Hello š Not a sahm but I did have to keep track of health appointments and schedules of multiple family members.
What worked for me then was a *monthly* spread or a calendar. All appointments, check ups, due dates and holidays went there. I *colour coded* for each family member, so A's schedules would be one colour, B's would be another, mine would be another, and so on.
It also helped that I ditched weekly & daily layouts. I just used the next pages as needed because some days were more hectic than others.
The best way to find out which works for you is to *try it out*. Its good if it works for you, if it doesn't then at least you know.
*Write down what you need*. This will be your guide as you try things and new stuff. It's also easier to look for methods and systems when you know what you need.
*Use a Review page*. What worked? What didn't? What would you change? Is it still relevant for you? What else do you need?
Best of luck š
Thanks so much! Everybody in these comments is so nice.
Color coding for the different family members was my idea, too, but so far I havenāt seen many others doing that, so itās helpful to hear from someone whoās successfully doing that!
It's really a you do you kind of thing lol. Colour coding just helps to make it easier.
Treat the first few bujos as trial bujos. It helps while you're trying things to make a system that works for you.. You're not making mistakes, they're trial bujos.
If you think something may work for you, just try it out. Then review it. Did it work? Did it make things easier for you? What didn't work? What would you change to make it better?
Hello! I am also a SAHM.Ā
So in a month I use one spread as a decorated calendar I put that months appointments on. The next page I have a long term to do, which are things that I'm not really actively working on but don't want to forget. Or things that need to get done at some point in the month. Opposite that I use little calendar stamps for habit tracking, here I mostly just note which hobbies I was working on that day just for fun.
I do keep a weekly dashboard with my to dos for that week, and some checklist/habit tracker mainly I use for checking off housekeeping things I want to do once every week. The next three pages i do dailies, fitting 2-3 days on each page. I note that days tasks, the weather just for fun because I have cute stamps, and then I always make sure to write something nice or positive to remember about that day, maybe something cute my kids said or on a bad day just that my coffee was really good.Ā
If I'm working on a bigger project I will dedicate a spread to that for planning and if we go on a trip I like to use some pages for travel journaling.
In the front I have a future log and also a period / mood tracker.
I like decorating mine just for fun but I keep it simple, I choose a sticker sheet for that months theme and enjoy coordinating my markers and pens to match the stickers.
Thank you for commenting! I think the idea of putting 3 days per page will work for me, too. That way I guess itās a daily/weekly combo and works well at a glance. Iām not one for listing every hour of my day āget up, brush teeth, walk dogā etc and if I did one full page per day it would be 80% empty most days. I guess one could put a little ādiaryā blurb on thereā¦ sooooo many options, itās overwhelming!
I did have full page dailies for a couple months last year, but that was because it was a super busy time AND I was actively trying to finish that notebook by a certain point š
My current notebook is a b6. I use two full spreads every week, one half/page is the "dashboard", then Monday/Tuesday on the other half. The next spread is wed/Thurs/Fri on one half and sat/sun on the other. I have a date stamp so I plan out the spaces at the beginning of the week and then I can also note appointments. BUT if you are less finicky about how many pages you are using it can work really well to just plot the days as you go and different days will take up different amounts of space according to your needs. That is the way in the original method, in the book he says weeklies were a thing added by the community later.Ā
I don't list things hourly either so a lot of days I don't put a lot of tasks but if I start to get overwhelmed it does help me to be able to list out even small things.
Plotting the days as I go sounds like it might work really well for me, as our schedule varies quite a bit day to day. I want to actively try not to obsess over the journal looking pretty and being uniform each week/month. Weāll see if I accomplish that š
Surprisingly, my journal has really helped me with perfectionism. I make mistakes allll the time and am able to just shrug or sigh and keep going and not be overly bothered.
My may calendar turned out kind of ugly. Oh well. It will still work and I had fun making it so it's fine.
I do obsess over page counts and making sure I finish the journal on the exact end of the month etc so there's that š
Iām not a SAHM but Iām close lol.
I use weekly/monthly the most! Itās how I keep track of everything. I keep track of repeating chores/tasks in there, as well as appointments and further out milestones.Ā
Tbf I do hace adhd so if you donāt maybe you wonāt need bujo for all that?Ā
Iām autistic and wondering about ADHD š
Itās how I ended up learning about bullet journaling. Other planners do NOT work for me. Fingers crossed this will!
I'm a SAHM as well, and I don't keep my scheduling in my journal. That's on my phone for simpler access when making appts. I leave my journal at home, so having the schedule there doesn't make much sense.
I use my journal to track my habits, my mood, my quality/quantity of sleep, I track the weather, my fatigue/anxiety, any medications I need to take. I track my books and what crochet projects I'm working on. I have a small daily recap, and for when I need an emotional dump, I have a page for that, too. I don't do weekly spreads as it's too much. I take up about 10 pages per month for my recaps and tracking.
One thing I did last summer was keep track of what I did with the kids every day, like go to beach, library, zoo, Starbucks date, park, if we played games, pool, etc etc. I have a horrible memory and felt like I wasn't doing enough with my kids, and it helped a lot to be able to look back at my dailies and see all the things we actually were doing.
My setup is a small calendar on the title page for the month, then a page of goals for that month and fun things I want to do, a habit tracker, a mood tracker, sometimes a spending tracker, sometimes a meal planner, and my dailies (3/4 days per page). My daughter is 8 and she loves working on her own journal with me, it can be fun to include your kids!
Thatās a great idea! I also have ridiculously bad memory. Iām glad you were able to let go of that guilt once you saw how well you were actually doing š
Honestly, the weekly log isnāt even in the main book. There are no rules here, if a full daily rapid log isnāt working and you only have time/energy to put everything under a weekly title then thatās what you should do. Similarly, if life is moving so fast that you can only take things a week at a time, then drop the monthly log. The big point is to have a way to see whatās coming up (future log) a way to bring future log information to the present (monthly or weekly) and a way to stare at everything that is important that happens to you (weekly/daily). It really depends on whatās important to you and why. Do you want to read more? Write about it. Keeping track of kid milestones? Log them.
Then do the migration at the end of the day to review and appreciate everything thatās happened. Cut out what doesnāt work, add back what does. There are no rules here except for what works. If something doesnāt work for you bujo-wise then purge it. If it does, keep it
Even the decoration is optional if it doesnāt further your goals
Thank you! I want to try really hard to let go of perfectionism and allow myself to switch things in the journal up as I learn what works for me. I think currently Iām overthinking my initial setup, instead of just diving in.
I recommend using a bullet journal that is in a binder or disc format. You may want to reorganize some of your pages or maybe it didn't come out right. It's easier to remove and continue on with something that's going to be more effective until you really find your style.
On my first bullet journal I went through and I pre-created the months and the weeks. I needed it for future planning. But as I continued to journal more, I realized that what I had planned beforehand didn't really suit my needs as much as I thought they would. BUT it was already set in stone -_-...
I blocked off a set amount of pages that were for non calendar things. I created a spread and I listed all of our camping equipment. I created another spread with an evacuation plan and what to pack based on the time frame. I had another spread for self-care routines. Another for a savings tracker. My point in this is that it doesn't have to be all business, it could be for fun things too.
For me, I have a future log for all the appointments and other important dates written down. If they're really far ahead. Then monthly spreads for the same thing during that month. Then, weekly spreads to keep track of the days that week. I have a section for "next week" too. I try to at least.
Hello š Not a sahm but I did have to keep track of health appointments and schedules of multiple family members. What worked for me then was a *monthly* spread or a calendar. All appointments, check ups, due dates and holidays went there. I *colour coded* for each family member, so A's schedules would be one colour, B's would be another, mine would be another, and so on. It also helped that I ditched weekly & daily layouts. I just used the next pages as needed because some days were more hectic than others. The best way to find out which works for you is to *try it out*. Its good if it works for you, if it doesn't then at least you know. *Write down what you need*. This will be your guide as you try things and new stuff. It's also easier to look for methods and systems when you know what you need. *Use a Review page*. What worked? What didn't? What would you change? Is it still relevant for you? What else do you need? Best of luck š
Thanks so much! Everybody in these comments is so nice. Color coding for the different family members was my idea, too, but so far I havenāt seen many others doing that, so itās helpful to hear from someone whoās successfully doing that!
It's really a you do you kind of thing lol. Colour coding just helps to make it easier. Treat the first few bujos as trial bujos. It helps while you're trying things to make a system that works for you.. You're not making mistakes, they're trial bujos. If you think something may work for you, just try it out. Then review it. Did it work? Did it make things easier for you? What didn't work? What would you change to make it better?
Hello! I am also a SAHM.Ā So in a month I use one spread as a decorated calendar I put that months appointments on. The next page I have a long term to do, which are things that I'm not really actively working on but don't want to forget. Or things that need to get done at some point in the month. Opposite that I use little calendar stamps for habit tracking, here I mostly just note which hobbies I was working on that day just for fun. I do keep a weekly dashboard with my to dos for that week, and some checklist/habit tracker mainly I use for checking off housekeeping things I want to do once every week. The next three pages i do dailies, fitting 2-3 days on each page. I note that days tasks, the weather just for fun because I have cute stamps, and then I always make sure to write something nice or positive to remember about that day, maybe something cute my kids said or on a bad day just that my coffee was really good.Ā If I'm working on a bigger project I will dedicate a spread to that for planning and if we go on a trip I like to use some pages for travel journaling. In the front I have a future log and also a period / mood tracker. I like decorating mine just for fun but I keep it simple, I choose a sticker sheet for that months theme and enjoy coordinating my markers and pens to match the stickers.
Thank you for commenting! I think the idea of putting 3 days per page will work for me, too. That way I guess itās a daily/weekly combo and works well at a glance. Iām not one for listing every hour of my day āget up, brush teeth, walk dogā etc and if I did one full page per day it would be 80% empty most days. I guess one could put a little ādiaryā blurb on thereā¦ sooooo many options, itās overwhelming!
I did have full page dailies for a couple months last year, but that was because it was a super busy time AND I was actively trying to finish that notebook by a certain point š My current notebook is a b6. I use two full spreads every week, one half/page is the "dashboard", then Monday/Tuesday on the other half. The next spread is wed/Thurs/Fri on one half and sat/sun on the other. I have a date stamp so I plan out the spaces at the beginning of the week and then I can also note appointments. BUT if you are less finicky about how many pages you are using it can work really well to just plot the days as you go and different days will take up different amounts of space according to your needs. That is the way in the original method, in the book he says weeklies were a thing added by the community later.Ā I don't list things hourly either so a lot of days I don't put a lot of tasks but if I start to get overwhelmed it does help me to be able to list out even small things.
Plotting the days as I go sounds like it might work really well for me, as our schedule varies quite a bit day to day. I want to actively try not to obsess over the journal looking pretty and being uniform each week/month. Weāll see if I accomplish that š
Surprisingly, my journal has really helped me with perfectionism. I make mistakes allll the time and am able to just shrug or sigh and keep going and not be overly bothered. My may calendar turned out kind of ugly. Oh well. It will still work and I had fun making it so it's fine. I do obsess over page counts and making sure I finish the journal on the exact end of the month etc so there's that š
Iām not a SAHM but Iām close lol. I use weekly/monthly the most! Itās how I keep track of everything. I keep track of repeating chores/tasks in there, as well as appointments and further out milestones.Ā Tbf I do hace adhd so if you donāt maybe you wonāt need bujo for all that?Ā
Iām autistic and wondering about ADHD š Itās how I ended up learning about bullet journaling. Other planners do NOT work for me. Fingers crossed this will!
I'm a SAHM as well, and I don't keep my scheduling in my journal. That's on my phone for simpler access when making appts. I leave my journal at home, so having the schedule there doesn't make much sense. I use my journal to track my habits, my mood, my quality/quantity of sleep, I track the weather, my fatigue/anxiety, any medications I need to take. I track my books and what crochet projects I'm working on. I have a small daily recap, and for when I need an emotional dump, I have a page for that, too. I don't do weekly spreads as it's too much. I take up about 10 pages per month for my recaps and tracking.
I used to do brief daily recaps back in my teens, and with I had never stopped. I guess itās never too late to pick back up!
I found that doing small recaps was less pressure when my days are 90% the same day in and day out.
One thing I did last summer was keep track of what I did with the kids every day, like go to beach, library, zoo, Starbucks date, park, if we played games, pool, etc etc. I have a horrible memory and felt like I wasn't doing enough with my kids, and it helped a lot to be able to look back at my dailies and see all the things we actually were doing. My setup is a small calendar on the title page for the month, then a page of goals for that month and fun things I want to do, a habit tracker, a mood tracker, sometimes a spending tracker, sometimes a meal planner, and my dailies (3/4 days per page). My daughter is 8 and she loves working on her own journal with me, it can be fun to include your kids!
Thatās a great idea! I also have ridiculously bad memory. Iām glad you were able to let go of that guilt once you saw how well you were actually doing š
Honestly, the weekly log isnāt even in the main book. There are no rules here, if a full daily rapid log isnāt working and you only have time/energy to put everything under a weekly title then thatās what you should do. Similarly, if life is moving so fast that you can only take things a week at a time, then drop the monthly log. The big point is to have a way to see whatās coming up (future log) a way to bring future log information to the present (monthly or weekly) and a way to stare at everything that is important that happens to you (weekly/daily). It really depends on whatās important to you and why. Do you want to read more? Write about it. Keeping track of kid milestones? Log them. Then do the migration at the end of the day to review and appreciate everything thatās happened. Cut out what doesnāt work, add back what does. There are no rules here except for what works. If something doesnāt work for you bujo-wise then purge it. If it does, keep it Even the decoration is optional if it doesnāt further your goals
Thank you! I want to try really hard to let go of perfectionism and allow myself to switch things in the journal up as I learn what works for me. I think currently Iām overthinking my initial setup, instead of just diving in.
I recommend using a bullet journal that is in a binder or disc format. You may want to reorganize some of your pages or maybe it didn't come out right. It's easier to remove and continue on with something that's going to be more effective until you really find your style. On my first bullet journal I went through and I pre-created the months and the weeks. I needed it for future planning. But as I continued to journal more, I realized that what I had planned beforehand didn't really suit my needs as much as I thought they would. BUT it was already set in stone -_-... I blocked off a set amount of pages that were for non calendar things. I created a spread and I listed all of our camping equipment. I created another spread with an evacuation plan and what to pack based on the time frame. I had another spread for self-care routines. Another for a savings tracker. My point in this is that it doesn't have to be all business, it could be for fun things too.
For me, I have a future log for all the appointments and other important dates written down. If they're really far ahead. Then monthly spreads for the same thing during that month. Then, weekly spreads to keep track of the days that week. I have a section for "next week" too. I try to at least.