Journals and Plans for 2017

A new year. A fresh beginning. An open slate. Do you get as excited about the beginning of a new year as much as I do? This year my excitement began back in November. I was visiting a friend from college and we were talking about organizing life, and trying to slow it down so we can enjoy the small things in life. She showed me her Make it Happen journal from last year and her form of bullet journaling. I was already thinking in the lines of how I wanted to go about organizing things, making things simpler by having everything in one place: Meal plans, birthdays, book lists, blog scheduling, ect... So I dug some more. And here's what I've come up with for myself.


Some years I've picked a "Word of the Year", or rather, the Lord impressed a word on my heart during the span of that year. And I usually have some goals in mind and write them down. But this year I feel like I have more goals than normal, bigger plans and ideas, probably as result of thinking for two months what I wanted to accomplish this coming year. So before diving into the methods, I want to share my "word", though it's much more like a theme:

Intention

At the end of last year I began to notice that my organizing life seems a bit scattered. Part of the reasons for that is the living situation we are in. We caretake. So here's what my life looks like: Our bedroom is upstairs, I have a small desk and chair in the spare room where I do my devotions and sew, I'm only in the kitchen when I cook or we eat, laundry is in the basement, my "official" desk is in the basement, and our private living room is in the basement (my father in law uses the one upstairs). So my stuff is scattered. The computer's downstairs, homemaking binder is upstairs in the kitchen(with meal plans), devotional journals I use for blogging are in the spare room upstairs. Birthdays are written here and there. This is the season we are in. But I want life to be streamlined and functional. I want my life to be Intentional. So 2017's theme is A Year of Intention. And not just intention but a thriving intentional life. To bloom where I'm planted, to flourish where God has me. Most days I feel like I'm in an awkward stage in life: almost 30, no children, caretaking, own a home but have a parent still running it like it's his.

So in this year of intention. I want to purpose to be intentional in certain areas of my life. Intentional in my spiritual life, intentional in my health, intentional in my relationships, in my ministries, in my marriage, with my words, in blogging, ect...

Jim Elliot, the missionary, once said:

"Wherever you are,

be all there.

Live to the hilt(to the maximum)

of every situation."

That's what I'm, trying to do. Be intentional where ever I am. Whether it's in conversation with someone, whether it's writing a blog post, or meal planning.

I haven't done too much by way of planning and journaling, but I'll share my thoughts and plans. These pictures and ideas may be the result of much Pinterest and Instagram searching and then adapting so it reflects me or it may be of my own dreaming. Everyone's method is going to be different and unique to them,so maybe something I share will work for you if you tweek it just a bit. Go For It! Dream and Plan!

The two books I'm using are a planner (picked up at Target, though my sister saw the same ones at Home Goods for 1/2 the price) and a larger notebook I fell in love with at Staples on sale for $8. I did purchase some multicolored bleedproof pens, like micron, from Amazon. The only reason I did is because I love color and I couldn't find pens or markers in the colors I really wanted. The pens were an investment I can use for scrapbooking, devotions, and bullet journaling. There are also three books that I read that have to do with finding what God has for your life and doing it the best you can. I'm planning a separate post on these three books and my review.
The Planner

 I decided to use my planner to journal every day. Jotting down the things that went on that day. I also use the month at a glance calendar for noting church dates (special music, nursery, bulletin board), birthdays, and meal planning. I plan on also transfering my meal plans to my bullet journal every week. I meal plan with a vengence, I have ever since we were married five years ago. I have all my meal plans for the past 5 years and refer back to them if I get bored of what I've been fixing. I did a post years ago on that here, but a refresher is in the works.

The Journal

Cover Page

When you open my journal you'll find the cover page which I am not finished with but gave you a picture for the sake of seeing what a cover page is.

Index

After that you come to the index/key page. I feel like this is going to be really helpful about halfway through the year when I'm looking for something. You can see my few pages,

Goals      Birthday Lists      Water Log
Books to Read     Book Log
Jan. Cover page     Jan. Calendar
Journal Entries     Gratitude Log for Jan.

Goals

My Goals are sort of categorized: Spiritual, Health, Personal, Blog/business, and Ministry
Spiritual - Daily Scripture journaling, Creating a better habit of prayer, doing more Scripture studies on topics I've jotted down in the back of my Bible.
Health - Drink more water(thus the water log. My goal is to drink the recommened 8 cups of water a day. But for January I'm aiming for 6 and building up). Get into the habit of walking 3 days a week. Begin making red raspberry tea again. Start Oil Pulling (have you heard of that?). Do more testing and research on stevia for sweetener.
Personal - Bullet Journal, be better about tracking birthdays and sending cards. Read more books and pick specific books to re-read or series' to finish. Make/finish one quilt.
Blog/Business - Get internet. Launch New Blog - The Home and Hearth. Be more consistent in blogging. New series on the blog - Steps to a Healthier Home. Continue with the Digging Deep series. Make this the year to start the small business that my sisters and I have talked about for years. Take some decent head shots. Do more reading on small business/entrepenuers.
Ministry - Have People over, reach out to People. (I am more of an introvert and don't get close to people very quickly, but I still need fellowship). Teach a Bulletin Boards How-to class, Teach Heart class - Hands-on Cooking for Littles, and prepare a cooking and nutrition class for teenagers for the fall semester.



Birthday List

Obviously this is a running list of famiy and friends birthday and anniversaries. And charting on the month to month calendar when the cards need to be sent by

 

Water Log

 

I know I don't drink enough water. Most people don't. And last year I did a Water Challenge during the month of February. It was hard. I wanted something that I can mark and use again and again. I found a water log chart, but I didn't want to have to print it every month. My solution? I printed the chart, slipped it into one of those page protecters, and I'm using a dry erase marker to mark my water. So at the end of the month all I have to do it wipe it away.

Another helpful hint I've found is that drinking out of a wide mouth mason jar really helps me keep track of how much water I'm drinking. A wide mouth pint jar comfortably holds 12oz, so that's a serving and a half.

Books to Read and Book Log

Since I was a teenager I have kept a list of books I have read during the year. I used to read close to 100 books a year as a teenager but slacked of some when real life set in, Haha! As an avid reader, I am embarassed to say that this past year my book total was 37. I may have missed marking a book or two, but that is well below my average of over 70 books each year. The book log is my running list of books read for the year.

The Books to Read section is because there are some books it's been years since I've read and I need to read them again. Along with series' I started last year but didn't finish, Little House on the Prairie being one of them. I plan on trying to read a Janette Oke series again too, either Love Comes Softly or The Canadian West. In Every HeartBeat and My Heart Remembers by Kim Vogel Sawyer are also on the list.

January Calendar

This is a calendar I drew so I would have a calendar at glance for charting purposes. I don't have a specific place in the house where I have a personal calendar hanging. We have one in the kitchen, but I don't do much with it, besides check what week it is because of my nursery schedule.

Journal Entries

I'm Scripture journaling this year, nothing fancy just writing Scripture. I found a chart that gives verses for a specific theme each month. I want to be more intentional when it comes to reading Scripture, and writing it makes me slow down and think about each word and punctuation. I plan on using the journal to record devotional thoughts eventually but I have a book started for that I need to finish.

Gratitude Log

I have done gratitude journals before. One thousand gift lists. But I figured this way it could be more accessable, and fun. Every day, taking time to pause and write something I'm thankful for in my life. Intentional in my Praise.

　
This is how my Journals are looking at the moment, I do plan on a meal plan page and Blog scheduling page once internet is a reality. I'm really enjoying it, I thrive on the creativity andhand lettering aspect, although I will say say it's a bit time consuming to set up and get your plan together. I imagine it's this way for everyone that starts, until you get the flow of things.

Hopefully this was helpful to you, maybe you feel more excited to set some goals use bullet journaling as a means to help organize your life. If so, Share your ideas!

 



Do you bullet Journal? Have you set Goals for 2017? What about a "word" or theme?