Setting up a new month in my bullet journal (minimalist style)

With so much hype around bullet journals I figured it was high time I tried it out! First things first: the monthly planning pages.

Setting up a new month in my bullet journal

I chose the Leuchtturm Bullet Journal as it was slightly wider than most of the other dot grid notebooks I came across. I like to split pages in 2 vertically for list making so wider page size is preferable.

I started with a July overview page:

Traditional monthly calendars with 1 box per day don’t work for me. I find the boxes are too small and annoying to write in. I’m a list maker so opted for a list style monthly planning format so I don’t need multiple lines per reminder / task.

Habit tracker

I’ve switched to using monthly habit trackers rather than weekly. They save space and I only have to write (or type) the habits out once, rather than 4 times per month.

The Frixion erasable pens were a close color match for the Carpe Diem date calendar stickers. <3 happy accidents like that!

Erasable pens are the only type of pen I’ll use in a bullet journal – it keeps everything nice and neat.

Related: My all time favorite planner pens: Pilot Frixion Erasable Pens Review

The boxes are for scheduling routine tasks that don’t need to be done every day. Once I do them, the box gets ticked, crossed or shaded in (depending on what I feel like doing to mark it off that day)

Month at a glance

In addition to a monthly overview, I like to choose a top 3 for each month and map out what I’m going to be working on each week.

I refer to this overview each week, then break things down further in the weekly spread.

A page like this is a good ‘catch all’ to make sure the important things aren’t missed.

This method of setting up a month was quick, easy and simple!

Since most planners don’t include a monthly planning page, monthly habit tracker and have calendars in a format I don’t like, I tend to use a similar setup to this each month, but using printables. I didn’t mind a change from printables and drawing it up by hand, but I’m not sure I’d want to do it every month.

More bullet journal

• Daily planning bullet journal style (using a Plum Paper grid dot notebook)
• Colorful Bullet Journal Inspired Weekly Spread
• 50 Bullet journal Instagram accounts you should be following

Planning tips

• Setting up a new planner: 70 Tasks to add 
• What to do if your planner isn’t working
• 50 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Planner

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