Setting Up a New Bullet Journal

Hey everyone!

It’s already April. Spring is finally here! I’m saying goodbye to the winter weather in New York with a heavy heart. I actually liked the cold, as un-tita as that sounds. But with some farewells come new beginnings. And I’m happy to announce that I’m moving into a new bullet journal this month!

I’m starting with a hard cover Moleskine journal with squared or grid lines. I had it customized at the Moleskine store at the Oculus mall (World Trade Center, NYC). It now has my name on it in gold, because I’m worth it.

I just love how the beginning of spring coincides with the beginning of my second bullet journal!

New Journal, New Me!

Here’s what I’ll be using from here on out:

• Moleskine large squared journal (hard cover)
• Sakura Micron inking pens, size 01 (black + pink)
• Faber Castell PITT brush pens (perfect for highlighting + coloring!)
• MUJI acrylic folding ruler
• loads of sassy stickers

I know they say don’t judge a book by its cover, but I wanted mine to reflect who I am as a person. I’m more than just plain black (even though that’s all I ever wear). I’ve changed a lot here in New York. I’m now more outspoken, more feisty, and so much more self-assured. I’m proud of my name. And I’m not that scared of standing out anymore.

I decorated the cover with these super cute stickers. The pack of Kimoji stickers and the pack of stickers by Tuesday Bassen are from Urban Outfitters. The center “Fight Me” sticker (which is so me TBH) is from my friend Krysten, and the Sylveon sticker was given to me by my friend Kitkat.

The little unicorn in the bottom corner is my fave. I’m hoping to decorate the cover with more and more stickers. Sort of like collecting badges to reaffirm who I am or displaying medals that show how much stronger I’m getting. I also hope they stick to my cover well.

In the unlikely event of my bullet journal getting lost, I put some contact details on the inside page. It also has my social media handles and the URL to this blog. I mean, if some stranger finds it wishing to find me, I hope that they’ll love the contents of this journal and stalk my blog.

There’s a little pony in the corner to stand guard as well.

Not quite starting over again.

Remember my first Bullet Journal 101 post? About starting a bullet journal for the first time? Well, starting a new bullet journal after having finished one feels so much better, so much more exciting.

I remember when I started my first BuJo, I felt panicky, unsure where to start. Figuring out a system was tricky. Back then, I hadn’t yet found one that worked for me. Yet as I progressed up to the completion of my first journal, I found that sweet spot.

Now I’m working with a system that works. At the same time, I’m no longer afraid of changing said system if ever it stops working for me. That’s the beauty of bullet journaling. You learn as you go.

I never got back into dot bullets. The box method looks a lot neater and it’s easier to navigate. I gave up on having signifiers for priorities and deadlines. Because I keep my layouts crisp and practical, I no longer find myself rapidly logging a million tasks in a day. You’ll see why in my weekly spreads below.

These grid lines are so aesthetically pleasing. I find that this squared journal makes writing easier and neater than my previous dotted one. The only downside, I suppose, is it’s harder to draw things without the lines getting in the way. But I’m not much of a doodler so it’s not a problem.

I won’t be using washi tape highlights any more for my spreads. Simply decorating the page with good penmanship and even spacing is more than enough to appease my aesthetic wants.

I’m loving this whole minimalist grid look, so I’ll be working with colors sparingly. This cool gray from Faber Castell’s pastel brush pen set works marvelously to add little accents. I also retired my handy dandy MUJI multipen from bullet journaling. My new staple is a set of Sakura Micron fine liners (thank you, Zöe!). I’m using the size 01 (0.25mm). The point is fine but doesn’t mark too light.

I’m using the same future log and year at a glance layout I figured out at the start of this year. You can find this same layout in my New Year plan with me. This time though I got rid of the gold and went monochrome.

Spread the love!

I also transferred my new year’s resolutions so I don’t forget them. The worst thing to do when moving forward is to lose sight of where you want to be. And this journal is a promise to myself to keep getting better.

Some lists I’ve transferred into my new journal: books to read, shows and movies to watch, podcasts to listen to.

I got these pages as well (if you can read my index above, you’ll see them):

• Wishlist (will reference this when my birthday comes 😋)
• Recipes (haven’t been able to cook yet, so this’ll fill up when I’m back in Manila)
• Bucket list
• Buy & sell spread (perfect for earning money from spring cleaning)
• Places to see
• Blog post ideas
• TV show tracker (Got a Netflix trial and am making the most out of this spread)

April Plan With Me: Pretty In Pink

Attempted to make my monthly divider prettier by drawing. So my peonies ended up looking like vaginas. My subconscious perhaps aspired to be like Georgia O’Keeffe.

When I said my layouts were crisp earlier, I meant it. Having this horizontal monthly spread cuts out events from my weeklies. It’s a lot easier to schedule meetings, dates (with friends!), and tours when everything’s on one spread. And color coding my events really makes all the difference.

I also hoarded a lot of paint chips from a hardware store in Jersey City. They had pastel colors (and they’re free) so I got maybe five of each and turned them into page flags.

This baby here is my breadwinner, though. I improved my secondary monthly spread to near perfection. I think the squared lines make this look so much neater than if it were on dotted pages.

I’ll be using a different marker color every month. For April, it’s pink. Having one of my fave colors highlights my excitement over this new journal.

I got my planner just the other day (April 2) so my first two days of April are blank. I used the remaining space in my old bujo to rapidly log tasks. And that wasn’t fun because I totally gave up on making the last pages pretty.

Now I’m here and I can’t believe it. I just think my journal looks so gorgeous and so my aesthetic. I ditched the vertical weekly log on the side of the page to give way for simplicity and minimalism. It’s almost ironic how clean and basic the inside of my journal is compared to its loudly decorated cover.

I preset all my weekly spreads to look like this. I divided each page into four. The first section is my weekly log, where I’ll be migrating events from my horizontal monthly log. The remaining seven sections give each day of the week equal space for me to rapid log.

Inspo time!

One of my pegs is @feebujo on Instagram. But I need to get more confident with my drawing first before I get on her level. Also check out my Pinterest board for bullet journal spread inspiration!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSddckHhU9B/

I’m updating my bullet journal board on Pinterest as I go. I want to be a lot more creative in this journal. What’s great about my new weekly layout is that it doesn’t have to be on one continuous spread. I can have half a week and a blank page for a spread if I want more space to draw or write.

https://www.pinterest.com/bellemaps/bullet-journal/

What other bullet journal accounts should I check out? Let me know in the comments or send me a message!

All in all, I’m so excited to turn over a new leaf. It’s also my last month in New York, so I’m definitely going to make the most out of it.

Thanks for reading this post!

Toodles,