My Top Tips + Tricks for Bullet Journaling
If you are looking for tips on how you can up-level your bullet journal or if you are looking to start your first bullet journal, then you are in the right place! I started my first official bullet journal in 2018, but I used handmade planners before that, and I have tried out many different types of planning and keeping a schedule, so I know the ins and outs of using a bullet journal.
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Updated for 2024
This post has bullet journaling tips and tricks of all kinds from making a bullet journal tracker to covering up your bullet journal mistakes so if you are a beginner or if you have been bullet journaling for a while, you will hopefully find something that will help you make your bullet journal system better.
If you haven't started your bullet journal yet or if you don't know what bullet journaling is, and you clicked on this post out of curiosity, you can read Bullet Journaling: What is It? for some basic guidelines and an explanation on what bullet journaling is.
Without further ado, let's get into the tips!
My Top Tips + Tricks for Bullet Journaling
1. Do Not Compare Your Bullet Journal to Other Peoples' Bullet Journals
I wanted to start off with this tip, especially for the beginners out there reading this post because when you see other people's beautiful intricate bullet journal layouts, it can be hard to not compare your bullet journal to theirs.
But you don't need a beautiful bullet journal for it to work for you. The most important thing to do is to make your bullet journal work for you.
Your bullet journal layouts will improve with time. You can check out my first bullet journal set up in the post My First Bullet Journal Flip Through Part 1. My layouts are messy and there are lots of mistakes, but I leave it up, so people can see that their bullet journal does definitely not need to be perfect.
It's fine to have a minimalist black and white bullet journal. It's fine to have a bullet journal that is covered in doodles and stickers. It just depends on what works for you, which brings me to my next tip.
2. Find What Works for You
Bullet journaling is meant to be a very flexible system. If habit tracking doesn't work for you, then don't do it.
If you eat the same things every day, then using a food tracker doesn't make sense, unless you are trying to change your eating habits.
So don't be afraid to try out new things in your bullet journal because you won't know if it could help you or not until you try it.
3. Keep It Simple
Keep your bullet journal simple, at least in the beginning. I stopped doing bullet journaling for almost a year because I was trying to track too many things that I did not need.
If you want to try out habit tracking, start with just one habit. It could even just be the habit of writing in your bullet journal every day for a month.
Plus, I would recommend not using a ton of different supplies. Start out with just a notebook and pen and then if you really like it, you can start getting more supplies.
4. Don't Spend a Lot on Your First Bullet Journal
I started out my first bullet journal in a composition notebook, and I decorated it to make it look nicer. I used pens I already had so I didn't spend any money on my first bullet journal.
If you do decide to buy a notebook, look for something cheap. The bullet journal I am using currently, cost me less than $10 and the binding is breaking in one spot, but the year is almost over, and then I will be getting a new one. That is the only complaint I have about it. The paper quality is nice and I don't have any problems with ink bleed through the pages.
You can also try out the bullet journal method in a practice notebook or on printed sheets of paper, and then go on to a more expensive notebook if you want to.
Just find a notebook and a pen that you like and start. It's okay if your bullet journal has mistakes, and it definitely will have mistakes.
5. Tips + Tricks for Fixing Mistakes
My favorite way to fix mistakes is to use a white gel pen to cover up the mistake, and it works very well for small mistakes.
An easy way to reduce the number of errors you make is to use a pencil to sketch in the layout before you use ink. I do this a lot myself if I have time.
You can also simply use a pencil as your main writing instrument or you can buy an erasable pen, which I don't recommend doing unless you already like bullet journaling and you know it isn't going to be a waste of money.
Washi tape can also cover up mistakes, and if it is a large mistake, then I will cover it up with extra (usually dotted) paper.
6. Tips for Picking a Bullet Journal Notebook
Okay so you like bullet journaling, and you are looking for the best type of bullet journal for you. Here are some posts to read that will give you some pros and cons of using non-traditional dotted notebooks for bullet journaling.
As you can see, I have bullet journaled in a composition notebook, a binder, and a traditional dotted notebook. Currently, I am using a traditional bullet journal notebook with dotted pages. I also tried bullet journaling in a planner too. This goes along with tip #2, which is finding what works best for you.
As your lifestyle changes, your bullet journal style may change as well. My ring-bound bullet journal worked for a year, but then I realized that the rings got in the way of my writing and that I didn't need to remove pages from my bullet journal.
Find the bullet journal system that works for you, and if you need to change it, then go ahead and change it because even though it worked for you in the past, it might not work for you now.
Are you not even sure if you want to bullet journal? I wrote an article for the site Wendaful Planning on how to find the planning/organization system for your lifestyle and it has a quiz you can take to help you decide!
7. Get Into the Habit of Using Your Bullet Journal Regularly
The best way to get into the habit of using your bullet journal every day, is to write in it at the same time every day.
You can write in your bullet journal every morning right when you wake up or you could write in your bullet journal while you are eating breakfast.
Try to have a reminder to use your bullet journal. If you want to write in your bullet journal right when you wake up, you can put your bullet journal on your night stand. You want to have some sort of prompt that will remind you to use your bullet journal.
The post on how to bullet journal even when you are super busy might help you, if you have a really busy day. We all do, don't we? :)
8. Tips for Finding Inspiration for Your Bullet Journal Layouts
Well, of course, there are blogs on bullet journaling, and Pinterest is a really good source for inspiration, but I find Creative Market really helpful for finding fonts to use in your bullet journal.
Pretty much the hardest thing for me to decide on every layout is finding the fonts I want to use for that layout. Creative Market can help!
The best place I have found for font inspiration is Creative Market. They have tons of beautiful fonts. This is how I do it.
- Go to the website and find a font you like.
- Click on it, and scroll down on the page until you see a box that says, "type to try it out".
- Type in what you are planning on writing
- Make the font as large as you can and there you go! You now have a new font to use in your bullet journal!
When looking for doodles for my layouts, I simply search on Google for what I want to draw and then add "line drawing" or "doodle".
My Top Tips + Tricks for Bullet Journaling
I hope you found some tips in this article that were helpful to you! If you have any questions about starting a bullet journal, you can leave them in the comments below. I reply to every comment. :)
You can read some of my other bullet journal articles below.
- Tips for Improving Your Bullet Journal Quote Pages
- 36 Bullet Journal Layout Ideas for When You are Bored
- How to Bullet Journal When Feeling Uninspired
- Layouts to Add to Your Bullet Journal for the New Year
Have a productive week!
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