So I’ve jumped on the bullet journal bandwagon.

I’ve said before that I was never going to use one but I trialed it for a month back in July and actually enjoyed it. It’s not something I could stick to doing each week but is was good to try something different.

Since there are so many possible (i.e endless!) combinations of weekly layouts I wanted to try out a few ideas first. I ended up with quite a few!

Creating neat bullet journal spreads:

• I use the Minimalism Art notebook as my ‘draft’ to sketch up potential weekly spreads. This keeps my actual bullet journal neat
• Erasable pens are a must have (my favorite are the Frixion erasable pens)
• Poppin ruler (heavy so don’t bump easily when you’re drawing lines, plus the numbers on the ruler are in big easy to read font)

I know a key element of bullet journaling is the index, but I still like to use sticky notes to plan what I’m going to put where (I like to cluster things together in my planners)

Related: Monthly blog post planning using sticky notes (my 6 step process) 

Bullet journal weekly spread ideas

Horizontal

If you prefer lines, highlighters are ideal (and also add some color!)

Related post: 10 Quick and Simple Bullet Journal Daily Layouts

1 Page Horizontal + Notes or Checklist

After trying dozens of different ways to plan the week, I can say with 100% certainty that this is my favorite type of layout: days of the week in horizontal format on 1 page and checklist or notes space on the other page.

Bullet journaling in the Leuchtturm dot grid notebook

This is why I leave a page between each spread – otherwise you can see ghosting  from other spreads:

Vertical

 

Related post: 10 Bullet Journal weekly layouts if you want to keep work and personal in the same spread

Multiple sections per day

This type of planner is good for clustering tasks for each area of your life, or as a family planner with a separate column for each family member.

Colorful

I made this using Tombow Brights Dual Brush Tip Pens. Definitely need to periodically wipe off your ruler with a tissue otherwise the colors will run like they did when I was ruling the lines 🙁

Related: Tombow Brush Pen Testing in 8 Different Bullet Journals

If you haven’t tried planning with sticky notes you definitely should! They’re perfect for meal planning, recurring tasks and things you need to do but haven’t locked down a date on which to do them yet. Save a ‘bank’ of them somewhere in your bullet journal.

Bullet journaling with washi tape in the Scrivwell Dot Grid Notebook

Bullet journaling in the Rhodia Goalbook

Landscape Page Orientation

If you need just a bit more space to write tasks rather than trying to cram them into a vertical weekly layout, turn your page on it’s side instead:

List Layouts

I’m someone that doesn’t really stick to doing things on the day I plan to do them, so sometimes just use checklist pages to plan the week

Reviews of the notebooks used for the spreads in this post

• Scribbles That Matter Notebook
• Minimalism Art Dot Grid Notebook for Bullet Journaling
• Rhodia Goalbook for Bullet Journaling Review 
• Leuchtturm1917 Bullet Journal Notebook A5 

More bullet journal spread ideas

• 30 Minimalist Bullet Journal Weekly Spreads (set up the week in 10 minutes or less)
• 10 Bullet Journal Landscape Page Orientation Weekly Spreads
• 15 Quick and Simple Vertical Bullet Journal Weekly Spreads

Planning tips

• How to choose the right planner pens: what to look for when buying planner pens
• 6 Ways to color code your planner to increase productivity
• Silhouette Studio Software versus Photoshop: Which is better for making planner stickers?

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