c/bullet-journaling

Tried to bullet journal my coffee habit and ended up with a stain disaster

I was in my local cafe in Portland last Tuesday, carefully tracking my morning brew in my new journal, when a barista tripped and dumped a whole latte right across my spread. Had to rip out three pages and start over. Has anyone else had a drink ruin their monthly log?

Went to a craft fair last weekend and saw way too many people selling 'bullet journals' that were just pre-printed planners

Vent: my habit tracker was a total disaster until I simplified it

I started bullet journaling about 4 months ago, and I went all in on this super detailed habit tracker with 15 different things to check every day. It looked beautiful with all these colors and little icons, but I kept missing days because it was too much work to fill in. Then about 3 weeks ago I had this moment where I realized I wasn't actually using any of the data, I was just making pretty squares. So I ripped out the whole page and just put a tiny column for 3 habits - water intake, walk outside, and read before bed. Now I actually fill it out every day because it takes 10 seconds. Has anyone else found that keeping it super bare bones works better than the fancy spreads?

Rant: My coworker was wrong about daily rapid logging

Everyone in this sub swears by daily rapid logging with short bullets, but my coworker Janet pushed me to do full paragraph journaling every night for a month. She said I'd remember more details and feel more connected to my entries. I tried it from January to February, and all I got were long walls of text I hated looking at. It took me twice as long each night and I started avoiding my journal entirely. Going back to rapid logging with simple bullet points and symbols saved my habit. Has anyone else had someone convince them to try a method that wrecked their flow for a while?

That $15 stencil set turned my monthly spread into a total mess

I spent $15 on a pack of stencils off Amazon thinking they'd make my headers look clean. First try, the paint bled under the edge and ruined my whole August layout. Second attempt with a different pen just smeared everywhere. Now I'm back to freehanding letters and it looks way better. Anyone else waste money on fancy tools that just made things worse?

Changed my mind on monthly layouts after seeing a 6 month comparison

I used to do these huge, colorful monthly spreads with washi tape and was obsessed with making them look like art. But I pulled out my old notebook from last year and flipped back to January. The layout was packed with decoration and barely any actual tasks written down. By June, I had switched to a super basic list style with just the dates on the left side. The difference was wild. January's spread had 3 tasks actually crossed off. June had 27. What convinced me was seeing how much more I used the journal when I stopped fussing over how it looked. Now I just do a simple calendar block and a task list for each month. Has anyone else gone from fancy to plain and seen their productivity jump like that?

Overheard a booktuber say daily reflection spreads are a waste of ink and now I'm second-guessing my whole index setup

She said she only logs tasks and never looks back at her daily notes, but isn't the whole point of bullet journaling to track patterns over time, how do you actually use your old spreads to catch trends without flipping through six months of entries?

Wasted $45 on a fancy stencil set for my weekly spreads

Saw these pretty stencils on Instagram. Looked perfect for my weekly layout. Got them in the mail and the measurements were off by like 2mm. Now my boxes don't line up and it drives me crazy. Anyone else get burned by buying trendy journaling tools online?

Switching from paper to digital half way through 2023

I started bullet journaling back in 2018 with a simple notebook and a pen, but last June I moved everything to a cheap tablet app. Now my spreads are cleaner and I can search past notes in seconds, but I miss the feel of my old pen scratching across the page. Anyone else ever go back to paper after trying digital, or is it just me being nostalgic?

Pro tip: I wasted 3 years writing daily habit trackers the hard way

I used to draw a full weekly tracker every Sunday night with separate boxes for water, steps, and reading. Then yesterday I noticed my friend just puts a single dot on his daily log and connects the dots at month end into a graph. Has anyone else realized they were overcomplicating their system way past the point of usefulness?

Found a simple fix for my messy weekly spreads

After 2 years of fussing with washi tape and stickers, I just use a ruler and 3 colored pens now. Has anyone else found a super basic setup that actually sticks better than the fancy stuff?

Debate: Should you draw your weekly spreads in advance or day by day?

My buddy Mike told me last week he draws his whole month in one sitting and says it saves him 30 minutes a week. But I think that kills the whole point of bullet journaling being flexible and reactive to your mood. What side are you on, do you plan ahead or wing it as you go?

Had my bullet journal stolen at a coffee shop and lost 8 months of trackers

I was working on my weekly spread at Brew & Bean downtown last Saturday and stepped away to grab a napkin. Came back and my journal was gone from the table. Someone probably thought it was a notebook with passwords or something. I lost habit trackers, mood logs, and three months of meal prep notes that I actually used. Now I only use a cheap spiral notebook for my daily logging and keep my main bujo at home. Has anyone else had their journal walk away on them? How do you protect yours when you're out?

A friend told me my weekly spreads were too cluttered and I fought it for months

I used to cram every single appointment and task into one two-page spread for the whole week. My buddy Mark looked at my BuJo last June and said it looked like a ransom note. I finally tried splitting into a daily layout format with just 4 tasks per day and it actually cut my setup time from 30 minutes to 10. Has anyone else had to simplify their format after getting called out?

Vent: my whole bujo system fell apart after that coffee shop meetup in Portland

Was at this little bujo meetup at a cafe downtown last month. Some girl showed off her layout with 12 different color pens and washi tape on every page. Made me feel like my simple black pen setup was garbage. So I went home and tried to copy her style. Total disaster. My spreads were ugly, my tracker was a mess, and I stopped using it for 2 weeks. Now I'm back to just my basic black pen and a ruler. Has anyone else let some stranger's fancy setup mess with your groove?

Pro tip: don't trust your bullet journal when you're half asleep

Last Tuesday at 2am I wrote 'brush teeth, feed cat' in my daily spread but crossed out the wrong one and my cat got fed twice and I brushed my teeth with hand soap. Has anyone else woken up to find their morning brain made a mess of their tracker?

Spotted a stranger's journal where they did a weekly spread without any habit trackers

I was waiting for coffee yesterday and saw this person's bullet journal open on the table, they had a full weekly layout with just tasks and events, zero habit trackers or mood logs. It got me thinking, are trackers actually helpful or do they just add clutter for the sake of filling space? What's your take, do you rely on habit trackers or keep it stripped down like that?

Hot take: My fancy $60 bullet journal pen was a total letdown

I bought a Sakura Pigma Micron 08 from that art store on Elm Street because everyone raves about them. After two weeks the tip got all fuzzy and the ink started bleeding through my Leuchtturm1917 pages. Honestly, I had better luck with a $2 Pilot G2 I grabbed at the gas station. Has anyone else found that expensive markers just don't hold up for daily journaling?

Tried a mood tracker spread vs a simple habit tracker for 6 weeks

The mood tracker was a waste of space with all those colors and symbols, but the habit tracker with just daily checkboxes actually helped me stick to my morning routine, anyone else ditch the fancy stuff for a plain layout?

Found a weird hack for tracking water intake in my bujo

I kept forgetting to drink water during work, so I tried drawing a little glass icon for each 8oz I wanted to hit. Turns out coloring them in with a Sharpie is oddly satisfying and I actually hit my goal of 64oz for 5 days straight last week. Does anyone else add little doodle trackers for habits they normally hate? My problem is finding space for them without ruining my weekly layout.

Stumbled on a wild stat about monthly spreads in my own journal

I was flipping back through my bullet journal from last year and realized I had 43 different monthly spreads that I abandoned halfway through. That's like 3.5 years of wasted planning if you add up all the pages. Has anyone else counted their dead monthly setups and gotten a shock?

Vent: New people treat bullet journals like art portfolios now

I started bullet journaling back in 2015 when Ryder Carroll's method first went viral. Back then my spreads were just a pen and a ruler, messy weekly logs with crossed out tasks. Now I see posts where folks spend 4 hours on a single cover page with washi tape and watercolors. Nothing wrong with making it pretty, but the whole point was to get organized, not to win an art contest. So many beginners think they need fancy supplies to start, but my first notebook was a $3 spiral from Target. Has anyone else noticed the original system getting buried under all the decorations?

Pro tip: I gave up on my Leuchtturm1917 after 3 months for a cheap composition book.

Everyone says you need a fancy dotted notebook, but the pressure to make it perfect was killing my system. I switched to a basic 99 cent composition book from the store and my daily logging actually got consistent. Has anyone else found that simpler tools work better for them?

My cat turned my monthly spread into modern art

I was working on my March layout at the kitchen table last night, just finished a neat little habit tracker with my favorite green pen. I got up for maybe two minutes to grab a glass of water. My cat, Mochi, who normally ignores my journal, decided this was her moment. I came back to find her sitting proudly in the middle of the page, her paws covered in wet black ink from a pen she'd knocked over. She'd walked a perfect, smudgy trail right through the middle of my calendar. The whole spread was ruined. I just stood there for a full minute, staring. I ended up gluing the two pages together and starting March over on the next fresh sheet. Now I keep a blank piece of paper over my active page whenever I step away. Has anyone else had a pet completely wreck a layout? What did you do with the messed up pages?

Spent $35 on a set of mildliner highlighters and they completely changed my weekly spread.