Now, the one thing I always hear when people explain why they don't want to make their own bullet journals - and something I completely sympathise with - is that it takes so. damn. long. I KNOW. I also know that I just moaned about how I have way less time now I'm working a full-time job. You're right. Creating a bullet journal does take a lot of time.

HOWEVER.

I started making my journal at a time in my life that felt very turbulent, and taking half an hour or so a day to sketch out some lines and draw cover pages turned out to be exactly what I needed to feel balanced and calm again. So yes, I would agree that a bullet journal isn't necessarily for everyone (it certainly wasn't the right thing for uni-age Laurel), but if you enjoy being creative and want to take control of your organisation, it might just be the thing for you.


For my first journal, I went for a classic Leuchtturm1917. This notebook is essentially designed to be a bullet journal, so I figured what better place to start? It comes with a ready-made contents page, pocket at the back to keep little scraps of paper and pre-dotted pages to help keep all your lines in check. I opted for the navy blue as I wanted something classic but didn't quite feel that black was very 'me', but there are a whole range of colours available sure to cater to every taste - from black to sunny yellow.

Of course, you don't need to have a fancy new notebook to start bullet journaling - if it's something you'd like to try out but don't feel like forking out the cash for a brand new journal just yet, any notebook you already have will work just fine. Bullet journaling is all about making the process work for you, not the other way round, so don't feel like you need to have lots of fancy kit to get started.

I also bought a little matching pen holder, which sticks into the back of the notebook as a handy little place to keep your pen. I'm currently using the Pigma Micron 0.3 in black, which has a soft tip and doesn't indent or bleed through the pages - essential qualities when you're creating a diary like this.



Now for the fun part - organising the journal. There are a few pages that feel pretty essential to any journal or diary, no matter whether you're making it yourself or buying one from Paperchase. Things like yearly overviews, monthly overviews and weekly spreads are rather inescapable, but that doesn't mean you can't make them your own and have a bit of fun with them.

I laid out my yearly overview over two pages - on the left are the simple dates of the month, where I've begun to circle key dates with coloured pens (birthdays, big events etc). On the right, I've created a little events table, where each month is laid out in line with the numbered months on the left. This gives me a place to record any arrangements I make before I've created the actual pages for that month in my journal. Since I only plan to draw out the pages for each month a couple of weeks in advance (as it stands I've done the pages for January, but have yet to do the ones for February), I don't have a place to write in plans that are far off in the future. This space will fulfil that need, making sure I don't forget anything too important!


One of my favourite parts of creating my journal is having the opportunity to make monthly cover pages. This separates each section of the year and gives me a chance to be more creative with my journal. I've always loved quotes, and have decided to try and align quotes with something that I'm doing or feeling that particular month, whether that be a relevant lyric or a quote that speaks to something I'm struggling with at that time. For January, I wanted something positive, something that symbolises a fresh start and, since I'm going to be seeing my favourite musical Hamilton for the first time at the beginning of the month, I felt it apt to go for one of my favourite lyrics from the show, which is in the song The Schuyler Sisters.


Next up is my first monthly overview for January. This is just a classic grid of the month where I can write in any key events, with two boxes on the side for my monthly goals, and anything important happening that month, or anything specific that I need to do but may forget!

After the monthly overview comes five weekly spreads, for the five weeks of January. The weekly spread really gives you the opportunity to create whatever you like, making spaace for all the things that are most important for you. On the right hand side of my page, I created a vertical week, split in half for home and work - I tend to have lots of meetings, deadlines and events at work so it's useful to separate this from any commitments or plans I have in my personal life. On the left, I've made little tables for my meal plan, shopping list, spending tracker and to do list, as well as a little overview for the month and week at the top of the page.



Once you've finished your weekly spreads, you can pretty much do whatever you like or feel would be useful for you to use throughout the month. After plenty of Pinterest trawling, I decided I'd like to have a habit tracker, an expenses tracker, and a gratitude page.

With the habit tracker, I drew a grid for each day of the month, then down the left hand side wrote the habits I'd like to work on this year, separated into categories like health, food and wellbeing. For each day I complete a habit, I'll be able to colour in that square and at the end of the month see how well each habit has gone, before adjusting the habits accordingly for the next month!

The expenses tracker leads on from my weekly spending tracker, but this time in more detail. With this, I'll not only be able to keep track of how much money I have, I'll also be able to identify where most of my money goes and adjust accordingly in order to save more.

Finally, my gratitude page gives me a space to write down the things I'm grateful for that day. My mum keeps a notebook where she writes down three good things from each day, and Katie has a space in her journal where she keeps note of the happy things from her days as well - it seems like a really nice way of reflecting on the positive things in your week and appreciating what you have.