2022 Bullet Journal

I spent most of today outlining several yearly spreads for my new bullet journal. Yes, I am once again giving this type of planner/journal a shot. I previously started one in 2019, but I gave it up after a while. This year, things are going to be different — I hope.

In my previous life of three years ago, I did not have a desk. That hindered my ability to write with a pen comfortably and do other things I have been missing out on like drawing. However, I have been reacquainting myself with working from a desk in the past year, so we’ll see how this goes.

I love watching videos of the beautiful artwork that many people put in theirs, but I knew that would be too much for me. Sure, I want it to look good, but I am also not trying to make a career out of bullet journaling. I just need something that I will actually use.

These first 12 spreads (24 pages) shown below are yearly trackers, lists, and such. I have at least one more that I want to do before diving into the actual planner part of it all. I intend to just do a monthly schedule because I don’t have enough items to really do a daily or weekly schedule.

Without further ado, here is what I put together today:

About Me and Letters to Myself

Two-page bullet journal spread. On the left is an “about me” section.  On the right is a ‘letters to myself’ section.

Of course, as soon as I told you I wanted to keep it simple, I start off sort of big. I plan for this to be one of the heavier, artsy-type spreads since it is the intro to the journal. The “About Me” page is just blank at the moment, but I will piece it together.

One thing I really wanted to do was leave a section for letters and notes to myself in the future. This leans into the journaling aspect of this whole thing. I had a lot of fun putting it together.

To create this, I glued down an envelope and have slid a notecard inside to grab whenever I need. The faux stamps are from a collection I bought to stick “mail” into my three-year-old niece’s custom-made mailbox. She has this weird obsession with getting mail, and I have 400 of these stamps.

Goals and Ideas

Two-page bullet journal spread. On the left is a “bucket list” section.  On the right is a ‘braindump’ section.

This is just a simple, two-page spread of lists for the year. The first is just your run-of-the-mill bucket list. I split it between lifetime and yearly goal sections.

The second is something I came across elsewhere. It is a braindump page for listing out ideas all at once. I’m eager to give it a go and maybe create similar pages down the road.

Dreams and Highlights

Two-page bullet journal spread. On the left is an “if I didn’t need money” section.  On the right is a “highlights” section.

The next section is an “if I didn’t need money” page. This is sort of like a goals page but a little different. I plan to add things that I would consider doing if I didn’t have to work and money was a non-issue.

On the second page, there is just an empty list for keeping track of 2022 highlights. I hope I can at least fill out all 25 slots.

Cleaning

Two-page bullet journal spread for cleaning tasks - daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, bi-annually, and annually.

I do a halfway decent job of keeping my house clean as a single man. But, I also sometimes let things slide and have to catch up with a big cleaning day. I would like to avoid that and stay regular.

So, this spread is just a way to keep track of everything I need to be doing daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, bi-annually, and annually. Let’s see if it sticks.

Christmas

Two-page bullet journal spread focused on Christmas notes and gift ideas.

Wait. Christmas already? Yep. I went ahead and created a two-page spread so that I will stay ahead of the holidays later this year.

On the left, you might notice another envelope pocket. This will likely be a recurring theme to avoid spending too much time creating things like “Dutch doors” in my journal. In this one, I cut a blank Christmas card in half and will use it to list gift ideas throughout the year. This way, it stays hidden if someone else gets a look at the page.

I plan to use the section on the right for notes and other things I might want to do around Christmas. Maybe ideas for this year’s party.

Books

Two-page bullet journal spread. On the left is a “books read” section.  On the right is a “want to read” section and “book bingo” card.

I use Goodreads to track my reading habits, but I thought it would be fun to keep a hard copy of what I’ve read over the years too. That’s the page on the left.

The page on the right is split into two sections. At the top is a place to note books that I want to read. The bottom is a “book bingo” card. I haven’t filled in all the squares yet, but I have a ton of recommendations from friends on Facebook (the post is public, so feel free to steal from it).

Manga and Graphic Novels

Two-page bullet journal spread. On the left is a “manga” section.  On the right is a “graphic novels” section.

Similar to books, I am keeping track of the manga and graphic novels that I read. This is also a bit of a “collection” spread. I read most books on my Kindle, but I collect physical copies of my manga, comic books, and graphic novels.

Movies and TV

Two-page bullet journal spread. On the left is a “movies” section.  On the right is a “TV series” section.

The movies and TV pages are pretty much the same as the previous spreads. I am an avid collector of physical media, so it should be fun looking over everything I purchased throughout the year.

It might also be interesting to see if I need to cut back to save money when I look over this in 12 months.

Shopping List

Two-page bullet journal spread that breaks down groceries by category.

This is actually the start of a giant, four-page spread. My biggest. For the first two pages, I broke my grocery list down into six categories. This will include lists of food items that I typically buy or need to keep in stock.

Now, I just need to actually fill in all the sections.

Household Shopping and Recipes

Two-page bullet journal spread. On the left and half of the right are household and personal shopping categories. On the bottom right is a “recipes” index card holder.

This spread is a continuation of the previous, but I have broken it down into a few household (and cat!) categories on the left page. I left a small section for art and personal shopping at the top of the right.

At the bottom of the right page, I went with another envelope pocket for recipes. I wanted this close by my shopping list so that I would have it on hand when trying something new just in case there’s an oddball ingredient or two.

Pushups and Peanuts

Two-page bullet journal spread. On the left is a “pushups” tracker. On the right is a “peanuts” tracker.

It is easy to get carried away with daily trackers. Really, there is no end to all the data one could track if they really wanted to go crazy with it. So, I narrowed mine down to two for the year: pushups and peanuts.

The pushups page is just a quick way to jot down my total pushups whenever I do them — fitness, yay! As for peanuts, that is a codeword. This is a personal goal, so don’t even ask. I used a codeword for a reason. I did want to share the layout, though. I had fun with the smiley-themed key.

Garden and Food Forest

Two-page bullet journal spread. On the left is a “garden” section.  On the right is a “food forest” section.

And, last but most definitely not least, is the gardening section. I always intend to keep track of each gardening season, but do I ever do it? Do I?

This year will be different. I will only do a small veggie garden, so it shouldn’t be that hard to jot down the important bits. I left enough room for notes in the layout too.

The right page is, perhaps, the most important in the long term. It is my food forest page. I mapped out the fruit trees already planted (some by me in 2021) in my backyard. I already have some money set aside for new plants this year and look forward to filling them into the map. Next year, I want this to be a full two-page spread on its own.