Checklists and Planner

 

I keep going back and forth between bullet journaling and checklists in my planner. I would love to find some kind of balance using both, but I haven’t figured that out yet. 

For now, I'm back to using my planner. I feel like it gives me a better day to day overview and a more consolidated list of my daily goals that lead me to my larger goals. For the past couple of weeks, I have pulled out my markers and stickers usually used for the bullet journal. This has made it more visually appealing and fulfills part of the creative spirit I am often looking for in the bullet journal. Rather than writing a list in one or pencil on a black and white page, I get to create something that is unique to me each week. 

January 2026 Bullet Journal and Planner

 

I had way too much fun making my bullet journal spreads for January, but I had fun making them. I basically spent New Year's Eve on them. For the most part, I decided to go with a general winter theme. I have one page that is still winter themed but doesn't use the same materials. I love the way it turned out, but I wish it matched the others a bit better. I have been tracking with them since the first. I've already missed some tasks, but I never said I was perfect. I am better at working towards my goals when I do this in combination with my day planner, though. 

I used my day planner as a to do list of sorts. I have found that using a standard day planner to write down my daily tasks helps me to keep track of what I have and haven't done as well as motivates me to do it. Now that we aren't watching as much TV, I am finding more and more time to get things done and feel like I have really accomplished something with my days. I'm not going to copy my planner pages into this blog each week. It will basically look the same each week up to our trip at the month. 

Current Trackers

I currently have 3 things I'm tracking in a bullet journal. I'm sure more will come eventually, but I feel this is a good way to get back into it without getting too overwhelmed. Why am I getting back into it? I want to. It's fun. It's a good creative outlet. I missed it. 

First, I am doing a 30 day walking challenge. When I started, my sister was going to do it with me, but between her job and family life, she wasn't able to fit it in. I totally understand. Small children take a lot of time and energy. She has been a supporter for me doing it, however. I am happy to say that even though I am doing this challenge solo, I am doing it constantly and only have 5 days left. I have learned from this one that my highlighter doesn't work well with the markers. I probably won't use it for this kind of thing again. 

Next, I have a tracker for paying off my credit cards. My goal is to pay an extra $20 each time I get paid on top of the monthly payment I'm already making. Will this completely pay them off? Probably not, but it will make a significant dent. Once my heater is paid off, I should be able to allocate more towards my goal to pay them off each month and more than one hexagon can be colored in each time. 

Finally, I have my Miracle Morning tracker. This is one that I made this morning because I filled the last one I made. It will last 35 day. Then, I can make another one. Maybe, I will look for new stickers for the next one. I love the stickers I have, but it is always fun to get new designs for stuff like this. 

I know I will be adding more as time goes on. A page dedicated to Christmas presents for my family will definitely be happening again. The time I did that was my most organized and least stressful Christmas. I will also be making something for my 5k training leading up to the ColderBolder, but that would most likely be displayed on the other blog is I choose to share it.