I haven’t done a bullet journal post in a minute mainly because of my ongoing struggle with keeping up with it since I’m no longer work driven. I’ve tried new layouts, tried old layouts that worked in the past, gave it up completely for a few months and now, finally, I have come up with a system that has worked for about a month or so.
The main thing is I stopped designing and hand drawing my own layouts and instead I’m using a store bought system.
I ordered the empty notebook from Amazon (great quality and very inexpensive) and I bought the insert from Joanns. It is divided by month and I started mine at the end of May but the pages aren’t dated so I can use Jan-Apr next year (I looked for a link but too many results came up – just go in the store if you have one nearby and you’re certain to find something that works for you).
The weekly layout works just fine for my current needs. I have enough room for each day plus there is a section for notes. I added a small box for each day’s date and I added a monthly stamp in the lower right hand corner.
The notebook came with the little ruler/book mark thingie which is handy to open right to the current week. It also came with some emoji stickers which I put aside for my granddaughter.
When I bought the insert at Joanns I also picked up a hole punch so I can add additional pages. My notebook really won’t accommodate many more pages but I did start a new thing for helping me with housework.
You all remember the FlyLady don’t you? She has been around forever and if you aren’t familiar with her she essentially provides a guideline for keeping on top of your house keeping. First is decluttering, then an ongoing method for managing various parts of your home. Honestly none of it is rocket science but it’s nice to have a check list to follow. I’m great at keeping a tidy home but certain areas get neglected. I’m looking at you baseboards and curtains.
After your general decluttering you define your zones where you give extra attention on a weekly basis in order to deep clean those areas. You may not get to each item but you can just catch it on the next round. For instance, if shampooing your carpet is on the list you may not get to that EVERY month but every six months or so you check it off your list.
I took the measurements (loosely) of our house and assigned zones to each area. Look at how LOOOONNNNNGGGG our house is. I followed FlyLady for the most part but made adjustments that work for our layout. It made sense to me to have the entry, hallways, dining room and office be one zone. Same with the other areas of the house. The beauty of the FlyLady system is you just tailor it to your own situation.
Once you have defined your zones you then create a checklist for that particular zone.
I’ll be flat out honest with you. The reason I started this is because my baseboards are defeating me! If you come to my house your initial impression would be “Well she keeps a nice, tidy home. I think I like her.” But if you start scrutinizing, you see the cracks. You see the greasy build-up on the kitchen fan, you see the cobwebs in the corner, you see….the dust and crud that colonizes on the baseboards. You start to judge. Hmmmm. Maybe she isn’t quite the tidy person we thought she was. Maybe she IS a secret slob.
I can either hire someone to come once a week and dust my baseboards or I come up with a system and do it myself. System it is!
Take a look at her detail cleaning lists and adapt them to your situation. I ended up removing about 30% of her suggestions and adding back about 30% of my own. After a couple of months I’ll revisit and update my list.
I’ll keep you posted on how I do. I am someone that just does really well with a list to check off.
Side note: I noticed, when taking desk photographs, that I have bit of a pen addiction. A certain type of pen. I have an entire pen cup devoted entirely to white ink pens! Ask me how many times I need a white pen? Well Halloween, when I address Halloween party invitations, and the occasional pen pal letter I mail out on a darker envelope. Evidently I need over a dozen white pens to see me through. I should declutter and get rid of 80% of them but they all are still good and spark joy so I’ll just hang on to them for a while.
I just had a thought – the FlyLady and Marie Kondo need to collaborate.
Wow, I did FlyLady 20 years ago when I lived in NY, then kept it up when I moved to NJ. Now I really wish I had kept it up. We’re getting our house ready to put on the market and since I developed chronic illnesses my husband has taken over the house cleaning and well…let’s say he doesn’t clean the way I used to and somehow I didn’t notice it until now. I’m killing myself trying to get the house in shape and may just need to hire someone to do it because I. just. can’t. Good for you keeping it all under control! When we move into something smaller I hope to take the cleaning back!