May Bullet Journal Set Up : Keep It Simple
After taking a break from bullet journaling in the months of March and April, I've finally decided to start up again ignorer to plan and document the exciting summer months that are quickly approaching. I stopped bullet journaling in the previous months because it was becoming too much work. As much as it's fun to try to recreate bujo inspiration that you see on Instagram and Pinterest, it can become very time consuming, and take away from the ultimate goal of the hobby, which is documenting, planning and organizing. After this experience, Iv'e decided to go back to the format that I began with last June that is simple, provides lots of space, and is easy to maintain while still including some fun and creative elements!
Each month I am going to start blogging about the set up of my next months journal, and things I have tried out based on my own ideas and needs, as well as what I've seen on social media!
1. Month Cover
After discovering heat embossing earlier this month, I decided to give it a try in my journal for this months cover. The final product turned out fantastic as you can see above and I love how it adds a little bit of colour while still being minimalistic. I was a little worried about how the heat gun would react with such thin paper...but I actually love how the paper feels after being heated! I've included a little calendar outlining the month to take up space and used a new font called Lanara that I found at Dafont.com
2. Categories & Trackers
When looking through Pinterest and Instagram at bujo accounts, you can find a plethora of different tracker styles, and things to track. In my opinion, it's completely useless to track the majority of the things that these trackers show unless its used for working toward a goal, or keeping tabs on an issue or something you're trying to improve about yourself. Trackers are one of the main reasons I stopped bullet journaling for awhile since it became a lot of work to remember to write down every single day if I had woken up before a certain time, or ate out at a restaurant, and if I forgot to write things down, I would often just make up my results in the effort to not leave it looking blank and unused.
For this months set up, I have only included one list and one tracker that are both useful for my upcoming summer jobs and keeping track of the hours I work, as well as brainstorming ideas for my (healthier) meal prep.
3. Daily Layout
This is the layout that I started bullet journaling with! It is so so simple and doesn't require any sort of assistance for making sure the font is done perfectly since it's so simple to write. All you need is a ruler and whatever fine tip marker brand you use. The only thing that I add to this as I enter into my journal each day is a little weather icon underneath the date depicting the weather for the day, and then my entry for the day. I usually only write down what I did that day, sort of like a diary, but with this month, I'm going to be using it more like an agenda, and writing down important dates and to-do lists.
4. NO WEEKLY LAYOUT
This drove me absolutely crazy and I will not be including it in my bullet journals anymore. It included a weekly to do list, a cute little illustration, a tracker, and a quote. It was A TON OF WORK, and really served no purpose. I definitely don't recommend embarking on this kind of layout if you're looking for a low maitnance kind of journal.
