I’ve been using a bullet journal (aka my brain) for a few months now. I love it! I tried using a digital calendar and to do list on my phone, but it just doesn’t work for me. Paper works much better.

I use a large Moleskine dotted (8.5×5) with an orchid cover. I’ll need a new one in a couple or three months. I think I’ll get a blue one next time.

I don’t use my Bullet Journal exactly as the guy who made up the idea outlines. I make it work the way I need it to. Inside the front cover is my To Do Schedule. I have specific things I do every day, once or twice a week, or once a month. I color coded my to do lists. Green is on my computer, blue is on my phone, and red is in real life.

I have lots of pages spread throughout my bullet journal of random things I need to remember/keep track of including blog ideas (complete with date the post will go up and a checkbox for when it is written), a page to record the time each day I hit 10,000 steps, a coconut tortilla recipe I adjusted to use one full can of coconut milk, lesson plans, books people have recommended to me, cute things my kids have said or done, things I am grateful for, notes I took at Time Out for Women and General Conference, and school planning for next year. The back page is an index telling me which page(s) a certain category appears on. I only need to consult my index occasionally, but it’s a major timesaver when I need it.

I have several planning/scheduling page spreads. Two pages cover the taekwondo schedule at the school we go to. I color coded everyone (I love my 4-color pen!) and put stars for which classes people in our family generally go to.

Another page lists the regularly scheduled things we do (other than taekwondo). There’s space in each day of the week to change them as needed (for example, at the beginning of next school year, the day of the week we have youth activities at church will change). The page facing this one is holidays/birthdays divided by month.

I have a two page spread for future planning for the next year. Since this particular notebook started in March, I made squares for the months of April through March of next year. I write in appointments and things in the appropriate month block until the block gets too full and it becomes time to move those appointments to a future planning space where I can write more specifics.

The more specific future planning section covers four months (however, I’ve found I really only truly need two months out at any given time). I use half a page for each month and write the numbers of the days of the month down the page. I underline every Saturday just to help me easily see how the month is laid out. On the 28th of every month I create the month schedule page for the following month.

The month schedule page has the numbers and days of the week written down the side (with a small line under each Saturday). I transfer scheduled appointments, regularly scheduled things, birthdays, and holidays onto the page. I do not write when we’ll be going to taekwondo since someone is there at least once a day Monday-Saturday. At the bottom of the page I put Must Do’s for the month. Things that really need to get done sometime during the month but not on any specific day. I use Washi tape to make certain pages in my bullet journal. Most of the time the tape goes on the long side of the notebook. The Washi tape on the monthly schedule pages goes at the top to make it very easy to find quickly.

I plan all our meals, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, a week at a time. After I plan them and make my grocery list (the grocery list I do using an app on my phone), I write my menus in my bullet journal.

What takes, by far, the most space in my bullet journal are my daily pages. I put the date at the top of the page in black. Under that, in green, is what we’ll be having for meals. Next is that day’s schedule in blue. Under that goes the day’s school assignments in red. Each of those sections is separated by a black line and there’s another black line under the school section. Under that is my to do list divided by colors as outlined on the To Do Schedule page. Everything had a checkbox next to it. I check things off with a black checkmark.

As the day goes on, if there is something I need to make a note of, I do that using black ink. I note things like books I finished reading and things that happened during the day that I want to remember. If I don’t get to something on my to do list I cross it out with black ink. If it’s something that happens every day, I don’t worry about it until the next day. If it’s something that doesn’t happen every day, but can’t wait until the next time it’s regularly scheduled, I add it to the next day’s to do list.

I really love my little bullet journal. It keeps me organized so nicely!