Britney’s Bullet Journal Extravaganza!

Hi everybody!  Today, I wanted to take you through my most recent obsession, theBullet Journal (BuJo).  And no, the BuJo itself isn’t really my obsession; rather, I’m obsessed with putting stickers in my BuJo. Keep reading to see how I set my BuJo as a hybrid between a traditional Bullet Journal and a Happy Planner/Erin Condren style planner!

First, a Quick History Lesson

Before I share how I set up my Bullet Journal, I think it’ll be helpful if I provide a quick history and lead-up to why and how I started BuJo-ing. I’ve never been a planner person. I’m pretty good at remembering things and throughout school and whatnot I never needed a planner to help me keep track of projects and assignments and life. But I always wanted to be a planner person.

However, when I was younger, I was a journal person. Journal as in keeping a diary. Usually my diary wasn’t so much what I did each day, but my thoughts about certain happenings and going-ons. But I think it’s important to know that I do have full journals filled up from pretty much the sixth grade until my first year of law school. I also had a LiveJournal account (lol).

A few years ago, I discovered the online community for Erin Condren planners—the stickers and the washi tape and all the decorative accessories. I was enthralled. I started buying washi tape even though I had no reason to use it. But I knew myself well enough to know that I wouldn’t keep up with a planner. Not to mention the expense involved in an Erin Condren planner filled up with stickers until there’s no white space left…

And then, somehow, I stumbled upon the Bullet Journal.

I don’t remember how or where I found the Bullet Journal, but I do know it was around October 2015 (because I officially started BuJo-ing in November 2015). Finally a place to use my colored pens and washi tape that I’d been stocking up on. And the best part was I had a Mickey Mouse Moleskine notebook/journal that I’d gotten for Christmas years ago but had never found a use for. I was all set.

Here’s a look at the first month of my first BuJo. November was the perfect time to start, too, because of NaNoWriMo.

 

 

Eventually I got a system down of how I, personally, liked to use my BuJo. But there was something I always struggled with: that balance between keeping my BuJo “cute” and “pretty” and the practicality of it. And the fact that I still secretly longed for an Erin Condren planner.

Enter the “Happy Planner”

One of the main reasons I never got an Erin Condren planner wasn’t just that I knew I wouldn’t use it—I hate ordering things online. Why? Because I have zero patience. (And I hate paying for shipping, but that’s another story.) Having to order my Erin Condren online and wait for it, and then have to order all the stickers off of Etsy wasn’t my idea of a fun time. (All that waiting!) I also didn’t want to print my own stickers. (All that work!)

But then my best friend discovered the Happy Planner, available at Michael’s and Hobby Lobby.

Essentially an Erin Condren planner (but probably not as nice), the Happy Planner has the vertical columns and comes with sticker packs (and washi tape) to decorate the planners to the heart’s desire. These sticker packs cost around $20 but Michael’s/Hobby Lobby seemingly always have coupons and deals. Plus no shipping costs or wait time!

But the fact still remained: I’m not a planner girl. And my BuJo was only half-full and I had a gorgeous copper Leuchtturm purchased when I was in Finland to serve as my next BuJo waiting in the wings. So buying a Happy Planner did not seem like a good idea.

Still… those sticker packs!! I needed them! I bought over $60 worth of stickers with my best friend on a shopping trip (do not be like me) and yet didn’t have a Happy Planner. So, I started drawing out my own. I had an old notebook that actually worked perfectly for the Happy Planner measurements.

So here I was, still keeping up with my BuJo (because I carry that baby with me everywhere) but yet also taking time (and spending lots of money) on this “fake” Happy Planner.

But, I started to notice something with said fake Happy Planner: I didn’t use that much space. I would only fill up 2/3 of the columns.

The reason the BuJo method works so well for me is because it’s basically just a collection of to-do lists and trackers. I love to-do lists and trackers. I don’t need to “plan” as much as I need to keep a running to-do list. And the Happy Planner (well, my fake one) along with the Erin Condren had too much space. I don’t need all that space!

And that, my friends, is how my new and improved Bullet Journal method came to be.

I Realized I Could COMBINE the Two

Why was I wasting time and stickers in a fake Happy Planner when I was still carrying my BuJo and actively using my BuJo?! Why didn’t I simply incorporate the Happy Planner design into my BuJo?!

I didn’t even bother doing a test. I cracked open my BuJo for the month of October and began drawing in a semi-similar layout to my fake Happy Planner, only with two sections in each column instead of three. This wasn’t rocket science, and I’ve seen plenty of other BuJo-ers use the column method instead of the rows like I had previously done. But I measured out the boxes according to Happy Planner specs.

So five columns across, each split into two sections. I left room on the left side for a “side bar.” Then I did a bottom rectangle on the left page and a bottom rectangle on the right. This bottom right would be split into two for my weekends (split columns for the weekends).

And then, the fun part: the stickers. Add some washi tape and checklists and I had the same to-do list style BuJo I’d always had, only with a lot more bling.

See for yourself!

I was so obsessed with how it turned out that I couldn’t stop myself. Soon I was into November.

And then I was doing December…

And guys, it wasn’t even October yet!

I finally stopped after December. It seemed wrong to start “planning” January when it wasn’t even October yet…

(Except just yesterday I decided to do a quick January layout because I need help.)

My tracker is still the same as it was in my previous Bullet Journal post.  Originally I was going to do the tracker in the weekly layout (see the white-out in the first two pictures from October) but that wasn’t working for me (and it looked ugly).

And I know this looks like a ton of work, but it’s really not.  I knock these spreads out in less than an hour.  Even drawing it out into the notebook doesn’t take much time at all.  And it makes me feel crafty as all get out.

Oh, and finally, just in case you were worried I was knocking Etsy, I do still use Etsy (and will likely use Etsy more in the future when I go through all my sticker packs – because believe it or not, I am cruising through those sticker packs!).  My most recent Etsy purchase was from Burnt Owl Studio just in time for NaNoWriMo!

And there you have it!  My Bullet Journal/Planner hybrid with lots of stickers and colors and washi tape and to-do lists.