Today, I’d like to share pages from my 2018 bullet journal set-up!

This is my third year using a bullet journal, and this year I decided to really try and find an aesthetic that I liked and stick to it throughout the year. I tend to like more minimal layouts with a touch of calligraphy and washi tape. I found a beautiful 12 pack of tapes that are all sort of floral and watercolor, and they look really nice together. One of those tapes, paired with one of the Zebra Mildliners will be used for each month’s theme, and in pages that are more year-round will be accented with various gold washi tapes I’ve collected over the past couple of years. I’ll also be using some stickers, of course!

The supplies:

• Leuchtturm 1917 – Medium (A5) Dotted in Gold (Anniversary Edition)
• Leuchtturm 1917 Self-Adhesive Pen Loop in Gold
• Knaid 12 pc. Floral Masking Tape set
• Various gold washi tapes from Michael’s, Target, & Hobby Lobby (example)
• Zebra Mildliners – three 5 pc. sets 
• Create 365 The Happy Planner Sticker packs
  • Basics 1829 pc.
  • Seasonal Pack 1557 pc.
• Recollections Creative Year Watercolor-Inspired Tiny-Icon Stickers 275 pc.
• Sharpie Plastic Point Stick Water-Resistant Pen in Black
• Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pens – Hard & Soft Tip

My very first page in my journal is a list of important phone numbers that I can reference in case I’m ever without my (charged) phone and need to call someone. Raise your hand if you can only remember phone numbers you learned before the mid 2000’s! (This is obviously not pictured here for privacy reasons.)

To the left is my 2018 & 2019 review. I don’t reference this a ton, but when I need it, it’s extremely helpful to have it here. It’s also really nice to have as I’m setting up other pages in my journal.

Next is my future log. Here you can see a sneak peek of 11/12 monthly washi tapes I’ll be using throughout the year. They are so beautiful!

I really like to have space in the calendar portion of the future log to mark dates and then write the note out to the side, so I first see the visual of, “Oh! Here’s when I shouldn’t plan to do something else because I’ve already got something happening.” For that reason, I haven’t included things like days off or birthdays…but more on that soon.

After the future log, I have a couple pages that I won’t show here. One is my “When did I last _______?” page, which helps me remember things like when I last changed my contacts, got a hair cut, went to the dentist/eye doctor, got my car serviced, etc. Then there’s a spread of quick-reference info related to my work – phone numbers and office locations.
Speaking of work, next is one of my favorite inventions, my work time tracker. This gives me a big-picture view of when I have days off and how much sick and vacation time I have available to use.

I color code the calendar (as seen at the bottom of the pages). On the right side, I track the accrued and used sick and vacation time as it happens. This helps me to know the balances, even when the online system hasn’t updated yet.

For birthdays and anniveraries, I like to have these on a separate “perpetual calendar” style page.

I’ve blurred out all the names (except mine), but this works really well for me as a quick reference of all the birthdays of people in my life. I want to try to send real cards to people this year, but at the very least I try to send some happiness via text and/or Facebook to celebrate these special days. I also copy these birthdays over into my monthly calendars each month as an extra reminder.

Above are some simple list-keeping pages:

• Gift Ideas – for those times I think, “This would be perfect for _____!” when it’s not quite time to purchase them a gift.
• Wishlist – this year I decided to break this up into sections. I’d been testing this idea in my One Note “e-Bullet Journal” notebook, and I really like it.
• Movies Seen in 2018 – On the left side I’ll write in movies we see at the theater, along with the date. On the right I’ll do the same, but for movies I watch at home.
• TV Shows – I watch a lot of TV, so I needed a basic page to write in the shows I watch, which I can then transfer to my running Google Sheet of all the shows I’ve ever watched all the way through. (Yes, I really love spreadsheets.)
• Books I Read in 2018 – I liked the idea of setting this page up with the thick washi on the left side of it to look like a book cover, but that’s about as far as I thought. So far, I’ve started just writing in the book title and author I’m working on sort of randomly on the page. I’m hoping to read 10 books this year!

These have been the journal pages I’ve set up so far that relate to the year overall. Coming soon on the blog for bullet journaling:

• January 2018 Set-Up
• Meal Planning in my Bullet Journal
• My Mindful Money Plan

What are your must-have pages to include when you start a new journal? Is anyone else out there using a theme or trying to stick to a certain aesthetic for their entire journal? What are your favorite journal/planner supplies?

– Natalie

P.S. Here’s some referral links to some of my favorite sites. Use if you’d like!

• Ebates – This is a great way to earn cash back from online shopping (that you’re already doing) at many of your favorite stores! (Including Sephora & Ulta!) If you join through this link and make a purchase of $25 or more, you’ll get an extra $10 cash back and I’ll get $15, as well as your own referral code.
• thredUP – I love using thredUP to clean out my closet and shop for new pieces at a discounted price – sometimes they’re even brand new with tags! When you join thredUP through this link, you get $10 to spend and I get $10 to shop after you place your first order.
• StitchFix – This is a great way to try out some new items for your closet, without the hassle of going to the stores and the bonus of a personal stylist. If you sign up with this link, you’ll get a FREE styling fee (usually $20) on your first Fix, and I’ll get $25 credit once it ships.