my everything books…

In my last post, I mentioned how surprised I was by one of newest projects–I really never thought I would jump on the bullet journal bandwagon. Annie’s been bullet journaling for a while, but it just never captured my attention. That is, until I saw some of the pages that Kara (BohoBerry) had in hers–they most definitely captured my attention. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized I could take what I liked about bullet journaling and combine it with what I liked about fauxbonichi journaling and just do what felt right to me. I know, not exactly rocket science, but hey, sometimes it takes me a while to figure even the simple things out. 😉

So I’ve done what I think most people do, and fiddled around until I came up with a way I thought would work for me. The truth of that remains to be seen, I suppose…but so far, so good.

These are my books. Yes, plural. And I totally get how many people would likely find that silly. But so far at least, it works for me. One is for 2016 as a whole. And one is just for the month of January. Which yes, means that I’ll end up with 13 separate books by the end of the year. I know–that sounds so excessive. And maybe in the end I’ll find that it feels excessive to me. But for now, I’m going with it. I’m using Fabriano EcoQua spiral bound grid notebooks. They’re fairly small (70 pages, I believe). I love that they’re spiral bound so that the pages can lie flat.

My 2016 yearly journal starts with a simple overview calendar. Following this, I have a two-page spread for my “table of contents.” (I know that in bullet journaling, people tend to call this the index, but it seems more like a table of contents to me, so table of contents it is labeled.)

I generally bury myself in a bazillion goals for the year, which inevitably leads to feelings of complete failure. So this year, I just came up with a few things to focus on, some of a more general nature, some a bit more specific. And I recorded them here, to have one place to refer to to remind myself. And the next page is just a place to record the birds I see this year.

Following this, I so far have a page to jot down future gift ideas, pages to record TBR and TBW additions (and whose fault it is that I now want to read/watch said additions), an “In the Future” page to jot down appointments, etc. that I will need to add to future monthly journals, “Read in 2016” pages (which will be redundant because I also have this in the monthly version, but I don’t care because I just really wanted it in both places 😛 ), pages to keep daily(?) track of my “Read a Million Pages Before I Die” goal, and a “new-to-me words” page. And I do have more pages I’d like to add when time permits. (Why yes, I could be doing that now instead of writing this silly post.)

Okay, as much as I do love the yearly journal, it doesn’t compare to the love I have for the monthly version. It too starts out with a calendar, but just for the month, and with a wee bit of space to jot down specific events, appointments, birthdays, etc. (Post-its are to protect others’ privacy while taking this picture, not for decoration.)

This is again followed by the table of contents. And then a spread for my monthly goals. I took it easy on myself for the yearly goals thing; questionable if I can claim the same here. But they’re absolutely doable.

And then I have my Daily Tracker. Some items are definitely there to help me remember to do them, and some are there more to give myself an idea of how often I do certain things. I don’t expect this will stay the same every month.

Next up, what some people call their gratitude log. For me it’s always been “good stuff.” I’ve long kept track of this (sometimes more consistently than others), and by moving it into my monthly everything journal, I can eliminate the separate journal I used to keep just for this.

Next I have 3 1/2 pages of January homeschool prep tasks. (Another separate notebook eliminated.) And those spots where there’s a partial page left are great for adding favorite quotes. (I have one on the half page at the end of my “good stuff” log too.)

And then there are pages to record January’s reads and views (and there’s also a page for what I made in January but it looks just like these ones).

Finally, we’re to the daily pages. Where I have my bullet list of to-dos for the day. I do the little weather thing like many other people do. And any little tidbits I happen to record about my day. While none of my days so far have had a ton of extra journaling or a lot of decorating, I suspect on days when I have more time, they will. One thing I love about having a separate notebook for each month is that I have room to make a two-page spread for a single day if I have a lot I want to journal about.

And interspersed throughout, there will be lists. Because LISTS. Here between days 2 and 3, I made my menu plan for the first week and made a list of thank you cards I need to make. And because of the table of contents, I can easily find any of these lists I need to refer to.

I know my journals are not as gorgeous or fun to look at as some, and that’s totally okay. I think I’ve finally found a way to combine my planner and my to-do lists and my journaling and my endless piles of lists all in one place in a way that really works for me. *fingers crossed anyway*