So I knew I wanted to do a coffee theme for the month pretty early on, but I also knew I wanted to challenge myself to put a different spin on it than I usually would - you know if you have something you've drawn a lot and you sort of get a bit sick of how you interpret it? Like, it begins to feel quite formulaic? Well that's kind of where I was with coffee, and so I decided to combine my coffee idea with my most beloved of themes to work in; botanical, and overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
TITLE PAGE
So, the first fairly obvious thing on the month title spread is that it is a single page spread and I've just left a blank page. I'm not totally sure how I feel about this, but honestly, in 2020 I want to get back to my bullet journal feeling like a primarily functional space and I just couldn't think of what I wanted on that page. Often I'll do a month overview - but this time around I wanted that as a full double spread, or I'll do a quote, but honestly, having just picked a couple of quotes for my 2020 spreads, I couldn't really find anything that sort of "clicked" that I could put on this page. I guess maybe later in the month I'll find something and then I can always add it in.MONTHLY OVERVIEW
Then we have a pretty classic overview spread - and for once, I did remember the correct amount of days in the month! I do have quite a few things on in Janaury - mostly birthdays and cat sitting - so I did want space where I could keep track of them a little better than I usually might. I like the overall look of this spread, it's clean and minimal but the little corner illustration does tie it all in nicely.TRACKERS
The next spread features a couple of different trackers. I actually really like the sort of mis-matched look of this spread with the different orientations and fonts - I think it gives it a really fun feel, while the colour scheme keeps it feeling tied together. For me, a spread like this really sums up the beauty of Bullet Journals - that you can create something so specific, so perfectly suited to your own needs. The left hand page features a tracker for Yoga with Adriene's 30 day yoga journey that will be launching in January. This one is called Home - and I honestly can't wait to take part in it. It's a 30 day program, but on the 1st there is usually an intro video and so I added that into the tracker too.And then the spread on the right features a pretty slimmed down habit tracker. I do really love habit trackers - I live with anxiety and depression and I find that having a little checklist like this can really help me out, not to put pressure on myself to do ALL THE THINGS, but to help me guide me towards accomplishing some small things if I'm feeling really overwhelmed. That being said, I wanted to keep things pretty simple for this month - so I'm tracking really just things that I should be able to do most, if not everyday. They're not advanced habits, but cumulatively, they should help me feel a lot better throughout the month.
BRAIN DUMPS
Then we come to the last spread of January 2020. This is a pretty open set of pages designed to be sort of brain dump areas throughout the month. The first page is goal focused and will be a space to mark down anything I want to get done this month, as and when I think of it. I keep a separate Bullet Journal for my business planning, and there are certainly lots of goals in there, but I wanted a little space for more personal goals too. So it could be things like I'd like to read a book a week, or make a dentist appointment, or it could be steps towards longer term goals, like fitness.The second page is headed "to buy", which in some ways isn't the best title, but hey it fit in the space. This isn't really a wishlist page, it's more a space to write down things I might otherwise forget to pick up, like a specific birthday card (so I don't have to rush in to town and panic buy one at the last minute), or toothpaste... because for some reason I always forget toothpaste.
Layout wise I do like this spread and I like the colours I've used in the little illustrations. I do wish I had put a bit more thought into what coffee elements I was going to use as I ran out of spreads and realised I'd really only drawn cups and a couple of other bits! I would have liked to include a french press and syrup and a bunch of other stuff, but oh well.
I haven't set up any weekly spreads for January as honestly, I just don't use them. I have them in my business Bullet Journal and so that keeps me right all day at work, and then anything else I tend to mark in either the month overview, like a birthday party or dinner, or else it goes as a reminder in my phone, like library books being due back. I know that weekly spreads are a core part of the Bullet Journal system and that maybe it's controversial not to use them, but honestly, I want my journal to be functional for ME, and that means not spending time setting up a bunch of pages I won't actually use.
So there we have it, my bullet journal spreads for January 2020 - thank you so much for taking the time to look at them. I would love to hear what theme you've chosen for January 2020? Oh, and also, are there any classic Bullet Journal spreads that you skip out on sometimes?
Supplies Used (these are affiliate links):
- Leuchttrum 1917 Dotted Journal (for 2020 I'm using the shade emerald)
- Uni Ball PIN Fineliners (I use a mix of nib sizes, most commonly 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.5)
- Uniball Signo White Broad Rollerball Pen
- Docrafts Artiste Dual Ended Brush Pens (Vintage Set)
- Docrafts Artiste Dual Ended Brush Pens (Pastel Set)