Tuesday 9 February 2016

Bullet Point Journalling on a Tiny Budget

I've been reading a few blogs and watching a few videos on YouTube lately, where journalling, planners and bullet point journals have featured, and it's made me want to join in and do something similar myself.

However, being on a budget during a No Spend (save on essentials) month, I couldn't afford to go the whole hog and buy myself a planner, but didn't want this to stop me having a little bit of fun in this regard, so I looked around for a suitable note book or diary I could purchase, that would cost very little.

Whilst in Home Bargains the other day I came across this little note book.




I thought it was quite pretty and it had a waterproof plastic cover (that can be removed, but I thought I'd keep it in place to protect the notebook) and which also creates pockets in the front and back. It's small enough to fit in my handbag if necessary, but big enough to write my daily lists and reminders in.



Inside, on each page is there is a place for the date to be written, half a page of lines and half a page of blank paper.  It occurred to me that it might be useful as a kind of journal and at 49p it was a total bargain.



In the same store I saw this pack of different shaped, colourful post its that could be used with it for 99p, so I bought them too.

When I got them home, I decided that perhaps the best way of using this notebook would be to make it into a kind of bullet point journal, whereby I write in it the essential things I have to do on any one day, as a way of prioritising them and give them a box to tick off as I do them.



Additional tasks that need doing during the week, which I'm not sure on which day I'll  be doing them, I'm going to write on post its and keep inside the note book so they don't get forgotten, until I add them to the respective day list when I've completed them and ticked them off.

I'm hoping that by using this book, I can incorporate all of my daily lists, i.e. to do list, menu plan, etc. into one book and one place to look, so I'm not scrabbling around looking for small bits of paper that I've written them on.

It's not looking particularly colourful, as I haven't got all of my washi tapes out yet, nor made all of the stickers I want to make, but I'm hoping to jazz it up a bit on a daily basis.

I've already made these small stickers on the computer for TV programmes I want to watch, to remind me not to miss them.


Last night, it was Vera that I wanted to catch up on, as we recorded it on Sunday night.



I'm hoping to make some more stickers like these, to represent dog walks, cleaning, food shopping, gym classes, birthdays, holidays, allotment visits, etc,  so it should get more interesting as I get those made.

Making them myself on the computer, using clip art and sheets of small labels, means that they cost virtually nothing and just make each day look a little more interesting than just writing what I've done.


Here's a great video on Khila's YouTube Channel,  to show how similar stickers can be made.

I'm hoping that I can keep up with using this journal and I'll let you know how I get on..

9 comments:

  1. I bought an A4 folder as when we are planning village hall activities it's always A4 sized documents we get - but I love the idea of stickers. I am a great fan of anything on the stationery level - I think it's because, as a child with mum being a secretary there was always a flow of note pads and folders round the house (courtesy of ICI) WH Smiths and Staples are still my favourite shops.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love stickers too, they make it much more fun. My mum was also a secretary. Maybe I get that from her too.

      LB has already got into making her own stickers and is going to teach me how to do them the way Khila's video shows. She's much more techy than me.

      I think the techy gene skipped a generation with me, although both my sisters are much better than I am.

      Delete
  2. I bought a stack of these from Home Bargains but in B5 size - they are brilliant, 69p for B5 (which is almost A4). I use a double page a day for my freelance work diary. The paper is such good quality too, I can use highlighters and it doesn't show through.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, the paper is pretty good quality. The only problem I found was that sharpie pens leak through, so it has to be ball points.

      I did look at the larger ones and if this works well, but I find myself needing more space on a page, I may go back and get a bigger one.

      Delete
    2. I use felt-tip pens and they are fine.

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. Thank you. I've got a follow up post coming about some of the stickers I've made.

      Delete
  4. continued- once processed the page is crossed out. I told my DS about bullet journalling and he's hooked.
    xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think I just like the idea of ticking the boxes and playing about with stickers!

      Delete