Hi Everyone!
Let’s talk productivity! As I’ve mentioned before, my Bullet Journal helps keep me on task. It’s THE place where I jot down my to-dos, keep my calendar, make lists, etc. If you haven’t heard of the bullet journal before, I encourage you to read about it here.
Basically, it’s a way to keep track of appointments, tasks and goals and it’s easily customized. I always struggled with traditional planners because they either felt bulky and yet somehow not enough space to write, or small and efficient and not enough space for me to capture my thoughts.
Trust me when I tell you that searching Bullet Journal (or #BuJo) on pinterest or instagram will lead you down the most amazing rabbit hole, if you’re like me and you have a kind of obsession with office supplies and organization.
I’ve recently changed up my BuJo. I’m now using a traveler’s notebook from Red Pen Travelers.
Traveler’s notebooks are essentially a notebook shell with some elastic on the inside that will hold 3-4 soft back notebooks. They come in a variety of sizes. The most famous is perhaps Midori, and JetPens has a wonderful write-up on them.
So why make the switch from a traditional hard back notebook to a traveler’s notebook?
One, my Leuchtturm notebook was getting badly beat up and the traveler’s notebook is made of leather which is definitely more sturdy.Two, I love the idea of being able to change out notebooks, and sectioning off notebooks for different purposes.
Here’s my notebook from Red Pen Travelers.
I bought this myself, and I cannot say enough positive things about Toni’s craftmanship. I love being able to look at my home state (with my hometown starred). Plus she’ll add your initials to the bottom of the notebook. She also includes a binder clip so that you can attach a pen to your notebook AND she gives you a red pilot G2 (my favorite gel pen). Get it? Red Pen Travelers?
I now have a notebook devoted to my calendar. (This can be purchased from Yellow Paper House on Etsy)
And I have a daily tasks notebook. (Standard Moleskine cahier). You can also see my little bookmarker. You can get your own from RhMohler’s Etsy shop here.
I have a nifty little pocket that slips in to hold cards, tabs, etc. I bought this off of Amazon.
In my first notebook (you can see the brown cover behind the pocket) I have my daily tasks/running week set-up. I love devoting half a page to my running week so that I can see a week’s worth of appointments/workouts before me. Then I devote the other half of the page to my daily tasks and reminders.
I got some of these cool binder clips and some amazing stamps (not pictured) at niconecozakkaya’s Etsy shop. This shop specializes in Japanese stationary. That’s not everyone’s thing, but I sure like it.
Behind this notebook, I have 2 others. One is dedicated to lists. I LOVE lists. I’ve got a birthday list, travel bucket list, books to read, projects to sew, projects to knit, recommendations from friends …you get the picture. I find having all of this in one notebook makes things really easy. I indexed the front of it so that finding any of my lists will be a snap. With my old notebook, I would have my lists interspersed with my daily task pages and I wasn’t great at keeping up with my index.I found myself flipping through to try to find things and it was a bit of a mess.
Again, I’m a BuJo traveler’s journal amateur. There are so many great resources online. And the great thing about Bullet Journaling is that you jettison things that aren’t working and try something new as often as you want!
One thing I am hoping to add to my repertoire is some lessons on handlettering. I’ve been working on teaching myself when I have a few spare minutes to practice. Some people have lovely handlettering and it gives me such BuJo envy!
**All of these products written about above were purchased with my own money. All opinions are my own. **
Fit For The Finish Line 