How to REALLY Create & Use a Bullet Journal

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We've all heard of bullet journaling, AKA the 'perfect planner', and the best form of organisation. To some this may seem far out of reach, far to 'pinterest perfect', and not to mention requiring outstanding art skills just to put together the prettiest spread, right?

Well, I'm here to tell you that bullet journaling does not have to be complicated or perfect, in fact, in the simplest terms, a bullet journal can be  an overview of the monthly calendar in diary form, or even just a day-to day to-do list written in your notebook.

The bullet journal was first developed by designer Ryder Carroll, and is most associated with dotted pages, reminders, goals and brainstorming.

Over the years the bullet journal method has grown into many things. It's impossible to fully define what a bullet journal is, because everyone has different ideas on how to perfectly organise and plan day-to-day life.

Should a bullet journal be an artistic masterpiece with photos, drawings, and stickers, or can it simply be an index with a few symbols and some minimalistic spreads to track key dates. The answer is whatever you desire, and in today's blog post I will share exactly How to REALLY Create & Use a Bullet Journal










SUPPLIES

 My first advice is to find the notebook that works best for you, do research, look in shops, and explore your options. Your 4 main options are plain, lined, dotted, or squared.

I personally use dotted, because I feel it makes everything simple, and the dots don't stand out too much like lines or squares would, while sill giving me some structure for anything I add to the pages. I also bought mine from Tiger for £5, (it was actually cheaper because of the student shopping night), but I'm sure there are many more options online.

Similarly, you will need to decide what supplies you'll be using. Here, the options really are endless. However, some of my favourites are staedtler fineliners, washi tape (discovered by my mum at poundland), highlighters, and watercolour paint, (my palette is from Tiger, and is a dupe for the winsor and newton palettes with replaceable pans). These are just my preferences, all you really need is a pencil, ruler, eraser, and a pen.

RESEARCH AND PLANNING

 Next, I would advise spending plenty of time on Pinterest and YouTube getting your inspiration, and finding a bullet journal style. There are two main routes you could go down, which is minimal (simple layouts, simple colour themes, easy to achieve for anyone) or you could take a more artistic approach (pick specific monthly themes, use a range of colours and supplies, can still be simple but will require a bit of creativity).

At the end of the day, your 'style' doesn't matter, in my case I am a very creative person, but I like to use a combination of styles and themes. Do whatever you want, and remember that you do not have to come up with your own layout design if you don't want to, there are endless photos and videos out there for you to use, as well as layouts you can print off to use. I regularly take ideas from Pinterest!

Now is the exciting part, pencil out you layout, and please remember to use a ruler, they will seriously be you best friend at this point. Create spreads that will work for you and your lifestyle, for example, a reading log, habit tracker, exercise log, homework tracker, brain dump, spending log etc...

USING YOUR BULLET JOURNAL

 As a content creator I find myself using my bullet journal all the time to brainstorm ideas, and to come up with blog post titles. But I also use it for my college photography work, planning what day I will shoot, as well as keeping track of my deadline. I can only imagine how much more I will use it when I go to University in September!

THINGS TO REMEMBER:

  1. If your bullet journal is not perfect then it doesn't matter, there will always be another page, month, and another year
  2. You don't need fancy art supplies
  3. You don't need to plan or organise everything, everyday, there are many days in my bullet journal spreads that are empty - so never think you have to fill every day with a huge list of important tasks, because the smallest things really count
  4. Remember that being creative is fun, and does not require any skill
  5. Change things up if it's not working for you


And that is everything I have to share with you about Bullet Journaling! I really hope that this has inspired you to start a bullet journal, as well as shedding some light on the topic, and showing you it's not all about being an artist or a master of productivity. 

 Feel free to leave a comment down below and save this url to pinterest. If you like then you can subscribe by email to get notified every time I share a new post. You can also check out all my social media accounts which I have linked below, for all things lifestyle, beauty, baking, fashion, and an insight into my daily life.

 What do you think about bullet journaling?


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