Planner Love: Bullet Journal

Hi everyone, Sarah here and I wanted to share with you all my favorite way to organize my to do lists.

A few years ago I learned of Ryder Carroll’s Bullet Journal method and have been enamored with it ever since. I began by keeping my journal pretty much the way it was outlined in the original video (unfortunately this video doesn’t seem to be available anymore but there is an updated video here). I bought  a cheap gridded composition notebook from a local office supply store and then later upgraded to a Moleskine gridded notebook. One thing I love about this system is how adaptable it is. When I made my first refillable notebook earlier this year, I simply cut down another Moleskine notebook to fit inside my cover and began using that as my bullet journal. I was still pretty much using the format that was taught in the original video.

Recently I decided to give decorating a try in my bullet journal. I used Quirky Heart’s Basic Witch Planner Set for these pages and think they turned out adorable.

For November I’ve decided I want to start carrying a smaller refillable notebook. As soon as I saw Quirky Heart’s Intergalactic papers I knew this would be the perfect set for my new notebooks. I created my notebook in much the same way as my regular size refillable notebook, except that I made the cover 4″x5″ and the notebooks 3.5″x4.5″. I love the way the papers look in this book. For now I’m keeping it simple, using one notebook for task lists, another for collections and the third for random notes. For right now I’m not decorating these pages, but of course this might change in the future.

I love that I can translate this system into my weekly planner as well. A few of you have asked what I do with the dots that I put in some of the boxes in my Happy Planner. I use these to denote the most important tasks that I need to get done that day. I begin each day by adding items from my bullet journal (in addition to any must dos that never made it into my Bullet Journal). I like that three items each day is a fairly manageable number to accomplish, so I limit my daily must do tasks to this. Of course sometimes things don’t get done, so at the end of the week if there are unchecked tasks I either cross them out if they are no longer applicable or I use the Bullet Journal migration symbol and add them to the next weeks tasks. On the other hand if I finish all of my tasks and still want to accomplish more that day, I simply go to my Bullet Journal and work from the items listed there. Here is a page from last week’s planner pages using Just Jaimee and Mommyish’s Real Life in Pockets: Tricks n’ Treats where I show how I use the bullet journal system in my regular planner.

I love that this system has worked so well for me for so long. Do you have a task list system in place that you love? If so, I’d love to hear about it.