Guide to Starting Your First Bullet Journal
Before starting to discuss using a bullet journal in the fall (or autumn if you prefer) season, let’s go over some basics of starting your first bullet journal.
This can be really helpful if you are starting your very first bullet journal, but also a good refresher course even if you have a little experience.
What is a Bullet Journal?
Think of a bullet journal as a way to have a planner, calendar, list of goals and things to do, and all the other aspects of your day in one book. While called a “journal”, it is not written in long paragraphs with all text like a traditional journal would be. If you don’t have a bullet journal, here is one popular brand – The Happy Planner.
Instead, the bullet journal has different sections that are laid out on the front “Index” page, and most text in the journal uses symbols called “signifiers”
These allow you to quickly add information to your bullet journal without needing the time and energy for writing long paragraphs, which often take up too much space in this type of journal.
For example, a signifier relating to money coming in or paying a bill might be the $ sign, while you might have a simple checkmark symbol for completing a task.
It is Completely Customizable
One thing to keep in mind about bullet journals is that they are customizable. You should definitely take a look at other journal pages to get inspiration and new ideas for layouts, but you don’t need to copy every page. If you don’t want to go to the store and buy one, just check my free printables hub, you can sign up below this post, or on my home page.
I’ll have a detailed list of journal pages you can download from my printables hub. Some you need to either print, or if I haven’t already made it fillable, you can go to the pdfescape, upload a pdf for free, but I have been trying to take the time to do it for you. That way, you can fill it in on your laptop or desktop. I haven’t seen a version that works on the cell phone yet. With it being fillable, save it to your google drive, which is free, and available to anyone that has gmail account, and I will do a video of it soon and upload it to my youtube channel.
The bullet journal is most beneficial when you adapt your own personalization, whether that means the types of pages or collections you include, how they look, the overall layout, or just the colors and design aspects.
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It is okay to start simple, then begin customizing it more as you get accustomed to creating new pages.
The First Pages to Start With
It is almost impossible to list all the possible pages you can have in your bullet journal, though there are some that most people will end up using. Here is a look at the first pages to start with, but many more are available for later.
Calendar Pages – No matter what else you have in your bullet journal, you at least want to have calendar pages. They are what makes a bullet journal a “planner” and are also the very first pages you fill out in the bullet journal.
You will have a variety of calendar pages for each month, including the main monthly calendar, weekly calendar pages with more room for text, and possibly some daily pages if you want to write longer text. The daily pages usually have spots for different information, such as tasks to complete that day, events, appointments, meal planning, and lots more. And guess what girl(and guys) I got your back! Just uploaded new undated calendar pages for the new year!
Calendar Pages – No matter what else you have in your bullet journal, you at least want to have calendar pages. They are what makes a bullet journal a “planner” and are also the very first pages you fill out in the bullet journal.
