Pen to Paper: September Bullet Journal

It has been a while yet again but I thought I would show you the layout for September in my Bullet Journal as well as the progress on my Reading Tracker pages. I had to make some changes from the previous few months due to back to school, Munchkin going to first grade in private school and starting up soccer again has really added a lot more to the schedule than I ever expected so I needed more space in my days on the weekly layouts.

My monthly layouts are still relatively simple, just touches of color, washi tape or stickers here and there, no time for decorating, and I need the extra space for notes and stickies.

My new weekly layouts have plenty of space for events and appointments at the top, task lists and any other notes like hot lunch/cold lunch selections. I have a space for what I am reading, a blank space for a sticky note or any brain dumps, a space to plan out cards in crafty time and then trackers at the bottom. 

Here is my updated star rating and page count trackers, I really like how this is turning out so far!

Same with my Reading Challenge pages, I like seeing the color coding, it is interesting to see when I read more and what challenges. 

Things have gotten a little out of hand with my purchases page and I had to tear a page out of the back and cut it in half and use washi tape to extend that page, I clearly have a limit on what I can purchase for the rest of the year! 

And finally, I finished filling out my Anticipated Releases with books from October through December and some of the releases in 2019 to keep an eye out for, this was a little more difficult and I definitely see that I need more space.

I also discovered this month that I only have enough pages for maybe another month or two in this book,  I can see where a few page management issues came in and then I would have been able to fit a full year into one notebook.  This is something I will be taking into consideration for next year. 

Pen to Paper: Mid-Year Bullet Journal Update

I have been really inconsistent with these posts but I thought since we are halfway through the year I would give you and update on my bullet journal, especially the book pages. I am definitely finding out which tracker pages I am using and which ones I am not using.  So here is a little peek at my bullet journal for tracking my reading as well as a little glance at how I have been setting up my month/weekly spreads lately. If you want to look back at how I set it up originally you can look HERE and then I have an update from April HERE

So first let's take a look at my monthly set up:

I try to start with something fun at the start of each month, I am not super artistic without stamps and stickers so lately I have been using some die cuts from my mountains of craft supplies. I wanted July to have a beach theme.

I then set up my month at a glance, I haven't been real great about filling this in with my appointments or events but it is still nice to have that full month on 2 pages to use for reference.

Then I have a page dedicated to my reading and blog, here I list my blog posts and plan ahead, as well as list any challenges/ readathons happening or any hashtags I want to use for Instagram

Then on to my weekly spread, I have changed things up a bit and I really am enjoying this set up. I have been trying to focus on only giving myself 3 tasks a day that I have to get done, otherwise I really tend to overbook myself and get myself stressed out.  On the left side I add appointments or events and on the right I list my daily tasks. On the opposite page I also list any other tasks I need to get done during the week if time allows, and track my reading. I also have started using a weekly habit tracker because I wasn't flipping back each day to fill it out on a full month spread.  I am currently only tracking No Spend, Dishes, Daily Wipe Down, and Exercising (I am only doing halfway decent on the daily wipe down and dishes).

So now how about we go to my reading trackers, one of the main reasons for my bullet journal . . .

I have only one page bookmarked but it is the start of all of my reading trackers and that is my ratings and page counts. I have really been enjoying this spread, each month has a different color and I simply use hash marks to tally the book ratings and page counts. I have definitely noticed that I have a sweet spot for length of audio books and also that I don't give out 1 star ratings, if it is going to be that low I just DNF it.

I then have a quote page, which I am not great about using. I had plans to do a little doodle to symbolize the book the quotes are from but I never have time to do that and then I am also worries about messing up the page with my bad handwriting. So sticky notes it is but that is better than nothing and it allows for endless space. (Before this page there is actually a page for my favorite books with shelves doodled to put my favorite books on but I decided to hold off until near the end of the year before filling that page in).

Then we have the start of my challenge pages, here I list out the titles of the books for each challenge and highlight them according to the month I read them in. This is also really cool to see when I am reading books for which challenge. I did initially add the ratings as well but my stars are super sloppy and I think I would rather leave them off or use a stamp to add them later. 

  The last page of my challenges is the list of books I have added to my shelves, this is slightly different because I am tracking more than the month I read them in.  I list them in order and highlight the number with the month they were purchased, then I go back and add my star rating when I read each book and then highlight it the month it was read in (does that make sense).

 My final book tracking page is my anticipated releases. I started off crossing the ones that were read and reviewed but I didn't like the look of that so I added arrows instead. I also did not fill in the entire year because new books come up that interest me and other books have release dates pushed back, so I use a sticky note until the month gets closer.

So there you have my updated bullet journal pages.  I hope that maybe you found some of this helpful in planning your own bullet journal or maybe inspirational. I keep my pretty utilitarian just because I don't have a lot of time to use it. I don't have a lot of collection lists or other trackers. I did originally set up movie trackers, tv show trackers, savings trackers etc. but I haven't even looked at them again. I do have a couple of lists at the back of the book for purging and organizing tips but those are so I don't loose those notes. Otherwise it is kept to just the pages I use on a daily basis.

Do you use a bullet journal or some other planning system?  Do you track your reading in your planning? 

Pen to Paper: April Bullet Journal

Last month I had posted about my Bullet Journal and it seems to have appealed to some of you, so I thought I would share my monthly set ups with you.  I wasn't as great about using my bullet journal last month as I usually do, so I started out this month the same but I think it is time to change up at least my weekly layout in the future.

Anyway here is my April Bullet Journal set up. . .

Cover Page: I think I need to use a bolder color for the month but I like it.

April's Calendar, I am super happy with the simple designs I added.

My Book blog and reading tracker page.

My habit tracker page where I track my stress levels, spending, exercise and monthly master task list.

My weekly layout: mini calendar, appointments, weekly tasks, reading tracker, coming up, daily tasks and water trackers for each day.  I do like how this layout has everything that I need on one page and clearly laid out but I have become bored with this set up.

And just because it is fun to see, here is my ratings and page counts for the year so far including March.  Each month has its own color (Jan. is blue, Feb. is pink & March is orange).

I am really happy I found this planning system but I do need to use it more and I need to set up some brain dump and idea pages and use them more effectively.  

Do you have a bullet journal? How do you plan your life? I would love to see your ideas too!

Pen to Paper: Bullet Journal

Hello there everyone. I know it has been ages since I posted a pen to paper post, and this won't be like the others.  I have decided that I need to work other types of posts into the Pen to Paper besides just letter writing (something I do need to catch up on).  Today I wanted to share my bullet journal with all of you.  I know this is a big trend right now, but there doesn't seem to be much for the heavy reader/blogger. 

Just a little background, I haven't been doing this all that long, I started with a very basic bullet journal in about June of last year. I used a nice notebook journal I had been given and just started because I couldn't seem to find a planner system that worked for me.  Sometimes I get a little artsy in my bullet journal but not very often, I also have terrible handwriting and make a lot of mistakes but I don't really mind too much as long as I can get all my plans and notes down.  

So first I have some of my basic reading pages (what others call collections), I have these pages set up in the front of my journal, right after the full year of calendars for future planning.  I do have a couple of pages I didn't add because I haven't done much with them yet, I have a page set up that looks like a bookshelf that I plan to draw in my favorite books of the year.  I also have a page for favorite book quotes that I currently just have sticky notes stuck to until I can transfer the quotes.  If you guys want to see those pages filled out just let me know.

I start off with my ratings and page count pages.  I will be assigning each month a different color to mark the ratings and page counts of the books I read in that month. I currently have January and February marked here.  I also noticed that I didn't really allow for audio books so I have been adding an A in the slot equivalent to the page count of that book in print (it clearly seems I have a sweet spot for audio books).

Next I jump into the challenge pages.  On each page or section I list the challenge with a quick note below with my goal.  I then list the title of the books I read, along with the rating and month it was read.  I will also be highlighting the number of the books read in each month with the color of the month (I forgot to add the color for February before taking pictures)

For my Recently added books I have a slightly different method.  I list the books as they come in and highlight them with the color of the month they were purchased and note the month in which they are read (I think I might go back and highlight the rating in the color of the month they are read so I get a better picture at a quick glance as to how long it takes me to read the books).

Next I have my anticipated releases, which I haven't filled out yet but I wanted to share so you can see how I set up the key for it.  I have all of them noted on a separate piece of paper and hope to fill them in soon. (again if you want to see this filled out just let me know).

After that I start with my Monthly layouts. I only took pictures of March prior to ink, but if you want to see a glance of each month after it is done let me know and I might share it here or on instagram, just tell me what you like.  For March I picked Dr. Seuss as a theme because I love Dr. Seuss & celebrate his birthday every year.

I start with a cover page to break it up and make it a little easier to spot when flipping through.

Then I have a month at a glance, here is where I add in any appointments or important dates and birthdays. 

Then I have my Reading and Blog calendar for the month.  I add in the books I read throughout the month, any specific readathon/challenges, sometimes I will add in instagram challenges too. In the calendar portion I write in my blog posts (and in pencil I will plan out future posts throughout the month).

Then we have what is referred to as Habit Trackers.  I don't track a lot of things. For me my stress is a huge deal and so I have been tracking my stress level each day, my spending each day (I think the two relate and so I am trying to pin point that), I also have a self care tracker for how I help myself combat the stress.  I also have my monthly task list of things I need to accomplish and then a small exercise tracker, I note the exercises I am focusing on (mostly from Physical Therapy and Chiropractor) and then highlight the days I get them in.  I must admit that I am not always the greatest at filling this one in.

Then I go into my weekly and daily spreads.  I think I set this up a little differently than some others do but I have been using this set up for about 4 months now and it works really great for me. I have my weekly appointments on the top left, next to a monthly calendar. Then I have the weekly tasks and my reading to track the books I finish each week and finally a little coming up next week section because I don't always look at this over the weekend.  For the weekly I list each day with the daily tasks below and the images to fill in are my water intake (another thing I am working on).

For this month because I have so many challenges and readathons running I have a page between each of the weeks to track my progress on them and make updates or note quotes.

I hope that you enjoyed this post and that you may have found it helpful.  If you want to see more posts like this or have any questions please let me know!  If you have a bullet journal, I would love to see or hear about it. How do you make it work for you?  Do you enjoy it?

Pen to Paper: August Incoming Mail

Remember how I talked about Traveling Postcards a few weeks ago (HERE)?  Well I have received a few in the mail this past month.  One from the UK, one from Washington State and 2 from South Africa! I have never sent or received anything from South Africa, this is the cool part about traveling postcards, you get and send mail from all over the world! All of them are travelling postcards and will be sent on their way soon. Each one is so unique, I love the coloring one, such a unique idea.

I also received my package from the Notebook & Pen Swap from this year.  I am so excited about this package because I have recently started a bullet journal and am really enjoying it. I am looking forward to trying these new notebooks and pens!

General Update:

As you may recall, I have gotten a little behind on my pen pal letter responses.  I have been trying to catch up but my normal writing time has gotten all screwed up with Hubby's new schedule. I keep getting interrupted with my letters and never get to write one start to finish (some of them have several dates on them when I would pick it up and start writing again).  This is very frustrating and I am sure my pen pals are also getting frustrated.  I am trying to catch up and I am hoping with some upcoming days off that I can sit down and write uninterrupted.  So if you are waiting for a response, please be patient, I haven't forgotten about you and I do still want to be pen pals, I just have a lot of catching up to do and life keeps getting in the way!

I hope you are having happy mail adventures!