Dysfunctional Planner

I know it half way through the month but I thought I would share my bullet journal planning with you. It’s simple.

Organised unlike me!

I love the colour of this new Bullet journal it’s fresh and they haven’t done this colour before. It’s a classic Leuchtturm A5 dotted paper. I have used this type for the last few years and I don’t think there is a bother layout I prefer.

The pages are thin so I do get ghosting but it doesn’t bother me that much. There are so many pages 251 that I will barely get through them all.

Getting started limiting my tools

When I first started bullet journaling I started in a normal sketchbook and I tried every tracker, every idea from books I read, films I watched even water I drank.

It’s all pointless to me!

I didn’t enjoy it and I didn’t keep it up. That’s why analog diaries are better for me. Less structure but any structure I do is what works for me. It’s a learning curve and I am still learning.

I look at beautiful layouts and even though I can draw I can find them too much. So this time I am trying to limit myself even more. With colours, tapes and pens.

I tried and failed last year so let’s see how I get on this year. This washi tape I bought on my travels to Japan and it is quite simply beautiful. It’s of Japanese mountains, lakes, light houses and torii gates.

First pages are doodle pages!! I draw whatever I choose and don’t put much thought into it. I can guarantee that I will stop using the contents page in a few months. I use my Bullet journal for everything. Plans, diary, notes, house updates. I like all the info in one place. If I I need to right a shopping list, I use the back or rewrite it in a notepad to take with me.

It’s my book so the rules belong to me, you should try things but don’t be hard on yourself if you don’t track everything or don’t complete things don’t worry.

The year ahead

So I always love to to write out the year calendar. I use it as a reference more than I check it on my phone. Currently I am looking for work so I am not as busy as usual, it won’t be as filled but I can still plan weeks and months. Having the year mapped out means I can just flip from page to page.

Then I plan my month.

It’s easy to have a quick guide. As I am not working I try and get all my house jobs, cleaning and job searching completed during the week so that we can enjoy our weekend of doing nothing together.

The beauty of a Bullet Journal is their is no order!!

This is my favourite aspect of a bullet journal. You don’t have to do anything in order. So after I put my year and month in I thought about what else I wanted in.

My favourite spreads

• Yearly spread
• Goals page
• Bills tracker ( I like to tick these off)
• Weekly plan ( I write them as I go)
• Blog posts
• Social plan ( trying to be more organised)

New things I want to try

• Gratitude journal ( the Brit inside me cringes at this)
• A room tidy tracker
• A Frank health tracker ( he is changing medicine for his allergies)

I can put these in where ever I choose. I can add more. I wrote about cringing at gratitude. I am grateful for lots of things and I have no issue with admitting it. So I am going to try it out and see how I feel. It won’t be forced or insincere.

So that’s the plan!

I will keep you updated on how I get on with everything and share my pages with you. I love sitting down and planning and I know I get a lot more done when I add a bit of structure to my week. Sometimes I just write. List of what I want to achieve that week, or if I have plans ( not many at the moment but there are always a few a month.

How do you plan your year, days? Do you prefer a stricter layout or something fluid?