4 Creative Bullet Journal Spreads

It turns out when it’s difficult to leave your room, you have a lot of time to plan and organise things- enter my 2018 bullet journal. I’m indecisive at the best of times, so I’m exponentially more so right now meaning that I’m moving slowly, but I’ve got my new bullet journal moving along. Today I’m sharing four different spreads that I’m using to keep my bullet journal simple but interesting; you can make it aesthetically pleasing without becoming the Picasso of Pinterest and spending hours and hours on one spread. Hopefully these will help you with your 2018 bullet journal….

What Do I Use? 
I use a Rhodia Webnotebook in Black and a 10 pack of Staedtler Triplus Roller Pens. (I’ve linked the products on the company directly, but they can also be found on Amazon, at Staples, and many other places.) I also have Staedtler Fineliners, but I love the case and easy of carrying for the Roller pens. The Rhodia is pretty good for ghosting, meaning that there you can’t see much ink through the back of the page. A lot of people will use washi tape, highlighters, markers, watercolour paints, and any other number of things, but I like to stick with the basics.

Year Spread
I decided to try a slightly different yearly layout- the box on the right hand page corresponds with the month on the left hand page. This is only to mark big events- the upcoming royal wedding obviously had to go in there. I personally don’t use monthly spreads, because it’s just another place that you have to write things down- this takes care of a yearly and monthly spreads all in one shot. I also really enjoy how simple this was to do, and how quickly I was able to get it done. While I don’t necessarily want it devoid of any personality, I also don’t want to have to spend hours on a page.

Weekly Spread 
I spend a lot of time looking at the Bullet Journal subreddit- it’s a great way to keep my mind occupied. Although you can find an infinite amount of artsy bullet journal spreads on Pinterest, the subreddit provides a wider range in styles. Some people do go above and beyond in the creativity department and create masterpieces, but a lot of people there also take the same approach that I do- efficient and useful. I saw a few similar spreads on the subreddit, and I liked the general shape. I use the three unlabelled sections for whatever I need that week; typically one is always for blog ideas and to-dos, but I’ve used the others for long term purchases, books to find, bloggers I like, and anything else. (Anything that isn’t enough to be a collection, see below…)

TV Tracker Collection 
I am watching more tv again, because it’s conveniently another thing that can hold my attention. It’s mostly whatever happens to be on the Food Network, but Superstore is one of my favourite shows and I go out of my way to keep up with it. A lot of TV tracker spreads will list every season of a show to mark off, but I only need the current season! The other page will most likely have Elementary when it’s back in April (seems ridiculously late…), and Victoria has been added by the time that you are reading this. I decided to leave more room for Superstore to keep track of my favourite quotes. (Let me know your favourite shows to binge that have several seasons and are available in Canada in the comments, please 🙂 ) The Superstore logo is as artsy as this is going to get….

Book Tracker Collection
The book shelf tracker is pretty popular right now- a lot of people get very creative with their books, making leaning, dusty, towering tomes that artfully display what they’ve read. Well, I wanted to track my books visually but I don’t need to draw the actual book itself, so this 2D bookshelf perfectly suits my needs. I’m going to add the little headset for audiobooks, and just stick with titles to save space. I do have in-depth tracking on Goodreads for longer titles, authors, read dates, pages, and anything else I might need, but this is a wonderful way for me to look at my books read this year with a glance. (It also won’t crash like the Goodreads app so often does….)
Do you have a bullet journal? What do you track in yours?
Until tomorrow,
The Historian
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