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New Year Bullet Journal Set Up


As someone who is going on three years of bullet journaling, I think I have the hang of how I like to set up a new journal each year. Over the years I have learned how I like my journal to be organized, what I use and do not use, and how much I can handle tracking before it becomes too much. With the things that I have learned, I have come up with a set of spreads that I find to be necessary to add to a bullet journal from the beginning.

I would like to start by saying that the joy and creativity of bullet journaling is that it is meant to fit your needs and wants so, what I share here is meant as inspiration and it not meant as a guide to what exactly you have to do in your bullet journal.

The order in which I share each spread is the order in which they are organized within my bullet journal. I have them ordered this way because the spreads that I access everyday are at the front of the bullet journal, then the middle is weekly spreads, and at the end is the spreads that I only access occasionally.

I plan digitally, using an iPad and the application GoodNotes Adonit Dash 3 Stylus from Amazon. These spreads were made on GoodNotes5, but are easily exported to be used on GoodNotes4. If you are curious to why I plan digitally check out my blog post Switching to a Digital Planner-Paperless Planning.

Goals

I always have the first page of my bullet journal be a goals page. I find that having it as the first page makes it so that I can easily refer back to it and that I am always reminded of my goals. For this spread I went with a simple and organic rainbow doodle next to the title. If you choice to recreate this spread you could add somewhere to check off once it is done.



Mood Tracker

The second spread in my bullet journal is always my yearly mood tracker/ year in pixels. This is the third year I am using this exact spread. I always say if it is not broken then don't fix it. Each year I change the title but the rest of the spread stays the same from year to year. One of the perks of using GoodNotes to plan is that I can just copy and paste the spread from one journal to the next without having to remake it each year.




Monthly Health Tracker

The next section of my bullet journal is my monthly trackers. This starts with my monthly health tracker. To learn more about this spread and how to make your own check out this blog post The Only Habit/Health Tracker That You Need in Your Bullet Journal. In my 2020 bullet journal I used the same style of header for each month. For 2021 I plan to create a different header for each month. 




Monthly Workout Tracker

Like the monthly health tracker, I also create a monthly workout tracker. This is a spread where I track what type of workout I do each day. For more information on this spread and others like it check out Bullet Journal Fitness and Workout Spread Ideas. Like with the last monthly spread I plan to create a different header for each month. 




Weekly Spreads

The next section of my bullet journal is the weekly spreads. I have previously ordered this section starting with the first week of the year and then adding the new week after that. Doing it this way means I have to scroll down to get to each week. Even though it would be a new way to do it, should I add the new week in front of the past so that I do not have to scroll down? For ideas on weekly spreads check out 5 Fall Black and White Weekly Bullet Journal Spread Ideas, Star Themed Weekly Bullet Journal Spread Ideas, and more linked at the end of this post. 

Tweets My Life

This next spread is something that I started doing in March right before quarantine started. It is an idea that just came to me because things would happen or be said that I should should be tweeted, but I don't have Twitter so I just thought I would write them down. Overtime it has now become a place where I write a tweet for each day. This could be something that I or someone said, something I thought of, or simply just how I felt about the day. During the month of November I used this spread as a way to write something that I was grateful for each day. 




COVID-19 Notes

Something that I have been doing since March is writing down notes related to COVID. This included notes for what and when things shut down, when I got tested and my results, when the vaccines where released and really anything else that I would to remember. 




Books

A spread that I have always had in my bullet journal is a book list. This is a place for me to write down the title of the books the I read each year. Like all of my spreads this have evolved over the years. Last year and this year I went with a simple spread where I just wrote down the title of the book. I also just used a simple header because I know that it will be filled with text by the end of the year. Since I read a lot of books I usually end up with two of this same spread my the end of the year. For more book related bullet journal spreads check out this blog post Bullet Journal Spread Ideas For Book Lovers.




Cleaning Schedule

The last spread that I always set up at the start of the new year is my cleaning schedule. This spread evolved from a When Did I Last spread into a cleaning schedule because most of the elements were cleaning related. As you can see I repeat some of the tasks on the same page as a way to minimize the number of pages that I use for this spread. I usually end up with two to three of these spreads completely filled out by the end of the year. For more cleaning or list related spreads check out this blog post Bullet Journal Cleaning Schedule and List Ideas. 




Throughout the year I will add more lists and note spreads to my journal. These will follow the weekly spreads section and just go in whatever order I feel makes the most sense for me. In the list below I have more links to list spread ideas.

I hope that this was an inspirational and motivational blog post that left you excited and ready to tackle 2021! Happy New Year and Happy Planning!!

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