A Frozen Weekend and Bullet Journaling

Good morning from the frozen North....unless you happen to be located north of me!  As far as this girl's concerned I may as well live in an igloo inside the Arctic Circle, because as the song says, "Baby, it's COLD outside!"

It's been frigid since Friday so it was a mostly stay inside kind of weekend for me.  I did venture out to the store for a bit on Saturday for some things we needed.  It felt so good to be out and doing something after being sick all last week that I really enjoyed grocery shopping.  Really.

Speaking of enjoyable things, I got to have my favorite pizza Friday night and my stomach was good with it.  I totally pigged out, but after nothing but broth and some mashed potatoes all week, that first bite was absolutely divine...like heaven came down and landed on my tongue!  In fact, I think I might have heard angels singing.

I got to see my grandson on Saturday when I stopped by my daughter's apartment for a visit.  It gave her and Cody a chance to take down the Christmas tree and other decorations while I held the baby.  Yesterday they stopped by for a bit in the evening so I got baby time in again.  Yay!

The other thing I spent some time on this weekend was finishing up my 2017 bullet journal.  I've shared previous ones here on the blog, but I thought I'd share this one, too.  Bullet journals kind of evolve as you figure out what your needs are and what works for you.  I'm very pleased with this one.

I start with a basic black Moleskine notebook with graph pages.  There are prettier colors, but Barnes & Noble didn't have them and I didn't want to have to order one and wait on it.  I like that it has an elastic band to keep it closed. There is also a pocket on the inside of the back cover to store papers, stamps, etc.

The first page is a simple index of what's in the journal...added to each week.

The next two pages are the legend of symbols I use and a page of goals for the year.

Then comes a savings plan and a record of books to read.

Next is a 2-page spread of special days and events...

followed by a 2-page weight loss spread.

Next comes a page for tracking daily Bible study and a page of daily/weekly/monthly/yearly cleaning chores.

Then we finally get into the meat of the bullet journal.  Each month will begin with a 2-page overview.  The first page is a simple list, numbered according to the number of days in the month.  Here I list important events, appointments, or other things I don't want to forget or may need to quickly reference later on.

The second page has space for monthly goals/tasks and for a review.

Lastly is the 2-page spread I allot for each week.  There is plenty of room for several different things besides the days....weather forecast, meal planning, habit tracking, notes.

I won't lie.  It takes a bit of work to set it all up, but I've found this system works better for me than any other planner I've ever tried.  I think that's because other than the basic "bullet" concept it is totally my creation.  I can play around with it, tweak it, or completely change it from week to week and make it exactly what I need it to be.

If you've never tried bullet journaling and are curious, my advice is to head on over to Pinterest do a search for bullet journals.  You will be overwhelmed by the shear volume of posts, but don't let it scare you away.  Browse through them and save a few that you think might work for you and start there.  You can always change it down the road.