A year or so ago, I tried out bullet journaling (bujo for short), but it was too chaotic, disorganized and repetitive, so I went back to my Filofax. And, in the manner of many planner users, that hasn’t quite fit the bill, either. The rings are in the way, I carry around a ton of stuff that I never use or look at…I love, love, love my Malden, but…I need to try something else.

I don’t remember what led me to bujo videos on youtube the other day, but I was quickly caught up in them and decided to give the system another try.

I had a nice hardcover notebook on hand, which I wouldn’t normally use except that this one lays flat when open. I wrote my key (which is still undergoing changes) and a little “if you find this” note and taped them inside the front cover.

My last bujo’s index was a mess. I wrote dang near everything there, because if I want to find something, I want to be able to find it NOW. As a result, it was insane, and part of why I decided to drop this system. This time it will be a bit more general, but in a way, hopefully, that I’ll still have a sense of where to look for a particular entry.

I’m too lazy to write little calendars for the year-at-a-glance, and I just happened to have one of those little calendars that insurance companies will give you, and I cut the tiny ‘month before and after’ ones and taped them in. Easy-peasy. 🙂

I found the weekly set-up in a video (sorry, I don’t remember which one), and as I prefer a weekly view, gave it a shot. I already know that it’s not big enough, so next week will be a week-on-two-pages setup. Otherwise I’ll end up with tons of notes elsewhere, and I really don’t want that.  I’m also trying out trackers, but I don’t know if I’ll stick with them. I’ve also made some mistakes, as you can see, and the perfectionist in me has managed not to freak out and start all over…go, me!

After the weekly page I have a sort of daily setup, where I’m writing notes. When I go to the 2-page setup, I may drop that. Or do more of a brain dump section. I’m not sure yet.

I just started using a bujo over the weekend, so I’m curious to see how I tweak it and how it ends up working for me. Fingers crossed!

©Pip Miller – August 2017

PS: update on the marmot. All 4 of her paws were burnt. 😦 It seems that when people go camping in northern NM and CO, marmots crawl up under the hood and when the vehicle is started, they are too scared to move and end up riding under there til the car stops. Ouch! They healed her paws and drove her to northern NM and released her into a family of marmots. It’s not hers, but at least she’ll have an easy time fitting in; if she was male, territory issues would cause problems. So she’s ok!!! #happydance