Bullet Journal Update - Mixed Book

I've been using my bullet journal as a planner for a little over a year. I haven't been consistent with it, and when the baby came things kind of fell apart in the scheduling/planning department.

I'm in my second notebook, and this time I went with a hardback version similar to what's recommended by "real" bullet journalists. I got mine from Target on clearance though, and it's off-brand.

I've found that I much preferred the spiral-bound book that I used at first, because I like leaving the book open and turning it to the current page. That's not possible with the hardcover, and even with the ribbon bookmark it's not as quick access for me. So I have a spiral-bound to move to when I finish this one up. I'm only halfway done with it though ... probably because I don't use it as much because it's slightly less useful to me!

My favorite thing about my bullet journal is the making lists. I love-love-love lists (in fact I want to make a list of all the reasons Americans, particularly white Americans, made such a mistake last week, but I digress...).

I also really like saving things like stickers or small drawings Jane makes. I don't do anything fancy. I can't draw and my lettering is sloppy at best. I'm just scribbling things in.

The index is still a key feature that I like. I just haven't been making as many lists/notes sections that need to be indexed!

My work ebbs and flows, and when things are hectic the bullet journal is useful. I've had a few projects and busy days where I needed to write out everything I need to do. There's something so satisfying about crossing off something from a list -- whether a load of laundry, an email blast or article written.

I don't really journal anymore in a regular way, and that's something I wish I did. I am a writer and I need to really write more. (NaBloPoMo is proving that again to me this year... When will I find my year-round dedication to posting something daily?!) Sometimes it's inconvenient to have a pen and paper in hand or to type it out. But I wonder if having one book makes me less likely to write out longhand. Probably not -- probably just a factor of this stage in life.

One thing I wish I were better at recording is Livia's milestones. I think I was more meticulous about Jane's -- in her baby book and in her weekly emails. I still do the weekly emails but don't write as much about Liv's development. It's not the end of the world that specifics are lost to time I guess. But a bullet journal would be a good place to record that kind of thing.

Bullet Journal FAIL: Late for a Conference Call

Scene: Target checkout line. ~10:50 a.m.

Me: Checking my phone to pull up Cartwheel app for a discount (that didn't even apply anyway ... stupid, stupid, stupid), and because I'm connected to Target wifi I can see a new email message letting me know my 11 a.m. conference call (Google Hangout) would be starting a little late.

Cue: PANIC, increased blood pressure, omigod-omigod-omigod!

I type back a reply that I messed up the dates so would be even later, get through checkout without sobbing and high tail it to the car. Throw in the goods and peel out. Get stuck behind a slow-AF truck on Highland (maybe should have taken the Interstate, but that's always risky),

I still made it home by 11:15, set up the Google Hangout and get into the call without missing too much. (Because of the delay I was probably only 7 minutes off the call's actual start time, but still.)

My heart is still racing thinking about it.

Thankfully the call itself was good and productive, and we talked further later in the afternoon (while Jane watched a Thomas - lucky girl ... and lucky me that our Internet could handle streaming that video and the Google Hangout, although that was voice-only at least).

But here's the thing - where did I go wrong? I put the meeting on my Google Calendar but forgot to put a reminder. I don't think I put it in my small pocket calendar (lives in my purse) because the meeting was just set late last week and I don't necessarily look at that small calendar that often. (For some reason I was thinking the call was tomorrow.)

I didn't check either the Google calendar or my pocket calendar when I made my "daily page" for today, which is an error on my part obviously. How do I get in the habit? Is this a reason why you have your calendar in the bullet journal directly -- or at least a list of dates w/ a line to input time sensitive appointments like that?

I remember things MUCH better if I physically write them down. That's part of the allure of the bullet journal. But it only works if I WRITE STUFF DOWN!!!

One Month as a Bullet Journalist

Or maybe it's bullet journaler? The official Bullet Journal website calls them journalists though, and I like that. There's a video on that site that explains the basic set up.

I first heard about bullet journaling on Miss Zoot's blog. She's a super bullet journalist and has perfected the system to work for her. A quick look on Pinterest finds tons of boards and cool ideas for layouts. It's pretty intimidating and inspiring at the same time.

The idea for a bullet journal is that you put your lists in one place. No more floating pieces of paper with notes and to do lists. It's all in one notebook and you create an index and page numbers so you can find lists later. I used to use a Franklin Covey planner (still have it and it serves as my hard copy address book despite being so ginormous), but lately I'd been without a real planning system and relied on assorted lists, calendars and my memory (never a good thing to rely on!).

Also new shirt from my mama for my birthday!

The preferred notebook seems to be a Moleskine or something similar. I didn't buy a new notebook to get started. My mom had given me a beautiful spiral bound hard cover notebook with purple elephants that I decided to use. So far it's working fine, although it isn't as portable as a Moleskine and doesn't have the band or pocket to keep any loose papers. I started off using a "nice" pen but have since devolved to just using whatever regular ballpoint is close by.

I started trying to follow the system exactly - or as exactly as I could with a newbie's understanding. There were only a few days in October when I started, but I did the "calendar" list of days -- just W28 for Wednesday the 28th, etc. And I gave myself two lines for calendar items like appointments or date-specific tasks. After only four days I gave that up and switched back to my normal to do list. 

I use a half page to one page for each day and just list things that need to get done. Some items get repeated because they're really not daily tasks but "do sometime this week" kind of tasks. I also could make a separate "Weekly" list or "Longer Term" list, but I'm still finding my way and think I would lose a weekly list in the crush of daily pages.

I also started with the recommended box for a task, circle for an appointment labeling, then filling in the box or circle when the item is completed (or put an arrow in it if it's moved to another day). I LOVE crossing off things too much that the idea went by the way side and now I just have hyphens for each item and cross through as done. I might try again with the delineation, but for now I'm OK with appointments and to-do's being in the same list.

I also keep a separate pocket calendar for the month-at-a-glance type stuff. I don't have tasks in it, but that's where my appointments, visitors, etc. get written down. I carry it in my purse. I also keep a Google Calendar, which is something Shawn and I share (and have shared with family if they needed to know where we are -- I'm pretty sure my mother-in-law is looking at it daily). 

In addition to the day-to-day lists, I really like having a single place for all my lists and notes. Some of the lists I've made include:

• Jane's birthday party, 
• books I want to read, 
• Christmas gift ideas (until I shifted that to an Excel file to do the math for me!), 
• health tracking notes, 
• Jane's classmates' names and their parents' names (as I've learned them -- how weird the school never gave us a class list? pretty weird), 
• Thanksgiving meal planner, 
• to crochet, 
• wish list of things I'd like to buy, 
• thank you notes needed to write, 
• blog post ideas, etc. 

The index is helpful. I left about 5 pages for the index because I wasn't sure how much space I'd need. I'm on page 50 now and have used less than one page for the index (numbering starts after the index). I don't index the daily to-do lists of course. I did write a journal entry in the book on Jane's birthday that added a few pages (because while I over-packed for her plane travel I under-packed for me and had nothing to do for big chunks of the travel, especially when Jane had to use my Kindle because her tablet battery died).

I don't put my grocery or Target shopping lists in the book - mainly because I put those on a magnetic pad on the fridge and already have a system that's working to get what I need. I also REALLY don't have a desire to save those lists. But I see the value of ONE SPOT FOR ALL THE LISTS so maybe I'll change my mind later especially if I start training myself to ALWAYS have the notebook with me on my person.

When I was working full time I managed my to do list in a Word doc that I could print out, mark up and then update. I'd break up the list by projects and also kept a separate calendar for meetings/calls. I used my email inbox as a place for reminders, which is something I still do (right now it's full of shipping and purchase notifications because of all my Christmas shopping -- I'm almost done with my whole list and am faced with an s.t. of wrapping, but I'll probably spread that out across the month).

So - I recommend the bullet journal method if you like lists. It's worth a try anyway, and I'm liking it so far. I'm going to stick with my current notebook for now and maybe after I fill it up and/or fine tune my method some more I'll go for the preferred, smaller notebook.

Have you heard of bullet journaling? How do you keep yourself organized?

A Clean Calendar

Taken pre-7 a.m. b/c still adjusting to standard time...

I've started something new, planner-wise. I'm trying to "bullet journal" after I read about it on Miss Zoot, which I found via Hello Korio. So far I'm liking it, but I need to keep getting used to it. I'll write more about it in detail later this month.

But I still love paper calendars in the grid. Here is our kitchen calendar -- I make a new one every year with Jane pictures, and for this year I realized I could put pictures IN the calendar grid, so there's a picture of Jane on her birthday and a picture of me (and Jane) on my birthday. I haven't written anything else yet for the month, and it was neat to see it so clean. (I actually have a lot going on in November, so my small calendar is covered in scribbles and appointments already.)

Calendars are also a great grandparent Christmas gift, so I try to watch for sales on them this time of year. The December picture is usually a year old (so we'll get to see 2-year-old Jane on this year's calendar), but that's kind of sweet too. I could always just use recent pictures, but I like to do a picture that was taken in the month shown on the calendar. Recently there was a ~$7 deal (just pay shipping I think?) on Shutterfly but I couldn't get it together. What I need to do is spend a few hours getting calendars laid out the way I like in Shutterfly, Snapfish, etc. and then wait for a deal to come up and I'm all ready to pounce. (Or I should be more flexible about the pictures and just go with what is closest at hand!)

How do you keep track of your schedule? Have you heard of or tried bullet journaling?