Welcome to a bullet journal for beginners guide! Bullet journalling may seem overwhelming at first but this series will guide you through the ins and outs and you’ll be ready to start your own bullet journal in no time!
This is part 7 of the series! In this part of the series I am going to do my annual plan with me! I will go through how I set up my new bullet journal and what annual collections I am using.
When creating my annual theme I didn’t do much of a theme, I left it pretty simple. I like to really bring my creativity into each monthly spread so I left my annual collections relatively neutral. This also ensures I don’t make a theme that I don’t love and have to use all year LOL
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Title Page
As always, I started with a 2019 title page including a quote and a “Hello 2019”.
2019 is going to be the year of settings goals and pushing myself to succeed. I found the quote “365 new days, 365 new chances” and I felt like it was really fitting. I know I am setting some big goals for 2019 and I may not succeed everyday but every day is a new day and a new chance to try again!
Future Log
The first spread I did in my 2019 bullet journal was my future log. I like to have a calendar at the very front of my bullet journal. For my future log I like to have little calendars for visual reference and also places to write stuff down for when I’m making plans for the future.
I LOVED the way this future log turned out. It’s very simple and easy to use. It also gives me a fair amount of space to write important events and tasks down.
My intention with the future log is when I have events on a day I will shade the day on the mini calendar when I write down the event. This makes your future log very easy to visualize. This helps me 1) not double book but 2) I don’t like to make plans every single night of the week (I need some introvert time!) and this helps me with that.
Birthday Tracker
The next spread I put was my birthday tracker. I use this to keep track of birthdays. I like to have it right after my future log. Then when I am working on my monthly log I can first look at my future log followed right by my birthday tracker. I will then migrate birthdays into my monthly (and eventually weekly!) logs. This process has really helped me not miss those Happy Birthday wishes!
This year I also included a gift tracker right beside my birthday tracker. I like to be able to keep track of what gifts I give and receive. Previous to my bullet journal I had not found a good way to do that.
Goal Setting
A goal setting page is not something I have included in my bullet journal before. As I said above I think 2019 is going to be a big year for trying new things and really pushing myself to be successful. I love the way it looks and I can’t wait to sit down and brainstorm what my goals are for the new year.
My plan is then to look at this every month and set monthly goals to try and achieve my 2019 goals.
Another fun thing I included in my 2019 goal setting spread was a “Word of the Year”. I have seen this a lot before in the entrepreneur world and the bullet journal world and I thought I would try it!
When Did I Last… / Clean That House!
I am trying to be really organized this year because I am taking on so much. One thing I find I can fall behind on is my house upkeep. I love routine and organization (hence my love for bullet journals!) so I thought if I worked it into my bullet journal it might help keep me on track.
I did two spreads to help me with this: When Did I Last… and Clean That House!
When Did I Last… is to try and help me remember when to do things. For example you are supposed to change out your toothbrush every 3 months. Do you really remember the last time you did it? What about the last time you checked the fire alarms in your house? Or flipped any mattresses? Exactly! Time goes by so fast it’s easy to let all these things get away from you.
Examples of things I have seen in a When Did I Last… spread are:
- Changed out toothbrush
- Wash bedding
- Get an oil change
- Clean out fridge
- Check smoke alarm
- Flip mattress
- Back up computer
- Get a haircut
- Go to the dentist
Clean That House is to help give me some semblance of a routine. When I put cleaning off and then have to do a deep clean it takes me 2 full days. But when I can keep on top of it, it’s just a little cleaning here and there. By putting together a routine I’m hoping I will keep more on top of my cleaning this year.
I have seen cleaning spreads like this one where they put little squares or circles or something to color in after they do the task every month or week. I don’t like to have annual collections that need to be filled out routinely, I find I forget to do it. So I did not put something I need to color in on this spread. My plan is to reference this and then migrate my cleaning tasks to my monthly spreads.
Grid Spacing / Books to Read
Bullet journal spread set up is a lot of counting isn’t it? I can never seem to remember how many squares across my bullet journal is. I wanted a spread so I never have to count how many squares are across ever again! We will see how much I use it and if I will include it again, but I thought I would give it a try.
You know when you are surfing the internet and someone raves about a book they read? But you already have a line up for 4 books? This happens to me all the time. Or I’ll do research for 1 book but find 10 I want to read. I needed a place to be able to track all the different book suggestions. This was definitely a fun collection to be able to set up!
Credit Card Expense Tracker
The last thing I put in my annual spreads is a credit card expense tracker. I wanted one central place to be able to track when my husband and I are using our joint credit card. It’s a very simple yet functional spread.
Well! That is is for my 2019 set up in my bullet journal. It took a little bit of time to set up but I know I am setting myself up for success in 2019!
Do you have any must haves when setting up a new bullet journal? Let me know in the comments!
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Bullet Journal for Beginner’s Series
Part 1: The Who/What/When/Where/Why. A bullet journal introduction .
Part 2: Bullet journal materials… What do you need? .
Part 3: Initial set up of a bullet journal (Key and Index) .
Part 4: Annual vs Monthly vs Weekly vs Daily Spreads .
Part 7a: Annual Plan With Me (you are here!)
Part 7b: Monthly Plan With Me .
Pulling out my bullet journal to start on some of these annual spreads today!!! I really like the “book to read” spread. I often find when I am ready to start a new book, I can’t remember what I was intending to read next or all the suggestions people have given! Love the idea of having an easy reference for that!