Free For All Friday No 751 by Laurie

I have tried and tried over for many years to use the Bullet Journal method, and have failed every time. The same things tend to trip me up again and again.

To be fair, for a couple of years I successfully used a modified version of the BuJo method, where my notebook was my daily inbox, and I put any lists or Collections in the back of the notebook. Of course I had to use a separate planner, because the BuJo method doesn't lend itself to the type of intensive day to day and forward planning I need. As long as I used the notebook just as my daily log, it was fine.

But whenever I try to use the actual Bullet Journal method with more of the components (Monthly Log, Future Log, Reviews, etc), I can't get past thinking my Filofax functions much better.

Of course there are pros and cons to every system. One pro of the Bullet Journal method is using an A5 notebook, which is much easier to carry around than most A5 Filofax binders (depending on ring size).

But the big con, for me, is having pages mixed around with each other in the bound book. Even with intensive indexing, I don't like lists and notes mixed in with daily log pages, monthly pages, reviews, various trackers, reference info, etc. I find things much more easily when my daily pages are all together in their own section, my trackers are in a designated spot, and my lists and collections are in their own categorized tabbed sections.

The other con, which is hard for me to get past, is not being able to move pages around in a bound notebook. My Filofax feels like so much less pressure. If I put something someplace, and decide it would be more convenient to have it in a different place, I just move it there. Or if I try a new tracker, form, review page, or whatever, and don't like it, I can modify or remove it, so there aren't a bunch of dead pages mixed in with the pages I'm actually using.

Here's a real-life example: In my previous FFAF, I wrote about the pages I like to keep within my monthly section. It's easy for me to find these month to month. If I write more than one page about something, for example Good Things That Happened This Month, or my planner reviews, I just add that page in my binder next, so the pages are continuous. But in a bound notebook, if I wanted to add something days or weeks later, that page would be out of sequence, later in the book. With techniques like indexing and threading I could see which pages follow what, but the result is still that pages are mixed in with other pages. I don't like it, and I prefer being able to add and move pages to keep continuous topics together.

One definite benefit of the Bullet Journal method is never wondering where to write something; you just write it on the page, and index it to find it later. In my Filofax I have a Notes tabbed section for my Inbox, and later I can move that page to the section where it needs to go.

Something I do find intriguing about BuJo is writing everything chronologically in the bound notebook, then at the end of the month reviewing what had my attention that month. Doing this month after month would create an interesting record. But the reality of my day to day life is, it's difficult for me to work that way, no matter how nice the resulting record is.

Many of the components of the Bullet Journal method are things I already do in my Filofax: Monthly Log and Monthly lists in my Monthly section; Daily Log pages; Collections in their own sections; Future Log in my annual overview pages; Trackers etc. I also use weekly pages for my main planning, and other reference pages that stay in my Filofax month after month or even year after year.

Have you ever used the Bullet Journal method, whether in a bound notebook or Filofax? How did/ does it work for you?

And as always on Fridays, feel free to ask and/ or discuss anything ring binder organiser related!