Tuesday, August 16, 2016

FILOBUJO - Bullet Journaling in a Filofax or Ring-binder

If you read my last post, you already know that I have moved from a bound bullet journal system (Moleskine Grid Large) , to a ring bound system (Filofax Domino A5).  Today I will be sharing my setup, as well do a flip through of some of the sections inside my Filofax.

Firstly let me get into why I decided on a ring bound system.  I like the idea of being able to keep my long term collections, long term, and not have to worry about copying the lists over into a new book each time I ran out of book.  I also like the idea of having sections for different topics.  Yes, you can section off parts of your notebook, but I found I may end up needing more space in one section, and less in another resulting in wasted pages.  I am sure there are many fabulous ways to overcome this in a regular notebook, but as you all know, bullet journaling is all about finding a system and using what works for you.  This is just what works for me, right now.  I am under no illusion that this is the be all and end all of my planner system, I mentioned this in my last post, that I think Planner Peace occurs when the system is working for that individual at that particular time, and then it's gone, and we need to tweak the system to work again.

Flyleaf with sticky notes.

Back of sticky note page & front page which came with the Filofax.  


I have just a couple of random things in the front pocket of the planner.  Some paint chips as we are deciding on doing some repainting in the house, and information pertaining to an event I want to attend.  Then there is the sticky note flyleaf which I made using laminating sheet, punching and splitting the holes so that the sheet is removable.  The sticky notes co-ordinate with each member of our family -  Hubby - green, Me - blue, Son - Orange, Daughter - Pink.   I am undecided yet as to if this is a totally functional way to have it, I rarely use sticky notes, and when I do it is just to jot down something in a hurry to home at a later stage, and being colour specific may become redundant - watch this space!!

The next page is the cover page which came with the planner.  All I did was stamp a feather on the top of the page, and add a sticky note as an index of what each divider is for.  The sticky note is not permanently attached to the page.  I have also not written what each section is for on the dividers themselves.  I have opted to leave the dividers and allocation of the sections to be changeable, should my setup needs change in the future, I will not have to replace dividers or my front cover page.  (I am now wise to the ever elusive Planner Peace Unicorn and am keeping it simple and interchangeable).

I currently have the following divisions in my FiloBujo:

  1. Collections - These are all my long term collections like Birthday's & Anniversaries, Future Log, Books Read, Snail Mail Addresses.
  2. Bullet Journal - Monthly Views, Meal Trackers, Menu Planners...basically anything that I don't want to keep long term and have to copy from one notebook to the next.
  3. Health & Fitness - As it says on the tin - Healthy Foods, Workout Tracker - Gym Schedules.
  4. Home - This is the only section I have not indexed.  It is a free flow section with running home to do lists, grocery lists, receipts to be captured on our home budget system, and a master grocery list, which I have written out, photocopied, punched and use when I do my big shop every 6 weeks or so.  We are working on doing some painting and I have some random notes on that, just written on the next blank page. (I will be sharing my master grocery list on Instagram in the next few days - you can check it out there @josocrafty)
  5. Blog - well, it's more a social media section.  I write down blog post ideas, Instagram pictures to take, blog post plans.
  6. Blank - At the moment there are just a few random pieces paper in there that can be used for when needed.  I can file them under the relevant section if needed or just throw them out when done.
I have made an index for each section, and use it in the traditional manner of indexing, other than I do not forward number my pages in advance.

Collections Index


Bullet Journal Index

Health & Fitness Index


Social Media Index


Below are some examples of the spreads in my Collections section.


Birthday's & Anniversaries


Kitchen Garden Ideas
(I live in a desert, and our small garden is not conducive to a veggie patch - this is actually a bucket list item of mine).

Next up are some examples of the spreads in my Bullet Journal section.

August title page, I don't think I will do this every month, only if I have a gap page.

August Monthly spread.
(inspired by Jessica from @prettyprintsandpaper on Instagram)

August To Do & Meal Plan (failing dismally on meal planning this month- ho-hum)

Meal Tracker for August - I don't include this every month.  Just when the urge grabs me.

Gratitude & Back To School List.  The gratitude page is new to me.  I am enjoying it.
Back To School is in preparation for school starting at the end of this month.

Example of daily pages - I am fiddling with what works for me.  This past week I changed up the check boxes for bullet points, and used double line spacing between the items per day.  I am thinking of reverting back to single spacing, but loving the bullet points.

After the Health & Fitness Section.

I have a yearly workout tracker.  I don't do daily/monthly habit trackers in my bullet journal section, but prefer to see the year in overview.

 
Clean Food List, Clean Eating Grocery List and Kickboxing schedule.


Thank you so much for stopping bye and spending time reading my blog.  Always remember that the best Bullet Journal and bullet journaling system is the one that works for you.  Whether you like just use one pen and keep it simple, or if you are fortunate enough to have the creativity, and have the time to create beautiful art-piece pages, the whole idea is to keep organised and productive.

Keep Calm & Bujo On!

Jo

xxx



4 comments:

  1. I really like some of these pages-may copy them. Very nicely done.

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  2. Where did you end up getting the graph paper for this?

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    1. Hi Jessica. I but an A4 pad of Rhodia graph paper in half to fit in the A5 :)

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