The Experiment

This stage took me three to four months of designing pages and using my journal/planner daily to determine what pages I'd actually use. The only thing I knew for sure was that I  wanted to make my pages only once and then copy off more as I needed them.

I started with a composition notebook for a few reasons:

• I like the size (9.75 x 7.5), will fit in my purse, and I can add more pictures. I also have more room to write on my calendar page.
• They are inexpensive. I can get these during Back-to School sales for 50 cents. It didn't matter if I totally messed up my experiment.
• I used so many composition notebooks in college that using them now feels like going home. I buy stacks of them every year even if I don't need any.

I made lists of everything I wanted to keep in my journal/planner.

• Monthly calendar with a to-do list
• Gratitude pages
• 13 Virtues of Benjamin Franklin
• Quotes
• Reverse Bucket List
• Story and Blog post ideas
• To be Read list
• Home projects
• Fun with Grandkids
• journal pages

I designed a blank monthly calendar with space for my to-do list for home stuff and writing goals. I have to add the dates and holidays but I don't have to plan out a new spread every month.

4 Gratitude pages came right after the calendar. I numbered each day and left 3 spaces per day. I should be able to find at least three things to be grateful for!

13 Virtues is a habit Benjamin Franklin started to improve his life. I took many of his ideas and added some of my own. I focused on one virtue every week. At the end of the day I evaluated my behavior and wrote it down.

I added a quotes page, a page for story ideas and blog posts, a to-be-read page, a fun with grandkids page...

And journal pages. I discovered having journal pages with my planner helped me write more consistently because of the convenience.

I experimented with tabs and borders and added pictures wherever I wanted. I tried out different colored inks. I tried out almost everything I saw on Pinterest.

I used stickers for the index instead of numbering pages. I thought it was brilliant at the time. I also added paperclips to the calendar pages for faster access.

At the end of four months I could see which pages I actually used and the ones that went to waste, like my doddle page or my Amazon wish list page.

PROS

• I really liked being able to see my whole month and to-do list at the same time.
• I was able to group my gratitude pages together after each calendar.
• I really liked the size. Like I said before, big enough to add pictures and be able to write on the calendar and it still fit in my bag, but I also found that it fit my desktop perfectly.

CONS

• I still had pages I didn't use.
• I could only schedule one month at a time. Future trackers were just another list. I needed to see my months mapped out.
• I had to tape in extra pages or cut out pages when I miscalculated how many pages a spread would take. I still wish I had more mobility.

Enter the Disc system.

To be continued...

Happy Journaling,

My Journey into Journaling

Timeline:

2008--I started a Gratitude journal and only wrote when I
             remembered. It was not a priority.
2013--I discovered Art journaling. Not always pretty but it
             held my interest and I kept coming back. There is
             something about water coloring my own backgrounds
             that made me feel like a kid again.

I added favorite quotes and song lyrics.

It gave me a creative outlet.

I have always struggled to find a relevant planner. Pre-printed planners meant a lot of wasted paper because they didn't fit my life.

About this same time I decided what I wanted in a planner:

• A desktop calendar/planner, a month-at-a-glance with a to-do list on the side.
• Gratitude journal pages.
  
  

April 2013--I discovered the Bullet Journal on Pinterest.

          There are so many different ways to use a Bullet journal.

          I think it was originally designed as a minimalist way of

          of tracking a to-do list and goals. It's a type of planner

          that turns a calendar into more of a list.

Free printable at this website (copy and paste into your browser)
https://www.tinyrayofsunshine.com/blog/bullet-journal-reference-guide

PROS

• I love making lists and this is the grandmother of all lists.
• The journal most often used for this had good quality paper--dot grid helped me keep my letters more uniform in size.
• It made a good goal tracker.
• It was adaptable to any life.

CONS

• The most common journal used was small 5 x 8.
• Had to draw out new daily, weekly, and monthly calendars/spreadsheets.
• Had to number all of the pages and make an index because like pages were rarely grouped together.
• Had no way to schedule future appointments because one month at a time is built. The future tracker was a list. I need to see the whole month.
• The whole process seemed to take more time than I wanted to invest.

My Epiphany

At first thought, the Bullet journal system was not for me. But, wait a minute...the Bullet journal is adaptable--what if I tweaked it to fit my life?

Stay tuned for The Experiment...

Happy Journaling