2020 Bullet Journal Planning - Tips and Tricks
If you know me, you know I’m constantly whipping out my planner to write down the most minute detail of my upcoming schedule, basically down to when I need to breathe or what day I should shower. I’ve always bought basic planners from Target or Walmart that were already laid out and had pre-made calendars, daily schedules, and to-do list templates already in them. After I graduated undergrad, I knew I was tired, bored, and feeling uninspired by these kinds of planners so when my friend gifted me a cute blank notebook, I tried to make it into a custom planner. Easier said than done, girlfriend! I had no outline, kind of just winged it, and it was UGLY. But it did help me learn a lot about how I schedule my time and what kinds of templates and formats work for me.
During my graduate degree, I was introduced to Amanda Rach Lee’s Youtube channel and instantly was inspired. Amanda makes monthly plan-with-me videos doing different bullet journal templates and plans everything around a theme for that month, whether that be coffee, autumn leaves, or back to school supplies. I loved that it was both organized and creative and immediately ordered a bullet journal for myself so I could begin my “custom planner journey”.
I’m sure you’re wondering what exactly a bullet journal is. This particular kind of notebook is usually a hard cover with pages that have teeny tiny dots on them creating a grid pattern that make it easy to be creative but also allows a foundation for any kind of template you want. I ordered a smaller size Minimalism Art dotted paper notebook on Amazon for less than $10 and the reviews were great and they came in a number of colors! I googled as many articles as I could about weekly templates, habit trackers, reading logs, and budget sheets that I could incorporate into my notebook and came up with my own themes.
I loved having a monthly cover page relating to that month, like February with an array of hearts or July with fireworks. I came up with a habit tracker spread that worked for me and decided on which habits I wanted to track like drinking more water or cooking more meals at home. These are totally customizable and make it easy to follow since you are probably pulling out your planner daily. I also decided to forgo the typical calendar page and do something a little different since this was not a page I used frequently in the Target and Walmart planners. My planner started the week off on a Monday, mostly done since I was still in school when I created it. At the end of the month, I tracked my mood in a calendar view to see how my mental health fluctuated and this was really insightful. The end of the entire planner was a reading log (that I sadly did not keep up on because grad school makes you not want to look at another word on paper ever again), a budget which turned out to be more of tracker and less of a strict guideline to follow, and different kinds of lists like bucket lists, things I want to buy, and a future log for the coming year. I did a ton of planning and math to make sure all of these things fit and I had a couple pages in the back that are still blank! So great planning on my planning on my part.
Now that it’s December, I am starting to plan my 2020 bullet journal. The one I had for 2019 held up so well and worked for me so I purchased another Minimalism Art notebook in the orange color this time to spice things up. I learned a lot from using my bullet journal in 2019 and already knew the amount of pages would accommodate a full year’s worth of planning so I wasn’t worried about fitting it all in. I did know I completely wanted to get rid of the month calendar view since I barely used it, add a couple more habits to track, and completely revamp my budgeting. I also chose to use cleaner, more open lines and boxes for the daily schedule to keep my mind clear and plans easier to follow. In 2019, I changed jobs and it has been difficult trying to maintain living a full time job lifestyle on a part time job budget, so tracking all my spending for 2020 and creating strict spending amounts for myself will hopefully keep me in check, especially since my student loan grace period is over. As for a content calendar, I’m keeping this in a completely separate notebook so my daily schedules don’t look so cluttered. I’m officially almost done with my 2020 bullet journal, just needing to put the finishing touches on the monthly themed cover pages but I’m so excited to start filling it with plans and keeping track of what I know will be a great year. Here’s to 2020!
