a busy mom
and her bullet journal
Once in a while you may need to stop and think if you're not overdoing it. I've realized I've been spending too much time every Sunday or Monday in trying to set my weekly spreads out. I started to use the bullet journal because I needed to get better organized and save time. Now that I've been using the bullet journal for about seven months, I think I've overdone it. I started very minimalist and then I realized the potential of this incredible system. I started adding collections and trying different spreads and ideas. Eventually, it started to get more and more complicated. Or maybe complicated isn't the right word here. I think every thing that I've done so far has or had a purpose. I think I got carried away. That's a much better choice of words. In an effort to make things more visual, since I'm a very visual person, I started to add spreads. At first I wasn't using a weekly spread either for myself, or for my daughter. I then started to use a weekly spread for my daughter. The original spread still works for my needs when it comes to my daughter and her days; therefore, it has pretty much stayed the same. The only changes I have made for her weekly spread are, as follows,
My daughter's spread doesn't take me long to set up. I've been using the same layout for several months now and I can prepare it almost with my eyes closed. The problem relies my own spreads. After I started to use a weekly log for my daughter, I realized that it would help me have one of my own. As a result, I added those to my months. Every month, I have the monthly log, the gratitude log, this month I tried a daily habit tracker and a section for memories, and then I have all of my weekly spreads, followed by my daughter's weekly spreads. The daily logs and any other collections I may need to start follow my daughter's weekly spreads. The month is almost over and I'm coming to the conclusion that I may not want to continue to use the daily habit tracker. I'm finding myself spending a lot more time on that than what I first thought it would take me. I have to remember at the end of the day to tick things off and then again in the morning. I sometimes do not even have time to do this. I have a feeling that anybody who has a toddler at home and works full-time might relate and understand when I say that things happen and your routine is out the window at any given time. One improvement I had made over August and since I started to use weekly spreads is that last month I realized that I was getting very frustrated flipping pages back and forth when trying to refer to previous weekly spreads. So this month, I decided to reserve all the pages for the spreads ahead of time and put them all together, as stated above, which ended up working a lot better. I did not prepare the content in advance. I just reserved the pages I would need for the almost five weeks we had in September and I would prepare the corresponding spread either on Sunday evening, or Monday morning. This allowed me to test different spreads, too. Unfortunately, and for some reason I can't quite explain, my dailies have been almost empty this month. I would create my daily header, which would also include the weather forecast for the day and then there's lines and lines of... emptiness. That got me thinking that I may not need the daily logs after all. If I do, I might just create one for that particular day and use it. Food for thought for next month. Ultimately, the bullet journal is supposed to be flexible and that's the beauty of it: You can try something and, if you don't like it or if it doesn't quite work, you can try something different next time.
I used to track those on my dailies, but that was the other one and only thing I found myself preparing besides the headers. That was the reasoning behind moving it to my weekly logs. The only problem with this was that it took much needed space from my daily blocks on my weekly spread on some days when I could have used that space. The one thing I found that I do need on my weekly log is a full view of the current month. That is more likely to stay next month. I also need a "Next Week" section. While I have a month-to-month view at the very beginning of my bullet journal alongside other yearly logs, I like keeping track of appointments and other important commitments on my month and weekly logs. Otherwise, I may forget. I don't want to waste your time with every single layout I tried this month because the tweaks are not that different. I will just leave you with two pictures of the format I was using the most this past month and previous weeks. I made a copy in English, so it would be easier to read and understand. As you can see, that was my first and only attempt at including the weather along with my WeightWatchers points in the daily blocks. I live in Michigan. The weather is completely unpredictable here in the Midwest, or at least you can predict it, but it can change without notice. Therefore, you can't really prepare the weather forecast a week in advance. I would have to reserve the space and complete that on the night before. For the purpose of my example, I decided to include it in this sample spread, so you would get an idea of what I have been trying and testing. Another thing I tried was to remove the points section and give them their own space. Let's just say I didn't like it at all. That's why I'm not sharing it here. I hope you enjoyed my post this week and feel free to share ideas and comments below. Have a great week! 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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