. I love setting myself little challenges.

I then have pages set up with my tasks for each day, which let me tell you, is very satisfying to tick off and is helping me fill the agonising wait until Pickle arrives! I’ve also decided to track my water intake, in an effort to keep myself well hydrated. I’m absolutely loving having a little creative outlet and although I know in the future I doubt I’ll have the time to make it all look as pretty and decorated as I am at the moment, that’s okay. For now, I’m enjoying it and that’s all that matters. If it gets scruffy down the line, that’s okay too.

I’ve already set myself up a Bullet Journal Pinterest inspiration board, so if you like what you see here, definitely go and check it out. And if you decide to set up your own first Bullet Journal – DEFINITELY let me know how you get on with it! Here’s to being as wonderfully productive as I can be with a newborn in arms… No pressure.