New Year, New Bullet Journal Setup 2021

Here’s a sneak peek of how I’m setting up my unconventional* bullet journal starting with the new year. I’ll give you a hint: this bullet journal setup is almost a throwback to when I decided to use a collections notebook plus a planning notebook. That was back when I loved the Leuchtturm notebooks – so it’s been a while.

Even though I’ve moved on from off-white, thin, ghosting pages synonymous with the Leuchtturm notebooks to sheets with bright white and thicker pages, I still haven’t moved on from trying new things in my planner.

Related Posts:

• Check out my Product Review category here
• Find out the difference between notebook ghosting & bleeding
• Plan With Me Archives
• Begin Your Bullet Journal – Don’t Be Afraid to Start
• End of Year Journal Questions 2020 – A Year in Review
• Word of the Year Ideas

Starting a New Year in a New Notebook

Starting a new year is always exciting. New planners and accessories line the shelves of stores. Pens and highlighters call out your name. It’s ok to admit that you like them. A new year sends all the good vibes of ambition and the flick of a pen inking in new goals.

I love starting a new year with a new bullet journal setup and I’m excited to tell you all about what my plans are for this year.

The Quest for Planner Peace

Many people search for ‘planner peace’ trying to find the perfect layout to use forever and henceforth. I discovered that my version of “planner peace” means I can change everything and try something new.

The fact that I can switch from a page covered in watercolor to a page so minimal I could post using the hashtag #minimalistbulletjournal (and feel like I belong) is a testament to the variety I love in the bullet journal.

Though I love my Tumbitri Meri notebook, I decided to start the new year with a new bullet journal set up. I will likely buy another Tumbitri Meri notebook in the future – they have a lovely number of pages. And they stand up pretty well to the amount of watercolor, markers, and doodles I love to include in my bullet journal. If you’d like to read the review or watch the review video, check out this post.

Tumbitri Meri Product Links:

• A5 Dot Grid Notebooks (Red)
• A5 Dot Grid Notebooks (Blue)
• Tumbitri Meri Notebook Category on Amazon

Collections in a Separate Notebook

This year, I decided to keep all of my collections in a single notebook. That way, I could keep a yearly tracker for various items and not have to recreate it when I inevitably run out of space. If I’m keeping a collection notebook, why not try something entirely different for the pages serving as my second brain (aka planner)?

Don’t worry, I’ll explain what I did for my planning part of the notebook below.

What Do I Keep in My Collections Notebook?

Suppose you’ve never kept a collection notebook, oh my. You’re in for a treat. A collection is a page, spread, or multiple pages dedicated to a topic. If you plan a vacation, you might have a vacation planning spread filled with things to do, places to see, packing lists, etc.

So far in this new year’s bullet journal collection setup I have:

• A page for inspiring quotes
• More collection ideas
• Goals & Goal Trackers
• Unfinished projects
• Home repairs
• New Home Wish List (because we want to move to a new house soon).
• Yearly Trackers (Like the 365-Day Project tracker)
• Blog Post Ideas & other inspiration and brain-dump like pages for my blog.
• Pen Test Pages & Other Reference Pages (such as flower reference books or Tombow Marker color reference chart)
• Meal Planning
• Local Deals & Events

What About the All-Essential Planning Notebook?

For the planner part of my notebook, I created 12 books – one for each month of the year. Yes, you read that right, TWELVE different notebooks. You also read it right. I created them. I decided to piece together a book using watercolor paper.

How To Keep Track of Future Events? Why a Future Log is Essential

Separating each month into a different notebook introduced a new problem – how do I handle upcoming events for the year? Where do I keep a record of future month’s appointments. As it turns out, all I needed was a future log set up at the front of my collection notebook.

I keep the yearly log to record future events and calendar items. I then record all events in the respective month (after I’ve finished creating all the pages, of course). When it’ time to move on to the next month, I refer to the yearly log and more on. This new year’s bullet journal set up is no different than years past because I would create one month at a time.

This is why I include a future log no matter what type of bullet journal set up I have.

Techniques & Resources for Creating Individual Notebooks

If you’re curious about the techniques I used, I found a Skillshare video on creating notebooks. If you sign up for the free trial at Skillshare, you can watch it for free. And then, I watched this lovely video on YouTube to learn additional sewing/binding techniques.

Using this bookbinding supply starter kit, I quickly got the hang of making the books, and I’m so happy to say that they are all sitting on my shelf waiting for each month. After creating several books, each one took me about 30 minutes from start to finish.

Why Separate Notebooks for Each Month?

I figure each book will be a study on different techniques and themes. Of course, in watercolor. And I’m looking forward to it.

Additionally, I’ve even left pages at the end of the book for additional doodles and creative perusing. I find that when I lay down a blank sheet of watercolor paper with the intent to create a masterpiece, I freeze. But give me a bullet journal (in whatever form), and that all changes for some reason. I figure that if I mess up, I can just turn the page.

I hope that when you’re setting up a new bullet journal for the new year (or whenever you start a new notebook), you give yourself the grace to turn the page. Life isn’t about being perfect. It’s about learning and doing.

When writing this post, it’s not even January yet, and I have half the year sketched out just waiting for the paint. I have to say that I’m looking forward to every one of them. The kicker is that I’ve created them out of order based on what inspires me. (Shhhhhh! Don’t tell the planner police.)

P.S. If you’re looking for tips on how to start your bullet journal for the new year (or middle of the year) check out these posts:

BuJo Themes for the Year (So Far)

Here are the themes I started for the year (so far). I have to tell you, and I didn’t think that I would like to skip around to different months. But I like the flexibility.

• January – Snowglobe Traveling
• February – Florals Around Boxes
• March – Birds & Feathers
• April – Tasty Sweets and Treats
• May – Loose Watercolor Roses (incredibly the first time I’ve ever done these, and now I’m hooked)
• Here’s the Skillshare video I watched that made it look so accessible
• June – Garden/Forest + Gnomes
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November
• December

Summary – New Year, New Bullet Journal Set Up

I’m so excited to try out this new method for my bullet journal set up this year and look forward to painting, doodling, and filling up each page. Maybe this year, I won’t have my inspiration leave for months at a time. Like it did in 2020.

Who knows if I’ll do the same thing for next year? I don’t. Right now, I’m thrilled with my new year’s bullet journal set up, unconventional* as it may be. But unconventional never held me back anyway.

Planner Question:

Do you do anything unconventional* in your bullet journal?

* The term and therefore judgment of an ‘unconventional bullet journal’ is for fuddy-duddies who don’t like to experiment and be a unique person. I use the term simply to convey an uncommonly used technique