BULLET JOURNALING 101: the yearly setup

hello everyone, my name is Aly and i’m the person behind @bujo_aly (instagram + tiktok + pinterest). i am so grateful to have the opportunity to write this article for takkti bringing you my yearly bullet journal setup.

i would like to share some useful spreads you maybe don‘t want to miss in your setup in the beginning of the new year and of course everything is changeable and adaptable to your own needs.

i normally don't want to have a theme in the yearly setup since I think that it could get boring or I can‘t see it anymore. but for this time I decided to go with a minimal black & white and kraft paper theme, and i think it fits perfectly to the journals of takkti!

all you are going to need is a journal, mine is the notebook from takkti with the stairs design.

you’ll need a pencil and an eraser to sketch out your design ideas, i prefer a mechanical pencil so i don't need to sharpen it every time. for the writing i used some brushpens with a smaller tip for more accurate lettering and some fineliners with different nib-sizes. for decorating the spreads i used kraft paper, some washi tapes and takkti’s kraft paper stickers, scissors and a glue roller.

we couldn‘t start better than welcoming a new year with a beautiful cover page completing it with a nice quote. it is absolutely up to you if you want to make a cover page or „this belongs to…“-page. i didn‘t do that kind of spread, because my journal is on top of my desk most of the time .

one of the most important spreads is this grid-spacing-sheet (grid cheat sheet). the advantage of a takkti notebook is that it already has markings for quartering the pages, but we also might need thirds or even smaller divisions. and if you don‘t want to count the dots all the time and make a math-lesson on dividing your spread, you're going to need this! i also made squares so that i have a visualized size for monthlies or other spreads, so i can quickly see how many dots i will need.

on the other side of this spread i made a key for my symbols i use in my bullet journal to mark tasks and events. you can use any symbols you like and that are easy for you. it shouldn‘t be complicated to remember, so you can have a good workflow.

for the next two spreads i decided to make my future log: an overview of all the months where you can write down important dates that you don‘t want to forget, like birthdays and holidays. since there is enough space on these spreads, i consciously decided that i won‘t go with a year at a glance. In my opinion it‘s already included in this future log. ( i am still thrilled that i didn‘t made a mistake writing down the numbers of the months, if you find a mistake, please don‘t tell anyone, haha!)

a yearly setup wouldn‘t be complete without the goals-spread. i divided this page in two halfs so I can categorize my goals in the right section. right next to it, i planned to make a master to-do list for tasks that aren‘t urgent but have to be done during this year. i combined this page with a bucket list so i also can write down some fun activities - for example to-do: paint the office → bucket-list: redecorate the working space, i think that goes well together, right?

this year i can surely say that i watched a lot of movies and series, because of the amount of time we all had due to the pandemic. but to be honest: i can‘t always remember the name and it happens often that i re-watch the beginning of a movie and recognize after 15 minutes that i watched this scenes earlier this year (what a waste of time, haha).

and since i am a huge fan of tv-shows with a lot of seasons, i have no other choice as to track them as well!

since we all definitely want to try out some new things in this new year, this page is a nice space to categorize and write them down. the thing, that is also a goal for me is to read more books in the next year and on this spread i have some space to track the books that i already read and want to read.

for those who already know me: you certainly might have seen that i started a new hobby the past months: pen paling. and because i don‘t always want to search the addresses of my letter-friends, i note them here and at the same time i can track the incoming and outgoing happy-mail next to the addressees.

another fun idea for a spread might be the playlists spread. on these two pages i want to capture my favorite song that i heard to the most in the current month. i left some space to write down the name of the songs and a squared field to stick in a printed cover of the song. i absolutely can't wait to see how this page is going to look like at the end of the year.

i hope that you liked this article and you are motivated and you got some inspirations for your own bujo setup. here you’ll find a list for other beautiful spread ideas for your bullet journal yearly setup.

• savings tracker
• get to know me page
• birthdays
• brain-dump
• social media tracker / -milestones
• social media brain-dump
• yearly habit tracker
• yearly health tracker
• fitness log
• workout tracker
• a year in pixels
• memories (with pictures)
• cleaning spread
• bujo themes overview
• doodle reference spread
• mood board(s)
• title/ lettering reference spread

if my yearly bullet journal setup inspired you, we would love to see your (re-)creations on instagram and don’t forget to tag us @takkti and @bujo_aly !

stay creative and safe,

Aly <3