Hi! Lauren here, back with another video about paper journals and planners
because I've been completely obsessing over them for the last few months. Ever
since the bullet journal craze started, I've been desperate to figure out a way
to adapt it for my weird work situation. I'd moved around and worked in different
rooms of my house at all random hours because I'd just had a baby and I take
whatever time I could get and I started in a regular like, normal-sized notebook
but I felt like I never had it with me when I needed it. And that's one downside
of otherwise lovely paper notebooks. Digital planning on your phone is nice
because it's always with you and you always have it when you need it. So
recently, I got the idea to just shrink it down and make a tiny bullet journal
that would be a lot easier to carry around.
I was also partly inspired by my obsession with Traveler's Notebooks and
I knew that they come in a passport size which is much smaller than the one that
I've been working in. So I thought if I made a tiny dot grid bullet journal
insert for a passport sized traveler's notebook, that I could see if I like the
size before I invest in, like, a cover and more refills at that size that would be
a little easier to take around with me. So I did it and I love it and I wanted
to show you how I made this little bullet journal with dot grid pages. And
after the tutorial, I'll also do a little bit of a flip through and show you the page
setup that's been working for me. I downloaded these dot grid pages from a
really great blog that posted them online for free, so I'll put a link to
their post in the video description below along with a list of materials
you'll need to make one. Here's how to make your own passport sized bullet
journal that will fit into a traveler's notebook! I started by printing dot grids
on both sides of a bunch of pieces of paper. Your book will end up being four
times as thick as this stack, if that helps you decide how much to use. My
printer doesn't print double-sided so I just printed one side then flipped the pile
over and printed again on the other side! Then, I used a ruler and a utility knife
to cut the paper into two stacks of 5 by 8.5 inch pages. For this
part, use a bunch of light, steady strokes. It'll cut through a few pieces at a time
and eventually get through the whole stack if you're patient. The goal is for
the edge to be as smooth and straight as possible. The part we cut down to five
inches will be the height of the book and I recommend waiting
until later to trim the width down to 7 inches or three and a half inches
when it's folded, because that part won't have a straight edge anymore once we
fold the book in half. When that step is done, you can group the two stacks
together. Cut a cover the same dimensions out of card stock or scrapbook paper,
then add that to the top of the pile. Straighten it out, making sure that the
top and bottom edges are totally lined up since we won't be trimming those
later, then use some binder clips to hold it in place.
Find and lightly mark the exact center along the longer edges. Then, stitch along
that center line to bind the book together. I'm using my backup sewing
machine because I don't really know how this kind of project would affect the
machine and I'm turning the machine by hand slowly instead of powering it
electronically to minimize the wear and tear. You could also stitch this part by
hand! I'll link to a channel called SeaLemonDIY in the video description
below. She makes really wonderful book binding tutorials! So that's what mine
looks like now. I really like the way the machine stitches turned out. Now fold it
along the spine like a book with the cover on the outside.
Bring the ruler back out and trim the width of the folded book to three and a
half inches along the open edge. And that is basically it! Stack some heavy books
on top of it to flatten the book and leave it like that for a while and then
you'll have your own tiny dot grid traveler's notebook refill to bullet
journal in! What I really love about the bullet journal system is it's a blank
canvas and it's so customizable for whatever works for you.
This tutorial works the same way! Feel free to vary the kinds of pages if you
don't like the dot grid or want to use a different kind of paper and you can also
adjust the size of the notebook if this small size doesn't work for you. At the
very least, this is a pretty non-committal way to test out a system
that was originally designed to be inexpensive. But of course now that it's
getting more popular, there are so many options for notebooks and supplies that
you can buy for them and it can be a little bit overwhelming and expensive.
Eventually, if I find that this continues to work for me and I fill the whole
thing up and I want to make another one, I can invest more in it like getting a
passport traveler's notebook cover for it or maybe buying some nicer paper for
my printer. I just used the most basic kind for this first one because that's
what I had around. I've been using this for a couple months now and honestly
just the basic weekly layout that I've been doing has been my
jam. I start each month with a little title page, at the top I put a growth
tracker for some of my social media, I've been adding little habit trackers on to
the title pages but I don't really keep up with them very much, I don't know if
I'll stick with that. So each week I start a new spread by just adding
Monday's tasks and that's it and even if it's stuff that I may not get to for a
day or two, I keep it on Monday, that way I don't have to decide ahead of time how
much space each day is going to get and then when Tuesday comes along, I just add
my Tuesday heading and I continue to work on the stuff I didn't get to on
Monday. I don't actually end up transferring any of the unfinished tasks
until I have to turn the page because then I can't see them anymore and then
I'll transfer over stuff from the previous week. Because I tend to put most of my
specific plans and appointments in my phone calendar, I do a tiny little box
for my schedule at the bottom of the page. I don't tend to make a ton of plans
or appointments, I'm mostly am at home working and taking care of my kid so I
don't need more than this for space. I have been putting a little section in
the bottom corner where I can just do my big weekly goals and then I just like
write one or two things I really want to focus on right there. And then at the end
of each month, I do a little month in review where I list the videos that I
posted that month and I also just put a list of things that we did that month
that I want to remember! I like the idea that a bullet journal can be a planner
and a way to document your life, but I don't really want to clutter up the
pages with memories and things like that just cause it's so small and there's not a
lot of space for more than just my tasks. I've only really been writing in this
with two different pens. I have a really tiny 0.38 pilot g2 black gel pen
that's actually how I manage to write so tiny on these pages - it's a very fine
tip so it's pretty good for getting a lot of tasks written on a very small
page and then I add little pops of color and fill in my check boxes with this
zebra mild liner which I really like. These came highly recommended so I got a
pack of them and I've been enjoying it! I add little details and it adds a little
bit of color but not too much. If you plan on paper as well, I'd love to hear
what works best for you! Do you prefer something more portable like this or do
you need lots of space to write? If you have any life changing planner tips or
hacks, I'd love to hear them in the comments below. The last time I made a
video about traveler's notebooks, I was just overwhelmed by the response. I loved
hearing about how much you just love planners and it made me super happy.
Because of that, I would love to keep making videos like this so be sure to
subscribe to my channel if you're new here and if this is the sort of thing
you'd like to see more of! I hope you're all having a lovely day, thanks for
watching, and I'll see you soon! And now I can mark off filming that video!
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