Do I Miss Bullet Journaling?

Hello and welcome! For those of you who don’t watch my YouTube channel, or if you’re new, you may not know that some of my first YouTube videos were about bullet journaling. That’s how I started getting into Plan With Me videos on my channel. I was into bullet journaling at the time because I wanted a creative outlet, and I still enjoyed planning. To be honest, I have to say Amanda RachLee was a big inspiration on why I was bullet journaling at the time. I always loved watching her videos so much, and as soon as she came out with a new monthly spread, it gave me the motivation to do mine too.

WHY DID I STOP?

Well, there are actually a few reasons. When I started, I only had my son, who was four at the time - he was my one and only. Looking back, it felt like I had all the time in the world to do whatever I wanted with all my free time. Then came child number two - my daughter. I took a break, as all new mothers should. I think I took two or three weeks off from filming and editing to relax and enjoy the new member of our household. I found a way to schedule my time around my (mostly) sleeping daughter.

One of the biggest transitions at the time was moving her from our room into her own nursery. (My old office). I had to give up my quiet space for her and I moved my desk into our main living area on our main floor. Since there is a lot more traffic in our living room, I found it hard to adjust with the t.v. and all the extra noise, but, adjust we all did.

As my business picked up (I added another YouTube channel, a blog and a sticker shop), I found that I had no time for elaborate artistic spreads. (And that was one of the things I enjoyed the most about bullet journaling - that I could bring my talent into the mix). I also ran into the issue of needing more and more spreads to track all things business related (I’m not a digital planner person, despite how much I want to be and how long I tried - Asana and Trello, I’m talking to you!) I was finding that I could easily go through one bullet journal in three or four months and it was so time consuming. Sometimes, one monthly setup would take me four hours long!

I ended up using an Erin Condren along with my bullet journal. (Here, I was inspired by Cindy Guentert-Baldo, along with Amanda RachLee). I loved how Cindy used both together, so I tried doing the same thing for awhile.

I can’t remember exactly when, but I started watching Marcia (from Buy Sell Plan), and the rest is history. My first Franklin Planner binder was the Blush Pink Teresa Collins Beautiful Life Binder, and I loved it so much. I was so inspired by MJPlanner. (She had a beautiful flip of her pink binder setup that I just wanted for myself)!

Child number three was another reason why I stopped bullet journaling, but yet another reason is I now have companies that I work with - called affiliate companies. I use products from certain companies (i.e. Franklin Planner!), and I showcase them on my channel, and if people buy them from the company using my link, I make affiliate income. This is one of the ways that I’ve expanded my business.

Throughout the years, I have thought about bringing bullet journaling back into my life. At one point, I was considering using a bullet journal for my work planner, and keeping my Franklin Planner for my catch-all planner. I had a last minute change of heart on that, and moved into a junior half-letter planner instead. (That was inspired by Janes Agenda, since I am subscribed to their monthly subscription box, and I receive half-letter sized planner inserts and dashboards).

This is not to say that I won’t change things up in the future. I love the idea of bullet journaling, because it means creating your own planner, and you can create whatever you need in that moment. I don’t know about you, but there’s no way I could work in only one planner forever. I need to have that change so I don’t get bored. (However, some people would say they need consistency so they stay motivated).

Do you have a bullet journal or a planner? Which one are you most interested in? Do you use it consistently?

Thank you so much for reading!

See you next week!

Sandra ❤️