I use my bullet journal for two things – a quick record of how my day went and for my to do list. My layouts are simple. My monthly views are on a simple page and just indicate birthdays, holidays and special days while my weekly layouts are usually spread out over 2 pages. I say usually because the layouts change week to week. I design the layouts to match the needs of the week. For example, if I know that I’m going to be extremely busy on the weekend then I will allocate a large space for those days. Some weeks my to do list may be for the entire week while some weeks there is a daily to do section. I’ll post my weekly spreads as I go along (before and after) so you’ll get a sense of what I mean.

Now on to the bullet journal itself. I’m using an Archer & Olive travelers notebook in the deep green. Now in previous years, I have planned out my entire bullet journal before I even start as I always want to stick to one notebook and to utilise the entire notebook. When I say planned out, I mean I would have planned what layout comes on what page.

But as I wanted to keep this simple, I didn’t do that for this particular journal. I just had a basic idea of what initial pages I wanted and the basic idea of how my months and views would appear. Basically my monthly and weekly views are spread out over two pages so I needed 130 pages for that alone. This notebook comes with 144 pages, so I’ll have more than enough.

Now I said I wanted to keep this simple but I still need colour and fun in my journals so I went through my Tombows and picked out a colour for each month and I also got a bunch of stickers to use – already had some in my stash but got more.

Now on to the initial pages.

First up is my title page. I went with a green and plant theme to match the cover of the notebook.

Next up is my key and year at glance page. Pretty straightforward. The key shows the different Tombows I’ll be using for each month as well as the mildliners I’ll be using to indicate holidays, birthdays, special days and doctors’ appointments in the monthly calendars.

The last of my initial pages is my future log. I always like to have these in planners and journals because it allows me to see at a glance, all the holidays, birthdays and special days for the year. As usual, it’s colour-coded. Pink for holidays, green for birthdays and orange for special days. While I will be showing you my completed journal pages in the future, I blurred out the names of my friends and family members as well as those special days for privacy. If you are wondering what I mean by special days, well things like anniversaries.

I won’t get into my monthly and weekly layouts as I intend to post those weekly.

Archer & Olive Traveler’s Notebook [Deep Green] – link
AliExpress stamp set [Number outline and bold] – link
Versafine [Onyx Black] – link
Soramame [409 in Kamenozoki] – link
MU Craft Print-On Stickers [Ferns and Leaves] – link
Tombow Dual Brush Pen [991 Light Ochre] – link
Tombow Dual Brush Pen [817 Mauve] – link
Tombow Dual Brush Pen [192 Asparagus] – link
Tombow Dual Brush Pen [452 Process Blue] – link
Tombow Dual Brush Pen [126 Light Olive] – link
Tombow Dual Brush Pen [673 Orchid] – link
Tombow Dual Brush Pen [515 Light Blue] – link
Tombow Dual Brush Pen [772 Blush] – link
Tombow Dual Brush Pen [603 Periwinkle] – link
Tombow Dual Brush Pen [993 Chrome Orange] – link
Tombow Dual Brush Pen [977 Saddle Brown] – link
Tombow Dual Brush Pen [277 Dark Green] – link
Tombow Dual Brush Pen [856 Chinese Red] – link
Zebra Mildliner [Mild Magenta] – link
Zebra Mildliner [Mild Green] – link
Zebra Mildliner [Mild Dark Blue] – link
Zebra Mildliner [Mild Apricot] – link
Pilot Precise V5 RT retractable pen [various colours] – link
Pentel EnerGel RTX Gel Pens, Needle Point, 0.5 mm [black and blue] – link
Pilot Hi-Tecpoint V10 RT Signature Pen [black] – link
Copic Multiliner SP Pen Brush Tip [black] – link