Setting up My 2017 Bullet Journal
I can’t believe the year is almost over! What a year it’s been! Probably the best thing to happen over the last 12 months is my discovery of bullet journaling. I’ts been such a boon in my life – a creative outlet for sure, but mostly an amazing way to keep me organized and accountable for everything! But I’ll admit that the last several weeks, I’ve kind of stopped using my Bujo. I KNOW! Awful, right??
But I am definitely motivated to go into the new year with a brand new Bullet Journal and daily use of it to keep me rockin’ all of my goals for next year. So I decided to get a head start on my 2017 bullet journal. I actually started creating this one in early October. I took the Nuuna notebook that I love so much and re-vamped the cover that I didn’t love so much. I used Mod Podge and some cute fabric, along with some gold duct tape and made a pretty and unique cover.
The first page I created was the Index page, of course, which is like a Table of Contents for the Bullet Journal. I have been adding to it as I add each section/page, and I’m sure it will get more full as I go.
I wanted the first pages to include a Year at a Glance, as well as a page with my Word of the Year. I created graphics for each on PicMonkey and Canva, and I printed them out onto sticker paper and stuck them onto the pages of my Bujo. It worked really well and added a nice bit of visual interest to the beginning of my book. If you’d like to print out your own copy of the 2017 Calendar, you can download it for free here. Note: it is a jpg file, so you will want to put it into a word document or some other program to ensure you print it at the correct size.
Since I first discovered Bullet Journals in July this year, I never really set up an actual Future Log or anything like that. So I made sure to include it in my new one. I used a page for every three months, and added in the various events that I knew off the top of my head.
Next, I wanted a little spread with some quotes I liked. Mostly it was a way to separate the front of the book from the next section.
Finally, we come to the actual Planner part of the book. I don’t do daily spreads, as MOST days I don’t have enough going on to justify it. But I also don’t like the look of monthlies, and I probably have too much going on for them. So I decided to stick with weeklies – one week to a page. For each month, I set it up the same way. I used a printed sticker that I drew for each month. You can find them in my Etsy Shop if you want to download them and use them yourself.
January features the main monthly title page next to a simple calendar for the month. I then created each weekly spread on its own page, along with a to-do list. The final page of every month includes a gratitude section, as well as a blank space to be used however I need it that month. Link for the January Sticker
February is set up the same way, however, I tried to make each month’s weekly spreads unique. February Sticker
March Sticker
April Sticker
May Sticker
I haven’t finished all of my monthlies yet, but I’m going to be doing so over the next few days. I’ve already mapped them out and numbered all the pages, so they are ready to rock. Since I already know exactly how much space they’ll each take up, I was able to add in a few of my collections on the pages AFTER the monthlies.
For instance, here is my spread for Books I plan to read in 2017. On the left page will be the books I actually finish, titles added to each individual book on the shelf. On the right page, I will keep a running list of books I WANT to read.
On the next pages, I am going to keep track of movies I’ve seen for the year. The left side will be for movies I watched in the theater, while the right side will be lists of movies I watched at home or elsewhere.
The final spread I created so far is my Travel spread. I know I’ll be traveling a LOT next year, so I wanted to create a way of documenting it. I went on to Google and found a plain map of the US, and I printed it out on sticker paper. I cut around it and then stuck it into the center of my book. I did one side at a time and did some gentle cutting down the center so that it would adhere well to both sides without leaving a gap. The plan is to color in each state as I visit it and see how I did at the end of the year.
So that’s it for now. I can’t wait to add plenty more to my 2017 Bullet Journal. Hopefully it’s given you all some ideas for your own planning. I also made a little video vlog walking through my book with some more thoughts on the whys and hows. Feel free to take a gander.
