Productive Pixie: November 2020

With the new year just around the corner, your bullet journal is probably almost filled up, with happy memories from the year, and (hopefully completed) to-do lists. Migrating to a new bullet journal can be a large task. Where do you begin? What pages should you migrate to your new bullet journal?

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Updated for 2024

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How should you migrate those pages over to your new notebook?

Should you just recreate those pages?

How do you make this a less time-consuming task?

Well, today, I am here to answer all of those questions about migrating into a new bullet journal for the year ahead and I will also give you some tips and ideas to make the migration process of starting a new bullet journal easier for you.

Let's get right into this post, shall we?

How to Migrate to a New Bullet Journal

The best place to start your bullet journal migration is at the back of your old bullet journal. When you are getting to the end of your bullet journal, you will want to start planning for your next bullet journal.

A few pages at the back of your old notebook will be enough.

This is where you plan out which pages you want to have in your new notebook. You can simply make a bulleted list, or you can actually sketch out miniatures of what you want each page to look like. Keep in mind that sketching out pictures of what you want each page layout to look like, will be more time-consuming.

You can also use this list to jot down new collection layouts you want to try out in your new bullet journal for the coming year.

How do you decide which pages to migrate?

Go back through every page in your notebook and look to see if you used it during the year, or if you found it helpful (aka notes that you referred to throughout the year, etc.).

Obviously, layouts like weekly to-do lists, and monthly trackers, will not need to be migrated to your new bullet journal, unless you haven't finished those to-do lists yet! :)

So mostly, the layouts you should be migrating to your new bullet journal are the collection layouts that you used and referred back to throughout the year. If you look back at a collection page, and you didn't fill it in or look back at it, then you will want to ask yourself, if you want to try to use it again next year.

If you do want to use it next year, then you can decide what you liked about this layout, and what you need to change to make the layout more effective.

Setting Up Your New Bullet Journal

Now you should know what pages you want to add to your new bullet journal. You should also use the bulleted list in your old bullet journal to decide what order you want to put the layouts in. For example, your list might look something like this.

38 - Books to Read | 12 |
10 - Goals for 2021 | 3 - 5 |
25 - Project Ideas | 7 |
80 - Capsule Wardrobe | 9 - 11 |
4 - Bullet Journal Layout Ideas | 6 |
63 - Bullet Journal Theme Ideas | 8 |
2 - Index | 2 |
1 - Key | 1 |
123 - Fitness Tracker | 13 - 15 |

Inside the brackets, is the page number the layout will have in your new notebook. The page number at the beginning of each bulleted point is the page number that that layout has in your old bullet journal. You might not include all of this information on your list, but you can if your bullet journal has a lot of layouts, and you want to further simplify the process.

Next, you can open up your new bullet journal and write in pencil at the top of each page, what that page is going to be. You have to decide where you want your collection layouts to be. Do you want them at the beginning, the end, or mixed in with your other layouts?

I mix my collection layouts in with my other layouts, and it works out because I have an up-to-date index. :)

Now it's time to actually migrate the pages in your bullet journal. Here are a bunch of options you can use.

1. Bullet Journal in a Binder

If you don't like migrating from one bullet journal to the next, you might want to try out bullet journaling in a binder like in the picture above.

I bullet journaled in a binder for over a year, but in the end, I decided that I didn't want the flexibility of being able to add and remove pages.

If you bullet journal in a binder, then one of the pros is that you never have to migrate from one notebook to the next. You can always leave your collection layouts in your notebook. Plus, you can organize your notebook because you can move the pages around.

2. Recreate Them

This is definitely going to be time-consuming, but if you like trying out new layout designs, then this is the way to go!

And if some of your layouts have incorrect information, then you cannot use the same layout as before, so you are going to have to redraw them anyway.

This is the method I do, and though it is more time-consuming, I like drawing in my bullet journal, so it is fun. :)

If you do decide to do this method, I recommend having a layout like I mentioned in the section "Setting up Your New Bullet Journal" and writing in pencil what each layout is supposed to be.

3. The Sticky Note Method

If there is a layout that you want to move to your next notebook, but you don't want to have to recreate or redraw it, you can simply cut it out of your old bullet journal, and then stick it into your new bullet journal with a bit of washi tape or glue.

To help it blend in a little more, you can also glue some craft paper overlapping a little or stickers to help it blend in.

Make sure you cut the layout to be a little smaller than your notebook, so the page doesn't end up sticking over the edge of the page you glue it on to.

4. Inserting a Page

Carefully cut out the page really close to the binding. You might have to use an Exacto knife. Just know, that when doing this, the page on the other side might also fall out.

Now open up your new bullet journal to where you want to add your page. Lay it flat inside the book as if it already was a page. Then take a piece of tape that is as long as your notebook and put it half on the page that is already in the book and the layout you are trying to add to your notebook.

Then flip the page over and add another piece of tape on the other side. There you go! You have now added a page to your bullet journal.

This will only work a couple of times though. It definitely won't work, if you want to migrate half of your bullet journal!

Migrating to a New Bullet Journal

That's it! Using the methods above, you can migrate from your old bullet journal to your new bullet journal in less time.

Starting a new bullet journal is fun, but it is always a big task, so plan ahead and most likely you won't be able to do it in one sitting so break it up and don't try to do it all at once.

If you liked this post, you can read these ones too!

I hope you liked this post and that it helped you migrate to your new bullet journal!

Please share this post if you liked it. Thank you!

November 28, 2020 No comments

Oops! Any bullet journalist or artist knows how it feels when their pen accidentally slips or they try out a new style and it doesn't turn out exactly how they thought it would. But what to do? Should you just rip the page out of your bullet journal and toss your hour of hard work?

The Best Ways to Fix Bullet Journal Mistakes

Updated for 2024

Of course not! Unless you really really want to start over. There are plenty of tips and tricks you can do to cover up those little or even large mistakes.

And then at the end of the day, if you still just simply hate that layout, you can glue those two pages together (Using gluestick and not regular glue so the new page doesn't turn out all wrinkly), instead of ripping it out and weakening the binding on the notebook, you are using.

But hopefully, you can use these tips to fix your bullet journal mistakes instead!

The Best Ways to Fix Bullet Journal Mistakes

First, let me ask you... what is the best way to fix a bullet journal mistake?

You might not think of it right off, but of course, the best way to fix a bullet journal mistake is to not make it in the first place. So where we want to start, is the ways you can eliminate making bullet journal mistakes! :)

1. Use an Erasable Writing Instrument

The easiest way to eliminate making mistakes is to use an erasable writing instrument. You can still make mistakes obviously, but you can erase them afterward and no one will know!

Simply draw out your entire layout using a pencil first, and then go over it in pen. Just doing this alone, eliminates a lot of the mistakes I know I would make. :)

And yes, it might take you a little longer to sketch the layout using a pencil first but think how much time it will take you to fix a large bullet journal mistake. You might even have come to this post because you just barely made a large mistake in your bullet journal.

You can also find erasable pens so that you don't need to go over it with a pen. If you don't like pencils, then that might be a good option for you.

Plus, use a ruler... unless, you don't care about having straight lines. I know I do! You can also use stencils, and stamps when drawing shapes to help eliminate errors.

2. Use a White Gel Pen

Ahhh! A white gel pen is definitely a lifesaver for me and the first way I try to fix a mistake! If you look closely at the picture above, you can see where I messed up on the "at" in "at - a - glance", but I covered it up with a white gel pen, and then I redid it. Now it is hardly noticeable.

White gel pens are very cheap, so I recommend having one in your bullet journal essentials kit.

If the ink showing through, annoys you, then you can buy a white paint pen that will have thicker ink, but it may take longer for the ink to dry.

3. Cover it with a Darker Color

If you take a look at the first photo in this post, you can see that the header for "goals" is a black square with white ink on top and while I didn't make a mistake right there, it can definitely work as a solution to fix mistakes.

Even if you make a mistake using a very dark color, all is not lost, because you can simply make a square or a circle and write on top of it using your handy white gel pen. Gold and silver gel pens would be fun too!

If you make a mistake in a lighter color, you can always use a darker color on top and it won't be noticeable. Like in the picture below, if I hadn't liked the lettering, or had made a mistake, I could cover it up with a darker color and used a white gel pen to "erase" any bits that were left showing.

4. Stickers + Washi Tape

Cover up your mistake with an aesthetic sticker that matches the rest of the page or if the mistake is in a lighter color, then you can use washi tape.

Plus, I want to mention that if your lettering is off-centered and you really just want it centered, you can draw a doodle, or use a sticker to center the heading. That might be what I did on the layout above. ;)

This can work for small and medium-sized mistakes. Sticky notes are also a good idea and to make it more permanent, you can use a glue stick to glue it all the way down.

5. Craft Paper

Oh, those large mistakes! When you do the whole header and it turns out looking ugly or when your hand slips and it messes up the whole thing. What can you do then?

Use a little bit of craft paper (or a large bit of craft paper depending on how large the mistake) is and some glue stick to cover up the whole thing. Then you can add some washi tape or a little sticker in one corner, to make it look like it was intentional.

You can also save the extra dotted paper you may have from doing dutch-door layouts and use that instead because it will blend in with the page.

After you glue it down, write overlapping the edge, to make the paper you added to your notebook less noticeable.

The Best Ways to Fix Bullet Journal Mistakes

Those are the best ways I know to fix bullet journal mistakes, but if you decide that you really don't like how it looks after you try some of these methods, you can always cut a dutch-door layout, or you can glue two pages together.

We all make bullet journal mistakes and other mistakes too. :)

Over time though, your bullet journal layouts will improve and you will find that you make fewer mistakes! If you don't believe me, just take a look at my first bullet journal and then come back to this post and look at these layouts again.

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy these ones!

I hope you found these tips helpful! If you did, please consider leaving a comment or giving it a share. Thank you so much! :)

Pin this one for later. I even made you a pretty pin!

November 21, 2020 No comments

That moment when you have been on your phone or laptop scrolling for more than half an hour and you still haven't completed what you actually turned on your device to do is really a great feeling! You were only going to check your social media notifications right? And not actually scroll your feed for 30 minutes? I know the feeling, so today, I have some simple ways you can increase your productivity when you are online.

How to Increase Your Productivity Online

Updated for 2024

Your devices, whether that be your laptop, your phone, or even your smartwatch, are supposed to make your life easier. They make your life harder though when you get sucked into using them for very long periods of time, and you don't have time to do what you really want to do.

These tips are going to be mostly for your phone, but they can also apply to your laptop, your tablet, iPad, or smartwatch.

Without further ado, let's get straight into the tips so you don't waste time on your tech!

Simple Ways to Increase Your Productivity Online

1. Have an Organized Device

Okay. I know this first one is very broad, but let me explain. If your phone or laptop files aren't organized it is going to take a long time to find what you need. When was the last time you organized your emails or actually got to inbox zero?

If you make it a regular habit to organize the files on your phone or laptop, then it won't build up into a huge task you have to complete.

For example, you might go through the photos on your phone every month, and delete the ones you don't need or want. After that, you might stick them into folders in your gallery for easier access to the ones you need to be able to find quickly.

You could also set aside time each week to go through your emails and the files on your laptop. Whenever you download something you can also change the name of the file and stick it in the correct folder right away, instead of trying to remember what it was called when you need it a few weeks later. That is a time saver right there!

And if you are guilty of having no folders on your laptop, then make sure you take some time to go through all of your files and make folders to divide them into categories. Trust me! It is better to do it now, than in a year, when you have three times the amount of files to go through.

2. Don't Have Your To-Do List on Your Phone

I know how easy and convenient it is to have everything on your phone, but because your phone has everything on it, it also has fun distractions like social media and online games as well as organizational tools.

When you go on your phone to look at your to-do list, you might also see that someone just texted you a meme and if you go and respond to the meme, then you might forget about your to-do list because you can just complete it tomorrow. Let's face it. Procrastination is real, but you can read How to Stop Procrastinating + Be More Productive to give you some tips to fight it.

So instead of having your to-do list on your phone, consider using a bullet journal or a planner so you don't get distracted when you look at your to-do list. But what about when you don't have your bullet journal or planner with you and you think of a task you need to complete?

Make a note on your phone with a notification/reminder and then when you are around your planner or bullet journal, you can add it to your real to-do list.

3. Turn Off Unnecessary Notifications

Be honest with yourself. Do you really need to have notifications on for TikTok and Instagram?

Now you might try to tell yourself that someone might need to tell you something important and they can only reach you through TikTok or Instagram in an emergency situation because the text messaging app on their phone isn't working, but this is probably never going to happen. If you are telling this to yourself, then you are lying to yourself.

Turn off the notifications for all, yes all, unnecessary apps, even if you can only persuade yourself to do this during school or work hours. And if you can't do that, then consider leaving your phone somewhere where you can't reach it while you work or do homework.

If you want to increase your productivity, even more, you might take the step and just delete all the social media apps from your phone. *gasp*

But if you aren't ready to do that, then make sure that your social media apps are not on your phone's home screen. Stick all of your social media and fun apps into a folder that you only look at after everything else is done.

4. Limit the Amount of Tabs You Have Open on Your Device

Yes, multi-tasking. You might think that multi-tasking is going to help you be more productive, but when you are trying to do two things at once, you cannot remain focused on the task at hand because you are switching between tasks!

Now if your task requires you to have multiple tabs open, then, of course, don't open and close tabs just so you can have only one tab open at a time. That would be a time-waster!

When you are on your laptop, you really don't need to have your emails open the entire time. Check your emails once, and then close it, unless you are waiting for a specific email that you need to take action on immediately. Otherwise, it is just a distraction.

Did you really need to know that Target just sent you a promotional email?

I think not.

Don't have a tab open on your laptop just because you want to be able to see when you have a new notification because that is setting yourself up for multi-tasking, which you want to avoid.

5. Set Time Limits + Alarms

So maybe you are doing educational things online, but you still don't want to spend a lot of time on your technology because we all have other things we need to do.

The solution is to set an alarm on your phone or start a stopwatch, so you can actively see how much time you have spent on your device.

When the timer goes off, get off your device. It's simple in theory, but harder to do in real life. This way though, you will do the most important things on your device first, because you know that when the timer goes off, you need to get off and go do something else.

6. Know What You Are Going to Do

Make a list if you have to but know why you are unlocking your phone. Are you bored? Are you avoiding socializing?

Plus, you don't want to unlock your phone to do a task, and then after you do it, forget what else you came online to do so you open up social media to look at, while you try to remember what else to do.

Skip that whole scenario by simply knowing what you want to do online.

Simple Ways to Increase Your Productivity Online

It's time for a quick wrap-up of what is in this post. You can jot these down in your planner but try not to just make another note on your phone that is going to add to your digital clutter. :)

Have an Organized Device - Go through and organize your devices on a schedule whether that be weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. The more you do it, the easier it will be.
Don't Have Your To-Do List on Your Phone
Turn Off Unnecessary Notifications - All of them!
Limit the Number of Tabs You Have Open on Your Device
Set Time Limits + Alarms
Know What You Are Doing

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy these posts about productivity.

How are you going to increase your productivity online? By turning your device off right now? Good idea! ;)

If you liked this post, please share it. Thank you!

November 14, 2020 No comments

November is my favorite month of the year so I went with my favorite color for the color palette! My favorite color is pink in case you haven't noticed yet. :) This month, I didn't really go with a theme, but I used washi tape, which I haven't used for a while. The year is almost over, so let's end it being productive!

Updated for 2024

Plan With Me November Bullet Journal Layout

I changed up a few things from my usual bullet journal layout style, but I did go back to having a larger calendar than the one I did for last month and I added a gratitude section especially for November and Thanksgiving. The calendar I did this month, looks very similar to the one I did for August.

This layout was very quick to make as opposed to some of my layouts that have drawings and intricate lettering. It took me around an hour to make and I like how it turned out. :)

Here is the list of supplies I used to make this layout. There aren't many of them because I only used a few colors!

Supplies Used For My November Bullet Journal Layout

Crayola SuperTips - Crayola SuperTips are used on almost all of my spreads! They are great for beginners, really affordable, and there are tons of colors. If you are looking to buy some markers to use in your bullet journal, then I recommend these ones. I used a black Crayola SuperTip on the calendar.
Ecoline Brush Pens - The Ecoline brush pens are the newest addition to my stationery collection and I really like them, but they are on the pricey side. The ink is really smooth and juicy though. :)
Black Sharpie Pen - If you have read probably any of my other posts, then you will know that I always use a black sharpie pen for writing in my bullet journal.
White Gel Pen - I use a white gel pen to mark out any mistakes I make on my layouts, and while it is sometimes still a little bit noticeable, it doesn't bother me. I also used a white gel pen for the numbering on the calendar.
Mechanical Pencil - I used a mechanical pencil to sketch in some parts of this layout to make sure they were positioned correctly.
A Ruler - To draw straight lines of course! Straight lines are a must for me and I can't get them without a ruler.
Washi Tape - The washi tape on this spread was all bought from Michaels.

Now for how I set up the actual layout!

November Bullet Journal Layout First Page

Header

For the header, I did a simple cursive font, and then because I wrote it free-hand and it was a little off-centered, I added two strips of washi tape to center it. I could have also added a doodle or two to center it. This is a trick I frequently use to make it look like I off-centered the lettering on purpose. But we know the truth, don't we? ;)

Quote

I started sketching in the calendar and there was some empty space at the top so I decided that was a good place to put my quote for the month. It says, "Be grateful for the smallest things because you never know when it will change" and this isn't an actual quote, I just thought of it myself.

Calendar

Last month, I did a really small calendar with a drawing around it, and I really like how it turned out, but I wanted to do something simpler for this month, that didn't take so long to make and I didn't want a lot of extra space on the page.

Like I said before, this calendar looks very similar to the one I did in August. I am glad that I did a larger calendar for this month because now I am able to add symbols for holidays. I drew a pumpkin in for Thanksgiving on the 26 and I can draw in other symbols to show the dates I have tests in school etc.

I also put a strip of washi tape below the calendar, just so there isn't a blank space.

Goals

I did a simple section for my goals for the month, and I am doing five goals as usual. If you don't know how I do goal setting for the year below is a little summary.

At the beginning of the year I set 20 goals for 2020 and each month, I set five mini-goals that in some way, help me to reach my goals for the year.

Highlights

This is pretty self-explanatory. I write down my favorite things that happened during the month, so I don't forget them. Afterward, I go back and pick out my favorite highlights to add to my "Best of 2020" layout.

November Bullet Journal Layout Second Page

Habits

In the past months, I have only been tracking a few habits a month, but this month I decided to do a study tracker. I wrote down each of my school classes, and then I get to fill in the box if I studied for the class on that day. Plus now I don't have to write down all of my school classes on my daily to-do lists.

I also do have some habits that I am working on creating on this list, but it is mostly a study tracker.

Gratitude

And last, but definitely not least, I added a gratitude list for November, so I can write down something I am grateful for every day of this month.

I usually have a section for the next month, but I don't this month, because I added the gratitude list instead so I can make sure to be more grateful during this month of Thanksgiving. Even though I try to be grateful every day, I want to make sure that gratitude is at the forefront of my mind all month long.

Plan With Me November Bullet Journal Layout

That's pretty much it for this setup! It was fun to use washi tape because I hadn't used it in a while. Plus I used my favorite fonts and colors so I am excited to use this layout for this month. :)

If you liked this post, you can read my other plan with me posts below.

Plan With Me October Bullet Journal Layout (Cute + spooky haunted house)
Plan With Me September Bullet Journal Layout (Falling leaves)
Plan With Me August Bullet Journal Layout (Floral)
Plan With Me July Bullet Journal Layout (Minimalist black and white)

Have a fun, safe, and productive month!

Pin this post, so you can use it as bullet journal inspiration for later!

November 07, 2020 No comments