Setting Up Your New Bullet Journal
If you’re looking to set up a bullet journal for the new year, you’ve come to the right place. If you’re switching over to a bullet journal anytime during the year, you’ve come to the right place, too. Lucky you!
Not sure where to start? A new bullet journal means limitless possibilities for planning, but that’s no reason to feel overwhelmed. Check out the different ways to organize your journal below.
Planning Ahead
One of the best feature of bullet journals is your ability to tailor your future planning. You can use the all of the elements below, one of them, or any combination; whatever works for you!
YEAR AT A GLANCE
The Year at a Glance serves as your own personal calendar all in one spot. From colorful to simple, this is your reference for dates and days of the week.
On a related not, I have an entire post on future planning and how to do it. If you’re interested, check out the post here.

I love the Staedtler pens and Leuchtturm 1917 journals.

Find Tombow brush pens and tombow fudenosuke

Get these Stabilo pens

Tombow dual brush pens and Faber Castell pens

Love this neon green Leuchtturm1917 dotted notebook
FUTURE LOG
My favorite of the future planning options – the future log. It takes a bit to set up. But it’s an easy way to keep track of important dates and appointments throughout the year. Check out my future planning post here.

And these Prismacolor colored pencils

Find this beautiful purple Leuchtturm1917 journal
MONTHLY LOG
The monthly log is similar to the future log. You simply list the days of the month and write down your important events and appointments. Done!
If you’d like to see some of my favorite monthly spreads here, check out this post .


@grandezzasjournal (account no longer active)
Tombow brush pens and Muji pens
BIRTHDAYS/HOLIDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES
Some bullet journalers dedicate one page to important events. This is also called a perpetual calendar. These events can be recorded linearly or in a type of calendar wheel.



CALENDEX
The Calendex method is a little more complicated way to keep track of all your important dates.


CLEANING SCHEDULE


HELLO 2018
Are you into adding a little creative element to your bullet journal? How about a hello 2018 page?

Tombow Dual Brush Pens and Uni Pin Drawing Pens

Get yourself some Tombow Twin Tones


Looking for polka dot washi tape? Find some here and here

HELLO January

Similar to a Hello 2018 page, add a hello January page to your bullet journal. They an be simple or a gorgeous illustration.

Gorgeous Zebra Mildliners
Tracking The Present
New years come with resolutions to be smarter, faster stronger. Or at least, more organized and happier. Try setting up trackers to hold yourself accountable in the area of money, mental health, and things to read and watch.
BOOKS/MOVIES
If you’re in need of some more Book Tracker inspiration, you can read more about it here.

I’ve read the entire Game of Thrones box set. Totally recommend it!


MOOD TRACKER
Many people use mood trackers to track their mental and physical health. If you’d like more information about using all sorts of trackers, check out this post.

Tombow Dual Brush Pens are a total must-have. No, seriously.

Sakura Pigma Professional Brush Pen and Sakura Micron pens
HABIT TRACKER
I’ll be honest, habit tracking has never been my strong suit. But lots of planners love to track everything: from exercise to water intake to date night. If you’d like more bullet journal tracker inspiration, check out the post here.


BILL TRACKER
Pretty straight forward, create a spot to keep track of your bills and write in the amount or simply check them off each month. Quite satisfying.


Stabilo pens and PaperMate Flair pens
GRATITUDE LOG
The gratitude log is something that I’m going to try this year in my own bullet journal. It’s so easy to get caught up with the problems in our lives. A gratitude log is such a simple way to celebrate what is going well. You could add an entry every day or even once a week.


GOAL SETTING
Pretty straight forward. Writing things down make them more real. Try it!


Crayola Twistable color pencils
WORD OF THE YEAR
This element is all over the planner world. The idea is that you choose one word on which to focus for the year.


Pentel Touch pens and Tombow Dual Brush pens
Looking Back
END OF THE YEAR REVIEW
One element that seems to be really popular this 2017 is the Year In Review. It’s a great way to reflect on the last 12 months and celebrate your victories, large and small.



That should get you going in laying out your bullet journal for 2018.

PIN ME!
If you’re interested in learning more about bullet journaling, check out my Bullet Journal Pinterest board.
If you’d like more inspiration on planning in general, follow Zen of Planning on Pinterest.
Happy New Year and happy planning!
Thank you for the INSPIRATION!!!!!
You’re so welcome!