c/bullet-journaling

Warning: My bullet journal looked like a toddler's art project for two months straight.

Switched from a fancy pen to a simple pencil for my daily logs, and now my pages are actually useful. Anyone else find that simpler tools work better?

2 comments

jason_stone59•22h ago

A friend told me my bullet journal was 'too messy' to be useful

We were at a coffee shop in Denver, and she flipped through my journal from the last six months. She pointed at a weekly spread with some scribbled-out tasks and said, 'This looks chaotic, how do you find anything?' I explained that the mess is part of my process, and crossing things out helps me see my progress. She just shook her head and said a clean layout was the only proper way. Has anyone else had someone criticize how your bujo actually looks?

3 comments

rayadams•1d ago

Am I the only one who uses a single pen color for a whole month?

I was getting tired of spending ten minutes every morning just picking pens. Last month I grabbed a single blue gel pen and stuck with it for everything: tasks, events, notes. It cut my setup time down to almost nothing and made my journal look really clean. Has anyone else tried a monochrome month, and what color did you pick?

3 comments

brian_taylor15•2d ago

My bujo is a mess because I keep trying to copy those perfect spreads online

I spent 3 hours last Sunday on a weekly layout that I saw on Instagram, but it just doesn't work for how my brain tracks tasks. How do you make your journal actually useful instead of just pretty?

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felixm29•3d ago

My bullet journal saved my sanity during a crazy work trip

I had a three day trip to Chicago last month that turned into a mess of changed flights and mixed up meetings. I was ready to lose it, but my journal's travel log page kept me straight. I had a simple spread with columns for flights, hotels, and appointments, and I just kept updating it as things fell apart. By the end, I had crossed out and rewritten about half the entries, but I never missed a thing. How do you guys set up your journals for trips that go off the rails?

3 comments

rileyprice•5d ago

Warning: my bullet journal almost got me in trouble at work last week

I was in a long meeting and started sketching a new weekly layout in my journal. I got so focused on getting the lines straight and spacing right that I completely missed a key question my boss asked me. He had to repeat it twice and I just looked up blankly. I felt my face get hot. It was a simple question about a project deadline, but I was totally zoned out on my spread. Has anyone else had a journal moment go wrong like that?

3 comments

miller.thomas•6d ago

My old habit of over-planning my monthly spreads was killing my journal

For the first two years, I would spend hours every Sunday night drawing out my next week, filling every box with tasks and appointments before the week even started. I used a specific 0.3 mm pen for the grids and a set of 12 colored markers for coding. The problem was, by Tuesday, my actual day never matched the perfect layout, and I'd feel like I failed. I finally changed my method about six months ago after a particularly frustrating week where I just stopped opening my journal. Now, I only set up a simple daily log each morning with three main things to do. It takes five minutes. My journal is messy, but I actually use it every single day. Has anyone else switched from a rigid, pre-planned style to something more flexible and found it worked better?

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samrodriguez•7d ago

I finally had to choose between a perfect weekly spread and actually getting things done

After three months of spending 2 hours every Sunday making my weekly pages look flawless, I picked a basic 5-minute layout and my productivity went up by 40%.

3 comments

hall.jenny•7d ago

TIL my $40 'bullet journal kit' was a total waste of cash

I saw a fancy ad for a kit with a stencil, special ruler, and tiny washi tapes. Bought it thinking it would make my spreads perfect. Used the stencil once and the ruler is just a normal ruler but pink. Honestly, my favorite pages are still the ones I just doodle in with a regular pen. Anyone have a cheap tool that actually helped their bujo game?

3 comments

carr.abby•10d ago

Bought a fancy pen set for my bullet journal and it was a total waste

I saw a video about these special artist pens and thought they'd make my weekly spreads look amazing. I spent about $75 on a set of eight, thinking it was an investment in my journal. The problem is, the ink bleeds right through the pages of my regular dotted notebook. I tried using them for headers and borders, but now every page has ghosting on the back. It basically ruined two weeks of planning because the pages look messy and are hard to read. I feel pretty silly for not testing just one pen first. Has anyone found good pens that don't bleed without needing super expensive paper?

3 comments

wendy32•10d ago

Serious question, did anyone else spend months trying to make their weekly spread look like the ones on Instagram before realizing it was making you avoid your own journal?

I finally noticed my Leuchtturm1917 was gathering dust on my kitchen table for three weeks straight because I was so stressed about drawing perfect boxes that I stopped actually using it to plan my day.

3 comments

ross.christopher•13d ago

Appreciation post: The week my bullet journal saved me from a project meltdown

My team lead dumped three new urgent tasks on me last Tuesday, all due Friday. I opened my weekly spread and saw I had already blocked out Thursday for a deep work session on another project. I moved two small items from Wednesday to Monday night, and used the empty Wednesday slot for the new stuff. Without that clear visual map, I would have just panicked and dropped the ball. How do you guys handle surprise workload dumps in your layouts?

3 comments

thomasgonzalez•14d ago

Why does nobody talk about using a bullet journal for project quotes?

I was listening to a contractor friend talk about how he keeps track of his bids. He said he writes each one on a sticky note and puts them on a wall. That made me think about my own system. I started a new collection in my journal just for project quotes, with columns for client name, date, my bid, and if I got the job. It's way cleaner than my old mess of papers. How do you guys keep track of work you're pricing out?

3 comments

charles706•16d ago

My cat knocked over a full bottle of black ink onto my March spread yesterday

I had to carefully blot the whole mess with paper towels, which left a weird, blurry ghost of my weekly layout that I'm now calling 'abstract art' and rolling with it, but has anyone found a good way to salvage a page after a major spill?

3 comments

jordan_henderson13•17d ago

I think the whole 'perfect weekly spread' trend is missing the point

I mean, I used to spend like 3 hours every Sunday drawing out these super detailed weekly pages with washi tape and watercolor headers. My journal looked amazing, but I stopped actually using it to track tasks because I was scared to mess it up. About 6 months ago, I switched to just a simple two-column list on a blank page. My productivity went up because I was actually writing things down and crossing them off, not just making art. It feels like a lot of the content online pushes the aesthetic over the function. Has anyone else moved away from the fancy layouts and found it works better?

3 comments

anderson.taylor•19d ago

I just found my old bullet journal from two years ago and cringed so hard

I was looking for a receipt in my closet and pulled out my 2022 journal. Every single page was a perfect, color-coded work of art that took me HOURS. My friend saw it and said, 'Wow, you must have had so much free time.' That was the tip-off. I was making pretty pictures instead of actually planning my life. Has anyone else fallen into the decoration trap and how did you get out?

4 comments

kevin331•20d ago

I was at the library and saw someone using a bullet journal for their research

I was at the main branch downtown last Tuesday, trying to find some old newspaper articles. At the table next to me, this person had a dotted notebook open, and it wasn't just notes. They had a whole spread with a timeline, color-coded sources, and a tracker for which archives they'd already checked. It was for a big history project. I always just used my bujo for daily tasks and maybe a monthly log. Watching them map out this complex project in such a clear, visual way was a real lightbulb moment. I've been doing my own family tree research for a year and my notes are a mess in three different apps. I went home and immediately made a project collection for it. Now I have a migration tracker for records I've requested and a simple index for each family line. Has anyone else used their journal for a long-term research project like that? I'm curious about how you set up the pages.

3 comments

adamt84•21d ago

My entire weekly spread got wrecked by a coffee spill yesterday morning

I was setting up my week on Sunday night, had everything laid out just right with my mildliners and a fresh page. Left the journal open on the kitchen table overnight. Next morning, my partner knocked over a full mug right onto the open book. The paper soaked through three pages instantly, smearing the ink from my fountain pen into a huge blue blob. I tried to blot it with paper towels but the damage was done. The whole left page for Monday and Tuesday is just a stained mess now. I felt so frustrated because I'd spent like an hour on it. Ended up gluing the two ruined pages together with a glue stick and starting the week fresh on the next clean sheet. Has anyone found a good way to salvage a page after a major liquid spill, or is it always a total loss?

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lee18•22d ago

Went to the craft store in Albany and their bullet journal section was just a mess.

All the dotted notebooks were shoved in with the sketch pads, and I couldn't find a single pack of mildliners. The cashier said they 'might get more in next season' which is no help. How do you guys find good supplies when local stores are this bad?

3 comments

torres.blair•24d ago

Bought a $40 'premium' bullet journal from a craft fair that fell apart in a month

The cover started peeling after two weeks, and the binding gave out completely by week four. I should have just stuck with my usual $12 dotted notebook from the bookstore. Anyone have a go-to brand that actually holds up?

3 comments

the_alice•28d ago

I dropped $80 on a set of stencils for my bullet journal last month.

I saw them online and thought they'd help me draw neat boxes and banners faster. After using them for three weeks, I'm torn. They do make my weekly spreads look cleaner, but I feel like my pages are starting to look the same every time. It feels a bit stiff now. Has anyone else bought a tool that ended up making their journal feel less creative?

3 comments

dylan_sanchez•29d ago

Saw a guy at the Denver library using a bullet journal to plan a cross country bike trip

He had a full spread mapping his route from Denver to Portland with daily mileage, elevation changes, and gear lists. It was way more detailed than any app I've seen. Has anyone else used their journal for a big trip like that?

3 comments

willow_nelson•29d ago

Looking back at my first bullet journal from 2018, I had a page for everything

Switching to just a monthly log and a daily rapid-logging section cut my setup time from 3 hours to about 30 minutes and made me actually use the thing, so what's the one layout change that made bullet journaling click for you?

4 comments

fiona_garcia•1mo ago

My bullet journal choice: a big notebook or a small one?

I had to pick between a big A4 notebook and a small A6 one for my new journal. I went with the small one, thinking it would be easier to carry to work. After a month, my daily logs are cramped and my weekly spreads feel messy. Has anyone else tried a small notebook and found a way to make it work, or should I just switch sizes?

4 comments

taylor.william•1mo ago

I switched from a Leuchtturm1917 to a cheap spiral notebook and my journaling got better

For years I stuck with the fancy dotted notebooks everyone recommends, but last fall I grabbed a $2 spiral from a store in Portland. The paper is thin and the lines are blue, but I stopped worrying about making it perfect. Now I actually write in it every day. Has anyone else ditched the 'right' tools and found it helped?

4 comments