This time around, I’ve gone for a vaguely eclectic theme that I’m dubbing my ‘ransom note, high school notebook, scrapbook-style’ theme (a super concise and punchy name, right?). It’s basically a fun amalgamation of different papers, stickers and (rather painstakingly) cut-out letters/numbers from a newspaper, all stuck into the pages of my journal. In other words, it’s organised chaos (and I’m kind of obsessed with it).

Let’s get into it!

Table of Contents

• Journal
• Equipment
• Nameplate
• Cover Page
• Future Log
• Tennis Schedule
• Appointment Notes
• Wishlist + Prescriptions
• TV + Reading Trackers
• Blog Planning
• Final Thoughts

Journal

I’ve been using the dot grid notebooks from Coral and Ink for my bullet journals for a while now. A while back, I bought a few journals in their B-Grade sale (where they sell slightly damaged/imperfect journals at a discounted price) and have been using them ever since! This is my last journal from that haul, which means I’ll have to buy a new journal for 2026 (in fact, I’m thinking of getting an extra large journal with enough pages that I won’t have to set up these initial pages twice throughout the year… if I can find one!).

This particular journal has a pale green cover with a little golden motif of a pretzel (yum) and some flowers (not yum, but very pretty!) on the front. It has gilded edges with a pretty flower pattern, plus an elastic closure, two ribbon bookmarks, a back pocket AND a pen holder. I really do love these journals: the pages are super heavy duty, so you don’t have to worry too much about your pens bleeding through and the vegan leather covers are really durable.

Equipment

For this setup, I used the following equipment:

• Uni Pin Fine Line pen: 0.5, sepia.
• Sharpie Ultra Fine Point permanent marker, black. This is great for using on paper that you stick into your journal because it dries super quickly + doesn’t smudge/ghost, but I wouldn’t recommend writing directly onto the pages of your journal with it, because it does tend to bleed through.
• Kraft sticky notes.
• Purple lined + coloured paper.
• Assorted stickers.
• Newspaper (I used a copy of Waitrose Weekend, which contains a really good range of fonts!).
• Alphabet stamps + black ink pad.
• Scissors.
• Corner rounder.
• Sakura Quickie Glue pen.
• Glue stick.
• Ruler.

Nameplate

I figured I’d start as I meant to go on with the Nameplate in this journal, so I made up my name using an assortment of letters that I had (rather painstakingly, I admit) cut out of an old copy of Waitrose Weekend. I found the most efficient way of doing this was to cut out whole words that were written in fun/nicely-sized fonts, then cut out the individual letters as and when needed (this makes it easier to find the letters when you need them!). I used my Quickie Glue Pen to stick in all of the letters (though I used a regular glue stick for sticking in larger pieces of paper throughout the rest of setup, because I’m not that patient!).

I also added a little cluster of stickers to this page, for extra decoration, and an exclamation mark, to help infuse the 6 months ahead with a sense of fun and excitement (that should work, right?). If you’re wondering why the second ‘m’ looks weird and are suspicious that its really just an upside-down ‘w’, you would be 100% right.

Cover Page

Onto the Cover Page now and, instead of a Quote Page alongside it (as I usually do), I decided to add a small space to write out some goals on the left-hand side. I’ve never been great at setting (and sticking to) goals, so I’m trying to keep this section very minimal: just 5 clear, attainable, but still slightly ambitious, goals. I actually haven’t worked these out yet, but I will! Either way, it’s probably more useful than a quote that I’m unlikely to look at again, so it works out!

Future Log

My Future Log is up next, which is basically a year-long calendar, squished into two double-page spreads. I like to include the 6 months that my journal focuses on, plus a further 6 months after that, because I often get sent appointment dates quite a long way in advance and I like to be able to keep track of them. In this journal, then, the first half of the Future Log focuses on July-December 2025 and the second half focuses on January-June 2026.

So that I’d only have to stick in the letters for the Future Log heading once, I opted to use a Dutch Door-style layout for this spread. To do this, I trimmed off the very top of the right-hand page (and used my corner rounder to soften up that cut corner, because I value the intact skin on my fingers).

For each month, I made a tiny, grid-style calendar using a piece of kraft grid paper (technically, I used grid-pattern sticky notes, but that’s just what I had). This was great because the sticky note grid was much smaller than the dot grid of the notebook, which made it much easier to fit everything into this spread! I also used a long strip of purple lined paper for a vertical calendar for each month. Again, the lines on this paper were thinner than the ones in the journal itself, which also helped me to use the space more efficiently. I used my black fine tip Sharpie to write in the weekend dates, because I like to be able to see at a glance when my beloved rest days are taking place!

This combination of calendar styles/layouts is my favourite way to set up a Future Log: the mini grid calendar helps me to visualise the structure of the month, the vertical calendar gives me plenty of space to write in any events and the highlighted weekend dates really helps me to keep track of where I’m at!

Tennis Schedule

Ah, into the most niche section in this setup (and a longtime favourite spread of mine!): my Tennis Schedule. This spread is an absolute menace to set up, spans 3 whole double-page spreads and is ridiculously nerdy, but I love it. Essentially, it’s just a place for me to keep track of what tennis tournaments are taking place when/where and record which player won each one. It sounds ridiculous, but I can’t tell you how satisfying it is to just whip out this spread whenever someone asks me which tournaments are coming up next.

The setup of this spread is on the more complicated side, but, essentially, I’ve just trimmed down the two central pages (and rounded off the corners, of course). The ‘2025 Tennis Schedule’ heading goes on these two trimmed down pages, then the schedule itself goes onto the (trimmed down) double-page spreads on either side.

For the schedule itself, I’ve used the same table-style format that I always use for these spreads, where the left-hand side focuses on the ATP (men’s) tour and the right-hand side focuses on the WTA (women’s) tour. The week number goes down the middle (this time around, written on some star stickers!), then the date that each tournament begins goes on the next column out on each side. The tournament locations go in the next columns, then the names of the winners will go in the outermost columns. As always, I use a simple rang of symbols to indicate the level of each tournament: a full circle is for Grand Slams, a 3/4 circle is for Masters 1000s, a 1/2 circle is for 500s, a 1/4 circle is for 250s and a star is for other assorted tennis events (including group events like the Davis/United Cup and year-end events like the ATP/Next Gen Finals).

Overall, my Tennis Schedule is stupidly complicated and downright unhinged, but I love it and I could never let it go.

Appointment Notes

Next up, we have my Appointment Notes. Previously, I’ve only allowed a single page for this section, but I have found myself reluctant to use it in case I fill it up too quickly and run out of space (which is, I know, counterintuitive)! This time around, then, I decided to give it a full, double-page spread, to encourage myself to utilise it, because I do think it will be helpful to keep notes (however brief) of the things that I discuss with my healthcare team, what decisions have been made, test results etc.

This spread is basically just a table of 3 columns: the date of the appointment, the appointment itself (i.e. which doctor/team), and a much larger space for notes. I haven’t sectioned off any rows because I don’t know how much space I’ll need for each appointment.

Wishlist + Prescriptions

Now it’s time for my Wishlist + Prescription pages, or, as I have been fondly thinking of it: my ‘What I Want vs What I Need‘ spread.

My Wishlist is on the left-hand page. I like to separate this out into categories, so I’ve done that here by using little squares of Kraft paper (again, of sticky note origin).

My Prescription Tracker is on the right-hand page. I’ve talked about this spread before, because it really is invaluable for keeping track of medications! I’ll put the initial of each medication in the stars along the top, allotting one column to each medication. Each mini table represents one ‘counting of the medicines’ event (and honestly, it is a bit of an event!) and I’ll put the date of each event on the hearts alongside the tables. From there, I just fill in each box: the number of tablets I currently have, the number of days that equates to and the date on which I will run out (I literally Google ‘x days from today’, using the number from the second row, which greatly speeds up this process!). Filling in this spread does take a bit of a time, but it is important to keep track of these things to make sure I never run out of important medication, so I try to just fill it in any time I get a new stock of my prescriptions.

TV + Reading Trackers

My TV + Reading Tracker spreads aren’t essential planning features, but I do enjoy looking back through my journals and seeing what I was watching/reading at each point in my life, so I like to include them anyway!

For my TV Tracker, I’ll write the name of the show I’m watching in the left-hand column, then draw as many little circles in the right-hand column as there are series of the show. As I watch each series, I colour in the respective circle, thus keeping track of where I’m at in the show. It’s a little ridiculous, but a lot of fun to look back on!

For my Reading Tracker, I put the ‘number’ of the book in the far-left column (I like to see how many books I’ve read in any given year, so I usually roll this number over from the first 6 months of the year). In the next column, I put the title of the book, then the final two columns are for the date that I start/finish the book. I mainly use Storygraph to keep track of my reading habits, but I like to transfer that information to my journal too, so I can look back on it more easily!

Blog Planning

The final spread in this setup is a more general spread for Blog Planning. I like to have a space for notes/ideas, but I wasn’t quite sure what I needed out of this spread, so I decided to keep it simple and create a few different spaces for my notes, without labelling anything specifically. We’ll see what it becomes as the months progress!

Final Thoughts

I’m kind of… obsessed with this spread? It was a menace to set up: I was very sick of cutting up and glueing in all of the letters (and trying to find some of the more elusive letters!) by the end of it. I did, however, very much enjoy sticking in all of the stickers (so easy! so fun!) and just chaotically sticking in paper, watching as the pages went from bland and sad to messy and fun and pretty.

I was worried about this setup looking too ransom/blackmail note-y, but I think all of the purple/kraft paper/fun stickers give it much more of an early 2000s, teen movie vibe, which I’m definitely happier with!

Overall, this was a labour-intensive setup, but I’m really happy with how it turned out and I think that all of the spreads will be super useful!

Gemma

xxx

Setting up the initial pages of my bullet journal can feel like such an overwhelming task, because a) I’m not known for my moderation, so there’s always SO MANY pages to create and b) it has to be done alongside a monthly setup. I wanted to keep the design for this setup really simple and easy to create, both to make the task feel a little less overwhelming and to allow me to focus on the function of the spreads themselves, to ensure that these pages are super helpful and useless to me.

I opted to use my pastel Kuretake dot pens to decorate all of the spreads in this setup, using them to create boxes, borders and even headings. I went for a simple, block capital font and used only one, black fineliner for all of the writing. I tried to keep the setups looking clean and minimal, but also colourful and happy, which I think will be just what I need going into the new year.

Table of Contents

• Journal
• Equipment
• Nameplate
• Cover + Quote Page
• 2025 Goals
• Future Log
• Tennis Schedule + Results
• Year in Dots
• Appointments + Prescriptions
• Blog Planning
• Ideas
• Bullet Journal Planning + Wishlist
• Finance + Knit & Crochet
• TV + Reading Trackers
• Final Thoughts

Journal

For the next 6 months, I’ll be using the Snowflake Polaroid A5 Dot Grid Journal from Coral and Ink (I purchased a B Grade version, for a discounted price).

This journal is a lovely blue colour— almost a cross between a cloud blue and a periwinkle. The pages have gilded edges and the front cover features a gold foil design of a polaroid and some snowflakes. The journal also has an elastic closure, pen loop, two ribbon bookmarks and a back pocket, for storing any journalling essentials.

Equipment

To create this setup, I used the following equipment:

• Sakura Pigma Micron fineliner, black 01 (0.25mm).
• Kuretake clean colour dot pens, mild colours.
• Tombow ABT dual brush pen, N89 (I got mine in this multipack).
• Scissors.
• Corner rounder.

Nameplate

I wanted to keep my nameplate for this journal in line with the theme of the other spreads, so I used my Kuretake pens to add 5 little dots of colour, before writing my name over the top (one letter per dot).

Cover + Quote Page

Like every spread in this setup, I wanted to keep the Cover Page super simple. I used a repeating sequence of the Kuretake pen colours to make a border around the page, then applied slightly more pressure to make 4 bigger dots in the centre of the page, on top of which I wrote ‘2025’.

For my Quote Page, I chose a quote from a poem I saw recently on Instagram, that really struck a cord with me. The poem was written by Josie Balka, and you can find it here.

2025 Goals

I have an on-off relationship with ‘goals’, because I’m not particularly good at following through with them and I always end up being either too ambitious or not ambitious enough with them. However, this time of year, as New Year’s Eve draws closer, I always find myself craving a little life reset and enjoying the prospect of making small, manageable changes that help me to feel happier and more aligned, so I’ve opted to include a Goals Page in this setup.

I have space in this setup for 6 separate goals and I made sure to give each one plenty of space, so that I can write down some actionable steps for each one, in the hopes that, for once, I might actually work towards them!

Future Log

Onto one of the most important spreads in my biannual setups now: my Future Log. This is essentially a yearly calendar, where I can see all of my appointments (of which there are usually very many), events (of which there are usually very few) and just a general outline of the year ahead. I set up two Future Log spreads in this journal: one for the months this journal covers (January to June) and one for the remaining 6 months of the year, so that I don’t feel completely overwhelmed and unprepared when June comes to an end.

I like to have a really clear, visual representation of the year ahead, so I use multiple calendar layouts within my Future Log spreads: there’s a mini calendar at the top of each month, so I can see the structure of each one easily, then I have a vertical calendar beneath to write in any important dates. On that vertical calendar, I like to highlight the weekend dates, just to help me visualise each week. In this particular edition of my Future Log, I used a different colour for each month, to help separate them out.

Tennis Schedule + Results

Now, onto my beloved Tennis Schedule/Results spread, for which I use 3 whole double-page spreads in my journal (worth it). I trimmed down the centre pages and rounded out the corners using a corner rounder (much easier than trying to use scissors!). I then wrote the heading for the whole spread across those two trimmed down pages, as pictured above.

I used the same layout for my tennis spread as always: ATP tournaments are on the left-hand side, while WTA tournaments are on the right. The numbers down the middle represent the weeks of the schedule, then I write the specific start dates of the respective tournaments in the columns on either side. I write the location/name of the tournament in the next column out, then the final column on each side is left empty for the surname of the respective winners.

Because there are so many tournaments in a year, I spread this table out over both remaining pages of the spread: so January-March is on the left-hand spread, while April-June is on the right-hand spread.

I also added in my code for what level of tournament each one is (plus a little added colour, to match in with the rest of the spread): 1/4 circle = a 250 tournament, 1/2 circle = a 500 tournament, 3/4 circle = a Masters 100 and a full circle = a Grand Slam. A star represents a different format of tournament, such as the United, Davis or Billie Jean King cups.

Year in Dots

I didn’t set up a Year in Pixels spread in my last journal, because I just wasn’t keeping up with it, but it is something I enjoy doing and I like having it there for reference, particularly in terms of my physical/mental health, so I’ve decided to give it another go this time around.

I’ve changed up the layout slightly by using these mini calendars, rather than one big grid— a bit like a habit tracker. I feel like I’ll be able to fill in the spread more efficiently this way, but we’ll see how it works out. Because I’ll be using my Kuretake pens to fill this out, each ‘pixel’ will be more of a ‘dot’, so I’ve opted to call this spread my ‘Year in Dots‘ instead.

One of the problems I found with the Year in Pixels spread was that when I’d have longer periods of ill health, I’d have to keep the context surrounding that period in my head, as I had nowhere to note it down. For example, I might have had 7 ‘ill’ days in a row, but it would be because I had a virus or because I had had a particularly busy day the week before. I decided to use the right-hand page of this spread to write down any of this information, so I can keep everything in perspective.

Appointments + Prescriptions

Next up, we have a page for keeping track of my Appointments. In this table, I can write down the date of the appointment, the type of appointment and any notes on what was discussed, management plans and the like.

Next to that, I have my standard Prescriptions page. It can be hard to keep track of prescription medications: when you’ll run out of them and when you need to reorder them from the pharmacy, so this spread helps me do that. On the coloured dots on the far left, I’ll write in the date that I am filling out the table. After that, each medicine is assigned to a column, in which I fill out the number of tablets I have left, the number of days that corresponds to and the date that I will run out of my supply.

This takes a little while to setup, and a little while every now and then to fill out, but I just do it whenever I get a new set of prescriptions, so I can always feel confident that I’m not about to run out without realising! It really does make a huge difference.

Blog Planning

Next, we have my Blog Planning spreads. On the left-hand page, I keep track of some general, blog-related info. I like to keep a note of my Instagram growth every month, so there’s a section for that on the left, and the HEX codes of my blog colours, so they’re always accessible if I need to make any graphics (the section for that is on the right). Beneath that, I have a space for any general notes.

On the right-hand page, I have my master list of blog posts. In the first column, I’ll write in the post date, then, in the second column, I’ll write in the title of the post.

Ideas

I don’t like too much structure when it comes to my Ideas spread, so I’ve kept this one super simple: just a simple border, with the title written on it. I use this as a kind of ‘brain dump’ style spread, so I can just jot down any ideas I may have, at any point, without worrying about making it looking neat or orderly.

Bullet Journal Planning + Wishlist

Now we come to my Bullet Journal Planning page, where I can note down any potential theme ideas for the year ahead. I sometimes find it hard to pick a theme, so having a list that I can create/add to throughout the year makes it much easier. A lot of my theme ideas are month-specific, so I laid this spread out as a table, with one box for each month of the year. However, I also have a space for ‘miscellaneous’ spread ideas at the top, in case I have any ideas that don’t necessarily have to be used for a particular month.

Next to that page is my Wishlist spread. Unlike my Ideas spread, I do like to separate my Wishlist out into categories, so I’ve separated this spread into 6 boxes: one each for stationery items, entertainment products, hair/skin products, clothing, homeware and other, miscellaneous products.

Finance + Knit & Crochet

I like to keep a general record of my Finances, so, on this next page, I have one table to keep track of my savings and one to keep track of my income streams. In the savings table (top), each row corresponds to a month, then there are columns for income, expenses, the amount I have saved that month and the total sum of my savings since January. In the income stream table (bottom), I just have 6 spaces (one for each month of the year), to note down where my money came from each month.

Alongside my Finance page, I have a space to keep track of my Knit & Crochet Projects. While I do use Ravelry to keep detailed notes of each project, I do also like to keep a general record in my bullet journal as well, so that I can easily look back over all of the projects I have completed/started in each 6-month period.

TV + Reading Trackers

Finally, I have my Entertainment trackers. On the left-hand page, I have my TV Tracker, where I keep track of the TV series that I’m watching and how far along in them I am. For each series, I’ll write down the title of the show, then use my Kuretake pens to add a corresponding number of dots to the number of seasons it has. As I watch each season, I tick it off.

Then, I have my Reading Tracker. I mainly use Storygraph to keep track of my reading habits, but I do like to have a record in my planner too. I’ve set this one out in a table format, so the first column is for the number of the book (I record this starting in January, so the first book I read in the new year will be #1, the second #2 and so on), the second column is for the title, the third for the date I started reading it and the fourth for the date I finished it.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I’m so, incredibly happy with how this setup turned out. It feels like the perfect balance of colourful and minimal, fun and useful, so I’m really excited to see how it works for me over the next 6 months. While it did take a little while to stamp all the little dots, I actually found the process quite therapeutic— I just put the TV on and stamped away in a little repeating sequence of the colours and, once I’d done that, each spread was super quick and easy to finish off.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my 2025 setup! Let me know if it gave you any ideas for spreads in your own bullet journal!

Gemma

xxx

Today’s post is all about my Mid-Year Bullet Journal Setup! Every time I start a new journal, I have to re-setup all of the initial pages- things like my Future Log, Media Trackers and Tennis Calendar. This new journal will cover July through to December (though, seeing as July is already nearly over, I won’t be making a July setup this year- we’ll just skip straight to August instead, and that post should be coming soon!).

A quick note as well for anyone waiting for the 6th and final instalment of my Bridgerton House Baby Blanket Pattern: it’s on its way! Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten- I’ll be getting that post, as well as the Ravelry pattern page, out as soon as possible.

Table of Contents

• Journal
• Inspiration
• Equipment
• Cover + Quote Page
• Future Log
• Tennis Calendar
• Medical Notes + Prescriptions
• Blog Planning
• Ideas
• Bullet Journal Theme Ideas + Wishlist
• Finance + Knit & Crochet Tracker
• TV + Reading Tracker
• Final Thoughts

Journal

As I mentioned, I’ve started a new journal for the rest of 2024. I recently purchased some journals from Coral and Ink, one of my favourite UK-based stationery shops, so I had a few options to choose from! I actually purchased these journals as part of the company’s B-Grade journal sale, where they sell any journals with slight imperfections at a lower cost. It’s a great way to save money and still get a beautiful, perfectly useable journal (honestly, the imperfections on mine are barely even noticeable)!

Anyway, I selected this lilac bullet journal to use for the second half of 2024. It has a cute, gold polaroid and sunflower motif on the front, plus gilded edges, two ribbon bookmarks, a back pocket, a pen holder AND an elastic closure. I mean, what more could you want?

Inspiration

For my initial pages in a new journal, I always like to choose a theme that reflects the design of the journal itself. Unsurprisingly, then, I went with a sunflower theme this time around, using a purple and yellow colour scheme (that’s right- I know all about the colour wheel). I think it’s a really cheery theme, and the colours remind me a little of Tangled (my favourite Disney film!) which makes the whole thing even more perfect.

Because I was already so behind with my journal, it was really important to me that this setup be quick and easy to create. I decided to go down the doodle-y, ‘perfectly imperfect’ route, so the majority of the spreads are created with coloured pencils only. I know, I know- no ruler? Blasphemous. But it really sped up the whole process, which was exactly what I needed. I did also use a fineliner pen to write in some of the smaller headings and details, like the numbers, but I opted to use a brown shade, instead of my usual black, to keep things soft and a little more natural-looking. Also in the interest of keeping this setup simple and quick to make, I opted to forego my usual tab sections and scale down the number of spreads I had to create.

Equipment

As I mentioned, I kept my equipment list super minimal for this setup (no, like, for real this time). The only materials I used were:

• Coloured pencils (3 shades of yellow, 3 shades of purple and 1 shade of brown).
• Uni Pin fineliner pen, brown.
• Scissors.

That’s it! See- I can be minimal sometimes!

Cover + Quote Page

To decorate my Cover Page, I doodled some quick sunflowers, alongside some two-tone purple branches, which I scattered all over both pages. I wrote both the quote and the heading in my darkest purple pencil, in an intentionally messy, block capital font.

Future Log

The Future Log is a vital part of my bullet journal. I find that this particular layout works the best for me: I have a mini calendar for each month along the top, so that I can see the ‘shape’ of each month at a glance, then I have vertical calendars beneath them, where I can write in any appointments, plans or events. I’ve highlighted the weekend dates on my vertical calendar in a different colour, to give myself a clearer idea of which day I’m on.

I’ve actually included two double-page spreads for this Future Log: the first runs from July-December (i.e. the months covered in this bullet journal), then the second (pictured above) covers the first 6 months of 2025. I like to include a spread for these months, too, because I sometimes have appointments that are made a long way in advance and I need to be able to keep track of them too!

Tennis Calendar

Next up, we have my beloved, if slightly over-the-top, Tennis Calendar. I use a whole 6 pages for this spread, but it’s soooo worth it. I love being able to whip out my calendar and let everyone know (whether they care or not) what tournaments are coming up next.

I followed the same layout for this calendar as I’ve done in my last 2 setups: the middle two pages are trimmed down and house the heading, along with some decoration (in this case, more sunflowers and branches).

The remaining pages house the calendar itself, which I separate into months, then weeks, with ATP tournaments on the left-hand side and WTA tournaments on the right. I include the start dates of each tournament and use a little symbol to indicate what level of tournament they are: a full circle indicates a Grand Slam, a 3/4 circle indicates a Masters 1000, a semi-circle indicates a 500 event, a 1/4 circle indicates a 250 event and a star indicates a group or other event (such as, in the case of this year, the Paris Olympics!). I also have space on each side of the table to fill in the winners of each tournament.

Okay, okay, I messed up this side of the calendar a little bit. I don’t know how it happened, but my October weeks got out of sync and… I just have to make my peace with that. Still, that mistake gave me space to add some fun sections to the bottom of the page: I’ve included sections to write in the qualifiers for each of the ATP, WTA and Next Gen Finals, as well as the Year-End #1 players for both the ATP and WTA tour.

Medical Notes + Prescriptions

Next up, we have my Healthcare spreads. On the left-hand page, I have a space for any notes from my appointments- I like to jot a couple of things down to keep track of what’s happening and what my doctors are saying. You know, responsible stuff like that.

On the right-hand page, I have my typical Prescription Tracker. This is an essential page for me, because it helps me keep on top of my prescriptions and make sure I know when to reorder them from my local pharmacy, so I never run out! Whenever I get a new delivery of medicines, I count them all up and fill in this table, which helps me to work out when they will run out and, by extension, when I will need to reorder them.

Blog Planning

I’ve created a much more condensed version of my Blog Planning section this time around, using only a single, double-page spread for it. On the left-hand page, I have spaces to track my monthly growth on Instagram, keep a note of my colour Hex codes and record my intended Blogmas At Home projects.

On the right-hand page, I have a larger space to keep track of what I have posted on the blog, along with when I posted it.

Ideas

Typically, I like to separate my Ideas spread up into sections, so I can keep everything organised and accessible. This time, however, I’ve opted for more of a mind map/brain dump style page, with a simple heading in the middle and plenty of blank space around the edges of the spread to jot down any ideas.

Bullet Journal Theme Ideas + Wishlist

Admittedly, these two spreads are completely unrelated, so it’s kind of weird that they’re next to each other, but they’re both super useful pages to have! On the left-hand side, my Bullet Journal Theme Ideas page has a space at the bottom to jot down any generic theme ideas, as well as a more structured space in the top right to note down any theme ideas I have that I would like to attempt for a particular month, or are month-specific.

For my Wishlist, I decided to keep it separated into sections as usual, but tried to keep the amount of sections to a minimum. In the end, I created 6 sections: Hair & Skin (meaning, of course hair products, skincare and makeup- NOT anything Hannibal-y, I swear), Clothes, Stationery, Entertainment, Home and Accessories. I haven’t quite found the perfect Wishlist spread that works for my needs yet, so I’ll see how this setup suits me this time around!

Finance + Knit & Crochet Tracker

Again, two pretty unrelated spreads (though maybe the finance tracker will prevent me from buying copious amounts of yarn on a whim? I’m unsure…) here, but, again, both very useful in their own way! On the left-hand side, my Finance Tracker is where I weigh my costs vs my income and calculate my savings each month, to keep myself (and my expensive taste) in check. At the bottom of the spread, I have a space to jot down my income streams for each month, so I can see where my money is coming from.

On the right-hand page, I have my Knit & Crochet Tracker. I love using Ravelry, but I’m a bit useless at filling it in as I go along, so I’m hoping this spread will help me to remember when I started a project, even if I don’t log it on Ravelry until I’ve finished!

TV + Reading Tracker

Finally, two spreads that have… something in common! Welcome to the abbreviated version of my Media section. On the left-hand page I have my TV Tracker. On this spread, I write out the title of the series I’m watching, along with a little circle for each season of the show. As I finish each season, I fill in the circle. I like doing this in my journal, not so much to track my watching habits, but because I like to look back and remember all the things I’ve watched (it also means, when my dad bemoans the fact I am watching something for the 500th time, I can remind him how long it’s been since I last watched it and feel vindicated).

Finally, we have my Reading Tracker. Here, I keep track of how many books I’ve read so far this year, which books I’m reading and when I’ve read them. I’ve recently got back into reading after a pretty drastic slump, so I’m really looking forward to using this spread again!

Final Thoughts

I really love how this spread turned out- it was so quick and easy to create, which was exactly what I wanted (and needed!) this month, but I don’t feel like I had to compromise on the design side of things to achieve that. These spreads feel cheery and happy, but still kind of… tasteful, I guess? I went into creating this setup without a lot of planning and no sketching AT ALL, which was kind of scary, but kind of freeing as well? There are mistakes, of course (RIP my Tennis Calendar), but I usually make mistakes even when I plan, so I don’t think I can blame the lack of planning for that one!

I hope you love this setup as much as I do! I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Gemma

xxx

In this post, I’ll be showing you the initial pages of my bullet journal for the next 6 months. I always set up lots of different spreads at this stage, because I like having fewer spreads to set up throughout the year. I am very aware, however, that the sheer amount of spreads in this post might seem a little overwhelming! Bullet journalling is such a personal thing- this is what works for me, and, while it takes a lot of time to set up, I don’t mind because I know how much time and stress it will save me in the long term. If you’re new to bullet journalling, I would definitely recommend keeping things simple to begin with, so you can get into the flow of the bullet journalling process.

Anyway, let’s go through my (very un-minimal) setup, shall we?

Table of Contents

• Inspiration
• Equipment
• Things to Look Forward to + Name Plate
• 2024 Cover Page
• Goals
• Future Log
• Tennis Schedule + Results
• Health
  • Year in Pixels + Cover Page
  • Medical Notes + Prescription Tracker
  • Challenges
• Blog
  • Hub + Cover Page
  • Post Planning
  • Kanban Board
  • Projects + Ideas
• Finance
  • Notes + Cover Page
  • Savings + Income Streams
  • Wishlist
• Media
  • To Read/Watch + Cover Page
  • TV Tracker + Reading Tracker
• Final Thoughts

Inspiration

For my January-June 2024 bullet journal, I chose this red notebook from Notebook Therapy. It has a rose design on both the front cover and the spine, as well as two ribbon bookmarks and an elastic closure. It came with a matching rose paperclip and the cover is a super soft velvet. The only thing it doesn’t have is a pen holder, which is a little sad, but not the end of the world. Also… this journal was a limited edition product, so I don’t think it’s still available for purchase :(. On the bright side, there a lots of other lovely journals available on the Notebook Therapy website!

Recently, I’ve been making a conscious effort to match the themes of my initial bullet journal setups to the design of the journals themselves. Of course, I decided to do the same with this one- I went for an ornate, fairytale/storybook theme to reflect the Beauty and the Beast vibes of the journal design.

I’ve always loved illuminated letters- you know, how the first letter in medieval manuscripts/old storybooks is always super ornate and highly-decorated? I think I did a project on them once at school and it just stuck with me. I thought that style of lettering would work perfectly with this theme, so I included as many illuminated letters as I possibly could!

I also opted to use a very minimal colour palette for this setup: it’s essentially just black, red and gold (with the occasional, parchment-y colour for highlighting). I think the black really helps to give this setup a bit of ✨drama✨, but it does give off a slightly more gothic vibe than I was going for- I’m not mad about that, though, because it reminds me a little bit of some pieces of gothic literature, I’m thinking Jane Eyre and Carmilla?- so it still fits my ‘storybook’ theme.

Also, I realised after making this entire setup that the font I used was kind of… Saltburn-y? I haven’t watched the film (I am much too soft for that) but it has been all over my socials, so maybe I was accidentally inspired? I suppose, then, that this is a Beauty and the Beast-inspired setup, with some other accidental influences, including, but not limited to, gothic literature and Saltburn. Makes total sense, right?

Equipment

• Tombow Dual Brush Pen: black (N15) and light sand (990).
• Muji 0.38mm pen, black. 
• Crayola SuperTips: dark red and black.
• Uni-ball Signo Broad, gold.
• STAEDTLER Metallic Marker pens: gold.
• Decorative gold washi tape.
• Black paper.
• Ruler.
• Pencil.
• Eraser.
• Scissors.
• Glue.

Things to Look Forward to + Name Plate

I never used to use the inside cover of my journal for anything, but it is something that I have been doing a bit more over the past year, because I think it’s nice to use all of the available space! This time, I opted to put a ‘Things to Look Forward to‘ spread here- I’ll fill this up with a ‘word cloud’ full of things that I’m looking forward to in the year ahead, so that I can come back and reference it whenever I need a little pick me up.

2024 Cover Page

I really wanted my Cover Page to be super dramatic, so I used a whole double-page spread for it. I wrote out 2024 in a classic (accidentally Saltburn-y) lettering, coloured each letter in black and then decorated them with golden vines and red roses, as a little nod to my beloved illuminated letters. I really love how this page turned out!

Goals

One of my goals for the new year is to be better at actually achieving my goals, which I guess, is kind of goal-ception? I’m going to list my goals on the left-hand page, but I’ve also included some other boxes on the right-hand page, to help me expand on some of those goals. I’ve got a space for any skills I learn over the year and a space for jotting down some things I would like to try out. I also added a quote from the song ‘Beauty and the Beast‘ (from the Disney film), because, really, if Angela Lansbury as a kindly old teapot cannot motivate me, who can?

Future Log

It is an ongoing grievance of mine that a Future Log just does not fit right into an A5 bullet journal. I know there are ways around it, and believe me- I’ve tried them all, but future logs just work better for me when I have a mini Monday-Friday calendar AND a full, vertical calendar for each month. Like that, I can just about fit 6 months in on a double-page spread, but there’s definitely no room for a header/extra decoration. Sigh. Oh well, I want my bullet journal to be functional, first and foremost, so, this time around, I have sacrificed my title, even though it hurt me greatly to do so.

On a more positive note, I’ve been seeing a lot of people highlighting the weekends on their vertical calendars recently and I thought it was such a good idea, so I tried that out, using my Tombow 990.

Even though this bullet journal is only for January-June, I have set up another double-page future log for July-December 2024, so that I can keep track of any appointments/plans throughout the year. If I don’t do this, I always seem to have a major panic in June when the second half of the year sneaks up on me. Not the vibe.

Tennis Schedule + Results

Are you excited? I am! It’s time for my beloved, super-niche, straight-up obsessive Tennis Schedule and Results spread. Is this one I imagine you will be including in your journal? Probably not. Could I live without it? Absolutely. Do I want to? Absolutely not. In every bullet journal I set up (admittedly, only from last year onwards, but still), I dedicate 3 whole double-page spreads to my Tennis schedule and, honestly, it’s so worth it- it’s one of my most used spreads. What can I say? I live a quiet, tennis-obsessed life.

This particular tennis setup is very similar to the other two I have created (you can find my first one here, and the most recent one here). The title goes on the central double-page spread, which I cut down so that the other two double-page spreads before and after are slightly visible. Those two spreads contain the tennis calendar, which is really just a big table in which I write all the upcoming tournaments (ATP (men’s tennis) on the left, WTA (women’s tennis) on the right). As the year goes on, I write in the winners in the empty column.

I know it’s very extra, but it could be worse, right?

Health

With the initial calendar/goal section out of the way, I like to split up the rest of the pages into categories, to help me find everything easily. Each category has its own little ‘cover page’ and I use tabs to keep all of the pages within each category ‘together’, as it were. For the tabs in this setup, I opted for a slightly more ‘classic’ shape to match the theme, and covered each tab with some washi tape (which, fittingly, has a gold, rose design on it). To make sure the tabs really stood out, I stuck some black paper on both the very first page and the very last page of each section, so that, no matter where you are, the tabs are sitting against the black paper.

Keeping track of my health is (obviously) a very important part of my life, so, inevitably, I have a whole section of pages dedicated to it. I like to put it first to make sure the universe knows I have my priorities straight.

Year in Pixels + Cover Page

For the mini ‘Cover Page‘ for each section, I created a more traditional, illuminated version of the first letter of the section name (here ‘H’ for ‘health). I’m so happy with how these turned out- I think they look perfect! I also wrote the section name below the letter, using a simple cursive font.

For this section, I put my Year in Pixels (although, admittedly, it’s really only half a year’s worth of pixels…) beside the ‘cover page’. I always include this spread in my journal, so that I can keep track of any patterns in how I’m feeling, both mentally and physically. Essentially, you just assign a colour to each mood/general impression of the day (e.g. great, good, bad, ill, sad etc.) and, each day, you colour in the corresponding pixel in the grid with the colour that represents how you felt that day.

Medical Notes + Prescription Tracker

Next is my space for Medical Notes. I have a good number of doctor’s appointments throughout the year, so I like to keep track of what has been discussed/decided in those appointments for future reference. For this, I just set up a simple table, with one column for the date, one column for the appointment type and one column for any notes.

Next to that is my Prescription Tracker, which is such a useful page. Every time I receive a restock of my prescriptions, I fill in this page and work out when I need to order each medication again. I label the red diamonds along the top with the first letter of each of my medications, so that each one has its own column. Each mini table corresponds to one ‘filling out session’- I write the date in the gold column on the left, the fill in the rest of the table with a) the number of tablets I currently have, b) the number of days that equates to and c) the date on which I will run out of each medication (I do usually write these subheadings (in abbreviated form) in the second column, but I evidently forgot to do that before!). From this data, I can then work out when I need to order each medication, and transfer that information to my yearly/monthly calendars. This way, I am always on top of my medication and there’s never a last minute panic when I run out of something important!

Challenges

I’ve been using a Challenges spread like this for the past year. It started as a way to encourage myself to do more things that were outside of my comfort zone, but I have also found that it works really well as a form of positive reinforcement: when I write down something challenging that I have done and tick it off, even if I do so after the event itself, I feel a sense of pride that really helps to motivate me to continue doing challenging things. It’s also nice to look back on, if I’m ever feeling a little helpless, to remind myself of all the times I have been brave (and survived!).

Blog

The next section is for all the spreads that I use to track/brainstorm my blog content.

Hub + Cover Page

First up, there’s my Hub page. I refer to this page all the time, because I am forever needing to reference the hex codes for this site’s colour scheme! I also like to track my Instagram growth here, as well as my blog-specific goals for the year.

Beside the Hub page, is the section Cover Page, which I made in exactly the same way as the previous one.

Post Planning

The first spread in this section is my Post Planning page. On the right-hand page, I’ll keep track of the blog posts I have planned for each month. On the left-hand page, I have a space for keeping track of any work I do (wayyyy in advance, obviously) for Blogmas at Home next year and for any notes on some (potential?) Etsy projects.

Kanban Board

Next, I have a double-page spread for my Kanban Board. I’ve been including this spread in my journals recently, to help me keep track of my posts, particularly when I have multiple on the go at the same time. Essentially, I just write each post on a little sticky note, then move it through each of the stages as I complete them. I think this provides me with a really good visual representation of where I’m at, what needs to be done and what I should prioritise.

Projects + Ideas

On the left-hand page, I have space for keeping track of specific, long-term Projects. Each box will house one project, providing a space for me to jot down any progress notes/ideas for them.

On the right-hand page, I have a space for my Ideas. On the right, there’s space for any Bullet Journal theme ideas, with a table at the bottom for allocating potential themes to specific months. On the right, I have space for the other categories that I tend to have ideas in (though I have just realised that I made a duplicate Bullet Journal section, which I will have to correct!).

Finance

The next section is for my rather boring, but very necessary, financial notes and plans.

Notes + Cover Page

Again, this subsection’s Cover Page is exactly the same as the others. On the page next to it, I just made a big space for any notes that I may need to jot down.

Savings + Income Streams

On the left, I have my Savings page. At the start of every month, I look back over my finances from the previous month and work out how much I earned and how much I spent. I then work out the difference to find out how much I saved over the month. I put all of this information into the table at the bottom, as well as working out my cumulative savings, that is, how much I have saved since January. At the top of the page, I also have spaces for how much I saved last year, and any specific notes.

On the right, I have spaces to note down my Income Streams each month. I fill this out at the same time as my Savings page, just so that I can keep an eye on where my money is coming from!

Wishlist

The final spread in this ‘Finance’ section is my Wishlist, which I have divided up into categories to help keep things nice and organised.

Media

The final subsection is for ‘Media’, which I’m really just using to refer to what I am reading and watching…

To Read/Watch + Cover Page

The Cover Page for this section follows the same design as the other ones. Beside it, I have put spaces to keep track of the shows/films that I would like to watch, as well as the books that I would like to read.

TV Tracker + Reading Tracker

Finally, I have my two ‘media; trackers. On the left, I have a space to track the TV shows I am watching. For each show I watch, I write down the title, then draw one little circle beside it for each series the show has. As I watch each series, I colour in the circle. It’s kind of pointless, but it gives me a huge sense of satisfaction. Also, I like to be able to refer back and find out what I was watching at a particular time, and whether it was long enough ago that I can justify re-watching it (I am a chronic re-watcher, and I will not be ashamed).

On the right, I have my Reading Tracker. You might have seen my 2024 Reading Journal Setup, which also included a version of this spread, but I wanted to include it here too so I would keep on top of it. I always have this journal with me, so it’s not a hassle to fill it in, and it means that I can just transfer the information to my dedicated Reading Journal whenever I feel like it.

Final Thoughts

I have to be honest- I really love this setup. Admittedly, it’s a little bit darker and a little bit moodier(?) than I meant it to be, but I still think it conveys that traditional, fairytale vibe. While it did take a long time to create, it wasn’t anywhere near as time-consuming as I imagined it would be when I first decided to do a super ornate, fairytale theme.

The more bullet journals I set up, the more I feel like I’m getting a better grasp on the spreads I’ll actually use/need. As my needs and interests change, I know my future bullet journal spreads will also need to adapt, but, for now, I’m pretty happy with my go-to spreads. I guess I’ll just have to see how the next 6 months go!

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my January-June 2024 Bullet Journal Setup! As always, these initial setups make for super long posts, so thank you for sticking with me and getting this far! My January setup will be coming up next, so keep your eyes peeled for that one. I hope you’re having a lovely start to the new year!

Gemma

xxx

We’re coming to the end of 2023, which also (and more importantly) means I’m coming to the end of my bullet journal. In fact, I only have 2 double-page spreads (well technically, 1 and a half- but we’ll talk about that later) left. Usually, by this time of year, I’m feeling burnt out with my bullet journal and am entirely focused on setting up my next one. This year, I was determined to finish off the year properly, so I’ve finally made the ‘review’ spread that I always mean to set up every year and never do. This year, I was so determined that I actually ended up setting up 3 separate spreads: my Spotify Wrapped page, my 2023 Tennis Awards page and, finally, my overall 2023 Review spread.

This setup is only for 2 double-page spreads, like I mentioned, so this will be a shorter post than my usual bullet journal content, but I hope that it will still give you some inspiration and ideas anyway!

Table of Contents

• Theme
• Equipment + Supplies
• Spotify Wrapped
• 2023 Tennis Awards
• 2023 Review
• Final Thoughts

Theme

My theme for the initial pages of this July-December bullet journal was a very minimal, black and white theme with a classic lettering style. You can read about that setup here. I wanted to continue on with that theme for these spreads, so that I could tie the whole journal together. There will be a few splashes of colour because I plan to include little thumbnail images on my Spotify Wrapped page, which will slightly undermine the whole monochrome vibe, but I think they will look SO cute.

You’ll notice on the final double-page spread, I’ve switched things up a little and used a black background, then written on that in white pen. I’ve kept the style the same, but I haven’t used a black background anywhere else within this theme. My main reason for doing this is that I really only had one blank page on this double-page spread- I use the back of my bullet journal for swatching/notes, so I did have a few things jotted down on the right-hand page. I had a look through them and decided that they were all pretty irrelevant now, so I thought I would just… cover them up? I kind of like it though- it makes my 2023 Review spread stand out and it means I have enough space for all of the spreads that I wanted to include in this journal, so really it was a win-win!

Equipment + Supplies

Because of the minimal colour scheme and style of these spreads, they don’t require lots of specialist supplies. All I used is:

• Muji 0.38mm pen, black. 
• Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen, Hard Tip, black.
• Tombow Dual Brush Pen, black (N15).
• Sakura Gelly Roll, 10 Bold, white. 
• Black paper.
• Pencil.
• Ruler.
• Eraser.
• Glue stick.
• Scissors.

Spotify Wrapped

First up, we have my Spotify Wrapped spread. I love seeing all the statistics and info from Spotify’s Wrapped feature- I always look forward to it coming out and I always mourn the loss of it when all of that delicious data disappears forever.

For this spread, I did a super simple border and split the two words of the title across the top and the bottom of the page. I then divided the rest of the page into 4: there’s one section for my Top 5 songs, one for my Top 5 artists, one for my Top 5 genres and one for some of the other statistics/numbers. For my song/artist sections, I plan to add in little thumbnails of the album/artist covers- a bit like how they appear on Spotify Wrapped. For the genre section, I just made a little column on the left out of black paper for the numbers 1-5, so I can list the genres out in order.

2023 Tennis Awards

It’s Tennis Award season and, since 2023 has been my first full year following the ATP and WTA tours, I wanted to commemorate it in my bullet journal. For this one, I used a strip of black paper across the centre of the page, on which I wrote the header using my white Sakura Gelly Roll. I used the same minimal frame style to section off the areas above and below the title area and dedicated the top section to the ATP Awards and the bottom section to the WTA Awards. The awards are in the process of being announced, so I’ll be filling them in as the winners are released.

2023 Review

As I mentioned, I started off this double-page spread by sticking in some black paper for the background. I then drew out the whole spread, again using my white Gelly Roll pen. I have spaces for recording any big moments/favourite memories from the year, some reflection on my 2023 goals/some thoughts for the upcoming year, a list of my 2023 bullet journal themes AND a polaroid from New Year’s Eve (it wouldn’t be a review page of mine without a space for a polaroid, but I have no plans for any New Year’s Eve partying- so that image might end up being a little depressing).

Final Thoughts

I’m actually really happy with how these spreads turned out- I know they are very simple, and there’s only a few of them, but I always mean to make these spreads and never do, so I feel very proud that I actually got around to it this year. I do go back and reference my old bullet journals from time to time, so it will be nice to have all these facts, figures and happy memories at the ready for referencing and reflecting.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about these spreads. I’ll see you tomorrow for Day 14!

Gemma

xxx

Table of Contents

• Basics
  • New Journal for July-December
  • Inspiration + Concept
  • Layout
• Equipment
• Initial Pages
  • Inside Cover: Master To-Do List + Name Plate
  • Goals + Cover Page
  • Future Log
  • 2024 at a Glance
  • Tennis Schedule
• Health Section
  • Year in Pixels + Health Cover Page
  • Exercise + Prescription Trackers
  • Medical Timeline + Appointment Notes
  • Challenges
  • Routine
  • Self-Reflection
• Blog Section
  • Hub + Blog Cover Page
  • Post Tracker + Schedule
  • Kanban Board
  • Projects
• Finance Section
  • Financial Plan + Finance Cover Page
  • Savings + Income Streams
  • Wish List
• Books & TV Section
  • 2023 Reading Stats + Books & TV Cover Page
  • TV Show + Reading Trackers
  • To Watch, Read + Buy
• Final Thoughts

Basics

New Journal for July-December

For the last 6 months, I’ve been using the Sakura Polaroid A5 Dot Grid Journal from Coral & Ink, a small business that specialises in kawaii stationery, which is based here in the UK. You can read more about that journal in my 2023 Bullet Journal Setup post, but, in short, I really loved it! The gilded edges are so pretty and the paper is really high quality- I used watercolour paint, markers and pens in my setups over the last 6 months and didn’t experience any bleeding through the pages (which is a big win in my books!). I also had a lovely customer experience with the company. My only slight problem with the journal was that I had to stop using the ribbon bookmarks, because they started to unravel after just a little while of use.

For the next 6 months, I’ll be using the Jungle at Night Journal, from Scribble and Dot. I’m a big fan of the Scribble and Dot journals- in fact, the majority of the journals I have used in my time bullet journalling have been from the brand! One thing to note about the Scribble and Dot journals though- I have noticed a discrepancy in the paper among the journals. The paper in my first journal (the pale blue dachshund journal– which I think may have been discontinued from their website? So sad- it was so cute!) had a much more off-white tone, whereas the Jungle at Night Journal (and indeed the yellow honey bee journal, which I have used twice!) have bright white paper. This isn’t a major problem, but it is definitely something to bear in mind. Nevertheless, this new journal is so pretty. It’s a different style to the journals I usually prefer, but it’s cheery in a subtle, sophisticated kind of way and I’m very excited to start using it!

Inspiration + Concept

If you saw my 2023 Bullet Journal Setup, you’ll know that I like to include a large number of spreads at the start of each of my bullet journals. There are two main reasons for this: firstly, I use my bullet journal to keep track of multiple different areas of my life. As a result, I need lots of different, targeted spreads to make my bullet journal fit my specific needs. Secondly, I prefer to keep the contents of my monthly setups as limited as possible. When I have a large number of varied spreads at the start of each journal, I need fewer spreads in my individual monthlies. My energy levels throughout the year are super inconsistent, so having more flexibility with my monthly setups helps to alleviate some of the pressure that comes with setting up a bullet journal. If my energy levels are particularly low one month, I can create a super simple, limited setup that preserves the functionality of my journal, without wearing me out. If my energy levels are higher, I can channel that extra energy into the theme for the month and unleash my creativity, instead of using it up on the contents.

Because my mid-year bullet journal setup is so extensive, then, I decided to utilise a much more minimal design for my new journal. I was particularly inspired by this setup by @journalspiration on Instagram, as well as the exclusively black & white spreads by @supermassiveblackink on Instagram. For my design, I used a bold, traditional font (which I loosely based on Didot– if you’re interested in that kind of thing), using only the lowercase letters for a softer feel. Throughout the setup, as you’ll see, the headings serve as the main decorative element. For non-header text, I used a simple lowercase print, either using my Muji 0.38mm or my white Sakura Gelly Roll on top of my black Tombow Fudenosuke. The white Gelly Roll won’t write super well on top of all pens (including the Tombow Dual Brush pens, as I found out), but I found that I could write on top of the Fudenosuke with it perfectly- the white ink was still opaque and defined.

Layout

Because I have so many spreads within my new bullet journal setups, I like to split them into sections. At the start of the journal, I have a number of general spreads: mainly calendars, for keeping track of dates, appointments and tennis (obviously), with a couple of goals/master to-do lists as well. I then split the rest of the spreads into 4 sections: Health (both mental and physical), Blog (where I plan/organise my content for this blog!), Finance and, finally, Books & TV. Each section has a mini ‘cover page’ and the pages within each section are split up by tabs. I like to use tabs in my setups to divide up the pages and make it more easy to access certain spreads. This time around, I used my standard tab shape and coloured each tab black, using my Tombow Fudenosuke Pen.

Now we’ve covered all the basics, we can get into the setup itself, starting with the equipment I used…

Equipment

• Muji 0.38mm pen, black.
• Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen, Hard Tip, black.
• Tombow Dual Brush Pen, black (N15).
• Sakura Gelly Roll, 10 Bold, white.
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Eraser
• Scissors

Initial Pages

As I mentioned previously, my initial pages are mainly a selection of calendars, which I use to track upcoming dates, appointments and, most importantly, tennis matches (more on that later). I also have a cover page (this is not only for aesthetic reasons- it also makes it easier for me to reference previous events in my old journals if I can quickly see which dates each journal contains. Finally, I have a Master To-Do List and a space to write out some goals for the next 6 months.

Inside Cover: Master To-Do List + Name Plate

Most journals come with a space to write your name on the very first page, and this one from Scribble and Dot is no different- I wrote my name in the font that I use throughout the setup.

I didn’t want to waste the space on the inside cover, so I decided to put my Master To-Do List there. This is a new spread for me- I intend to use it to jot down bigger tasks that don’t necessarily need to be done immediately, but that I would like to do at some point (things like sorting through my wardrobe or organising my bookshelves).

Goals + Cover Page

For my Cover Page, I tried to mimic the layout of the cover page in my previous bullet journal, just using the more minimal design of this setup. Doing this ties the two journals together, so, even though a new journal always signifies a fresh start to me, it still feels like the journals form two halves of one year.

Opposite my Cover Page, I put a space for Goals. I like to include this spread in my journals to keep me on track and feeling motivated, but I often find that my goals end up being unhelpfully vague. This time around, I’ve made 4 defined sections, which I will fill with 4 defined, attainable goals. I’m hoping that limiting myself in this way will make me more productive in my attempts to achieve those goals.

Future Log

The next double-page spread is my Future Log– essentially a detailed calendar for the next 6 months. The mini calendars at the top allow me to visualise each month and the vertical columns underneath provide me with space to write down important dates/appointments. When it comes to filling in my larger, monthly calendars in my monthly setups, this spread is my first point of reference. I also find that this spread is particularly helpful for booking doctor’s appointments in advance, because I can see all my dates for the next 6 months super easily.

2024 at a Glance

As we enter the final months of the year, appointments and bookings inevitably start to drift into the new year. It’s important for me to have a space to note these down so that I don’t feel completely lost by the time January comes around and, god forbid, accidentally miss an appointment. Enter: my 2024 at a Glance spread. Again, this spread includes mini calendars for each month, so that I can visualise the months at a glance, as well as small spaces for important events. I don’t need a lot of space per month here, because I only need to note down a couple of appointments every now and then.

If the bottom of this spread looks a bit funny to you- it’s because it is a bit funny. I have this thing where I always seem to miss out September when I am writing out the months of the year (???) and that happened on this spread. To fix it, I just removed a page from the back of the journal, cut off the bottom part and stuck it over the top using double-sided tape. No bullet journal is perfect- but it’s all about finding ways of fixing (or embracing!) your mistakes!

Tennis Schedule

Now we come to the part of my bullet journal that outs me as the obsessive fangirl that I really am… my Tennis Schedule. This is a spread I introduced into my last bullet journal and I LOVED IT. I like to be able to whip my schedule out when my brother asks me what tournaments are on next week, to see at a glance who has won what tournament and to be able to count down the weeks until the next Grand Slam. It brings me joy, so, naturally, I dedicate 4 pages of my bullet journal to it. #noregrets.

Also, no, I do not play tennis (I’m not even sure I could get the ball over the net), but yes, I am always watching it. I use this spread more often than any sane person could possibly imagine.

In a similar setup to my last bullet journal, I used two Dutch Doors to give myself more space. Essentially, this spread uses a table format to record all the information: the numbers down the middle represent the weeks, then the right-hand side contains information about the ATP tour (men’s tennis), while the left-hand side contains information about the WTA tour (women’s tennis). Each side contains 3 columns: one for the winner of the tournament (to be filled in after each tournament concludes), one for the location/name of the tournament and one for the date on which it starts. Last year, I used a colour-coding system to indicate the level of each tournament, but I wanted to keep this setup black and white, so I had to get a bit creative with my code: 250 tournaments are represented by a circle with 1/4 filled in black, 500 tournaments are represented by a circle with 1/2 filled in with black, 1000 tournaments are represented by a circle 3/4 filled in with black and Grand Slams are represented by an entirely black circle. Group tournaments and tour finals are represented by a star.

Health Section

Now we come to the first separate section in my bullet journal setup: Health. As someone with a chronic illness, this section is particularly important for me- it allows me to keep track of my appointments, my wellbeing and my medication.

Year in Pixels + Health Cover Page

My cover page for this section (and, indeed, all of the others too) is super minimal- just the title of the section, written in the font I use throughout the setup. The cover page (and subsequent pages- until the last subsection) is cut into a slight Dutch Door to make room for the tabs.

I decided to place my Year in Pixels page opposite my cover page. This is a spread that I love to include in my bullet journals, as it allows me to keep an eye on how I’m feeling, both mentally and physically. I find this is particularly helpful for tracking things like periods of low mood/anxiety and fatigue (I often reference this spread when evaluating my medications with my doctors), but it can also be encouraging to see the more positive periods, when they come. I have always used a colour-coded system with this spread, and, even though it pains me to mar the black and white minimalism of this setup, I think I will have to continue with that in this journal. The best thing about this spread is that you can see patterns at a quick glance- without the colours, not only would my recordings have to be less specific/varied, but it would be much harder to see those all-important trends.

Exercise + Prescription Trackers

The Exercise Tracker is not a new addition to my bullet journal, but I have adapted it slightly to make it more fit for purpose. I have replaced the weekly sections I used in my last journal with more mini calendars- I am hoping this will make it easier to spot days when I have forgotten to fill it in! I have also introduced a more specific key, so that I can track my exercise in more detail.

My Prescription Tracker is exactly the same as its previous iteration. The black column on the left is for the date, then I have space to track the number of tablets that I have (on that date) of 8 different medicines (one per column), along with how many days that equates to and, finally, when that means my medication supply will run out. I fill this in whenever I receive a new lot of medicine from my chemist and, once I know when it will run out, I put a note in my Future Log, 2 weeks before that date, to order more. I tend to count all of my medications anytime I receive a new prescription- that way, if I have miscounted or misplaced a packet/tablet, I can sort the problem as soon as possible. A top tip if you decide to try this method: you can search online for ’60 days from today’ (or even ’60 days from [a specific date]) and the magic of the internet will tell you when your medicine runs out. This is much quicker and more accurate than counting the days yourself (like I did for a good long while, until I realised I am a modern woman who lives in the digital age…).

Medical Timeline + Appointment Notes

Often when you talk to doctors, they will ask you when you had a certain procedure, infusion or appointment. It can often feel a bit like a pop quiz- one you are pretty much doomed to fail because, hello, who remembers the exact dates of appointments from a year ago? Definitely NOT me. Enter my Medical Timeline spread. I have 2 sections: 2023 and Important. In the 2023 section, I will write down significant events that have happened this year. In the Important section, I will write down the particularly important events that have happened prior to this year. That way, when a doctor springs a request for some spurious date on me, I’ll be ready.

Opposite my medical timeline, I have a space for Appointment Notes. I often find that I forget what has been said in my appointments after a month or so, so I have created a space here to note down when the appointment was and the key points that were discussed during it. Hopefully, this will minimise the stress of trying to remember specific instructions/discussions later on.

Challenges

Something I struggle with a lot is feeling very anxious and letting that worry stop me from doing scary things. In my last journal, I included a 123 Challenges in 2023 spread, in which I recorded the things I did even though they scared me. Initially, I set this up to encourage myself to do more scary things, but it became a lot more than that. It was great for encouraging myself, but it was also great for giving myself a sense of pride after doing the thing. I even added in some challenges after I did them, so I could look back and see all the scary things I ended up doing. Anyway, I ended up racing through my 123 challenges, so I decided to set the spread up again in this journal, with 123 more challenges. When I complete each challenge, I will colour the bullet point next to it black.

Routine

Maintaining a good routine is something that is so important for both my physical and mental health, but it is something I personally struggle with a great deal. I have introduced this Routine spread in my bullet journal to try and encourage and support myself as I try to incorporate a healthy level of routine into my life. On the left-hand page, I have a space for listing tasks that I would like to do on a weekly basis, on a set day. Beside that, I have a space for routine tasks I would ideally like to do in the morning and tasks I would like to do in the evening.

Knowing that I struggle with routine as I do, I knew that if I set a super-ambitious routine for myself, I would inevitably let it slip and struggle to get back into it, rendering this spread useless pretty quickly. Because of this, I decided to use the right-hand page as a place to re-evaluate and reset my expectations of my routine each month. This way, if I decide that one element of my routine isn’t working, I can use this space to adapt it, trial that new approach for a month and, as the months go on, I will hopefully get closer and closer to a sustainable, achievable routine that works for me.

Self-Reflection

This spread is another new addition to my bullet journal this time around. So much has gone on over the past few years, both globally, what with the pandemic and the lockdowns, and personally, for me, that I sometimes feel a little bit lost. This spread, which I’m calling my Self-Reflection spread, is my attempt to re-evaluate what matters most to me. I’m hoping that listing out a few core principles will help me to understand myself better. Primarily, this spread is an exercise in getting to know myself, but, once I have filled it out, it will become a reference page that I can use to remind myself of who I am when things get a little bit too chaotic.

Blog Section

The second section in my setup is for planning the content for this blog. Having these spreads helps me to keep on top of the content I am creating and to organise any ideas I have.

Hub + Blog Cover Page

The cover page for this section uses the same layout as the previous section’s cover page.

Opposite the cover page is my Hub. There is a space for the Hex codes of the colours I use in my branding- I often need to refer to these when making the pins for my posts! I also have spaces to keep track of both ongoing post series (like my Taylor Swift Cupcakes series!) and my Instagram growth (you can check out my Instagram here!).

Post Tracker + Schedule

Next up, I have a space to keep track of my posts. The Post Tracker on the left-hand page follows the same format as my Exercise Tracker but, instead of exercise, I will be tracking when/on which platform I post.

My Post Schedule, on the right-hand page, is where I will note down my upcoming posts for each month, so I can look ahead to them and get started early. The first column indicates the month, the second will be used for the intended publication date and the final column will be where I write the name of the post.

Kanban Board

For the past few months, I have included a Kanban Board in each of my monthly setups (I talk more about Kanban boards in this post– if you’re interested in finding out more about the technique). Instead of making a brand new board every month, I decided to make a master spread at the start of the journal to save time. Because the Kanban Board relies on sticky tabs to function, I can just reuse this same board and introduce new tabs (for new posts!) as needed.

Projects

The final spread in this section is my Projects spread. Because I typically have a lot of creative projects on the go, I thought it would be good to have a master list of them. That list is on the left-hand page, and includes space to write the name of the project, as well as the start & end dates, and to track my progress. On the right-hand page, I have space for any ideas I may have for new projects.

Finance Section

The next section is for keeping track of my finances. Not the most glamorous of sections, but necessary for keeping on top of things!

Financial Plan + Finance Cover Page

Again, this cover page uses the same layout as the previous two sections.

The left-hand page is for my Financial Plan. I have spaces for actionable steps down the left-hand side of the page and for notes on each step down the right-hand side.

Savings + Income Streams

In my last bullet journal setup, I included a table to track my income against my outcome. I really enjoyed this spread- it really helped me to stay accountable and keep a closer eye on my finances, so I’ve included it in this bullet journal setup too. For each month, I will track my income, my outcome and how much I have saved. I have introduced a new column to my Savings table this year: cumulative savings. In this column, starting in August, I will combine my monthly savings to see how much I have saved in total. I am including this because I actually found myself noting this down on my last table anyway, so it will be nice to have a set space for it!

On the right-hand page, I have spaces to note down my Income Streams each month. This way, I will be able to see, at a glance, where my money is coming from.

Wish List

Continuing my efforts to hold myself accountable for my purchases, I decided to move my Wish List spread into my Finance section. Just like before, I’ve split my wish list into categories to help streamline it. Similarly to my Challenges spread, I will colour in the bullet next to any items that I end up buying.

Books & TV Section

The final section of my 2023 Mid-Year Bullet Journal is for Books & TV. I like to track both of these for fun, because it’s super interesting to look back and see what you were watching/reading at a particular time! I also have a more specific ‘wish list’ for my watching/reading habits in this section, which frees up a lot of space on the previous page!

2023 Reading Stats + Books & TV Cover Page

Next to my cover page (which, you guessed it, follows the same layout as the other 3 cover pages!), I have a space to put my 2023 Reading Stats. Obviously, I won’t be able to fill this in until the end of the year, but I’m really excited to fill this spread out. I use an app called StoryGraph to keep track of my reading (big thank you to my friend, Kyla, for the recommendation!), and the app provides you with LOADS of different statistics on your reading preferences/behaviour, all of which I have included in this spread. The horizontal bars will end up forming individual stacked bar graphs, while the two boxes in the bottom left will record how many books/pages I read in 2023. For the star ratings table, I will record how many books I gave 1 star, 2 stars, etc. Admittedly, I will have to round down for some of my ratings, because I am so indecisive- I am ALWAYS making use of StoryGraph’s 0.25 star function instead of giving whole ratings!

TV Show + Reading Trackers

As I said, I like to track the TV shows that I watch. I do this for 2 reasons: firstly, because it’s fun to look back and see what I was watching at any given time. Secondly, though, it’s nice to see how far I am through each show as I go. For each TV show that I watch, I will write the name of the show, then, beside the title, I will draw a circle for each season of the show. When I finish a season, I will colour in the circle. In the two left-hand columns I will record the date I started watching the show and the date I finished watching the show.

My Reading Tracker is similar, in that I like to record the title of the books I read, the date I started reading them and the date I finished them. In this table, that information will go in the first 3 columns. The fourth column is filled with circles, 5 per line, to represent the star rating I give each book. I will colour the circles in accordingly to reflect this.

To Watch, Read + Buy

The final spread in this section (and, indeed, this setup!) is my Book and TV ‘wish list’. Here, I have spaces to record the TV shows and films that I want to watch, the books I want to read and the books I would like to buy for my collection. As with my other Wish List page, if I end up watching/reading/buying an item I list here, I will colour the circle in to reflect that.

Final Thoughts

So that’s everything in my 2023 Mid-Year Bullet Journal Setup. As I said at the start of this post, I always put a lot of time and effort into setting up these spreads because I know it will save me even more time and effort in the long run. If you’re new to bullet journalling, just take things at your own pace! I have a lot of spreads in this section because it suits me, but there are lots of bullet journallers who have very few, if any, spreads in their journals, outside of their monthly setups. Bullet journalling is about doing what works best for you!

I hoped you enjoyed this setup- I’d love to hear about your mid-year setup process, if you have a bullet journal & I’ll be back soon with my July 2023 setup!

Gemma

xxx

When I began bullet journalling, I kept my spreads and layouts very simple (I’m talking one black pen simple). I set everything up to be purely functional, so as not to overwhelm myself while I adjusted to the bullet journalling process. If you’re starting out with bullet journalling, I strongly recommend you do the same. However, as time has gone on, I have come to see my bullet journal as not only a functional item, but something that I can use for some consistent creative expression. Nowadays, the spreads and layouts that I find the most useful are the ones that are particularly aesthetically pleasing to me. The more I enjoy looking at my bullet journal, the more likely I am to keep up with it consistently. All this to say, the following post will walk you through my 2023 bullet journal setup- it is deliberately decorative, not because a bullet journal has to be, but because it makes me happy. Keep this in mind if you’re planning to start your own!

One quick note before we get into it- this 2023 bullet journal setup is extensive. It took a long time. If you’re thinking of setting up your own bullet journal, you do not need to spend huge amounts of time on it, nor do you need to include as many spreads as I have done- in fact, most people do not! I have included spreads that are personally important to me and that I am prepared to include, at the expense of my own time. In 6 months’ time, when I am setting up my second bullet journal of 2023, I will reevaluate how useful these spreads were and how much time I have available for setting the journal up, before deciding which to include. That’s the great thing about bullet journalling- not only is every month a thematic and defined reset, but so is every year, every new bullet journal, indeed, every week.

Right, let’s get into it, shall we?

I picked this notebook from Coral and Ink for my first bullet journal of 2023 and I’ve been really enjoying using it. I think the design is really pretty, the paper is good quality and I haven’t had any trouble with pens bleeding through as of yet. My only (very slight!) criticisms are that the pages are not numbered (though this is just personal preference) and the attached ribbon bookmarks are already unravelling slightly, which, I admit, I have never had on any of my other journals.

For the theme of my opening section, I drew inspiration from the bullet journal itself, and opted for a cherry blossom/polaroid theme. I used the following stationery (none of the following links are affiliate links):

• Brown kraft paper
• Cherry blossom washi tape (mine was from Notebook Therapy, but has since been discontinued. The one linked is very similar, if not exactly the same).
• Uniball gold pen
• Muji 0.38 ballpoint pen, black
• White sakura gelly roll
• Tombow ABT dual brush pen, N89 (I got mine in this multipack).
• Kuretake clean colour dot pens, mild colors (I got mine on Amazon, but they currently only have the highlight shades available).
• Alphabet stamps
• Ink pad
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Glue stick
• Double-sided tape
• Craft knife + cutting board
• Printer + printer paper

The inside cover is (as is typical), not dotted, and includes a nameplate. I decided to put my goals section here, so that the space was not wasted. I also stamped my name onto the nameplate, and coloured the leaf pattern in with my gold pen.

I stuck the first pages together with double sided tape, because it is practically impossible to fully open out the first page (this is the same for every bullet journal I have ever used), and used the first double page spread for a quote + cover page. I used this quote from Zainab Hudha, which I found on Instagram. I cut out the kraft paper polaroid and numbers using my craft knife and added faux stitching around the numbers using my white pen.

My next spread was my yearly calendar. For this spread, I used a dutch door (I cut off the top portion of the right hand side page and used the next double page spread as well) so that I could fit in a whole year. Even though this journal is only for January-June, I like to include a calendar for the rest of the year to keep track of dates. When I fill this in, I will write the events in the space below each monthly calendar and, using the baby pink Kuretake dot pen, I will highlight the corresponding date on the mini calendar, so I can see what my months look like at a glance.

Like the previous spread, this spread also used 2 double page spreads and is a little niche, but has been one of my favourite, and most useful, spreads so far. I am a big fan of tennis, so I made a tennis calendar for the first 6 months of the year. I used a craft knife to cut the middle two pages down, adding a scalloped edge to each side, then covered each page with brown paper. This gave me the extra space I needed to ensure I could fit in the weeks, dates, names and winners of each tournament for both the ATP and WTA tour. You can see my layout below.

The coloured dots (made using the Kuretake dot pens) represent the tournament category (ATP 250, 500, 1000, Grand Slam and Other (e.g. Davis Cup, United Cup etc). I think I will end up adjusting this layout slightly in my next bullet journal, but it does the job at the moment (and looks fun too!).

With those two calendars finished, we move into the categorised sections. I have five specific sections in my journal: Work & Finance (shown above), Physical Health, Mental Health, Books & TV and Hobbies & Such (the & Such represents my wishlist spread, which would otherwise have been uncategorised…). I made use of internal tabs throughout this setup to make everything easier to locate. I made these by cutting out portions of the right hand side pages, leaving a small tab which I covered with brown paper and wrote sub-headings on using my white pen.

The Work & Finance section consisted of a schedule (on the cover page), along with a double page spread for finances and a double page spread for blog content (both shown above).

Onto the Physical Health section which includes my ‘timeline’, that is, somewhere to write down important dates of procedures, the start of new medications, vaccines, treatments etc. I find doctors often ask me for the exact dates of these sort of things, so it is good to have a place with them all written down for reference.

TThe Physical Health section also includes an exercise tracker (left), in which each pink dot (again, made using the Kuretake dot markers) represents a day that can be ticked off. The medicine tracker (right) is one of my most useful spreads- I’ll be doing an in-depth post on it at a later date.

After the Physical Health section comes the Mental Health section. To the left of the cover page, I have included one of my all-time favourite bullet journal spreads: the Year in Pixels (admittedly, I plan to use my dot markers to fill this out, so my pixels will unfortunately be… circular, but no matter). This spread is a common feature of many bullet journals- for each day, you colour in a box on the grid according to a key, to represent how you were feeling that day. I find it particularly useful for noting trends in my mental and physical health, as well as for reminding me of particularly good days!

My next spread in the Mental Health section is my 123 Challenges in 2023 spread. I often find it difficult to step out of my comfort zone, so I’m hoping that the prospect of ticking off some challenging actions will provide me with both motivation and positive reinforcement to keep me on track.

We then come to my reference spreads. On the left hand page, I intend to note down a few actions I can take to help myself deal with certain unpleasant feelings and emotions. This spread was inspired by JashiiCorrin on YouTube. On the right hand page, I left a large space to fill with Things I’m Looking Forward To. Sometimes life can get a bit overwhelming, so it’s nice to have somewhere to remind yourself of all the happy things yet to come!

Into the Books & TV section now, which I have decorated with a quote from Dr. Seuss, which felt quite apt.

First up, we have my reading and watching trackers. Pictured above is my TV show tracker. Beside each flower, I will write out the name of a series that I am watching, then, using my pink dot marker, I will make as many dots as there are seasons of the show, ready to be ticked off as I watch them.

My reading tracker is a simple table, with columns for the book title, the date I started the book (S) and the date I finished it (F).

The next double page spread is taken up by my reading challenges for 2023. I have 2 challenges this year: one is to read 5 books that I have been meaning to read for a very long time, my 5 in 2023. Anna Karenina is top of my list this year!

On the right-hand page, I have my Reading Around the World challenge. I’m hoping to branch out into some more diverse fiction, so I plan to track this by colouring in the country that each book is set in after I have read it.

The final double page spread in this section is my To Be Watched and To Be Read, which does exactly what it says on the tin.

Finally, we come to the last section of this 2023 setup: Hobbies & Such. I must confess, I did mean to use the space on the left hand side of this cover page to house a section for jotting down random ideas, but I forgot and stamped in a little quote instead. Ah, well.

The first spread is a project tracker. This is a simple table, where I will write the name of the project in the left hand column, add a pink dot for every 25% of the project I complete in the next column, and then, in the final column, I will tick the project off when it is complete. I first started doing this in November last year, and I really enjoyed having somewhere to keep on top of all my projects.

The next spread reflects my desire to branch out a little with my cooking- I’m aiming to cook 1 new dish a week. As I’m writing this, I have not got off to the best start, but I continue to have the best of intentions. I have a little box to write each new meal in, and spaces on the right-hand side for meal/baking ideas.

The final spread in this 2023 set up is my wish list. Similarly to the 2023 cover page, I cut the individual letters out of brown paper using my craft knife, then used my white pen to decorate them with faux stitching around the edges. I also like to separate my wishlist into categories to keep my thoughts more organised.

Well, there it is. A bit of a mammoth post, but, to be honest, it was a bit of a mammoth setup! Like I said at the beginning, this setup is specifically tailored towards my personal needs and these spreads are ones that I was prepared to spend time making, because I knew how useful they would be to me. I hope this post has given you some ideas for your own bullet journal, or perhaps inspired you to start one. If you do, I’d love to hear about it!

Gemma

xxx