The Bullet Journal

You've heard of the Bullet Journal, seen it on Instagram, but have you ever owned it?

Well, now you can. People often think that bullet journaling is expensive because of how costly the bullet journal itself is, but really, you can use any journal for this activity. You also don't need any fancy writing or drawing supplies. When I first started journaling, I bought a $10 dot journal on amazon, a few gel pens, and a few felt pens. So really, you don't need any expensive material, but if you want to, you can, obviously.

So, before we start, I'd like to tell you a few things about my experience with bullet journals. Bullet journals don't work for everyone. That's probably the one thing I want you to memorize about bullet journals, and probably the hardest thing to memorize too. I know, I know, your probably like, "Wait a minute, why are you posting about this if it's not for everyone?" Or, "What do you mean, 'It's not for everyone'? Isn't it supposed to be organized by yourself?" Well, the way I see it is, it's like a book, some people will enjoy that book, others will just find it boring, books and journaling have one thing in common, well, two; neither is made for everyone, and both are somewhat related to a notebook.

Now that we've got that matter settled, let's start making the real thing. If you decide to start on bullet journaling, you will need:

Basics:

1. A journal (dot, grid, or ruled is fine)

2. A pen (make sure your journal has thick paper if your using a fountain pen)

3. A ruler

4. A set of colored pencils (Crayola is just fine)

Extras:

1. Drawing supplies

2. An original Bullet Journal

3. A bookmark

4. Gel pens

5. Felt-tip pens

6. Washi-tape

7. Any other supply you feel is necessary!

Now that you've got all your supplies ready, we can start journaling! The methods I'm going to use is just basic bullet journaling, but you can go as creative as journaling gets, which is very creative. Use your imagination! It's like when you where younger and didn't know what to play, (princesses, dinosaurs), you got creative, used your imagination, and you ended up playing for hours in your room! Make sure you're working on a flat surface, like your desk, or a wooden floor, this is especially important because a lot of coloring and, on some occasions, perfection takes place. Once you've set up your work place, open your journal to the first page, this is your contact page, here, use your ruler to make a medium sized square in the center of your page. Once you've done that, write "Contact Page" on the top of the page. Then head over to the inside of the box and draw four lines, on the first line, write your name, on the second line, write your email, on the third line, write your phone number, and on the fourth line, write any extra information you think is necessary. Of course, if you are worried about security, privacy, etc... Don't do this, just put your name, or your job/school so if you lose your journal, you can get it back without having to worry about people finding out too much about you.

Once you've finished your contact page, go to the next blank page, this page will be housing your key. Your key is like any other key, it helps you find something and is unique until you copy it. This time, draw a bigger rectangle, one that covers most of your page, leaving only about a centimeter between your rectangle's border, and your page's edge. In this box, draw a set of twenty lines divide in half, as if you were making a t-chart, but forgot the center line. If your are using the basic method of bullet journaling, here's a list of the basic key items:

1. A dot bullet indicates a task.

2. A circle bullet indicates an event.

3. A dash bullet indicates a note.

4. An "x" indicates a completed task/event.

5. An arrow pointing right indicates a migrated task/event.

6. An arrow pointing left indicates a scheduled task/event.

7. Something that is irrelevant is crossed out.

8. And finally, something that is considered priority, is marked with a star.

So, as you can see, it's actually pretty organized for such a simple and easy method, but honestly, I prefer creating my own key. Everyone has their preference though.

The next page will be your index, you can make your index as many pages as you want, I recommend four. On the top of each index page, label it, "Index", once you've finished with each page, you can either write down "Contact Page", "Key", and "Index" as your first pages, or you can wait until we've finished the "Future Log".

After you've finished with the index, turn to the next blank page and label it "Future Log". Your Future Log will be the last thing we're going to work on today, but you're welcome to check out my Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest accounts to learn more about bullet journaling. Find me on Instagram @inkandparchmentblog, on YouTube @Ink And Parchment Blog, and on Pinterest @Ink And Parchment. The way I see it, your Future Log is sort of like a bucket list. I mean, you're writing down the things you're planning on doing one day, right? The way I made my future log, I just separated two pages into twelve sections and labeled each section with a month, then in each month's section, I wrote a few things I wanted to do in that specific month, but again, a bullet journal is made so that you can get creative while logging your past, present, and future.

Okay, I'm going to end here with a nice quote by Benjamin Franklin "Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing." I really hope this post helped you start your bullet journal! Make sure you follow me on Instagram, YouTube, or Pinterest, and don't hesitate on leaving a comment!

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