Bullet Journaling 101: Index and Future Planning

Hi everyone! Today we're continuing our series about something I've been doing lately to satisfy my love of stationery and organization: bullet journaling.  I am not one for trends, but when everyone and their mother was talking about bullet journaling and how it kept their life in order, I looked into it. I googled it and was immediately put off by all the insanely intricate layouts and drawings. A few months ago, my best friend asked me about whether or not I had heard of bullet journaling. I told her it all looked so complicated and that my OCD would stop me from actually enjoying it. Then I went through a period of daily anxiety and worry, and I decided I would try it to get my mind off the things that were bothering me. I've been through 4 journals and am now on my 5th, not because I have a lot to write, but because I was right about my OCD- I end up making layouts and hating them because there was something I wanted to add or I didn't like the order in which I placed the sections. 


Today we’re going to talk about the first sections in my bullet journal: my index and future planning.  In the traditional bullet journal the pages are numbered. I personally don’t do this for two reasons: a) it takes forever, and b) I tend to mess up a lot and end up gluing pages together which would screw up a numbering system. So I use tabs and just list the entries in the order they appear.



I know these photos aren't great, but the titles of sections are color coded to match the tabs I used



I started this journal this month (like I mentioned, I’ve set them up before but I have OCD and hated how I did it). I don’t expect the journal to have enough pages to go past the new year, so I’ve only written up until the end of December. I have sections for anything I’ll need until the end of the year. I have layouts for general planning, work, holiday gift ideas, my daughter’s birthday party, etc.


My generic (end of) year calendar

Social Media Post Ideas

My weight tracker

Holiday Gift Ideas Spread

Mood chart (left) and daily routines (right)

Fall Bucket List




Stay tuned for my next post: how I plan my month and weeks in my bullet journal!


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