What the Heck is a Bullet Journal? BUJO Explained!

But the one thing I still didn’t understand is what the heck is a bullet journal anyway?

Everywhere I looked it was ‘tips for bullet journaling’, ‘layouts for your bullet journal’, and even ‘what supplies you need’. But finding out exactly what it is, seems almost impossible. Lucky for you, I finally figured it out and put together a very simplified version of what a bullet journal is.

It’s actually exactly what it sounds like. Its a blank journal that literally only has bullet points in it. You buy it that way and customize it any way you want to.

But what do I use it for? You may be asking yourself this cause I know I did! Think of it this way, a bullet journal is actually a combination of several things all wrapped into one. It’s a day planner, a journal, a sketchbook, a to-do list, and even a diary.

A bullet journal is not like the normal planner you get year after year. It’s mostly empty and you use fun pens and markers and other supplies to make it that way you want it.

Bullet journals are also known for tracking things. You can literally track anything you want to. Some of the most popular things to track are; behaviors, weather, work schedule, illness, medications, vacations, chores, finances, social media, food, exercise, goals, etc. The list really is endless. You can track your dogs bowel movements if you really want to!

If you are going to join the bullet journal train then there are some terms you will need to familiarize yourself with. The first being “BuJo” which is actually the shortened name for Bullet Journal.

You’ll see it being referenced as BuJo a lot more than its full name. It took me a full minute to realize the reason they didn’t shorten it to BJ… lol. 

The Key is the second one you hear about a lot and usually is the first part of your journal. It’s kind of like the overview of your journal. You use keys to mark off different things you track. Although you can customize your key any way you like, here are some common ones used in the BuJo World:

• Open Circle “O” —> Event
• Less than sign“<” —> Needs to be scheduled
• Greater than sign “>” —> Migrate to the next month
• Solid Dot “.” —> To do item
• Solid or Open Dot “.” with an “x”—> Completed
• Short line”-” —> Note
• Astrick “*” —> Additional Information

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The Index is the next part of your bullet journal. Just like any other index, it acts as your table of contents. Use this to list what is in your bullet journal, as well as what page its on. The Index is often added to over time so don’t feel like you need to fill it up in the beginning.

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Future Log often comes next. This is your entire year at a glance. Take the year and list out major events and things you don’t want to forget.

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Monthly Log. Also similar to the future log but is displayed as each month at a time. This tends to look more like the average cutsy daily planner you get from Target. You outline the month and fill in the calendar with your day to day events.

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Rapid logging. This is kind of like your notes section. It’s just a bunch of quick notes and ideas and thoughts. Basically, anything you want to quickly jot down.

Spread. Every page or group of pages is known as the spread. Not super important for when you are designing your own bullet journal but will come in handy if you start to google bullet journal designs and ‘spreads’. Which you can… cause there are like a million out there.

Tracker. Anything you want to track!  For example; calendars and events, budgets, meal planning, fitness, chore lists, etc. The options are endless.

Migrated. When you don’t complete a task and want to move it to a different date to be completed later. Its referred to as being ‘migrated’. You use the greater than sign for this one.

Have you thought about starting a Bullet Journal?

Bullet Journals can seem like a lot of work at first but can not only be a lot of fun but a good way to get your creative juices flowing. Adult coloring, journaling, organization techniques… are all great ways a person can destress.

It’s no wonder bullet journaling has really taken off lately. Give it try yourself and share your creations with #BuJo.