The Design Community Hub

c/bullet-journaling

26

barbara429•1d ago

Warning: I lost a whole month of notes because I didn't back up my bujo photos

I was at a coffee shop in Austin last Tuesday, updating my weekly spread on my phone, and then I dropped it in a puddle outside. My phone died completely and I lost every picture I had taken of my bullet journal for the last 30 days. I had been so proud of my habit tracker and meal log, but I never saved them anywhere else. Now I have to recreate everything from memory, and it's a MESS. Has anyone else had a tech fail like this with their journal pictures?

26

gavin928•3d ago

Pro tip: The coffee shop bullet journal hack that actually works for me

I was sitting at a local place called Brew & Bloom downtown last Tuesday waiting for my kid's art class to finish. This barista had this beat up looking notebook on the counter, just scribbling in it between orders. I asked her about it and she showed me how she uses a simple monthly log with just three columns - task, done, and notes. No fancy spreads, no color codes, no washi tape. Just pen and paper. I tried copying that setup for my weekly chores and errands and it's way faster than my old system where I spent more time decorating than actually writing stuff down. Has anyone else found something simpler that changed how you do your bujo?

23

nora735•5d ago

My grandma's bullet journal comment hit me way harder than I expected

I was showing her my weekly spread and she said 'why do you need a special book to remember your life?' and honestly she had a point. Now I'm trying to find a balance between planning and actually living, but it's been 2 weeks and I still feel weird about it. Has anyone else had a family member say something that totally shifted how you bullet journal?

10

grace926•7d ago

My coworker said my habit tracker was overkill and now I’m rethinking everything

I was showing Sarah my monthly spread at lunch yesterday and she goes “dude you track how many glasses of water you drink AND what time you go to bed? that’s way too much.” She’s got a point though, I spent like 45 minutes last week just filling in those tiny boxes. Has anyone else scaled back their trackers after someone called them out? How do you decide what’s worth tracking?

7

betty_shah•7d ago

Figured out a layout trick at a craft fair in Portland last month

I was wandering around this big craft fair in Portland last month and saw a girl using her bullet journal to track her sales. She had this simple setup where she used a tiny calendar in the corner and then a running list of what she sold each day. It clicked for me that I have been overcomplicating my own monthly spread for way too long. I used to draw out these huge habit trackers and mood graphs that took forever. Now I just do a mini calendar in the top right and a task list below it. It takes me maybe 5 minutes to set up instead of 30. Has anyone else found a way to cut down on the fancy stuff and just make it more useful?

17

eric359•7d ago

I used to think weekly spreads were a waste of paper...

My friend Sarah kept telling me to try weekly spreads for like 6 months. She said her whole system fell into place once she stopped doing just dailies. I was stubborn though, I figured dailies gave me enough flexibility and weeklies would just take up space. Then last month I missed two deadlines in the same week because I forgot to flip ahead and plan ahead. So I finally tried her method with a simple two-page weekly layout, just Monday through Sunday with a small tasks section. And honestly it saved my week almost immediately because I could see everything coming up at a glance instead of digging through each day. Has anyone else had that moment where you finally try a layout you swore you'd never use?

23

mitchell.shane•7d ago

Hit 500 pages in my bullet journal yesterday and had no idea I'd been tracking that long

I was flipping through to find a note from early last year and realized I've filled 500 pages without even noticing, which kind of blew my mind because I always thought I'd lose interest after a month or two.

10

margaret_lane•8d ago

The week my tracker actually helped me catch a migraine pattern

I had this awful stretch back in March where I got migraines three days in a row. I looked back at my bullet journal and noticed they all happened after I ate leftover pizza from Pizza King on Maple Street. Turns out the extra cheese and processed meat were triggering them for me. Has anyone else found weird food connections by tracking in their journal?

19

jake_mason30•9d ago

My habit tracker was lying to me for 6 months

I had this habit tracker in my bullet journal where I'd color in a box every day I exercised. After half a year, I looked back and thought wow, I must have been really consistent. Then I realized I was coloring in the box just because I'd done a 5 minute stretching video, not an actual workout. My tracker showed 80% success but my fitness hadn't improved at all. Has anyone else had a tracker that gave them a false sense of progress?

13

nora735•10d ago

My bullet journal got wrecked by a coffee spill... but the real fail was my leaky pen

So I had this gorgeous weekly spread all done up with my new water based markers. I was so proud of it, even snapped a photo for Instagram. Then my cat knocked over my coffee mug right onto the page... but the coffee actually beaded up and rolled off. The real disaster? My cheap pen bled through the next 10 pages and now I have a smeary mess on every spread for October. Has anyone else had a pen destroy a whole section of their journal like that?

19

diana55•12d ago

My old bullet journal habit of color coding every single thing versus now just using one pen color

I used to spend like an hour every week picking out the perfect five highlighter shades for my weekly spread. Then last December I dropped my whole pen case on a bus and only had a black Pilot G2 left. Had to use just that for three weeks. Turns out I actually read my own notes way faster now because I'm not distracted by all the colors. Anyone else simplify their setup and find it worked better?

8

blaker75•15d ago

Hit 500 pages in my bullet journal last week

I thought the whole point was to keep it minimal and fast, but I've got a thick brick of a journal now with all my daily logs and collections. Anyone else end up with a monstrosity that completely defeats the original purpose?

6

grant_torres•15d ago

That week I tracked everything with sticky notes instead of my BuJo

My three kids all got sick at the same time last month. I was up every two hours with someone coughing or crying. There was no way I was going to sit down and carefully lay out a weekly spread. So I grabbed a stack of yellow post-its and just wrote down the bare minimum: meds given, fevers taken, who ate what. Slapped them on the fridge. It was messy and ugly but honestly worked better than my usual system for that week. Now I'm wondering if I overcomplicate my journal when life gets busy. Has anyone else ditched their normal setup for something more basic?

8

bailey.xena•16d ago

Lost my whole weekly spread because I tried a new pen at a cafe in Austin

I was at Jo's Coffee on South Congress last Saturday, feeling all artsy with a new Micron pen I grabbed on a whim. The ink bled through every single page of my Leuchtturm, ruining my entire week's layout and a habit tracker that took me 30 minutes to set up. Now I'm stuck testing every pen on scrap paper before I even touch my journal. Has anyone else had a pen totally wreck their setup like that?

9

noraj79•17d ago

Started bullet journaling in 2016 with just a black pen and a Leuchtturm. Now I see people using stamps, washi tape, and 15 different markers before writing a single word.

I pulled out my old 2016 journal last night and it was basically just lists and X marks for tasks. No decorations, no color coding, no fancy headers. I even used the same pen for everything. Now I see posts where people spend 2 hours setting up a weekly spread with watercolor backgrounds and hand lettering. Makes me wonder when the shift happened and if the extra time actually helps people stick with it longer. Has anyone scaled back after going all out on decorations?

3

fiona_nelson51•18d ago

Spent a whole afternoon trying to find the perfect washi tape for my monthly spread

I literally sat on my floor for 3 hours sorting through like 50 rolls of washi tape last Tuesday. The problem was I had this idea for a gradient effect on my July cover page, and none of the colors matched right in natural light. I ended up mixing three different tapes together to get the look I wanted, which took another 45 minutes of cutting and layering. Has anyone else spent way too long obsessing over tiny details that nobody but you will ever notice?

13

rowan_thomas•22d ago

Found out my weekly spreads were costing me 45 minutes of planning time per week

I tracked it for a month and realized I was spending more time setting up the layout than actually using it. Has anyone else tried simplifying their weekly format and seen a real difference?

9

amy302•23d ago

Found out my habit tracker saved me 12 hours this month

Was bored at work and actually added up the time I spend doing my daily tracking in my bullet journal. Turns out those 2 minutes a day add up to less than an hour a month and I used to waste way more time trying to remember stuff I already forgot.

1

webb.stella•24d ago

Last week my bujo saved me from a total meltdown

Had three packages misdelivered, a flat tire, and my kid's school called all in one Tuesday. My weekly spread with time-blocking let me reroute everything in 10 minutes flat. What's the worst day your bullet journal has helped you handle?

2

val_taylor•25d ago

Noticed a huge difference in my mood trackers after 3 months of using them daily

Started doing a simple mood tracker in my bullet journal back in February. Just a little dot per day with a color code. After 3 months I flipped back and saw how many days I marked as 'anxious' in February vs April. It dropped from 18 days to 7. I think it was because I started adding a 'one good thing' note next to each mood dot. That tiny habit shifted my focus. Has anyone else seen their moods change on paper over time?

9

gonzalez.phoenix•26d ago

Switched from monthly spreads to weekly ones after 3 months of frustration

I was all in on the monthly log setup but kept forgetting to check it past week two. Saw a post where someone showed their weekly layout with a tiny habit tracker on the side and decided to try it. Anyone else find monthlies just don't stick for them?

7

amy302•27d ago

Found my old first bullet journal from 2017 and wow

I was cleaning out my desk drawer last night and stumbled on my very first bullet journal from 5 years ago. The pages are so messy with scribbled out dates and smeared ink from a cheap pen I used back then. I remember spending hours trying to make every spread perfect but honestly the chaos was kind of charming. These days I keep things way simpler with just a monthly log and a few collections. Has anyone else looked back at their early journals and cringed a little at the setup?

13

webb.xena•28d ago

Shoutout to the woman at my coffee shop who changed my bullet journal game

I used to obsess over perfect weekly spreads with washi tape and doodles, but after she showed me her minimalist index system last month I ditched all that fluff. Now I just track tasks and habits in a simple list and actually use the damn thing every day. Anyone else find that simpler layouts work better for long-term consistency?

31

barbara_moore73•29d ago

Lost my habit tracker for 2 weeks and found it in a cookbook

I was freaking out because I missed logging my water intake every day for 14 days straight. Turns out I used my old notebook as a coaster for a spaghetti sauce jar and it got stuck to the fridge with a magnet lol. Has anyone else misplaced their journal in a dumb spot like that?

2

sam_harris68•29d ago

The day my weekly spread got ruined by a coffee shop napkin

I was at a local spot called Brew & Bean last Tuesday, working on my monthly layout. I had this great weekly spread almost done with a color coded task system I was testing. Then the barista bumped my table and my iced coffee tipped over right onto the page. The ink bled through like crazy, turning my Monday column into a brown mess. I had to just tear out the page and start over, but I switched to a waterproof pen I had in my bag. The new spread actually turned out cleaner without the fancy colors. Has anyone else had a drink disaster ruin a page they were proud of?