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Have you heard of bullet journaling? It's literally all over YouTube filled with users showcasing how they organize their life with colorful tabs and day-to-day notes.

After reading suggested comments, Lucie Fink took your advice and decided to organize her life with the help of bullet journaling. She even got very bold and decided to do the whole thing with pen!

See how Lucie's life has changed with her from her brand-spanking new bullet journal!

#athomewithme

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Try Living With Lucie follows our favorite R29 millennial, Lucie Fink, as she dives headfirst into social experiments — five days at a time. From a week without sugar to full-blown street performing; there is nothing she won't try!

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MONDAY-FRIDAY LETTERING: @craftedbycarly

A HUGE THANKS TO OUR YOUTUBE INSPIRATION:
Monica Guan: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCijQq1e3D8yq4W-rgDfMA7A
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Transcript
00:00I'm Lucy Fink and this week is 5 Days of Bullet Journaling.
00:07Hey guys!
00:08It's Lucy.
00:10What's up?
00:10Time to talk about bullet journaling.
00:14Not those kinds of bullets.
00:15I got so many YouTube comments asking me to do 5 Days of Bullet Journaling.
00:19Honestly, I think this might have been the most requested video to date in the series.
00:24I already did 5 Days of Journaling and I figured bullet journaling was the same thing.
00:28But, it's not.
00:31After watching a few videos on YouTube about bullet journaling, I totally, totally get it.
00:36No need to push any further, the video has arrived.
00:39Ryder Carroll, the creator of the bullet journal, describes it as an analog system for the digital age.
00:45It helps you record the past, organize the present, and plan for the future.
00:49So today I'm just going to dive right into it and every day this week is going to be another
00:53step to helping you build your very own bullet journal.
00:56First, the things you'll need.
00:58A journal of your choice, a ruler, and a pen.
01:02Or, if you're like me and that's a little too simple for you, you might want to invest in 100
01:08rainbow colored markers,
01:10some nice fine point black pens, a very pretty journal, and any fun stickers or stencils to make it a
01:18little bit brighter.
01:19When you open up your journal, the first thing you want to do is create your index.
01:23Since my journal is a little bit larger than normal, I'm going to leave just one page for the index,
01:27but you can leave two for it if your journal is a bit smaller.
01:30The index will let you know what page everything's on so that it's always easy to find things.
01:35The next couple of pages will be our future log or the upcoming year at a glance.
01:39You can make this page as complex or as simple as you want.
01:43I'm using a straight edge to make little calendars for the next six months with lines next to them so
01:48I can fill in upcoming events or goals or intentions for the month.
01:51I'm working with pen, which is not a great idea if you're prone to making mistakes.
01:57So if you do make a mistake like I did, just feel free to cover it up with a sticker.
02:02And when you're done filling in some upcoming items, don't forget to number the pages and then add them to
02:08your index up front.
02:09I have about six notebooks floating around my desk.
02:12I'm constantly jotting notes down everywhere in my phone.
02:16I'm sending myself emails as reminders.
02:18It's a total mess and it's getting a little bit hard to keep up with.
02:21And from what I've been told, a bullet journal is a way to consolidate all of those random things into
02:26one very organized space.
02:28So let's get organized.
02:35Now that we have our index and our future log, we're gonna start breaking down this month further with our
02:40monthly log.
02:41So you can do this in a number of ways.
02:43Most people start by writing the month on the top of both pages.
02:47The left page is going to be your calendar and the right page is gonna be your task list.
02:52A classic bullet journal, in the simplest sense of the word, just lists the numbers of the month along the
02:57left column and then puts the letters of the day right next to those.
03:01But I wanted to make this a little bit more exciting, so I used a ruler and I just built
03:05out an entire April monthly calendar.
03:07This calendar gives you a bird's eye view of the entire month and then you can go in and add
03:12any important dates.
03:14And on our task page, you'll start writing down things you need to accomplish in the month ahead.
03:19To break down the month one step further, we're gonna make a daily log.
03:23You'll need to make a new one of these once a week and basically this page to me seems sort
03:28of like an agenda or a planner.
03:29It's all about rapid logging your tasks, events, and notes for the day.
03:34So now that we've started putting items into our bullet journal, it's a good time to make a key.
03:39This is optional, but I think it's really helpful to remind you what everything means, especially if you're using different
03:45symbols.
03:47Bullets are for tasks that you need to accomplish.
03:50Open circles are events or date related entries.
03:54A dash is for notes or thoughts that you want to jot down.
03:59Once you've completed a task, you strike it with an X.
04:02If you migrate a task to another day or another month, you use the right arrow.
04:08If an event or a task gets cancelled, just strike it out.
04:12And if a task has been scheduled, use the left arrow.
04:15And now that we have our monthly log and our daily log and our key, add any finishing touches
04:20and then don't forget to number the pages and put these in your index up front.
04:26Stay organized.
04:30Many people just want a bullet journal to use it as a planner and to keep their events and their
04:35tasks in order.
04:36And that's fine, but if you're anything like me and you have random lists floating all around
04:40that you want to keep track of separately and individually, you should start something called collections.
04:46A collection is a list of notes or thoughts that are related to a common theme.
04:50So today I'm starting a few different collections.
04:53Books I've read.
04:54Since my boyfriend can't eat gluten, I'm making a collection that's all about gluten-free dishes to try with him.
05:00And restaurants that I want to try in New York City.
05:02And of course, I'm planning on adding new collections as new interests pop up and as I get new ideas.
05:08Some other ideas for collections are a bucket list, a gratitude list, my friend's birthdays,
05:13things my parents say, animals I want to own in the future.
05:17You get the drift.
05:18And the best thing about a bullet journal is that you can keep on customizing it to fit your changing
05:23interests and your personal needs.
05:25I started my daily log for the week and then I added collections after that.
05:29That might stress people out, but don't let it.
05:32The bullet journal should unfold as your life happens, so just let it happen.
05:37Let it unfold.
05:39If you're the type of person who likes having collections, you will likely love trackers.
05:45This is a way to track your habits and to make sure you're doing the things that you want to
05:49do.
05:49And it can also be a way to track negative habits to make sure that you're stopping.
05:53I wanted to simplify it, but I also wanted to make it a little bit more visual.
05:56So I got a compass and I drew circles.
05:59I broke it out into the days of the month and then I wrote in the three habits that I
06:03want to track this month.
06:05Drinking eight glasses of water a day, going to the gym, and reading my book before bed.
06:11One more thing about pages and the order of the bullet journal.
06:14I put my habit tracker just on the next available page, but a lot of people like to put the
06:19habit tracker
06:19right next to their monthly log so that they can look at the whole month and see the days, their
06:24events, and the habits.
06:26So if you want to do it that way, just make sure you leave a blank space after your monthly
06:29log before you dive into the daily log.
06:31Another fun thing you can do here is make a goal page for a specific goal that you want to
06:36achieve.
06:36One of my 2017 resolutions was to drink more green smoothies, so I'm making a 50 by summer green smoothie
06:44tracker.
06:44To make this template, I used stickers and now every time I have a green smoothie, I'll just check off
06:49the box.
06:49I think this is a really fun and visual way to see how close you are to achieving a goal.
06:54And of course, at the end, you know what I'm going to say.
06:57Don't forget to number the pages and add them to your index.
07:01Your bullet journal is really coming along now. Great job. I'm so proud of you. Stay tuned.
07:05Yay!
07:11Something that's becoming abundantly clear to me is that there are a million and one ways to organize almost every
07:17page of your bullet journal.
07:19To give you some examples and inspiration, here are some of my favorites that I found on YouTube.
07:23Your bullet journal can be out of control with writing everywhere.
07:26You can keep it very minimalistic and simple.
07:29Also, not everyone is crafty and that's okay.
07:33There are tons of companies that sell journals that are basically like bullet journals.
07:37For example, this 2017 planner from XO Planners is not marketed as a bullet journal, but when you open it
07:44up, it has some of the same elements.
07:45Firstly, here's your future log.
07:47There are pages for goal setting, things you want to learn and explore, a bucket list.
07:53Then, at the start of each month, there's a monthly log with a section to write down notes and tasks.
07:58And each daily log gets its own page and it has so many different elements to it.
08:02There's a schedule, to-dos, what you're grateful for, your inspiration, brilliant ideas, and more.
08:08I'm hoping this video inspires you to start your very own bullet journal with some beautiful templates.
08:13But don't be discouraged if you need to simplify things from week to week.
08:17I think that's the point of a bullet journal.
08:19It's supposed to help you out, not stress you out.
08:21So, if you're finding that you're really stressed but you want to keep the bullet journal, pare it down.
08:26Even if it's the most simple and minimalistic bullet journal in the world, if it works, it works.
08:31You're supposed to learn from yourself as the months and the weeks go on and change up templates if they're
08:36not working.
08:36I hope you liked my bullet journal and I hope you stay tuned because I will likely make a future
08:41vlog video showing you how I'm keeping up with it.
08:44Keep commenting and sharing your suggestions of what you want to see me try next time.
08:48I promise, on my honor, not to ignore your comments anymore.
08:52Even if I think it's something that's similar to what I've already done, I will do my research and figure
08:57it out.
08:58And I really, really want to thank all of my fans who suggested I try bullet journaling because I think
09:03you've changed my life.
09:05Thank you. See you next time.
09:07Hey guys, click here to subscribe to Refinery29 on YouTube, here to watch another video on our channel, and right
09:14here to follow me on Instagram.
09:16Let's be best friends! Yeah!
09:19See you next time, Erika!
09:19Bye!簽
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