Bullet Journals are part journal, part planner, part diary, part sketchbook, part goal obtainer, and part anything else you want to visually represent form day to day, month to month, or year to year. Designed to help with productivity, these personalized journals are created specifically for your own needs.
Once made, they offer a reflective way to help you keep your life organized. But getting started may seem a bit overwhelming to many, especially since there are so many great ideas out there that you may want to include. If you have been wondering what to put into a creation such as this, this article can help move you in the right direction. These ideas are called collections, and the following journal idea examples are provided to provide inspo and help you pick and choose what might work best for you.
Table of Contents
What is a Bullet Journal Collection?
As mentioned, a BYJO collection is a section of ideas that you want to track, record, or reflect upon within your journal. These can be as simple as a list of books you want to read, or a more in-depth section that plans out an entire vacation. These can be simply formatted, or even provide a formal format style depending on your own personal preferences. You can have as many, or as few collections as you want in your book. This is a great way to provide prompts for your life to incorporate organization and reflection.
Creative Names for Journal Ideas
Since a BUJO is a personalized record, feel free to get creative with your naming of the ideas you include in your book. Collections can take on simple denotations of what they represent, or be more complex and interesting. Use what is an inspiration to you to make this a fun and effective experience.
Social Contacts and Social Media
These books are some of the best places to keep your contacts, addresses, and social media accounts in order and all in one place. With the number of technological accounts, we have these days, sometimes it’s nice to have a physical record of what you put where for quick reference.
Supplier Contact List
If you run a business online, you can easily organize all your important contacts for supplies, purchases, invoices, and sales here. Brief notes and fast contact info can help you save time when you need a number immediately.
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Birthday List
Ever struggle to remember all the birthdays of the important people in your life? Create a page or two with a monthly list so you can see what’s coming up and plan accordingly. At the very least you can wish them a Happy Birthday!
Social Media Tracker
With all the social media reposting of information, it can get overwhelming to remember what went where. Help organize your social media accounts with a quick legend, list of uses, or monthly overviews to help you find what you need more quickly.
Passwords
It’s best if you don’t use the same password over and over again, but trying to remember all those logins can get frustrating. Use your book to help keep it organized and keep track of any changes you make.
Holiday Planning
If you are a list maker then you already know how helpful it is to have all you need all in one place when planning holiday meals and get-togethers And by keeping your notes in one spot, it is even easier to add to it from one year to the next.
Thanksgiving Checklist
Make a simple checklist of meal prepping, shopping, or to-do’s to help plan for what often amounts to a large gathering of family and/or friends. This way you can see what you forgot without trying to remember!
Christmas Holiday Bucket List
Want to get a bunch of stuff done over the holidays? Like visiting family and enjoying the winter weather? Create a bucket list of all you would like to accomplish and get started checking them off!
Christmas Meal Planner
If you are hosting Christmas, or any other holiday for that manner, and need to feed those you are hosting various meals, this is a great place to make your lists and start checking off your purchases and plans.
Productivity
Bullet journaling is a great place to incorporate templates for inspiring productivity and goal setting. Just creating the habit of checking off do to lists, being made aware of set goals, recording a day’s thoughts, and organizing tasks is a way to de-clutter the mind and help keep you on a task in an efficient way.
Brain Dump
These stylized creations serve as a place to record your daily thoughts, needs, lists, etc and keep them all in one place. After a busy day, your mind is most likely reeling from the amount of information you have been exposed to. Instead of trying to remember it all, dump it out for easy, fast, future reference.
Vision Board
Allow your book to serve as a vision board of past events, future goals and planning, and current events. You can add to, take out, and change what you need and having everything laid out in one spot provides the opportunity to reflect on your overall vision.
Journal Index
When you provide an index that associates specific pages to specific tasks and collections all you have to do it quickly glance for what you are looking for. This helps keep your book organized and allows you to determine the space you have left in your book when you want to add to it.
Commitment Page
Making a commitment page, goal setting section, rewards list, or any other collection devoted to meeting an expectation is good practice. This helps you visualize the steps you need to make to get to where you are heading and make it a reality.
Routine Tracker
Like a commitment page, keeping track of your routines in order to better see where you are in your structure of it all is a great way to help with focus, completion, and inspiration to continue on your path.
Future Log
Need a way to quickly see what your future holds? Keep a dotted log of what future commitments you have, goals you want to complete, places you want to see, or simply reminders to keep in focus.
Yearly Review
The spread of ideas and plans contained in your writing throughout the year allows you to go back and review how your year went. You can also keep a section open specifically for quick, bulleted ideas you have jotted down from one week or month to the next so you can better reflect on your growth.
Master Plan
Keep a section, or sections, open to your ‘master’ planning of a month or season in advance. You can also define this as a way to help you better orient yourself towards what you want your book to be focused on for your own needs.
Weekly To Do List
Lists are easy to include in your journal. And even if you don’t leave a section open for specific weekly, or monthly, to-do needs, you can easily dot out a list on sticky notes to include in your collections. These can be tossed or stored elsewhere as you complete each list.
Habit Tracker
When forming a new habit sometimes it’s easier to visualize your growth. You can design a tracker in any way, shape, or form that you desire- including using cute motivational quotes, drawings, or anything else to keep you moving forward.
Weekly Planner
Most people include a weekly planner to allow them to glance quickly at what tasks and responsibilities are required for completion. These are also a great way to help keep you organized and from forgetting things during your busy week.
Daily Planner
Daily planners are also a good way to help you keep track of what needs to be done. These are often incorporated into a weekly design spread or setup to see what other tasks precede or follow the day in question.
Yearly Goal
Although a far off day in the future may not seem conducive to make important, setting a reachable goal end date allows you to break down what steps you have to get there. Those who have a clear vision, and date to make it a reality, have a tendency to meet their goals more quickly.
Physical Fitness and Health
Staying healthy through exercise is a great way to boost energy, combat illness, stave off chronic diseases, and feel better. Creating workout habits and tracking growth and goals is a great way to help you stay focused and provide rewards where you feel they are deserved. Journaling about this path can help you determine what programs work best for you and how to meet your needs.
Fitness Tracker
Tracking your fitness, whether it be weight, muscle mass, miles run, or the creation of an active habit can be a fun way to take pride in your growth. Plus, it is totally personal and provides you exactly what you feel you need to keep going.
Weight Tracker
Trying to lose or gain weight? Keep track of it along with your diet plans, and fitness idea collections. Set specific weights in days to provide yourself a goal to work towards and keep your focus documented through journaling.
Diet Plan
Changing up the way you eat for fitness, training, or health reasons? No matter why you need to keep an eye on your diet, making changes can be frustrating and confusing when you are first getting used to eating differently. Help meal plans, make grocery lists and keep what you need to remember all in one place.
Period Tracker
Ladies, keeping track of your monthly cycle is an important habit to get into to provide a visual of inconsistencies and changes that may be indicative of an underlying health issue.
Water Tracker
Hydrating is crucial for your body to process both physically and mentally. Keep track of your water intake to ensure you are getting what you need each day. On average, an adult should be getting 64 ounces in a 24 hour period.
Sleep Tracker
It is recommended that adults get 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night in order for the body to rest and recharge. We often are unaware of just how much, or little, we are actually getting. Keep track to determine if you are missing out and building up a sleep debt.
Coffee Tracker
Love your morning coffee? Whereas regular coffee intake isn’t considered a problem for most people, how much is consumed may be an underlying culprit for some health and sleep issues. Keep track of what you drink to discover if you are putting yourself at risk.
Miles Run Tracker
Taking on running or training for a race? Keep track of the miles you log to help reach goals and keep you motivated. Just watching your miles go up can be the incentive many need to keep up this beneficial habit.
100 Miles Tracker
Want to challenge yourself? Take on a 100 miles challenge whether you walk, run, or bike your way through it. This is also a great way to track steps taken if you wear a pedometer regularly.
Recipe Tracker
Often fitness routines go hand in hand with diet tracking or just a general awareness of when you are putting into your body. Make a list of recipes you can use that is beneficial to your energy level and fitness goals.
Strength Training Tracker
Into building strength and longevity? Why not design your own graph to help you see how your goals are being met and your hard work is paying off? Small challenges add up fast and are easier to see when you have a picture of this growth.
Meal Plan
Break down your weekly meal plans isn’t just helpful for your own health, but can work to help create plans for your family, keep track of nutrient intake, and even allow you to plan for various offers for differing diets that may exist in your household.
Workout Tracker
No matter whether you love to lift, circuit train, run, practice yoga, or simply keep track of steps each day, you can create your own personal plan to incorporate one or many various ways to stay in shape.
Beauty Checklist
Health isn’t just how you feel physically, but how you feel about your looks. Always embrace who you are as a person, but if your overall appearance is part of that, you can easily incorporate appointments for haircuts, and lists for skincare, hygiene, and supplemental products as well.
Health/Fitness Tracker
General health and fitness are easy to keep track of when you dedicate a page or section to what you feel you need for your own success. You can also use these collection sections to provide helpful information and sources for your own health growth.
Health Tracker
Keep track of your morning and evening routines to determine if you are struggling with a new program, and to keep yourself focused on the goals you may have. This is also a good place to keep a food diary to help narrow down illness symptoms or allergic reactions you may be having.
Mental and Spiritual Collections
Keeping a journal and diary has long been practiced as a way to provide therapeutic support. Writing down daily thoughts and feelings, drafting letters, and reflecting on problems and purpose are all ways to help clear your mind and keep what is important in focus. Create a collection that incorporates your own affirmations, quotes, or other support needs that works with your own reflections included in the book.
Mood Tracker
Wondering why you feel so energized one day and down and out the next? Keep track of your moods, sleep, exercise, and what you eat to help you determine the causes behind mood swings, lack of energy, or issues you may be having trouble facing. Writing things down can help you spot patterns to help you through hard times.
Word of the Day
Expand your vocabulary with the use of a word a day! New recognition and comprehensive brain connections will be made when you challenge yourself to use something that was once unfamiliar in context.
Weekly Study Planner
You don’t need to be in school to continue learning. Pick a subject you want to know more about and set up a schedule to set aside time to begin learning about it. Bit by bit you will expand your mind and learn to experience new opportunities and perspectives.
Gratitude List
Never forget what you can be thankful for, even during hard times. Make time to write down daily words, quotes, or experiences that make you glad. Studies show that seeing the positive can help you cope and approach challenges with a better outlook.
Spiritual Action List
Sometimes it is hard to see what steps you need to take to improve your life. Create action lists to help you grow spiritually, mentally, emotionally or anything else you feel needs a boost.
Memories Tracker
Remind yourself of your many experiences by keeping a running list of things you want to look back upon. In the years to come, you will be thankful to have these on hand.
Personal Development
Just keeping a journal such as this can help you grow personally. But making sure to include specific focus groups pertaining to your own growth allows you to reflect back on how far you’ve come, and see how little changes work to improve the things you would like to change.
Level 10
Level 10 is a thought process designed to help you better understand your current state of life. It helps you collect data on habits, set goals, and allows you to take a bigger look at the overall feelings of your personal experiences.
Monthly Small Victories
Rewarding yourself and making note of the goals you meet are important to personal growth. Small victories are the ones that can help you continue forward even when you think it is an impossible task.
Gratitude Log
Keep track of the positive you and those around you do to remind you of how great life is even when it has you down. Affirmations, events, quotes and even making note of the fact the sun rose again can keep you on track.
Things That Make Me Happy
Sometimes it can be hard to remember what makes you happy, so it doesn’t hurt to keep a running list of what you know makes you happy, and what events occur that makes you happy.
Language Development Tracker
Learning a new language? Keep track of your vocabulary development and application to help you chart your own growth. This is a great way to help children who are learning to read as well and provides them a way to see their own pathway to reading comprehension.
Travel
Travel exposes you to a myriad of new opportunities, even if you are only traveling a few hours away. Use your book to make plans, set travel goals, explore destination dreams, and work towards budgeting and saving for your own experiences.
Vacation Savings Tracker
Don’t rule out traveling simply because you think you could never afford it. It is amazing how quickly a saving account adds up and if you make a plan in advance to help track your savings, you will be surprised how motivated you will become to get it filled up!
Trip Itinerary
Before traveling it is always a good idea to take a look at the events and offerings in the areas you are staying in to see what you may like to do. Make an itinerary so you can schedule those things that you feel you will enjoy in advance so you don’t miss out.
Things to Pack List
Winging what to pack generally results in something important left behind. Take a look at where you are going, what you will be doing, and plan what to take accordingly.
Travel Plans
Layout your plans in advance to take full advantage of your vacation. This is especially true if you are driving as you can take advantage of cool places to visit along the way!
Entertainment and Interests
Never miss out on your favorite entertainment events. Keep track of social events, concerts, get-togethers, movie releases, parties, etc when you provide a place to keep it all in one spot. You also can include things you want to do or learn about here as well- including a place to hold tickets, ticket stubs, or other reminders of what you enjoy.
Washi Tape Swatches
Washi tape is a great product to keep on hand to decorate, mark, or in other words- use to designate one section from another in your book. A HUGE variety exists for your personal needs.
Wish List
Everyone has a wish list of some type they would like to address at some point in their life. Go ahead and start making your wishes a reality with the entry of a list or charts that help showcase the things you are dreaming of and start making them a reality. These types of entries will never disappoint!
Books to Read List
If you love to read them you know you have a huge list of materials on the back of your mind that you would like to tackle. Make a list of genres and books that belong in them to start narrowing down your interests and start collecting your favorites.
Finances
If you need any reason to wonder if this type of journaling is for adults, look no further. One word: finances. Finances are often a big worry for anyone fiscally responsible simply because finding a balance between what goes out, what comes in, and what you want don’t always mesh the way you want them to. It can help to set goals concerning savings, bank accounts, and anything else that might cost you money- planned or unplanned.
Savings Tracker
Savings add up quickly once you take the leap to start putting money aside. Keep track of what this looks like with a personalized graphic organizer or chart of some sort, and see how quickly you can meet your goals.
Bills Tracker
Nobody enjoys paying bills, but keeping track of them is a responsibility you most likely have. Create a chart to see what bills are due when, and what amounts are going out. This is also helpful to record unexpected bills so you can provide a better monthly balance.
Spending Log
Just like bills, what you are spending each month should be recorded to help you keep a healthy balance in your bank accounts. This is especially helpful during certain times of the years when spending may be more frequent- such as the holidays.
Wants List
Keeping track of what money goes out and what comes in has some surprising benefits as well. This way you can set goals for what you want and are able to quickly see if something is affordable (especially if it is on sale and is a spontaneous purchase).
School
If you take classes, training, or even teach you can allow yourself a more organized visual of what needs to be done and when you delegate a section specifically to this topic. You can also cross-reference this information to your daily and weekly planners, or even make a list of to-do topics.
Weekly Class Schedule
Higher-level education doesn’t always follow a set, traditional schedule and may provide you with gaps to allow you to study or even work. Keeping track of the variances from day to day schedule like this offers helps you keep track of your days more effectively.
Bullet Journal for Students
If you are a student you may want to check out the ideas offered here that are specifically focused on keeping you on task. These ideas revolve around a student’s needs and focus on what is typically part of the educational process.
Class Schedule
Higher-level classes can keep you on your toes concerning how they are scheduled, due dates, and studying. Create an organized calendar to help you keep track of all your responsibilities.
Household
Household management takes a lot of effort overall to keep things clean, organized, and picked up. Sometimes these chores can seem overwhelming, especially if they have been put off for any length of time. Getting a list together of things to do with entry date, designating work to certain days and people, and providing a manageable account of what needs to be done is a great way to help keep a household looking its best.
Spring Cleaning Planner
Certain times of the year are often better for a whole deep clean of an indoor space. Spring is popular to help open up and air out what has otherwise been closed up through the colder, winter months. Make chore charts and lists specifically to help keep you focused and on task for these times.
Chores List
Getting daily, weekly, and monthly chores complete is more easily done when you are reminded of what should be completed when. If more than one person is involved with these chores you can also help schedule their own responsibilities.
Grocery List
Housework Planner
Not everyone enjoys house cleaning and puts it off until it feels overwhelming. Keep a planner to chip away bit by bit at the things that need to be taken care of- and then stay on top o fit with a specific schedule that only keeps you busy for 10 to 15 minutes at a time to make house cleaning more manageable.
Konmari Method Bullet Planner
Konmari is known for creating simplified EVERYTHING to help declutter your life. Take a look at this idea if you are feeling overwhelmed with too much stuff, both in mind and body.
Laundry Schedule
When multiple people in a household need to get their laundry done, or if you are dependent upon a community laundry area, keeping a schedule to remind you of what time it is available to you can be super helpful!
Parent Planning
Being a parent is amazingly rewarding, but it is also exhausting and will keep you on your toes as you try and schedule everything that needs to be done when you take charge of more than just yourself. Allow yourself the chance to keep yourself organized with visual reminders and trackers of your day to day responsibilities to keep everyone in line, and help you stay organized.
School Days Schedule
Once your children are in school, it can get a bit hectic to remember what is happening when. Keep a calendar, grid, or similar week to week or month to month visual specifically for work, school events, and responsibilities so you don’t have to be worried if you miss anything important.
Baby Day Tracker
Children grow so quickly, and this is never more apparent within the first few years of your child’s life. Their physical growth can be measured almost on a daily basis, as can their vocabulary and awareness of the world around them. Keep track of their unique milestones so as not to miss a single second.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this list of hobby ideas and collections of sections that you can include in your bullet journal has provided you a comprehensive look at what sort of tips you may want to include in your own creation. Remember, limit yourself when you first get started to help you determine how you want to organize your own book, and what sort of topic is the best to address. You can always add to your journal as you go along.
If you have any ideas we haven’t covered here to share, please do so. We’d also love to see and hear of your own creations! Please share these ideas as well with others to help them in their own journaling journey.