It’s been a little while since my last Bullet Journal post, so I thought it was high time that I indulged all of you BuJo Junkies out there! It’s no surprise that I am a huge fan of Ryder Carroll’s original system. That being said, one of the main reasons I love the Bullet Journal so much is it’s flexibility.

With a Bullet Journal, each new page is a blank canvas. You are never limited to a pre-printed layout. Each day, month, and year can be completely different and of your own making. This massive versatility is what has propelled the Bullet Journal to planner fame.

Today, I’m sharing my Top 12 Bullet Journal Hacks, complete with a list of my favorite Bullet Journal inspirations and resources. Are you ready? Let’s go!

TOP 12 BULLET JOURNAL HACKS & INSPIRATION:

1 >> INDEX ALTERNATIVES

The original Bullet Journal Index is simple and straightforward. When you create a new spread, list, collection, etc. you just go back and write the appropriate page numbers in the index. Although it’s simple, it is not always the most practical. Here are some great ideas to help you get more organized.

While I’m still using the original index system, I also added some color coding so that I can easily flip to certain “categories” at a glance. Here’s how:

2 >> WAITING ON

I first saw this amazing hack by Kim (TinyRayofSunshine) and I instantly fell in love with it! You can check out her description in her guest post for bulletjournal.com.

19| Handy Lists✏️| #planwithmechallenge | A handy list of my online purchases this month! I may have a problem with Etsy! A photo posted by vy ngυyen (@vynguyen.plans) on Oct 19, 2015 at 4:00pm PDT

3 >> MONTHLY SPREAD ALTERNATIVES

For the first couple of months I followed the original monthly spread. It looks something like this:

I soon started to run out of room when I had several appointments and events on the same day. My solution was to split it into morning/afternoon/evening sections with a thinner column for my monthly goals and tasks:

Here are some other monthly spread hacks that I love:

4 >> LOG WHAT MATTERS

I love to use my Bullet Journal to log what matters the most to me. I have logs for food, fitness, gratitude, memories, family trips, etc. Here are some great examples of Bulletjournalists creating logs for what matters the most to them.

Memories:

Working on finishing my April Memories page today. I can’t wait to see what May will bring! #BulletJournal #bujojunkies #plannerbloggers #Leuchtturm1917 #PlanWithMeChallenge A post shared by Kara 🌸 Boho Berry (@boho.berry) on Apr 24, 2016 at 8:16am PDT

Gratitude:

Food:

Fitness:

Run log. I don’t log as many miles as I used to, but tracking my runs keeps me honest and guilts me into getting out there. The numbers in pencil are the long runs for the week. I missed my long run last week, so I’ll be running 10 this week. A photo posted by Rosanna (@fourdotspaper) on Sep 24, 2015 at 9:35am PDT

5 >> TRACK YOUR HABITS

Habit trackers are by far the most popular Bullet Journal hack out there. It is so fun to create a tracker and review your progress across the weeks and months. Here are some of my favorite trackers:

#planwithmechallenge Day 7: Habit Tracking I’ve changed up my habit tracker a bit this month. It was pretty tedious to draw out the full grid last month, so I decided to just accent the dots in my #BulletJournal to make a rough outline. I also quit calling it a “habit” tracker since some of the items I like to track are not necessarily habits ☺️ Oh, and I brain-farted on the number of days in October but in just rolling with the punches A photo posted by Kara | Boho Berry (@boho.berry) on Oct 7, 2015 at 8:11am PDT

#planwithmechallenge and #31daysofbulletjournaljoy Day 7 〰 This is what I keep track of. I’ve been doing so well with the most important stuff that I don’t mind finally sharing the list. A photo posted by Heatherface (@hthrfc) on Oct 9, 2015 at 10:27pm PDT

_a look to how October went #bulletjournalchallenge A photo posted by maría foulquié (@llamame_eme) on Nov 9, 2015 at 3:32am PST

6 >> HANDY LISTS & COLLECTIONS

The possibilities in your Bullet Journal are absolutely endless! Here are some of my favorite handy lists:

#planwithmechallenge handy lists. Here is a list of my handy lists #bujo #bulletjournal #bulletjournaljunkies #lists #listersgottalist A photo posted by Kacheri (@passionthemedlife) on Oct 19, 2015 at 11:16am PDT

Can you guess what’s going on here? A photo posted by Kim (@tinyrayofsunshine) on Aug 23, 2015 at 12:05pm PDT

September is off to a clean start! I was having a hard time remembering when I’d last cleaned certain things. The piles of laundry and dust bunnies were good indicators, but I’m hoping this chart will help me be more proactive. A photo posted by Rosanna (@fourdotspaper) on Sep 3, 2015 at 4:25pm PDT

7 >> GOAL SETTING

Here I go again talking about goals ;) I absolutely LOVE goal setting in my Bullet Journal. Here are some great examples of how to get things done! :)

8 >> HAVE FUN WITH HEADERS

Using different lettering styles in your headers and titles is not only cute, but a great way to practice your hand lettering techniques. This is one of the only ways that I “decorate” my Bullet Journal and it’s good enough for me.

Doing some headers in my #bulletjournal I’m so excited for October #bujo #plannercommunity #planneraddict A photo posted by Kacheri (@passionthemedlife) on Sep 29, 2015 at 11:44am PDT

Check out some of the header ideas I listed over on the blog for your Bullet Journal #bulletjournal #ontheblog A photo posted by Kim (@tinyrayofsunshine) on Sep 14, 2015 at 4:27pm PDT

9 >> DEVELOP A PLANNING ROUTINE

Having a planning routine is one of the things that has helped me stick with my Bullet Journal. Here is my planning routine followed by routines from a couple of my favorite BuJo peeps! When: Planning is a big part of my nightly routine. About 30 minutes before bed, all of the electronics go off and I spend some quiet time with my Bullet Journal.

Sometimes I will journal a short blurb about my day or write down a few things that I am grateful for.

I turn to my habit tracker and fill in everything that I accomplished that day.

I write out the following day’s header on the next available line.

I carefully look over any open tasks and decide if they are still worth my time. If they are, I migrate them to the following day. If not, I cross them out or move them to forward planning.

I glance at my monthly spread and fill in the next day’s appointments/events.

In the morning, I review the tasks that I need to get done and come up with a plan for my day.

Throughout the day I record any notes, conversations, to-do’s, or new lists as they come up.

I also schedule in a mega-planning day near the end of each month. This planning day includes reflection on the previous month and goal setting for the month ahead.

05. My planning routine. My #bulletjournal is part planning, part reflecting #planwithmechallenge A photo posted by Kim (@tinyrayofsunshine) on Oct 7, 2015 at 5:21pm PDT

#planwithmechallenge day 5 : my planning routine A photo posted by Cole Bug (@colorynn) on Oct 5, 2015 at 6:49pm PDT

10 >> ADVICE FROM THE PROS

OK, so maybe we’re not “pros” but it always helps to take some pointers from someone with experience, right? Here’s some wise words for ya:

#planwithmechallenge day 25 my advice… Don’t hassle the Hoff #advice #bulletjournallove #bulletjournaljunkies #bujo #bulletjournal A photo posted by Kacheri (@passionthemedlife) on Oct 25, 2015 at 8:16pm PDT

11 >> MAKE IT YOUR OWN

There are so many ways that you can make your Bullet Journal your own. I asked the wonderful members of the Bullet Journal Junkies group on Facebook what some of their favorite hacks were, I was completely overwhelmed by the variety of their responses.

12 >> JOIN THE BULLET JOURNAL COMMUNITY

If there is one thing that has propelled my Bullet Journal to the next level, it has to be joining the oh-so-amazing Bullet Journal community. Besides the Bullet Journal Junkies group, there is also the #planwithmechallenge hosted by Kim (TinyRayofSunshine) and Jessica (PrettyPrintsandPaper) each month over on Instagram.

Here are some of my favorite Bullet Journal planner accounts on Instagram:

Of course, there is always LOADS of inspiration over on Pinterest as well! As a matter of fact, I put together a special board just for all of you Bullet Journal fans out there. It’s a little bare-bones at the moment, but I’m adding contributors as we speak and I’m very excited to see it grow!

If you’d like to become a contributor to the Bullet Journal Junkies Group Board, simply follow the steps below and come join in the fun!

Follow Boho Berry on Pinterest. (you have to be following me for me to be able to invite you) Send an email to ask@bohoberry.com with the subject line: BUJO GROUP BOARD REQUEST. Make sure you email me from the email address associated with your Pinterest account. Sit back, relax, and wait for the invite :)

Holy cow! This ended up being a very long post, indeed! Hopefully you made it to the end and got some great new ideas to incorporate into your Bullet Journal!

Do you have any Bullet Journal “Hacks” that I didn’t cover here? I’d love to know about them! Drop me a line and share the love :)

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Kara Benz is the artist and author behind Boho Berry, where she inspires her readers to lead a more centered, fulfilled, and inspired life. Kara also runs a successful sticker shop on Etsy – Boho Berry Paperie.