15 time-saving bullet journal tips 💜 Set up spreads faster

How to set up your journal faster 🥳 Today we have 15 tips for how to save time when setting up and filling in your bullet journal!

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💜 Timestamps
0:00 - Set up your bullet journal fast
0:12 - Set up less pages
0:41 - Grid-spacing guides
1:02 - Measure twice, draw ones
1:26 - Don’t pencil out in full
1:43 - Take up less space
2:06 - Use combo trackers
2:34 - Simplify your page designs
3:15 - Simplify your decorations
3:38 - Use decoration time-savers
3:50 - Pre-made journal elements
4:04 - Set up spreads in advance
4:30 - Batch parts of your setup
4:52 - Use less materials
5:04 - Use easy styles/techniques
5:37 - Use the same types or styles repeatedly
5:58 - How do you speed up your setups?

💜 Music
Assorted tracks by Chris Haugen

#jashiicorrin

[christybrown]

I realized I don't need or use daily pages. So now I have a one page rolling weekly which makes checking whether a task was completed a lot easier to find. Great tips!

[caroha]

I was kinda stoked to realize, that i´ve incorporated a lot of these ideas already.Another thing i do, if i feel like wanting a lot of decorations, but i do not have the time is that i will cut out parts from a colouring book, that i never use. It gives a really nice black and white decoration with minimum effort. Thanks for you being you!

[KTCoope]

Because my monthly set up has solidified pretty well now, I grab the vertical spacings from the previous month by pushing the stack of pages up (not enough to fold it) and jotting down the positions in the margin on the new spread, then I only have to get the column spacings. I have a no-rulers anti-perfectionism rule to keep things fast, with a lot of use of the fact the edge of a tombow lays down a line about the width of a dot grid box. I also often pencil where I want lines NOT to be so I don’t have to worry about smudging as much, so a line all the way through a skipped row or column, or arrows pointing towards the start of something, so I can then freehand the headers in the boxes next the them etc.

[katsmith]

My tip is to make printables and put them in-will save ALL the time in the long run

[tcconnection]

After a year or two of playing with gotta have this journal and this marker or pen set and this ephemera and this holiday washi set and this type of paper to glue on and this paint set and this stamp set and this stencil and so on, I'm really appreciating all the suggestions to reflect on what makes one's journal less time-consuming and more purposeful. 👍🏻

[marialindell]

I stick to the same six pages every month: cover-page, monthy overview, two pages of trackers (3, 5x2, 5cm- you could probably cut out a template from spare paper to save some time), a super-simple sleep-tracker and an anxiety-tracker. It takes me less than an hour to set up and I can do it months in advance if I wanted to. This way I can add decorative elements whenever I feel like it (no pressure) and it surprisingly does leave a lot of room for creativity 😊

[irena]

so grateful we get to watch more journaling content from you! I am sure your students miss you terribly but we love all these bullet journal videos!! <3

[malinf]

I started with bullet journaling almost a year ago but I also did away with daily. I only have three spreads ( double ) and after that notes where I only write if I have something I want to remember (more like traditional journaling). I do a cover spread, a big calendar and a combined tracker with a gratitude spread.

[ChrissiesCorner]

Oh my gosh I not only found some great tips in this, but also a lot of the journals, spreads, pages & themes you showed as examples were gorgeous!! Definitely gonna be coming back to this once I start setting up next month's spread! ♥

[mickaelpigne]

Again a really useful video and very original compare to other youtubers. I swear you can write a full encyclopedia on Bujo :D
To save time i use only two pencils and decorate with memories essentially. And after 3 years using that system, some of my spreads are always the same, cause they are the more efficient for me (chores tracker, monthly log, monthly trackers, budget tracker). So i have made printable version of these spreads and i stick them in my bujo instead of drawing them each month or year.

[rode_rash]

Oooo, apparently I'm already doing most of this. I have been using the same 4 types of spreads each month since before the beginning of 2022. All of my habit tracking stuff is on a single spread (water intake, voice contact with my mother and children, actual habits, sleep hours, and steps). I don't pencil anything in except the decorative elements, since any line work is the same as previous months. I don't use a grid spacing guide, just a metric ruler. This is my year of the rainbow, so other than black, I've only been using a single color each month in rainbow order. I've also been keeping the decorations relatively simple. And I usually have somewhat limited space available to doodle, so no really large images. I don't use weekly or daily layouts, but I track my to dos and schedule through one-page-per-week spreads that are combined into the single month, so I only set up once a month, and I'm always ahead of the next month, sometimes by multiple weeks, especially if I have a decorating idea I really want to play with.

[princessleah]

I do no art no habit tracking etc etc and my weekly spread has 2 lines. I also don’t set up anything past the current week and day as I follow the Bullet Journal method of daily rapid logging. It means I never waste pages and it’s always ready. #ultraminimal

[anneliesececi]

Thanks for the tips! I use planners with removable pages (binder-style) so I can set up pages in advance and insert them in where needed. You can also pick up cheap planners at the dollar store and repurpose those pages in your journal. Not creative, but efficient....

[purplepenguin]

Do you have any tips on drawing mini calendars?

[draco-lily]

I couldn't hang with a B5 because of how huge it was. I'm the type of person that needs to fill the page so A5's and smaller will always have my heart. Setting up weeklies in advance also saves me time; however, the only downside to that is I get bored and want a new style of weekly... T^T

[micheller]

Anything I don't use at least 3/4 of the time I technically could have, I stop using. Life is to short to lie to myself about filling stuff I know I wont fill.

[annac.]

This video showed a printable tracker page you used...where might one find this? I usually do an entire month's worth of pages all at once so all my supplies are out at a time. Great tips!

[tcconnection]

Do you have a video that just deals with meal logs?

[katsmith]

Another tip is to use one pen only and R. Carroll style

[margueritemitchell]

Hello from British Columbia Canada
🇨🇦👋👍♥️🌲🌲🧘‍♀️🌲🌲🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Tabs to help find tracker pages