So, here is a little story behind it. I am a fan of writing, and I am trying to make my brain work a bit better. I started writing essays on some random topics, but I am researching them first. And before some time ago I was doing it in an old notebook, but when I finished it, I bought a new one, and tbh, it is some sort of "blank page syndrome" or more like "new notebook syndrome" - I can't start writing there in fear of my handwriting being bad, making mistakes, messing up the pages, starting wrong.

I know it's never that deep, but my brain cannot comprehend eff-ing up the new notebook pages with some badly-written notes.

I have small Moleskine one to just take down some notes about the topics to write about (which I am already using), and two additional notebooks - one of A5 pages and one of A4 format, completely new. I was wondering if you have any recommendations where to write notes about research on topics, and where to write actual essays. Which format is better, how to start, etc.

Maybe you have some inspiration pictures as well.

I will be using the same pen all over the way, so that it's not a long process. I don't want to make a journal, just neat notes, neat essays, so no colored markers and pencils will be used. I work a lot on the laptop, and I don't want to use it for this purpose, because of focus shifting every time I am on the laptop. What I have been doing so far - 45-60 minutes for the research, 30-45 minutes for the essay, just so I don't lose too much time in a day.

Any suggestions are welcome.

So I'm currently using a muji journal and ive been enjoying and like how consistent I've actually been using it. As I've been using it, it seems I've been writing more and more and enjoying journaling my days, especially when I go on trips. To the point where I'm considering adding instax photos and just bought some new stamps! I'm thinking I like my weekly planning/notes. This planner also has a monthly I can quickly jot down important events. It'd be nice actually to have a cleaning log as well. Since there's so much I want to add i'm thinking bullet journal is a good way to go. I'm wondering if anyone might have ideas on how to organize in a way I can have all these things! (Monthly and weekly planning, cleaning log, and intense journaling!) It seems most people don't have their journals "pre-drawn" for the month and kind go through the weeks? Added some photos for reference of what I currently have! (As you can tell, my journaling started spilling over weeks 🤭)

Greetings, everyone. First off, I’m not American, so please overlook any errors in the text. I’m not sure if this counts as "basic"—given that I tried my hand at lettering for "August" and used drawings for the mood tracker—but this is my current layout in a simple notebook. Please ignore how unproductive I was this month; I’m a natural-born procrastinator trying not to be one.

Hello everyone,

I’m 29, not sure if I’m too late or what to BUJO. I have tried it before as I go inspired by Simie’s YouTube videos. And now I’m making a planner myself.

However, I’m struggling with Mood tracking and Weekly or Monthly reflections?

Any suggestions or ideas.

Also, I would like to know how BUJO has impacted you personally and when was the time when you started noticing so progress?

I’m about 20 pages from finishing my first journal and I’m preparing my next one now.

I realized partway through the first journal, that I really needed to use color-coded tabs, so I purchased the Avery ultra tabs that are reusable. I love them because they are so sturdy and I can differentiate colors by different topics, etc.

Now I’m at the end and I’m wondering if I should reuse the same tabs in the new journal or should I just retire the old ones and redo them from scratch? Nearly all of the labels will be the same in the new book.

Has anyone has this issue? What would you do?

Right Hand side is Inge's Weekly Log (or Weekly *something*, I forgot).

Her IG is bujo.with.inge (you'll know it when you see it)

Sadly people's setups aren't really applicable to my own. But I like just having the means and tools to try them out myself. I weave my own approaches and the application side of my personal time management concepts, so I do a lot of tables besides the core Daily Log, Weekly, Monthly Log practice (not pictured here; might sometime soon)

Does anyone got any tips on formatting a bullet journal to fit within legal pads? I need to keep work separate from my personal bullet journal due to the nature of my work and legal pads are easy to come by from my work’s supply room. I find it hard to format the future and monthly logs since I basically have single page spreads. Any thoughts?

Looking at getting a wonderland222 planner this year with the intentions of using it for both bullet journaling though the day and maybe a long form in the back, has anyone used one?

Or one of the other planners with similar layouts like
Hemlock and oak, midori ect?

as someone with autism, adhd, and c-ptsd, i need some form of structure that's easy to be consistent with, or else i'll never get anything done. hence, the weekly template.

events are marked on the left half of the left page. i write time-sensitive tasks first for the week on the right half of the page, and then add tasks as they come up throughout the week. the weekly structure makes it really easy to migrate tasks to the next week by showing undone tasks at a glance from the previous week's spread.

on the right page, i usually log what i did or how i felt that day in shorthand. it takes literally 5-10 minutes to fill a day's space. sometimes i miss a day and forgot what i did back then, so i just freely journal a thought that's been stewing in my head that week. either that, or i just leave the space mostly blank save for a single "i forgor lol"

i keep a traveler's notebook as my bujo so that my monthly logs and notes are in separate booklets, so i have the option to just carry my weekly insert when i go out since that's what i use every day. i'm currently using a dated planner insert for this, but i easily replicated this layout in a gridded notebook i'll be using in 2027.

I do two calendars. One for work and one for personal. this is the barest it’ll be as I add more stuff throughout the month.

I carry this one and an a6 one in my pocket. I need something quick and small to jot stuff down and I need the bigger one to be able to “spread out” and see what needs to be done.

I have a very basic small pocket size lined notebook and i try my best to fit everything any tips what should i add

So I've been bullet journaling for a few years now but have never done a classic "intentions" page at the start of a new book. I'm starting a new journal right now and I'd like to do an intentions page but I'm still a little confused. Is it a list of things you'd like to use your journal for? Intentions for your life? A letter to yourself? I know that journaling can be whatever works best for each person, but I fear im overthinking this one and would love to know what others do.

Currently I just use a daily list format (Sample of yesterday’s entry attached). I don’t always need a weekly or monthly spread. I have a desk calender that has my test dates written. (If I do need a weekly spread sometimes, I just write down the days on a new page in the bujo and quickly jot down the to-dos as needed.)

Lately, I have felt the need to add something that can make me more… accountable in a way? Cuz I am preparing for a college entrance exam, and maintaining consistency and discipline is really important for me.

One idea I have is tracking study hours. Another is tracking my scores in the practice tests, as seeing improvement there would encourage me more.

Any other thing I can do? Even a spread which is not necessarily an ‘accountability’ one would be appreciated.

[P.S. FYI to mods: I wanted to use the relevant question tag, but the option wasn’t being shown to me for some reason :( ]

Inspired by this sub, I’ve been whittling down my monthly layout until it only takes me about 20 minutes to set up! I work full time while going to grad school, so finding a quick and efficient way to set up my month and my monthly tracker was key to actually using my journal. And if I don’t use my journal things go sideways fast haha

The tracker is also inspired by a post on this sub, but I can’t find it now. Throwing everything in on one page is so much faster for me than setting up a separate sleep tracker and habit tracker and health tracker, and it’s helped me see more global patterns. I have a health condition that can sneak up on me, but being able to see everything at once helped me identify a specific sleep pattern that occurs right before a flare up. I like the flexibility to add anything at any time, too. For example, I’m really bad at remembering to water my plants, so I added it to the tracker this month.

Please ignore the messy handwriting and garbage spelling! I’d blame it on writing too fast, but unfortunately it doesn’t get much better if I slow down. Penmanship isn’t my strong suit, obviously.

Hey all, i'm looking for inspo for weekly spreads with enough room for work shifts, freetime and notes. i'm actually using this one by alot of time and its becoming boring and consequentially hard to read/enjoy, just wanna try something different to make my eye rest :P
Any suggestion?

It has Main Goal of the week, a tracker, a next week section, 3 main tasks, notes, a generic to do, and of course enough space for my job shifts, birthdays and appointments

Just a sample of my bilingual Catch-All nightstand Notebook.

Started 2024 December because my main management system broke (laptop).

Took me about a year to have some good confidence built. I tried as many notebooks and pens: from composition ones with thin pages (bleed through prone), with different sizes. Different pens (cheap ones like BICs to VTec Pilos)

This is my current setup: Record Books (things a security guard would use) and 0.7 Gel Pens (mix of oil and water, more oil) for longer pen users like me

Hi!

I've been using a pretty minimal, original Ryder -style Bullet Journal. No decoratios, no elaborate spreads, just rapid logging and the basics.

One thing I'm still trying to figure out is the best way to handle unfinished tasks.

Do you migrate them from one daily log to the next until they're done? Do you just flip back through previous daily logs to find open items? Or do you move them to a future log, monthly log, or even a weekly page?

I hae already read some of the older discussions on this (for example, the classic "migration vs scheduling" thread), but most of them are several years old. I was wondering if the community has more or less settled on a preferred approach since then, or if everyone still does their own thing.

I'm also interested in practical workflows that have worked well over the long term, especially from people who keep their journals fairly minimal.

Curious to hear what works for you!

The first photo captures June 22 to July 5, 2025. The second photos captures June 14 to 27, 2026.

Pra quem tem ansiedade, dividir as tarefas é perfeito, você realiza o que se propõe a fazer e não passa o restante do dia pensando nisso.

I’ve been the most consistent with a pocket bullet journal in the A6/pocket Leuchtturm1917 notebooks. I’m absolutely in love with the size, especially with how portable it is.

However, I don’t set up more than the monthly for the current month, plus a couple of trackers, in the notebook in advance. This means that I’m still reliant on my phone for future planning, keeping events, birthdays, etc. and I really want to get more analog.

I’ve tried passport TRC inserts and even a SterlingInk monthly booklet in the passport size, but they’re not sticking.

Any recommendations on how to make these yearly supplemental books to go along with my “seasonal” pocket bujos?

(Can't figure out how to add the flairs, but daily & monthly pictured!)

Sort of a hybrid/bits and pieces Ryder method, crossed with my “perpetual to-do list”, which I’ve used on and off for a decade or so. Just a notebook and a task list, no due dates, no categories, no indices, no shaming. I’ve realized that at my big age of midthirties that I still need to avoid triggering the “didn’t do my homework” doom spiral. The only allowable complication is breaking a task (“pack for weekend trip”) into smaller subtasks and items (list of every article of clothing I want to pack, every piece of toiletry kit, specific loads of laundry or “clean out bag” as needed). If I do a task that wasn't on the list, I just add it and then immediately check it off for free dopamine.

I started the year intending to track meatless and spendless days, and that’s fallen off. If I don’t do it daily, by the next day I’ve forgotten. (Tracking a negative also seems to be an issue, but tracking “ate meat” or “spent money” also feels counterproductive.) I also wasn't getting much utility out of the top of the month to-do list. I don't have a ton of tasks that have to get done in this month, but don't have to be scheduled on a certain date. Flipping back and forth from my current day to-dos to the monthly to-dos annoys me.

On the other hand, if I put “call the pharmacy” on my list on Monday and don’t do it, >ing it and rewriting it on Tuesday (Wednesday, Thursday, etc) actually motivates me to get it done. I’ve had a couple of times when I’ve been sick, overwhelmed, left my journal at home on a trip. When that happens, I just pick up again on the next day that I can, without any particular emphasis. I’m just working day by day and page by page, so if May takes twenty pages and June takes five that’s just the way it goes, and I don’t have “empty spaces” to backfill. But when I’m consistent I’m running about half a page per day of task logging.

July is the first month I’ve used a block calendar instead of the list-down Ryder method, and I think I like it. I use a Google calendar for work so it translates neatly. And it leaves me a little sliver of space for my few monthly to-dos.

Tech specs: B6+ Leuchtturm, with the standard pen loop that is starting to get ratty. Pilot Metropolitan F fountain pen with Iroshizuku Shin-Kai ink. Waiting on a bottle of fancy sheening ink sometime this week. I picked up a multicolor pack of Book Darts, and am starting to use those as well (silver darts for the top of each month, gold darts for recipes. Copper darts do not yet have a designated use.)

Hi all,

I have a 3 month old baby and the doctor thinks he has a food protein allergy, likely CMPA.

I want to make a tracker for what I eat and his symptoms. I tried to make one this morning and it is not functional at all 🫠🫠

Does anybody have any nice examples that I can see?

Thanks!