As I stated in my last post regarding my February low buy update, I bought a Traveler’s Notebook Japan to use as my new main Bullet Journal and Notebook system. There are two main reasons.
For one, it’s a question of size and format. While I love my Dingbats Bullet Journal regarding paper quality, design, and handling, I find the width of 16 cm a bit too much — though this is a standard format for notebooks and suits most users just fine. I like notebooks that are a bit smaller, but since the Dingbats checked all the other boxes, I didn’t bother to look any further — until I found the Traveler’s Notebook on Instagram. The second reason I wanted to switch notebook systems is how I use my bullet journal. I will go into detail further below.
After fuzzing about it for several days and discussing the issue with Wonderguy, I gave in. Because of my low buy challenge, I didn’t want to act like spending €65 on a notebook and inserts is totally fine. But in the end, I decided it was worth it and purchased a regular-sized Traveler’s Notebook in black as well as three additional inserts in a local store.
A new way to bullet journal
I use three notebook inserts in my TN and the zipper pocket for everyday stuff like post-its, rubber bands, and other things I might find useful. Of those three notebooks, I use one as a bullet journal, one for everything related to PhD and academic work, and one for anything blogging and (creative) writing and reading. This separation of noteworthy fields makes it easier to keep an overview of the different parts of my life I need to focus on. If I fill up one of my notebook inserts faster than the others, I will only have to replace this single part of my planner and not the notebook as a whole. The other inserts can stay where they are until I use those up too.
By thematically sorting my inserts, it will be easier to navigate through my notes once the books are full and filed. It will also make my life easier because I don’t need to transcribe countless lists and collections from one notebook to the other. Since I use my bullet journal insert mainly as a planner and for short-time lists, I still have my Dingbats notebook for curated collections like my reading list, book shopping list, diary writing, and the like. I don’t have to care anymore to not waste pages in my bujo insert so that I won’t have to transcribe all my lists and collections. I can use my bujo insert any way I want and if I have to replace it in a few weeks, no harm done, I just start a new ‘planner.’ My longtime lists and collections are not affected by how fast I fill my bujo insert and how often I switch inserts.
Back to the roots…?
When I started bullet journaling, one of my main incentives was to bring everything together in one notebook. Monthly, weekly, and daily planner, notebook, and diary — all in my bullet journal. Mostly, this worked best for me. But because using my bujo as a diary too, my notebooks filled up faster than I expected and this affected how I kept lists and collections. More often than not, I was too lazy to transcribe entire lists to new journals, so I just kept them in my old notebooks. As you may remember, with my ADHD-riddled brain, out of sight is out of mind. So most of the lists in my old journals are simply forgotten, no matter how useful they are.
Another issue Wonderguy frequently mentioned is the fact that my bujo is also my diary, so I should definitely NOT forget it anywhere lest I want strangers (or worse: friends or colleagues) to read about my innermost thoughts and struggles. Back when I was working at home, this was no concern of mine, but once I started working at an office 5 days a week, I realized what Wonderguy meant. While it doesn’t feel great knowing someone else could go through your bullet journal because you forgot it somewhere, the feeling gets significantly worse when your bujo is also your diary. Having everything in one book has advantages, but there are also some downsides. And right now I’m about to find out which mix is perfect for me.
Regarding my diary and handling my lists, the split works well. Knowing that I won’t have to transcribe my lists any time soon, I work on them with more enthusiasm. When journaling, I feel safer now knowing that this notebook won’t leave my home and there’s no need to stress about forgetting it somewhere. And because it’s still my bujo and not ‘just’ my diary, writing about my day doesn’t feel too much like a dreary ‘dear diary’ moment. For now, I’m fine using separate notebooks for separate matters.
The planner setup
By splitting my bullet journaling habits up again, it’s back to square one in some instances. Regarding the layout of my monthly, weekly, and daily spreads, I’m back to figuring out what works best for me. Right now I’m using a layout I’ve used before, but I’m not sure if I like it in this smaller setting. I might switch back to the style Ryder Carroll recommends and uses. Yet I need a weekly layout to note appointments and dates, which is the reason I started mainly working with weekly spreads.
Again, YouTube came to my rescue. Watching videos by Cissy’s Art Cafe and Sarica Studio, I found some inspiration on how to make my new notebook system work best for me. I will try this out in April. Maybe I just need to minimize the weekend segment of my weekly spread. I don’t use my planner on the weekends apart from jotting something down for the upcoming week, so I don’t need “Sat/Sun” in my weekly spread. Sitting down every weekend and doing a weekly spread like the creators in their videos do/suggest will give me a chance to get a better overview of the week ahead. I will see what works better for me.
Overall, I like the look, feel, and handling of my Traveler’s Notebook. I even started a bit of scrapbooking and being more creative in my spreads. After all, I can use a different design and layout in my next notebook insert — which will probably come rather sooner than later, especially compared to my other bullet journals. But that’s one reason I chose to use a TN, isn’t it?
P.S.: It took me more than a week to write this post because I’ve been sick (not Covid-19, just a regular cold). I did my best, but if I sound incoherent or slightly off — I’m sorry!