Bullet journaling is a brilliantly creative way to help you organise your time. You can have bullet journal pages for work, personal activities, appointments and even checklists for life goals. It’s become increasingly popular over the past few years, and for good reason. You can make the journal completely personal to you and the way you work. 

Not sure how to bullet journal? We’ve got you. Starting your first bullet journal can be overwhelming, there are so many ideas out there. The best ideas have been picked out by us, so they’re in one easy place for you to decide which suits you. Let’s get started!

You don’t need to buy all the world’s stationery to get started with your bullet journal. The essentials will do just fine. Here’s what you need to get started with your bullet journaling:

- A bullet journal 
- Pen
- Pencil
- Colouring pencils
- Highlighters

Once you’ve got the essentials you’re ready to get started! If you want to add even more personality to your bullet journal, you can use these extras:

- Marker pens
- Washi tape
- Watercolours

They’ll help add a bold splash of colour to your bullet journal and emphasise important dates you need to remember.

Starting a bullet journal is simple when you know what you’re doing, but can appear complicated to beginners. Luckily, we have an easy to follow bullet journal method to help you out. First things first, remember that there is no right or wrong way to create a bullet journal! It’s something you’re creating to work for you, in whatever way that may be.

When starting your first bullet journal, keep it simple. A simple layout is easy to read and create. You don't want to be overwhelmed and give up on your bullet journal journey. There are some bullet journal basics that we would recommend to help get you started:

1. Create a contents page. This will help you decide where you want things to go in your journal and make it much easier to navigate.

2. Create a key to keep things neat, e.g. a symbol for a task that’s in progress and another symbol to signify that a task has been completed. These symbols can be whatever you want, just make them easy to remember.

3. Create weekly or monthly calendar spreads. This is a great way to keep track of important dates!

4. Add health trackers. Keeping an eye on your health is really important. If you set up a weekly tracker to monitor your sleep, diet and exercise, it’ll help you stay healthy.

5. Create pages for your yearly, or even life, goals. Note what you want to achieve and actionable steps you can take. Having your goals written down will keep you motivated.

Our suggestions are here to help you get started. The more you journal, the more ideas will come. You’ll figure out what you need to include and what doesn’t quite work for your lifestyle. 

In order to get the most out of your bullet journal, you need to make using it a habit. For many people, journaling daily works best. To make it a habit, write in your journal at the same time every day. Make it a morning or evening ritual, and do it alongside something else such as having a cup of tea. This is the best way to get into the habit of bullet journaling as a beginner.

Having a fun theme for your bullet journal will help keep you motivated to use it. For beginners to bullet journaling, we’d recommend sticking to one bullet journal theme throughout to make things easier. If you’re feeling confident though, you could have 4 seasonal themes in your bullet journal.

For those of you who are just dipping your toes in, we have 5 easy bullet journal ideas for beginners right here:

1. Floral - Draw your favourite flowers throughout the journal. Some pages could have lots of little flowers and others could have full page drawings.

2. Food - If you’re a bit of a foodie, why not decorate your journal with it? Not literally of course, but you can scatter drawings of your favourite snacks on the pages.

3. Craft - decorate with lots of washi-tape, tissue paper and coloured card. They’re easy to use and will instantly make your journal pages look brighter.

4. Lines - Having everything linear will make everything look neat and tidy, just make sure you have a ruler handy! 

5. Monochrome - Sticking to one colour throughout is great for consistency and makes things easy for you.

Now you’ve been inspired, it’s time to get a journal. You can shop all the best bullet journals for beginners at Ryman. Happy journaling!