My Minimalist March Bullet Journal Setup

It is the start of yet another month, and therefore yet another collection of bullet journal spreads. After 2 months in the bullet journalling game, I think I’m starting to get an idea of what it’s all about and what specifically works well for me. In January, I went totally minimalist. I only used one main colour and very clear fonts and layouts. It was basic, to say the least.

By the time month two rolled around, I knew which parts of my journal were being exploited to their full potential, and which spreads were remaining pointlessly unused. For instance, having a double-page layout for each week was definitely too much room and felt like an intimidating chore rather than a helpful aid. That was something I was more than ready to ditch.

I did, however, continue my minimalist theme. February was the month I cautiously stuck my head out into the world of colour and simple page designs, and I loved the pastel highlighter feel that held it all together. These spreads generally worked well for me but I found myself losing motivation slightly towards the end of February – some things, such as my tracker page, were too detailed and instead of improving my organisation, were adding an unnecessary pressure to my day.

For March, I have considered everything I’ve learnt about myself from the past two months in terms of organisation, and attempted to base my spreads on that. So this month, with a preference for minimalist style, clarity, and quick use, plus the motivation that simple, colourful design gives me, I have created the pages below…

Month Overview

I loved my February version of this and so basically copied it. As they say, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. I explained in my February setup post how the month grid didn’t work well for me as I didn’t feel encouraged to use it; this list of the days is a lot easier to manage.

Goals and Finance

As always, my goals page is there to train my focus on what I’m trying to achieve throughout the month. For March, I’ve split this into general aims, things to read and watch, and future decisions to make. Just below this, I have a brief summary of my finances for the month – a space to note down my earnings and expenditure.

Tracker Page

This tracker is definitely the most minimal one I’ve created so far: both in terms of replacing the boxes with space to leave ticks, and by reducing the amount of things I want to track. This is to help me focus on what is really important for March rather than trying to uphold a huge amount of activities.

Wellbeing and Mood Tracker

Tracking mood is important for me, as it helps to see how it relates to everything else going on in my life. This month, I am doing this by filling each box in with a colour correlating to my mood: yellow for happy, blue for sad, red for irritated…

Monthly To Do Spread

As I mentioned before, having a double spread in January for each week was an overkill. So now I have a little box for the main tasks of each week together in one space. This works a lot better for me, as I am now able to see all of my tasks together.

Food Diary

This spread is very much like last month’s – I’m using this page to see my general eating patterns and how they relate to my wellbeing, both physical and mental. Food is so vital for how we function and our mood levels, so this spread serves as a reminder for that.

Gratitude and Spanish Words

Much like February, I’m using a gratitude page to positively boost my mental health – working to actively notice the wonderful people present and events occurring in my everyday life. I’m also low-key attempting to revisit my days of learning Spanish at school by learning at least one new foreign word each day.

Future Creative Planning

My last two pages this month are for planning future creative projects – whether that’s for my blog or for personal writing. I like to have a visual guide of where I’m going next and these pages provide a perfect space for that.

That’s all the spreads I have drawn up for March so far; as you can see, as always, I haven’t really done anything fancy here. It’s important for me to prioritise practicality over prettiness and I think my March pages encapsulate this idea. I started this series of showing my monthly bullet journal setups in the hope that other people would feel encouraged to give this way of organising a go if they felt tempted – without being put off by the high artsy bar set by Pinterest searches.

By starting minimalist and building your way up each month, you can learn what works for you, what doesn’t and what you feel is lacking and needs to be incorporated into your journal over the next month. For me, I think this is going to be a constant process of change and growth, as I myself change and grow. But that’s the exciting part, and this inspires me to keep going. Let us not rely on image searches for inspiration, but for motivation to develop a unique style; let us be our own inspirations and continue to get to know ourselves better each month. …Is that cheesy? Probably.

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If you enjoyed this post, you may like:

Starting My First Minimalist Bullet Journal

How I Consciously Chose Change

My February Bullet Journal Setup

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