BUJO KICKSTART: Content Ideas

Happy New Year, everyone! Hope you had a sweet final days of 2024 and starting off 2025 feeling refreshed and motivated. I know I am!

I’m starting off with ADRIANNE’S SPACE with my new blog feature: BU-Journaling. Just to give you the idea of the feature title, I will share my brand-new journey in starting and maintaining a bullet journal (bujo). There are plenty of bujo-niche blogs and sites out there if you’re interested in learning more about the bujo. I started off this personal idea by stumbling upon a number of bujo blogs and I decided to start one.

Here are some of the sites I came across and bookmarked them. I highly recommend checking them out if you’re interested in bujos, but at the same time, you should also journey around the internet and visit hidden bujo sites, too:

• Bullet Journal
• The Lazy Genius Collective: How to Bullet Journal
• BuJoing

What can I write in a bujo?

The first step in building a bujo, or any diary or journal for that matter, is to determine the type of content you plan to write in them. The most popular type of content for bujos, from what I’ve seen so far, are To Do Lists and Things Completed/Done for the Day.

Bujos are meant for listing formats, not the traditional diary/journal where you write (and ramble) everything as if you’re writing a bad first draft of your next great novel. Bujos act as trackers for any subject, whether if they are To Do Lists, appointment lists, schedules, favorite quotes, workout tracking, etc. Bujos are a little similar to planners, where there are pre-printed dates and blank lines under them. The only difference is that bujo pages are completely blank and the writer can go crazy with the formatting, from drawing and doodling, drawing charts and graphs, adding splahes of color here and there, testing your lettering and calligraphy skills, etc.

Lastly, bujos can be both public or private, depending on the type of content you plan to write on.

I’ve mentioned what I’ve planned to write in my previous entry. Please do check that out if you haven’t yet.

How often should I bujo?

I already started with mine, going for the weekly format per page, instead of daily format. Because of my full work schedule, it’s impossible for me to work on my bujo right after I get home from 10 hours of work. I would rather sleep and have a good night’s rest for the next day.

In terms of dates, bujos can be in whatever date format you want it, depending on how often you plan to bujo. We have to be careful with this one, as bujo date formats are not exactly the same as with blogs or with traditional journaling. Not everyone can journal, blog, or bujo daily.

I decided to make my bujo weekly, as I have three days off every week. Sunday is not a good day, as I attend church and I have my siblings and their kids over. I’ll spend more time with family on that day.

Mondays and Tuesdays are the best days for me to bujo. Other than having standard appointments, such as medical and dental appointments, these days would work for me. My mind would still be fresh of the events that occured the week prior, and if there aren’t any happenings on some days, I would replace “events” with other types of content, such as random sketches or my selected “quote of the day.”

Do I have any ideas on how my bujo is going to look like?

Because this is my first bujo, I also use this as my experimental bujo. I bought many types of stencils designed for bujo layouts, and added a few stenciled sketches here and there. But for those starting out, just a simple list with different bullet points is enough.

For mine, one page equals one week. For every month, I would draw a monthly cover page. When the next month arrives, I draw another monthly cover page for the new month. The next two pages after that cover page would be my hand-drawn/stenciled calendar in boxes. The next pages after the calendar are my weekly pages.

So far, my lists consist of the following:

• MUST To Do List
• Goals list in general
• Appointments (if there are any)
• “Quote of the Week”
• Small doodles here and there

Other than the stenciled layouts that I used, nothing much fancy.

What do I need to bujo?

I plan on covering the materials on the next Bu-Journaling blog post in more detail. But for starters and basics, here is what you need:

• A blank notebook. It could be lined notebook, clear pages, graphic notebook, dotted journal notebooks. A lot of bu-journalists prefer the dotted journal notebook.

• A good, reliable pen you feel comfortable with. The most popular ones are fineliner pens, as they come in different-sized points, which is perfect for sketching/drawing layouts, being able to fit your handwriting in between the lines of the page, or simply making uour pages look clean.

The rest of the materials is all up to you.

If your bujo is a personal private bujo, be sure you have a garter strap attached to it. Most dotted journal notebooks have them. I haven’t seen any bujo notebooks that have a lock, like the old diary notebooks and journal notebooks from the past. But it’s also best to just hide that private bujo somewhere where no one else sees it.

I plan on bringing my bujo at work so I can work on them when I can during breaks and lunch. At the same time, that would also be of a hassle too because I would have to bring my materials with me. It’s best that I work on my bujo at home instead.

Conclusion

Search around for bujo ideas. Or brainstorm your ideas that befit a bujo. The possibilities are endless and creative and relaxation freedom is yours. Take advantage of this freedom. Be the ruler of your bujo world!

Next blog post, I will be sharing the materials that I’m using for my bujo. In turn, they’ll include links to sites ¹ where you can purchase them online. Or, if you have a local art supplies store, explore them first. You may discover some useful materials no other bu-journalist may be using.

Happy bu-journaling! Till next time!