Hey guys! Hope you all had an amazing holiday!! I’m really excited for today’s post because it’s my 2021 BULLET JOURNAL SET-UP!!!!! I received a new bullet journal for Christmas and had so much fun creating my spreads for the new year. Opening up a new journal is always so satisfying, and I can’t wait for the fresh start that this journal is going to help me with in 2021✨

If this is your first year bullet journaling, a bullet journal is basically a planner, diary, mood and habit tracker and scrapbook all in one! I go a bit more in depth about what bullet journaling is all about in my very first set-up in 2018, and I also have a whole post on How I Use My Bullet Journal which is very helpful if you’re just starting, so be sure to check those out:) Plus, if you’re looking for more inspiration make sure to take a look at my 2019 and 2020 set-ups as well:))

This year I’m using a Leuchtturm 1917 journal for the third time because I really love the quality; it’s hardcover, has numbered pages, a pocket at the back, and it’s not too expensive! This is also the only journal I can find that has at least 240 pages. I like to give myself 20 pages per month and be able to fit the whole year in one journal, so the amount of pages in the Leuchtturm 1917 is great🙌 For 2021 I chose their Lemon yellow colour🥰 It’s pretty bright, but yellow is one of my favourite colours and I thought that it would bring some positive vibes into this year which we all need!

I know that lots of people like to keep their beginning-of-the-year spreads pretty neutral, but last year I brought in some olive green because my journal was an olive green colour, and it looked really good. So this year I decided to use some yellow in my 2021 set-up and I love how it turned out!! I paired it with a nice light grey. Actually yellow and grey are two of the Pantone colours of the year as well, so look at me go! As is hinted at by the cover of my journal, I used a lot of brown kraft paper in these spreads as well, and wrote over it with a white gel pen. I got a whole roll of this stuff on Amazon for like five bucks and it was TOTALLY worth it- it looks so good! And then I also used some washi tape because the one I have is neutral and it’s a great way to fill in empty space. The markers I used throughout this spread were a bright yellow Tombow Dual Brush Pen in the shade 055, a light grey Zebra Mildliner, my Faber Castell fineliners, and my Sakura Gelly Roll 08 gel pen.

On the inside cover I glued in some simple little spacing cheat sheets. These are great for when I’m making any sort of spread and need to know how to divide up the page without doing the math or counting every single time. There are some great resources on how to use a whole page to make a more elaborate cheat sheet; I love AmandaRachLee on Youtube! But I like this simple and I don’t feel like I need to use up a whole page for it. I decorated with a cute little olive branch motif on that brown kraft paper, which is something you’ll see me use a lot throughout this set-up!

Then on the opposite page I wrote out my name and contact info, and a little quote/personal motto:)

This journal also comes with a pre-made index, which is really nice! I don’t keep track of every single page in my journal, but I did write out which pages I’m using for which months. I wrote out my own title, and I love the way that the yellow and grey work together! There is still some space on those grey lines to keep track of more spreads if I want to. There were two more pages that had indexes on them, but I think I’ll just either glue those together or leave them blank.

Here’s page 1 in my journal! I did a nice 2021 title page with a border of kraft paper that has some of those olive branch doodles on it. I wrote out 2021 in a simple, yellow font, and then actually wrote out the words twenty twenty-one as well. On the opposite page there’s my key. I pretty much kept the same key as last year because I found that it works really well for me! But there are so many options that you can use when it comes to bullet shapes and pen colours to differentiate between tasks and keep you organized. I used a stencil to draw out a key on that kraft paper for decoration as well.

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This next spread is my future log! This is where I write down all the events that are coming up for the year; like birthdays, future appointments, or exam dates. The little calendars I drew out are also helpful when I’m setting up my monthly spreads. This year I was inspired by AmandaRachLee to try something really cool. I cut the edges of the page in between two spreads so that it’s like a little door that you can flip back and forth. This way you only have to write out one title, and it also makes the whole thing feel more cohesive because instead of splitting this between two spreads, it’s like it’s only one spread. I used kraft paper for those olive branch doodles, and also to write out the calendars. This spread is super functional and super cute- which is great combo when it comes to bullet journaling!

Next up is my goals/”this year” spread. I drew out a big 2021 in the centre on kraft paper, which I LOVE. On the left side I have some boxes to write down my goals for the year, which I split into school, fitness, blog and personal. Then on the right I have a space to do a bit of journaling before the year begins. I wrote some prompts that will help me to get focused on what I want to achieve this year. It’s great to have some goals to work on over the course of the year- whether you’re using a bullet journal or not. I love these pages so much and can’t wait to fill them in!

This spread took me a while to figure out because I knew that I wanted some sort of blogging spread at the beginning of my journal, but just didn’t know what that would look like. But now that I’m finished I’m so so happy with the way that this looks! I wrote out “My Day Is Booked Dashboard” on that kraft paper and used it as a tile, and then wrote 2021 in yellow beside that. Beneath the title on the left page, I have a chart where I can track all of my blog and Instagram stats. Last year I tracked these monthly in my monthly recaps, but because I was often behind on those monthly recaps I couldn’t get an accurate count of my Instagram growth. So this will allow me to write down everything right away. Then on the next page I have lots of space to write down both blog and Instagram ideas, and I made such a cute little envelope out of my kraft paper to hold any extra notes that I might have! Maybe I’ll do a tutorial on Instagram reels on how to make one! I’ll write that down in my ideas section:) Even if you don’t have a blog, a page like this can still be very helpful for work or school. Make it your own!

These are the last two pages of my set-up:) Of course I had to include a 2021 reading challenge- I enjoyed the one I did last year so much! I’ll have a whole other post dedicated to this coming out soon. Then on the opposite page I wrote out a quote, because I love to have one to start off the year. My quote this year is “What the New Year brings to you depends a lot on what you bring to the New Year.” This really resonated with me because it reminds me that it’s important to have a positive attitude, work hard and give it your all! I did another of those kraft paper borders to surround this page.

And that concludes my 2021 Set-Up!! I’m so excited to fill all of these spreads in, and I love how they make me feel ready to take on the world in 2021. I hope that you found some inspiration in this post and that you have fun setting up your own journal! Don’t forget to check out my past set-ups if you want to see more spread ideas, and feel free to ask me any questions you have about bullet journaling! Stay tuned for my January 2021 Set-Up coming up soon:))

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))