January Bullet Journal Ideas | Theme & Spread Inspiration
The beginning of a new year is when I always crack open my new journal and start planning my future bullet journal spreads. It just makes sense. The beginning of the new year is a time when people want a fresh start and to begin again. It’s a great time of year to get started on with your goal setting, and tracking your habits again. Bullet journaling can be a great way to get back on track at the beginning of the year, so in today’s post I’m going to be sharing January bullet journal ideas to help inspire you.
What is a bullet journal?
If you’re new to the bullet journal, it’s a really cool way to plan your life and stay organized. The bullet journal was created by Ryder Carroll and it’s a customizable notebook system that can help you organize your current and future tasks in a concise manner. Ryder’s technique uses symbols to keep track of different things.
In the past couple of years, bullet journal enthusiasts have really taken the idea and run with it. While Ryder’s journal set up is more minimalist, I enjoy looking at the more artistic spreads that I’ve seen shared on social media sites like Instagram and Youtube. Planners and artists alike have created beautiful bullet journal spreads featuring different types of planning and different methods of decorating (like drawing, illustrating and painting). Some of them make really elaborate setups! It’s a really fun way for hobby planners to get to express themselves creatively while also track their daily lives.
Why Should You Start a Bullet Journal?
Keeping a bullet journal is a great way to stay organized, if you’re looking for something more customizable than your average planner. With a regular planner you have to follow the plan that is laid out for you, but with a bullet journal YOU call the shots. You create the pages that you want, and you can disregard the things that you don’t want. A bullet journal is also a great place to lists. Some lists I’ve created in the past include books I want to read, movies I want to watch, some of my monthly goals, as well as my favorite things. The possibilities really are endless when you’re the creator.
The first month of the year is the perfect time to start a new bullet journal because it’s a time of new ideas and new beginnings.
What are Some Different Pages to Create In Your First Bullet Journal?
The best thing about the bullet journal is that it’s completely customizable, so you can make your bullet journal setup complete your own. These are some of the pages that I find most useful for a monthly spread, and for your journal in general.
Cover Page
Every journal needs a cover page because if you somehow lose your journal and someone picks it up, they may be able to return it to you if they have your contact information. I will usually put my name, my phone number, and my email address on my cover page just in case. I’ve never lost a bullet journal yet, but there’s a first time for everything.
For my monthly cover page, I like to create a heading with the month and then decorate it according to what my monthly theme is. For January, you may want to use fireworks to celebrate the new year. Or maybe something related to celebrations.
Habit Tracker
In January, you may feel excited about starting new habits, so a habit tracker will definitely come in handy for keeping track of your data. At the end of the month, you can review your tracker and see how many days you were able to each habit, and set new goals for the upcoming month.
Future Log
This is a place where you can track future tasks that need to be done. A lot of times this can be things that you didn’t have time to accomplish this week, but are things you would like to finish in the near future.
Goals
For me personally, I need to write things down in order to process them. The beginning of a new year (and a new month) is a great time to reflect on what you want to accomplish and set new goals for your start. The beginning of a new year (and new month) is a great time for fresh starts.
Mood Tracker
Tracking your mood is great way to check in with yourself and see how you’re feeling. By tracking your mood for the entire month, you can look back on the different days and weeks and see how you were feeling and what prompted you to feel this way. This is a great spread to have in your bullet journal if you’re extremely busy, and feel like all the days blur together.
P.S. I have a free printable on my blog just for mood tracking! You can use different colors to help you visualize your moods throughout the month. The more vibrant colors you use, the better! It will make for a more exciting spread.
Favorite Things
It’s like Maria says in The Sound of Music… the best way to feel better when you’re feeling down is to remember your favorite things! She said it in different wording, but you know what I mean. I like to make a list that I can look back in moments of sadness or stress.
Quotes
Positive quotations can be motivational and inspiring, so why not make a list of some of your favorites in your bullet journal? It can be so much fun to try writing them in new types of lettering.
Daily Spread
My favorite spread is the daily spread. I write down all of my tasks for the day. You can also track different things like meals, exercise, water intake, stretching, and other kinds of habits.
Vision Board
I’m a big fan of the vision board and while some people create them on poster boards so that they have a large visual to look at, you can also make a personal sized vision board in your bullet journal. I did this last year and it was great because I could just open my bullet journal and refer to it whenever I needed inspiration.
Week at a Glance (Or Weekly Spread)
The weekly spread is where you can keep track of everything you need to remember for the week.
Calendar
Your monthly calendar can be customized exactly how you need it. Some people use small boxes but I try to make them bigger so that I can write in different things, like appointments and activities.
What are some good ideas for a January Theme?
January is a winter month, but it’s also a time of new beginnings. Here are some ideas that you can use for your January Theme and your January Cover.
New Years Ideas:
- Resolutions
- New Years Glasses
- Champagne
- Confetti
- Balloons
- Fireworks
- The “Ball” Drop
- Times Square
Winter Ideas
- Snow
- Cozy Sweaters
- Bundling Up
- Snowmen
- Winter doodle
New Beginnings Ideas:
- Goals
- Stationery
- Planner Themed
- “The future”
But if these ideas don’t float your boat, that’s totally fine! Remember that your January bullet journal theme can be anything you want it to be. It could be hot air balloons or dogs or plant themed. The ideas in this blog post are just meant for inspiration because there are endless possibilities for a January cover page and bullet journal theme.
Where Can I Find More Bullet Journal Inspiration?
If you want to see other people’s bullet journals in action, you can see some awesome bullet journal spread ideas on Instagram. Just search for bullet journal or bujo. And if you enjoy watching youtube videos, make sure you check out bullet journal and plan with me videos on Youtube. I’ve watched countless hours of these videos and have seen so many creative ideas.
In Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed today’s blog post all about January bullet journal ideas. If you don’t have much time, you may find these ideas inspiring for designing your own bullet journal spreads. And if you enjoyed today’s post, make sure you bookmark my blog because I have more monthly theme ideas and bullet journal posts coming soon.
xo Marian
