Organize your life with ‘bullet journaling’

Tammy Lawson’s journal.

By Tammy Lawson

The older I am getting, the more I like to write what is happening in my daily life – whether it’s writing my thoughts and expressions in Microsoft Word or in a journal. With that said, I am happy that I attended an event on “bullet journaling” Feb. 28 at George Mason Regional Library.

The presenter, Jenna Meyers, gave a quick introduction on the fundamentals of bullet journaling and how to start.

A bullet journal is a dotted grid journal/planner system created by Ryder Carroll. It’s like a filing cabinet with charts and symbols to help you keep track of your to-do list and goals. Carroll provides a basic understanding of his vision of the bullet journal system in a video.

I find that when doing bullet journaling, it’s good to use pen and paper for your to-do lists and use stationery, colored pens, and stickers to decorate your journal. Dollar Tree is the best place for buying stickers.

At the workshop, Meyers provided a suggested list of what to include in your journal and encouraged us to circle what we would like to accomplish.

My own list includes these topics: savings/coupons, monthly goals, dream vacations, cleaning schedule, fitness tracker, budget, vision board, food log, and home ownership.

Under Meyers’ system, the first page of a bullet journal is the introduction, and pages 2 and 3 are the “year at a glance,” which includes important dates, such as anniversaries and work anniversaries.

Page 4 is a key to symbols used for things like task completed or task canceled. Page 5 is a table of contents, and pages 6 and 7 are used for a calendar. A weekly spread of your goals for the week goes on page 8.

Page 9 consists of a vision board, which is like a wish list of things you aspire to, such as buying a home or taking a vacation.

In my own bullet journal, I have so far focused on creating a page for a food log and another page for a shopping list.

Meyers suggested the following resources on bullet journaling: the book The Journal Method by Ryder Carroll and YouTube videos by Amanda Rach Lee, Planning with Kay, Boho Berry, and Refinery29.

Tammy Lawson is the editor of the Fashion Boutique blog, which reports on clothing, accessories, and beauty finds for less. Visit her blog for more details and pictures on bullet journaling.