back to bullet journaling!

hi everyone! it’s been a while since i last posted anything :’) i have a few longer blog posts in the works, but since they’re taking so long, i thought i’d post a quick bullet journal update!

i was first introduced to bullet journaling back in 2016 or 2017 (probably through booklr HAHA) and immediately fell in love with the concept. i actually recently found my 2017 bujo while cleaning my room – here’s a few pics of some spreads i liked!

okay wait i’m sad because i’m like 99% sure i took a few more pictures?? i DEFINITELY remember that there were several other spreads i liked but i can’t find the pics…. if i find them, i’ll definitely update this post, but i might have already recycled my old bujo 🙁

anyway! the main function of bullet journaling for me is planning. i like journaling too, but i do it in a separate notebook because i like the aesthetic of just the planner hahah – i do include snippets of my thoughts/feelings in my spreads though. i also love that bullet journaling is a simple way to be creative! i’m not a very artsy person, but it’s fun trying to make my spreads look nice 🙂 thankfully, my spreads these days look a bit nicer (or at least i hope so!) than the ones from 2017, and i definitely think my handwriting’s improved a lot. fyi, the sketch of the angel with a flower crown was done by one of my very talented friends <3

although some people think it’s a waste of time to make your journal look pretty, i disagree! for me, it’s kinda therapeutic, and i really enjoy the time i spend on my bullet journal. at times, yes, it can get burdensome, but i think you just need to be aware of what works for you and how much time you want to spend on your bujo. if you prefer a simple/minimalistic journal, that’s totally cool, and you should do that! if you like your journal to be very filled out and decorated, that’s great too! just do what works best for you – whatever helps you feel most productive and put together and, most importantly, happy!

finally, on to my current bullet journal!

first of all, i’m using the same notebook i used before, which is a spiral bound notebook from muji with a clear cover and dotted pages. the paper quality is fine, but most importantly for me, it’s very affordable (about $4.50). in the future though, i definitely want to invest in a nicer journal that’s hardcover and properly bound! it’s just that i don’t always stick with bullet journaling for a long time (oops), so i wouldn’t want to buy a nice notebook, then waste it :’) i do really like the clear cover though! on thenside cover, i taped a picture of me and my roommate to make it a bit more interesting haha

as for supplies, i keep it relatively simple. i got this set of pastel tombow dual brush pens for my birthday last year, and they’re great for headers and just adding more color to the page in general! i also have a tombow fudenosuke brush pen (hard tip), which i use to write the dates in my weekly spreads. it’s double ended, but i mainly use the black end. finally, i use my trusty pilot g2 (0.38mm, of course) to write in everything else. honestly, the pilot g2 pens are my all time favorite black pens – yes, even more than the muji gel ink pens everyone loves. honestly i think muji pens are overrated HAHA (don’t @ me)

here’s my cover for may! i’ve just been doing simple monthly spreads and sticking with the same color for the rest of the month – may’s color was pink, as you can see here. i don’t loveee the header, but i just left it anyway haha. i’ve been playing around with a lot of different writing styles, and i get a lot of my inspiration/ideas from studygram! some of my favorite studygrams are @tbhstudying, @studywithinspo, @sakura.studies, and @cloudyiswriting – definitely go check them out!

since i’m not the best at drawing, i really like printing out pictures from google images and arranging them to create nice spreads! i also use a lot of washi tapes 🙂

i actually started this bujo in the middle of the month (wild, i know!!), which i probably never would have done before. honestly, i saw no point in waiting so i just went for it and i’m so glad i did 🙂 i started right after i got home from new york – i guess i was just really eager to get started since i wasn’t really able to do it during the school year.

for week three of may, i kept the header for each day pretty simple: i just wrote the date and day of the week with my tombow fudenosuke and underlined that with a tombow dual brush pen. i added pictures i printed out, a movie stub, stickers, and washi tape. i also wrote random notes and messages to myself to fill up white space.

and here’s week 4 of may! i found a pressed flower from my JUNIOR YEAR PROM (yall, that flower is three years old) so i just decided to tape it in! i don’t love this spread because i feel like it looks a bit messy, but it’s okay!

i also added this marie kondo spread since i was really feeling motivated in may, and i really like how the spread turned out! i’ve been trying to get back into the cleaning grind, so hopefully i’ll be done by the end of the month :’)

this spread has my may wrap-up (similar to our blog wrap-ups!) on the left. i like recording the highlights of my month, as well as my favorites – shows, habits, books i enjoyed that month. i even have my bite and sting candle (my all time favorite) and thrift shopping on my may favorites list, haha

on the right side, i have my june cover page. june’s color was yellow, because summer, sun…. it just seemed obvious!

for june, i kept the format more or less the same as may. more playing around with lettering styles and trying to figure out what i like! (side note – i took the phot on the right page of the roses hehe)

same thing for week 2! also, i tend to cover up mistakes a lot (oops). i’m a bit of a perfectionist, so i hate having mistakes, especially when they’re very very obvious. a lot of the time, i just slap a sticker of picture or washi tape over whatever i messed up on, and everything looks fine after that! the bottom two pictures on the right page were also taken by me :))

i was really obsessed with seventeen’s happy ending this week, which is why i dedicated a spread to them on the left page!

and here are weeks 3 and 4 of june! i don’t love how the self-care ideas spread turned out, but…. things aren’t going to be perfect and that’s okay :’) these two spreads also feature a few more pictures taken by me !

and last but not least, here’s my june wrap-up and july cover! these spreads (mainly the sunflowers) were heavily inspired by @studywithinspo….. okay i honestly just kinda stole his idea sorry!! but i’m a huge fan of brian’s style hahah, and i wanted to add some doodles to spice up the pages!

and that’s a wrap on this post! i’ve been really loving bullet journaling – it’s a great creative outlet, and it just makes me feel happier :’)) hopefully i can continue this habit into the school year, but since my current format is very free flowing and unstructured, i’ll need to figure out something new for school… but that’s a problem i can deal with later!

do you bullet journal? tell me more about your system!