Bullet journals - do you use one?

I’m going to start something like a bullet journal. I want eevrything in one place, rather than different notebooks for things. I like the tabs, and index ideas too! :+1:

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Ironically, I recently started going the other way, creating project books outside my bullet journal. I started one on money issues 6 months ago. I wrote in it every day. I can now look back and see how things have changed.

I liked how that worked so much that I started another one on connections and people.

I could have used tabs for these but it was easier to grab a book and that reminded me to do it every day. I’ve been thinking about getting more composition :books: books, but there is probably a limit to how many of them can be going simultaneously until it gets distracting.

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Yes, this was my thinking too…to have different notebooks for different things, and it worked for a while until I had about 13 books on the go for all my different projects and household things. It just gets a bit much, because I write a lot in them. So, I thought if I had a “one-book-fits-all” approach, it would help me write just the bare facts, rather than expansive notes all leading to different things. (mind mapping style), it would be something I could carry with me all the time (travelers journal idea where you can add and remove pages whenever you like)

It could well be a tome of a book, mind you :joy:

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Haha. Yes, this is what’s happening to my bullet journal. It’s getting so heavy that I’m less inclined to even move it to jot something really small in it. And I’m even less inclined to journal anything in depth in it. I know that having piles of paper everywhere isn’t the way to go. I tried that (unintentionally) two years ago.

I’m still experimenting which is what I like about the bullet journal. It’s versatile.

I like the mind mapping idea. I’ve tried software for that in the past.

Please share how your adventures go with this. I’m always looking for new ideas on how to organize stuff. :slight_smile:

It is too time consuming for me. I used to have a diary yearly, but instead of it being a comfort, it was a chore at the end of the day.
A quick jot on my daily calendar is enough for me.

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How do you keep track of your 3D printer progress? That’s the kind of thing I personally like to see the progression of.

The journals can be digital. Maybe your threads here on the subject are your journal?

That’s how I felt about gratitude journaling. They say that if you write 3 things you’re grateful for a day, it will make you happier. It made me miserable. Now I write things I’m grateful for because I feel like it. That works better for me. Everyone has their own unique style.

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This is my journal

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Nice travelogue.

I can’t be R’sed.

Freud had a name for this .

Sorry Maree, I missed this on the first read. That’s what I’ve been using too!

Here, they’re called composition books.

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In school, they’re usually black.

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They’re fairly inexpensive. I was just about to order some because I’ve been using the couple I started with. I’m just wondering at what point do they turn into clipped piles of paper where it takes me more time to find the composition book I want to write in. That was my problem with the clipped papers. On the other side, I do like how they’re portable and I can put all of one subject in the same place without having to open the bigger binder.

They are cheap enough and I rather like having things separate, if I’m food shopping I grab the shopping one and the fridge/freezer/cupboard one, if I’m doing a decorating or craft project one, they get an exercise book of their own!

I use them in conjunction with my Day to a Page diary and my monthly planner, and keep them all in a big shoe box on my desk, and just take out the one I need

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Sounds like a bullet journal. :slight_smile:

I was just reading this comment from someone who said all he needed was to keep track of a few scribbles he made and would sometimes lose. People agreed that was just a less efficient bullet journal if the person loses it but still a bullet journal. As people noted, the pretty bullet journals get the attention, but the simple ones get used just the same.

https://reddit.com/r/BasicBulletJournals/comments/uww6xc/i_make_lists_and_leave_them_everywhere_and/

It sorry of is, but I like to keep it all separate and not think about everything at once, if you know what I mean

And I can pick up just one of my exercise books, take it away and concentrate on that

For example, we’re decorating the kitchen at the moment. So of course I’ve got an exercise book labelled “Kitchen”

( And I really do label it childishly on the front in big handwriting like we did at school, makes me smile!)

So I can take it into the sitting room, write my plans, into the kitchen and write down measurements, in the sitting room again on my phone ordering stuff and writing down receipts, then make my lists in it and take it to the hardware store to buy paint etc

And write all my notes for the project, contacts etc in it in one place

It sort of seems more relaxed to me to focus on just the thing I’m doing rather than an all in together bullet journal which I find can be a bit overwhelming and guilt inducing

Plus it’s only an exercise book so no pressure to make it pretty, complicated or clever!

I did this too! :smiley:

That’s the reason I like it too. I’ve been moving in this direction lately. I’ve been thinking about how many more books I want to order. They’re cheap, so I can order a bunch. If I order too many, the simplicity is gone. If I order too few, I might have to stall a project to wait for a book. (I know, silly stuff, but it’s ramblings on a forum)

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The ones I like come in packs of 10 but I don’t use them all at once, just keep them in the drawer until I need one

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@butterscotch
@Maree

You two are either exceptionally well organised or you both have OCD - I could never be so disciplined! :smiley_cat: :smiley_cat: :smiley_cat:

I have a Commonplace Book in which I occasionally write favourite poems, witty ripostes, odd recipes, jokes etc., - but ‘occasionally’ is the operative word. :smiley_cat: :smiley_cat:

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Deffo not OCD, you should see the state of my house sometimes!

I’m a butterfly, pleasure seeking little person, easily distracted by something pretty… oooh, a flower…. what were we talking about? :rofl:

And I’m a dreamer and forgetful and as bone idle as a cat, so my exercise books are instead of having a brain, or indeed any self discipline!

They keep me as on track as I’m ever going to get……,

But it’s creative too, having a place to jot down all those ideas I’d forget, recipes I’m going to try, things I like

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Part of it is that i was tired of reinventing the wheel. I remember times when I would think I found a “genius” answer to a problem, only to look back at some old notes to realize I had already thought of this “genius” answer (and maybe even why it didn’t work). But because my notes were scattered, I was reinventing the wheel all the time. Putting notes in one place helps me to focus on moving forward, not starting all over again every time I start something.

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