Happy 2022 everyone! It’s a new year, and you know what that means - a new bullet journal!!! Last year I bought a beautiful journal from Archer and Olive and while I enjoyed it a lot, there were a few things about it that I found myself wishing for it.
I had 192 pages and that was barely enough. I found myself trying to find ways to double up a few weeks in order to have enough room.
I really wished I had a spot at the beginning of the journal to put things like important dates etc… but I hadn’t allotted for that because of the number of pages.
Still, I really loved a LOT of things about this journal. My favorite things about it were:
The pages were super thick, and so I could do just about anything to them (except alcohol markers), and they wouldn’t ghost at all. This included all of my water based pens, watercolors, fineliners, and gouache. It was glorious and amazing.
The size and layout of the dot grid was awesome and I knew I wanted the same again. I keep my layouts pretty standard from month to month and my weekly layout never changes, so I knew I wanted that same size and grid pattern.
I liked the built in bookmarks and back pocket and wanted those features again.
So, I spent a LOT of time considering journals. I wanted to keep my budget around $30-45, but I also wanted the similar quality and more pages. I did a lot of looking and researching, and I came across Vivid Scribbles Company. They had a 200 page journal that claimed an Archer and Olive level of no ghosting, and that also included extra pages like an index in the front and pen test spot in the back. What’s even better is that this was all for $24.99!!!! I figured it was too good to be true, but for the price figured I’d definitely buy one to try. I got this journal a few months back, and this particular color seems to be discontinued but here it is:
I tested several types of pens on the pen test page, along with 2 different kinds of watercolor. The book has no ghosting for any of the tests I tried! I’d even say that each type of pen took 4-5 passes on the pages well before I was concerned at all about tearing. I rarely would do that many passes, if ever, so I’m super pleased with these tests. The index and key etc… at the front is a great addition to the book, and this one has 3 ribbons instead of the 2 on the Archer and Olive notebook. Theirs had a fancy metal weight at the end of each ribbon, and while that is a nice detail it’s not necessary and I don’t miss it!
I got my journal at the Amazon link listed here, and I also am going to link the Vivid Scribbles main site too! So far, this has been a wonderful bullet journal option and I’d recommend it to anyone that is looking for a solid, affordable bullet journal!
This year, along with an index that I’m going to do by month, I also allotted a page for important dates, and have one more blank page to use as needed. I also always make a page in the front for all of my friends and family birthdays and anniversaries, and a spot to categorize the books I’ve read. I added a spot for movies and games too this year to that page!
Finally, my monthly spreads are a little different this year. I’m making my mood trackers smaller and adding other monthly habits to the same page. Then, with my extra page I’m dedicating a page each month for planning for YouTube, Instagram, Twitch, and this blog. So far I’m super happy with how this is turning out! This month I went with a cool colored striped sweater theme, and my mood tracker is a snowman’s scarf.
Here’s a video that goes through the whole thing and shows off all of the details!
Do you keep a bullet journal? How do you lay yours out? Let me know in the comments below!
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