My "Bullet Journal" Key

Since I have switched back into my standard size traveler's notebook for planning, I decided to incorporate some elements I have seen in other peoples planners and bullet journals. Personally I don't bullet journal the way it is intended to be done because having to draw everything and not be able to future plan would just not work for me. But I have incorporated some of the bullet journal ideas into my TN. 

The main bullet journal element I added was a list of bullet points and symbols. My "bullet journal" key is made up of five sections:

1. Colour Code
2. Time Tracker Code
3. Task Symbols
4. Signifiers
5. Weather Icons

To have my key accessible to me no matter what section of my planner I am working in, I took some patterned paper I purchased at Michaels and cut it down, rounded the edges, and folded it in half. On the inside I wrote out the information for my bullet journal key. This way no matter where I am working in my TN I can just pull out this card and double check a colour or symbol (not that I need to do that often anymore!) 

The first section is labeled Colour Code. This is the colours I use in my weekly pages, my monthly calendar, and my monthly tracker. 

Next, is my time tracker colour code. These colours are mostly the same as the previous section except I have added in yellow to represent sleep, brown represents health as well as fitness, blank means unscheduled time, and dark green represent errands/household chores (only on my tracker). This tracker is inspired by Boho berry's time tracker in her bullet journal! I will talk more about my time tracker in my upcoming post about my weekly pages! 

My third section is task symbols. This section shows what each symbol used in the check boxes mean. A blank square just represents a task, one line inside the square means the task is started, completely shaded in means complete, an X means cancelled, and > means migrated to another day. 

Following the task symbols I have a section called signifiers, this section explains what different symbols I use mean. I use a circle to represent events, a triangle for appointments or meetings, a dot for notes, a star for anything urgent/important, a heart for personal things, an arrow (that looks like a computer mouse) for online things, and $ to represent paydays. 

Finally, I have my weather icons. This section was unnecessary to add, but I included it because I thought the symbol I used to represent windy looked odd (its the same icon used on the iPhone). This section is self-explanatory and inspired again by boho berry. 

I will show this in more detail in next weeks post about my weekly inserts. Hope you enjoyed this post and found some ideas for your own planner! If you enjoy my blog please follow and share with a friend! Also you can check out my IG account that is dedicated to my traveler's notebook, planning, and journaling. My username is Stephanie.Emmiline. 

Thanks so much for reading and have a wonderful day!

Happy Planning!! 

Planner Setup 2016

Over the past few years I have tried out multiple planning systems trying to find something that works for me. I have not been happy with the size, or the insert, or the way I organize my information in my planner. For a while I considered giving up on paper planning, and just making a to do list on my iPhone. Before I actually went through with this I decided to give my standard size dark chocolate heirloom from Ray Blake... Well I have fallen in LOVE!!

I always thought this size would be too big, but it turns out I was wrong! It is exactly what I needed. I started using this planner with the same type of system I have always used and wasn't completely satisfied, but after looking at blogs, IG, and YouTube I got some inspiration and I now have a planner that is working for me! 

So lets jump into my setup! 

My traveler's notebook has four interior elastics (you can find my blog post about it here). I have four inserts, and a zipper pouch. 

On the front cover of my TN I have a gold binder clip that holds my year long monthly calendar. This sounds confusing but basically it is my interpretation of the calendex that I have been reading about a lot lately (for more information on the calendex you can check out boho berry's blog here). I don't need to be able to reference specific page numbers so I did not need that part of the calendex system. I ended up creating this chart to help me  reference important dates, without taking up a ton of space. 

Monthly calendar that covers all of 2016 and replaced my insert

Next, I have an insert for monthly tracking and monthly planning for my blog. Basically I made this insert out of graph paper and will just draw out my monthly tracker as I need them. 

Next are my two weekly inserts. The first one runs from January to April and the second one from May to August. Here I write in all my to dos, appointments, etc. I will do a more in depth post about my bullet system for this section, and my colour code, etc. 

Finally I have my notes insert. I use this insert to keep different bits of information that I may want to reference any time. This notebook will probably remain in here until it is full and I need a blank one. As of now it has notes on things such as, yoga routines, books I want to read/ have read, etc. 

Then there is my zipper pouch. In this I just keep sticky notes, stickers, my stencil, and some photos. 

My system has simplified and is much more organized now. I think I may have found the elusive "planner peace"! 

Hope you enjoyed this post and found some ideas for your own planner! If you enjoy my blog please follow and share with a friend! Also you can check out my IG account that is dedicated to my traveler's notebook, planning, and journaling. My username is Stephanie.Emmiline. 

Thanks so much for reading and have a wonderful day!! 

Happy Planning!! 

Heirloom Edition Traveler's Notebook

Hey TN Lovers!

Today I am going to give you an overview of my standard size heirloom travelers notebook from Ray Blake. I choose the dark chocolate colour, which is even more stunning in person than it is in photos! I decided on 4 interior elastics and asked for all the elastics to be black. Here is a photo of the outside cover and the interior (without inserts).

Front Cover (BTW that is a coffee cup charm)

Inside (W/O inserts)

Outside laying Flat

The person I ordered from as I said is Ray Blake from the blog my life all in one place (www.mylifeallinoneplace.com). You order by emailing him and he is wonderful to work with. This edition is the special heirloom edition which comes in four different colours: café au lait, dark chocolate, maroon, and mustard. The leather of this travelers notebook is extremely smooth and beautiful. While it holds its shape well, it is very pliable! Great for those who don't like really stiff leather, but also do not want a TN that flops open when they are holding it. I should also mention that this TN lays flat with very little to no training.

 This particular TN is slightly more expensive than the others, costing £35. However one of the really great things about buying from Ray is that he does not charge shipping!

I am absolutely in love with this Travelers Notebook! So much that I decided to use it as my EDC! I never thought I would use a standard size TN as my planner and EDC but I can't help myself because it is just that amazing :)

Also super excited because a family member has decided to purchase another standard size TN (from Ray) for me to use as my journal!! Of course as soon as that arrives and is set up in May I will be posting about it!!

If you enjoy my blog please follow and share with a friend! If you are interested in seeing more of my TN's and planner stuff add me on IG! My username is Stephanie.Emmiline. I post photos of my planner pages, my TN's, my journal pages, and my dogs! Would love to follow your TN IG's back!

Talk to you in my next post!

Xo, Stephanie Emmiline ✒︎