a busy mom
and her bullet journal
Once again, my BuJo® is mostly in Spanish since that is my first language. However, don't dispair since I provide translations where and when needed. For most part, I do not think this is going to be a problem. But I wanted to throw it out there, just in case. Index
Keys, Simbols, SignifiersI was so happy to start my new journal that I made a mistake right away. Here's a list of the most common titles for this section in most people's bullet journals, as follows,
Legends and Flip-Out KeyIdea borrowed and adapted from Kim (Tiny Ray of Sunshine,) as well as from Megan (Page Flutter.) I don't use the legends flip-out as much anymore. I found it helpful when I was new to bullet journaling. By flipping it out, I could refer to it without having to flip pages when writing. The one I know I will use the most is the one for my edge labels. I use dot stickers to find some collections that I use frequently, but not on a daily basis, such as my tax-deductibles collection (green dot in the picture below.) I have still not decided what to use the other three colours for when I took this picture. But I know I will use them soon enough. Therefore, it's ready for when that happens. Year At A Glance and Important DatesI cannot live without a calendar view for the year. And I love the way this spread has turned out! Note: 'Fechas importantes' is Spanish for 'important dates' and 'cumpleaños' is Spanish for 'birthdays.' I keep a list of national holidays, Catholic feasts (usually, the ones we Catholics are supposed to observed and a couple of favourite ones,) Jewish feasts (I'm not Jewish and nobody in my family is; however, I have many Jewish friends and I like to know when they are having their important celebrations,) and super imporant, birthday list for my family and closest friends. I let Facebook remind me of anybody else, ha-ha! Future LogI call this log the 'mes a mes' (month-to-month) log. As I explained in one of my previous posts, the original Future Log term confuses me. Therefore, I call it the Month-To-Month Log, a term I borrowed from another bullet journalist. This log takes two full spreads, one for each semester of the year. Year Objectives / GoalsI used the left page of the next spread for my main goals for the year. Some of these have been migrated from 2016; other ones are brand new. Nothing fancy about this list. I just handle it as a regular list of tasks. Wish ListI kept the name in English for this one, which would translate as 'lista de deseos' in Spanish. I like the way it sounds in English better, not sure why. This idea, along with the quarterly plan, which I modified to be applied to semesters, I borrowed from Kim (Tiny Ray of Sunshine.) You can see her entire business bullet journal for 2016 here. My 2016 wish list was exactly like Kim's. I just didn't like the way the extra column for ticking off fulfilled wishes looked and I modified it for this year to include a checkbox, like a regular task. The main column is for a product, good, or project that I want to fulfill this year. The second column is to track down cost. Once I have been able to buy or fulfill something from this list, I just fill up the checkbox to denote it as completed and, if the cost for the good, project, or product was different than the original value I had written down, I cross it out and take note of the actual amount I invested or paid for the item. If not, I just leave as is. The list for 2017 includes a few items that I was not able to get in 2016 for different reasons, as well as a couple of new things. One thing I didn't have on this list in 2016 was projects. By projects I mean something that requires more than just one item. For example, I would like to build a patio in my backyard. I will have a "Backyard Patio" collection for that, as well as an entry on my house projects collection, threading back to the "Backyard Patio" collection. Once I know how much I will need to spend, I will write down the number on this Wish List. In 2016, I had my house projects listed along any other small house projects on a "House Projects" collection. I found it a little cumbersome to have to go back and forth between collections and flip through pages just to budget things around. If I have everything on the one (Wish List) collection, it allows me to better see what it is that I want to accomplish and set priorities better based on my available cash flow, savings, Etc. Objectives/Goals and Accomplishments for the SemesterAs stated above, this is an idea I borrowed from Kim (Tiny Ray of Sunshine.) She did that for her business bullet journal for 2016, but she did so on a quarterly basis. I work full-time; therefore, I know I won't be able to put such tight deadlines on my goals. I tried it for 2016 and I failed miserably. I'm going to try to shoot for semesters, instead. I was very hesitant to include this log for 2017, but I realized that I was going to fail even worse if I didn't have the spreads there to remind me and force me to plan if I wanted anything to be accomplished at all. Therefore, I'm going to give it yet another shot and see how it goes this year. After all, big goals need to be divided in smaller goals that are easier to reach. For example, if you need to lose 50 lbs, it may become very overwhelming to think about all those 50 lbs. A smaller goal of, let's say, 5% of your current body weight is more attainable as it is less overwhelming. I am planning on trying this same technique for my goals for this year, including weight loss. I'm using two full spreads for this log. The left page is a running list of goals for the corresponding semester. As goals are reached, I'll check them off. The right page is reserved for any accomplishments. The page is divided in six big rows (6 lines each) for each month in the semester. So for example, if the goal for the semester is to lose 20 lbs, I can write that down as a goal on the left page. Then let's say that during the first month of the semester, I'm able to lose 5 lbs. I can write that down as an accomplishment. In the meantime, I can tag the 'Lose 20 lbs' goal as in progress. And let's say that during the second month in the semester, I manage to reach a loss of 10% of the original weight. I can write that down on the row for that month as another accomplishment or sub-goal reached. That's the idea behind this spread. Doctor appointments
I only need one page for this list since my appointments have been reduced from one every 3 weeks to one every 4 weeks. I'll use the other half of the spread to track any special symptoms or things that affected my welfare that I may need to report back to my doctor. Household and Backyard Tasks and ProjectsI was going to post a picture for this spread, but there is nothing special about it apart from the fact that I use the left page for inside tasks and the right page for outdoor (backyard and garden) tasks. It's just a running list of tasks that I need to complete and for which I do not have specific dates. These are not necessarily regular house chores. There are mostly things that do not to be done on a regular basis, or things that just happened to show up and I don't want to forget to take care of them. For example, I may be doing a walk-through around the house to make sure everything is okay. I may notice that there is a little dent on a wall, perhaps from a chair or something. I take a note that I may need to cover it with some plaster and paint. I may not have the time to take care of it right away and it's not necessarily something urgent. I may then go to this spread and write down "Fix dent on dining-room wall." Another example, I maybe walking outside and I may notice that some nail holding a gutter is popping out. This is an easy fix. All I would have to do is get a mallet or hammer and tap that nail back in. I may not have time to take care of it then, it could be snowing, or who knows what. I come to the garden side of this spread (right page) and write down "Adjust gutters." I hope this helps to clarify. Tax-Deductibles (donations and mileage)Last year, I kept a log for my tax-deductible expenses. This is useful if you itemize when filing your income tax return. Otherwise, you may not need this at all. Same goes for the mileage log, something that I did not have during 2016, but I'm incorporating this year. The tax-deductible expenses ('Gastos deducibles (de impuestos)' in Spanish) consists of the following columns:
By the way, have you noticed the green dot sticker? This is the hack I was referring to when I was talking about my Index further above. Once again, this is a hack that comes very handy, at least for me. I also draw a little circle with the appropriate colour by the corresponding entrance on the Index. That way, I can quickly find the log or collection I'm looking for. And finally, I add a dot sticker to the flip-out in the back cover of my notebook. Concerning my mileage log ('millas' in Spanish,) this one has the following columns:
Weight-Loss TrackerI've been struggling with my weight for about seven years now due to first a back injury that prevented me from working out anymore and then due the pregnancy. I got pregnant right when I was about to be allowed to start working out again. During the pregnancy, I did everything I was supposed to and ate very healthy and went out for walks and workout as much as I could and within my possibilities. No matter what I did, I kept on putting weight during the pregnancy. Neither the doctors, nor me could figure out why or how. All the results were coming back great. I lost a lot of weight after having the baby, but I'm still struggling and I can't still not workout very well. Either way, I decided to share my new weight tracker with you, both because I wanted to share this idea, and also a little bit for accountability. Do you remember those old coin scales? Well, I decided that instead of just filling out squares or drawing lines in a chart, I wanted to be more creative and I drew an antique scale on my journal. For every pound I lose, I draw a 1-cent coin since that was what you needed to operate those scales. I also write down the year for when I lost the pound. (Side note: Poor President Lincoln! These are probably the worst portraits of him ever made. Glad he can't see them.) I will use the right page of the spread not only to draw more coins, but also to jot down rewards, encouraging words and quotes, Etc. By the way, I do not draw a coin until I have been able to keep off that pound for at least 2 weeks. The last months have been more like 3 steps forward and 2 steps backwards, meaning that I tend to lose 3 LBS and then put back 2 of those, and then lose about 2 or 3 more and then put back 1 or 2. This yo-yo is killing me, but well, as long as I'm moving in the right direction, I honestly don't care. Baby steps, they say. Places to VisitPhotography CoursesThe next one is a collection for the photography courses I would like to take. I actually started this list in my previous journal. I was originally not going to migrate this list since I still had room to keep tracking my courses. However, I decided to migrate at the last minute and update it with some new courses I would like to take this year. I thought it would be better than having to refer back and forth between the two notebooks. The list has the following columns,
Relevant ListsAnother collection that is very simple in itself. It consists of a list of collections that are still active or relevant from my previous journal. It's a way to thread back to previous bullet journal notebooks. A couple of examples, as follows,
BulletJournalNo.page - Collection name For the '1.37 - Car loan' example, 1 is the bullet journal notebook number (in this case, the very first one,) 37 is the page where the collection can be located, and the rest is the name of the collection. JanuaryAnd after all of that, I have my month of January. I've implemented the changes I talked about in a previous post. Basically, my monthly log consists of the following sections:
I'll be using the blank area right below the calendar layout and right above the daily habit tracker for notes and upcoming events and appointments for the next month. Favourite / Go-To ReceipesI decided to put this at the back of the notebook so I can rip them when this journal is complete and I don't have to migrate all of these to the next notebook. It will save me time and prevent me from having to carry two notebooks with me all the time. There's nothing special about this collection; therefore, I won't be sharing a picture. I hope you don't mind. Important Numbers and ContactsI like to use the very last page of my bullet journal for important phone and contact numbers. In 2016, I used only one Leuchtturm1917. I don't think that is going to be the case for 2017. I figured I would create this log in the very last page so I can just tear it out and move it to my next Leuchtturm1917 once this one is full. It will save me from having to create the list once again, most especially since I'm very happy with my little art this time. It looks better than in the photograph and honestly, I do not think I'm going to have the time to redraw this again once I have to migrate to a new notebook. Use and reuse at its best, I guess. That's It! I know this was a long post. If you made it all the way through the end, I bow to you. I hope you might have found some ideas and inspiration herein and I wish you all a great year ahead! My Supplies
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AuthorMother, daughter, wife, full-time project manager, semi-pro photographer, certified Spanish translator, and even self-taught plumber and electrician when needed. Yes, you will see me more frequently at Lowe's than at any other store. Archives
February 2017
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