{a decade of Bullet Journals} My 2023 set up

Well, after all the talk, the time has come. I finally decided what pages I want in the front of my bullet journal (still hard after 10 years of setting one up!) and created my first pages for my 2023 bullet journal. What’s funny is after all that stress of what I should do, I was looking through old bullet journals and saw one year I had post it notes on pages that I was going to set up for that year, but never did! So evidently it’s not that crucial after all!

My Bullet Journal is a basic Leuchtturm 1917 Medium A5 Dotted Hardcover Notebook in Pacific Green this year. This one has worked really well for me for the last 8 years or so, but it does have pages that shadow if you are using a felt or gel pen. That doesn’t really bother me though.

In the very front I started with drawing the calendars for the year. I did one for all 12 months of 2023.

I might put tabs on the top for each month, but I’m not sure yet.

Next is my future log for 2024 (Which I just realized when looking at these pics, is actually for 2023, so I’ll have to reprint it and just glue it over the top of these.) But here’s a free printable mini 2024 one.

Annnddddd… here are my goals for 2023! I have a lot that I want to do that will require way less online time and way more reading time, which sounds great, but will require discipline (and rebuilding my reading stamina) and time NOT on my phone or the computer.

I’ll be continuing my education with The Well Educated Mind, (I’m pushing to finish the massive Don Quixote this month) and will move on to a history selection, Herotodus, and a biography selection -John Bunyan’s Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. (I’m picking and choosing which ones I’ll read, because some of them sound less than enjoyable. I’ll count the summary reading as good enough for those.)

I’ll also be reading through A Puritan Theology because I’ve had it for ages, and really have to get around to reading what I have. I found this free reading guide to get through it in a year from Chapel Library. I hope to take notes to add to my Reading Notebook too. I’m trying to be adult enough to stick with it because finishing these books would be a pretty good education this year! One other goal that will require way less screen time, but be so much more fun is a weekly art challenge I’m going join put together by my friend Cori over at the First Love Club.

The next pages are for a weekly gratitude journal. It’s small and just one line per week so not overwhelming. Plus it will be a good habit for me to reflect on what I’m thankful for each week.

Then I have a notes page, and then jump right into January. I don’t have any art or anything on these pages yet, but I’ll probably add doodles or things as I start using them.

For my January memories page, I just penciled in a calendar and I’ll add to it with a simple doodle or a few words each day. I didn’t ink in the lines because sometimes I like to have the things in the squares expand over a few lines, so I’ll ink in the lines at the end of the month.

And the last two pages for the set up for January are a simple meals list (with my new winter menu skelet at the bottom). And a page to add some projects and tasks for January. After these pages, I’ll set up my weekly pages!

That’s it for now. How are you doing on your bullet journal set up? I’d love to hear what pages you are including in yours!