Every year I like to purchase a new journal and have a fresh start each January with my new journal. This is always a love/hate process for me. I love being creative and starting anew, but I hate how time consuming it is and the anxiety I feel trying to decide how I’m going to set up everything. Filling all the empty pages seems like such a daunting task.
I also have this rule that I can’t start the new journal until I basically finish the last one. Finishing the last one means that I have finished all the spreads that I want to create, not necessarily finish filling them in. It just gives me that sense of closure I guess.
Planning the 2020 Layout
The first thing I like to do when setting up a new journal is planning it out. I do this a couple of ways. First, I create a spread in my previous journal for pages I want to include in my new journal. I call this the New Bujo Checklist.
The second thing I do to plan the new journal is to use sticky notes and mark the pages in the new journal with what they are going to be. This way I have a guide as I am making the pages and I can move things easily if needed.
The last part of the planning process is looking for inspiration. I find so many ideas on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook. I definitely recommended joining Facebook groups to get inspiration for your pages. It is truly amazing how different people use their bullet journals.
Must Haves
There are certain spreads I must have in each of my bullet journals. These are essential and I usually enjoy creating them and using them, otherwise there would be no reason to include them, right?
- Key
- Index
- Title Page/Year cover page
- Word of the Year
- Future Log
- Books Read
- Movies Watched
You can check out each of these spreads in the YouTube Video below where I give you a tour of my 2020 Journal Set Up.
Extras
I added a couple of extra spreads into my 2020 set up that I thought would be useful. This year we will be visiting Disney for the first time with our 3 year old. I am super excited and thought it would be fun to add a countdown of sorts. I got inspiration from Instagram and then tweeked it to my liking. Right now the spread is a little bland, but as the months go by I will color it all in.
