Even though I love that I can use my bullet journal for pretty much anything, there are some things that I prefer to keep in separate notebooks. It can be because of privacy (I don’t want anyone to read my gratitude journal above my shoulder at the library), or because I know I need a bullet journal sidekick to avoid migration issues.
My bullet journal sidekicks are all pretty new, except for my gratitude journal, that I’m struggling to keep since the very beginning of 2018.
I’m currently using 4 notebooks in addition to my bullet journal.
I actually didn’t realize I was keeping so many sidekicks before I wrote the previous sentence! It may seem a lot (I do think it’s a lot), but I see each of my bullet journal sidekick as an experiment. I know some of them will be part of my system for a long time, and some of them will probably disappear at some point.
Travel journal
This travel journal is brand new and I’m so eager to fill it! Last week, I booked my flights for a 2 weeks trip in Ecuador in June. I’m meeting a friend there, and intend to discover this country that I don’t know nothing about.
I have to say that I’m super excited about this vacations to come! It’s been a while since I didn’t make a trip that long and that far, so I’m pretty sure I’ll have a lot to plan.
Just like the travel journal I dedicated to my trip in Edinburgh in September, this notebook is meant to hold everything I need to get ready. This includes my list of places to see, the list of things I need to buy (I’ll probably have to invest in a suitsuit and shorts, as I don’t have them in my closet yet), my itinerary info and so on.
Once I’ll be there, I’ll use the very same notebook to log memories, feelings and every single detail I’d like to remember. In my opinion, travel journals are the best souvenir you can bring back when travelling, and I love to read my old journals from time to time.
As I’ll be away for 2 weeks, I’ll probably take more than one blank notebook with me: last September, I filled an entire Pocket Moleskine in only 4 days… I’d hate to run out of paper in the middle of my trip!
I can’t wait to fill the pages of this new travel journal with ideas, fun facts and memories!
Food Log
I recently started to use a food log again. I used to have one in my bullet journal at the beginning of 2017, and then dropped it as I didn’t needed it anymore.
Since a lot changed in my life (living alone, working from home…), my diet has been quite unbalanced for the past few months. I’m now trying to regain the habit of filling my food log, hosted in is a super small and cute notepad.
My goal isn’t to lose weight, but I want to have a healthier diet. This means that I want to become more aware of what I eat on a daily basis, and try to reduce my sugar intake. I have to admit that I’m addicted to sugar, and have a hard time spending a day without eating anything sweet. I also want to be able to make connections between what I eat and how I feel.
I log my meals and snacks with as many details as possible, and rate the way I feel physically (0 being feeling gross/having troubles to digest and 5 being feeling super good!)
So I count on my food log to encourage me to take action, eat more vegetables and fruits instead of bread and waffles! I hope that I won’t need it for too long, and will probably drop it as soon as I will have my diet under control again.
Gratitude log
As far as I love to keep a gratitude journal, I’m still struggling with this one. Part of me wants to keep a separate gratitude journal for privacy matters, and part of me wants to keep my gratitude journal in my bullet journal. I used to log memories and highlights of my days in my daily logs and it worked just fine.
Now that I’m using my bullet journal for both work and personal planning, I’m still struggling to decide.
In the meantime, I’m using this gorgeous Soumkine Weekly planner as my gratitude journal. I have to say that I’m not very consistent at writing in it. I mostly use it when I feel a bit down and need to write some positive thoughts.
Reading journal
I had this gorgeous notebook from the Quo Vadis x Papier Tigre collection on my desk since September. I hesitated for a long time about what I should do with it. I first thought it could become my 2018 journal, but my B6 handmade notebook finally won the battle!
I wanted to put something special in this notebook, something that I would keep for years. So I turned it into my reading journal.
All the collections I keep about books used to be in my bullet journal until I got tired of migrating them over and over. And until I found an old reading journal of mine when I was back at my parents for the holidays in December (I was 10 years old when I started this old journal, and was already a stationery lover and bookworm!).
This discovery has brought back a lot of memories of the books I read back then, and raised the desire to keep a separate journal dedicated to the books I’m currently reading. A notebook I could flip through in a couple of year from now.
So my reading journal currently hosts my books to read lists, summaries of the books I read in 2018 and reading notes. I’m not getting into details, as I think I’ll soon dedicate an entire post for this journal (it deserves it!).
My favourite notebook, among all my bullet journal sidekicks, is definitely my reading journal at the moment. I write in it almost everyday. And the one that will get out of the picture first is probably my gratitude journal. I seriously need to figure out a way to keep it in my bullet journal to stay consistent about it!
I think I’m very close to planner peace at the moment, but there are still some areas of the journaling habit I trying to build that need to be refined!
Supplies used
– “le City” notebook Quo Vadis x Papier Tigre, A6 size, 140 dots pages
– One task per day weekly planner, Soumkine
– Moleskine Pocket notebook, squared
– Muji ruler
– Erasable gel pen, Muji