I like to set up my spread for the next month in the middle of the current month. Some people might think this is too early but I have a bad habit of over-estimating what I can get done in a month and as a month progresses I have a good idea of what I’m actually going to complete.. and what items need to be moved to the next month. So there’s always a crossover and I need to use two monthly spreads at once.
Whether you’re setting up your monthly spread now or later in the month (pin this post for later), these are some of my favorite supplies for making monthly spreads.
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Favorite supplies for making monthly spreads
1. Ink by Jeng row and column stencil
No need to count the dots, this stencil does it for you. See my review here. It’s difficult to find anything Ink By Jeng these days (she appears to have closed down), so I did a comparison of 5 other row and column stencils in this post.
if you want some stencils that have already set up the boxes for you (especially if you like the look of gaps in between the boxes which takes forever to count out by hand), then try these stencils – all you need to do is trace the lines to create the grid:
2. Erasable pens
If you follow my blog you’re probably tired of me always mentioning these! For anyone that’s new, the Frixion and Parkoo are my favourite erasable pens.
3. Whiteout tape
Less mess and quicker than liquid white out. My favorite brand is studymate from Officeworks.
4. Decorative Washi tape
The perfect filler at the top, bottom or side of a page when you have some awkward leftover space. It’s also helpful for tabs on the edge or corner of a page to identify a new month in your notebook.
Read more: Favorite washi tape for planning, planner decorating & color coding
5. Dated washi tape
Available in vertical (for list format) and horizontal (great for habit trackers). My favorite brand for these tapes are Ink by Jeng and Sunshine Sticker Co.
6. Days of the week washi tape
See my favorites in this post. Most of these washi tapes are 5mm wide – the perfect fit for most dot grid notebooks.
Read more: Favorite days of the week washi tape
7. Alphabet Stencils
Use these for the month or year so it stands out more when flicking through your bullet journal. My favorite brand for these is PA Essentials’ Roman Alpha and Adventure Alpha
I made this spread with the Speedy Stencils
Related post: Review of the Speedy Stencils by Sunny Streak (plenty of weekly and monthly layout ideas)
8. Poppin Ruler
Heavy so it doesn’t slip, has both inches and cm printed as well as large, easy to read numbers – and the rulers come in a variety of bright colors.
Related post: Amazon Gift Guide
9. Different pen thicknesses
The Paper Studio’s fineliner pen set has basically every pen tip you’d need: 0.05, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1.0 and brush pen. You can, of course, mix and match pen brands as well.
Different pen thicknesses can be used for borders, the dates / numbers, sidebar boxes, headings, checkboxes. Especially useful if you want to do a minimalist spread in one color.
Read more: Favorite pens for writing headings in my planner
10. Text stickers & date dot stickers
Similar to the days of the week washi tape, if there’s headings you always add to your calendar in the sidebar, or boxes underneath either make a sticker or buy some text stickers like these handwritten plans stickers from Happy Planner.
If I’ve found a planner I like but the monthly calendar starts on a Sunday instead of a Monday, my go to are days of the week stickers and date number stickers to convert it. If the stickers you want to use don’t quite cover the existing text, use some whiteout first before you stick the sticker, and then it’s much less noticeable.
You can achieve a similar look to date dot stickers with dot markers.
Read more: 7 Ways to use dot markers in your planner or bullet journal
Planning tips
- How to resize any printable for any size bullet journal
- 7 Tips to keep your bullet journal neat
- 50 Bullet journal Instagram accounts you should be following
Bullet journal ideas
- 20 Bullet Journal Weekly Spread Ideas (One Page Layouts)
- 10 Quick bullet journal dashboard weekly layouts
- 10 Quick horizontal bullet journal 2 page weekly spreads
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