If you have trouble staying organized for school or just want a fun hobby (that's also aesthetically pleasing), then bullet journaling is perfect for you!
What is bullet journaling? Put simply, it's when you track items in your journal in a highly organized and efficient way (via bullets). Done right, it can be a great way to track important things like due dates and important deadlines. Plus, you can get creative with it and add sticky notes, washi tape, and all kinds of different accessories.
Need some ideas to get started? Not to worry: this post covers 15 of the best bullet journal ideas for students! Let's dive right in.
Why Bullet Journal?
At this point in time, you might be thinking “why bullet journal?” After all, there are plenty of online applications that serve the same function as a bullet journal notebook. Before we get into some of the best bullet journal ideas for students, it's important to first understand what's so great about it.
Here are some reasons why you might benefit from bullet journaling:
- A bullet journal is likely to make you more productive – You can use almost any notebook on the market to bullet journal and it's an easy way to simplify your tasks so that they're more likely to get done.
- A bullet journal can make you more mindful – It's likely that when you start bullet journalling, you'll need to move some tasks from one place to another (for example from a monthly log to a weekly layout). This act of moving tasks gives you time to pause and really consider whether each task is worth doing (and potentially saving you time doing redundant tasks).
- Bullet journal spreads can help you better manage your time – Usually when you bullet journal, you assign different weights to different tasks. This can really help you clarify in your mind what NEEDS to get done, and what can wait, hence improving your time management skills.
On top of all these, bullet journalling is also extremely fun! What other activity lets you turn your study tracker or class schedule into a creative work of organization with various different colors?
15 of the Best Bullet Journal Ideas for Students
From monthly spreads to weekly spreads, time management to having a future log, you're sure to find something on this list that you'll love!
Goal Setting
Bullet journalling can make mundane tasks like goal setting fun and exciting again. College students and high school students alike can now reap the benefits of setting goals for themselves without having to suffer any of the boredom.
To do goal setting with bullet journals, it's a good idea to decide on a set time every month (or year) to sit down and update your goals. While you're checking off which goals you've hit (or missed) in the previous period, you can also start planning out what you want your goals to be for the next period.
Semester Overview
Let's be real: a semester can seem like a longgg time. There are often so many things that happen in your school life and personal life that make you question whether you can even get through it all. That being said, using the bullet journal method to organize your semester can give you a clear sense of what needs to be done and when.
Simply by creating a semester overview, you'll make it clearer in your own mind what needs to get done and when the important dates are, making the semester that much more manageable.
To-Do List
The best way to create your to-do list is to use a bullet journal. You can use a daily log format (or daily spreads) to plan out each day for yourself. Or if you have big things that need to be done on a monthly basis, jot down your monthly tasks (there are many journals on the market today which serve equally well as monthly calendars)!
Class Schedule
If you're anything like me, you know how tough it is to keep track of all of your classes. There are simply too many different starting times and buildings to remember!
This is where a bullet journal could be a great idea. You can create a simple weekly or daily schedule for yourself that clearly lays out exactly when and where you have class. If you want to get into even more detail, you can even add “study time” to your schedule.
Morning Routine
Study after study have shown that the way you start your day largely determines how you'll feel and what you'll do for the rest of it. Bullet journalling your morning routine and checking items off when you complete them can be a fun way to get your day started right.
How you can start is by just doing a brain dump of everything you do in the morning: shower, brush your teeth, meditate, read, work on a blog post, etc. Then, start formulating those items into little sections on your spread. And finish by prettying each item up however you want!
Weekly Layout
Have a hard time keeping track of what needs to get done during the week? Try creating a weekly layout with a bullet journal!
All you need is a pen / pencil, a ruler, and about 10 minutes of time, and you can create a neat little layout that can serve as a great place to jot down the main things you need to do throughout the week.
Weekend Planner
College life can be stressful and intense so it's important to find the time to enjoy your weekends. A bullet journal is a great place to layout your action plan (lest you forget and to give you something to look forward to).
There are plenty of layout ideas you can try for the weekend planner, but a common one is to basically make a weekly planner spread, and instead of allocating the same amount of space for Saturday and Sunday, give it the space of 2 weekdays each. This way, you can plan more stuff for the weekends and also the items are harder to miss.
Social Media Organizer
If you run social media accounts (or even just have many different platforms which you use), it can sometimes get confusing organizing everything. With a bullet journal, this problem goes away.
There's a few different creative bullet journal ideas you can employ when trying to simplify your social media. One is to use a singular bullet journal page and jot down all the information for each of your different social media platforms (like usernames, passwords, etc.) The other is to plan out the daily tasks and major projects associated with running a social media account (this is especially true if you're running one for a client).
Birthdays
Never forget another birthday again with this bullet journalling idea. You might think that you need an entire calendar to jot down the birthdays of everyone, but by being a little creative, you actually only need a page or two.
Grade Tracker
Chances are, if you're reading about bullet journal ideas for students, you're a high achiever and want to succeed in your classes. You probably also obsess over your grades.
Why not take that obsession and channel it into something that both helps you keep track of your grades and is also aesthetically pleasing? With the bullet journal grade tracker, you can jot down how much each assignment and exam is worth plus (if you really want to get down to the nitty-gritty) write down the exam times for all your classes.
Study Schedule
Awesome way to motivate yourself to study? Check. Fun, but not too difficult, to make? Check. A good way to organize your time? Triple check.
There are many ways that you can make this, but the premise is the same: a study schedule is meant to help you organize your life and find time to study for your classes. It's usually really easy to create and can make a big impact on your learning efforts.
Sleep Journal
Sleep is one of the most important contributors to education. Many studies have shown that people consistently underestimate the impact that sleep has on their quality of life. As a student, if you don't get good sleep, your studying is likely to suffer.
Keeping a sleep journal can significantly help you stay on track in terms of sleep. These are extremely easy to make and give you a visual representation of just how much you're sleeping.
Exam Tracker
Differing slightly from the grade tracker, the exam tracker revolves entirely around… well… your exams!
Use this tracker to jot down the exact time and date of your exams, as well as any efforts you're planning to make on studying for them.
Budget Tracker
When it comes to bullet journal ideas for students, no list is complete without a budget tracker. As a student, you're likely spending a huge chunk of your time studying, another chunk doing extracurriculars, and yet another big chunk worrying about your social life.
There really isn't any time for you to be thinking about managing money. That's why a bullet journal budget tracker is the perfect tool for you to take advantage of. Simply jot down all your expenses and all the money you're making, figure out how much residual income you have, and start planning your weeks/months around these numbers!
Self Care Tracker
Perhaps one of the most important aspects of student life is self-care. Yes, getting good grades matters and so does having a nice resume to show for your time at school, but it's all meaningless at the end of the day if you don't have good physical and mental health.
Put your bullet journal to good use by creating a self-care tracker with it! You can get creative and track your mental health on a day-by-day basis, then make a final monthly graph with the data. Or you can prepare a set self-care routine spread for your future reference. Or, yet another idea, plan different self-care activities for each day of the week (much like the weekly layout but with a self-care aspect to it).
Recap: 15 of the Best Bullet Journal Ideas for Students
Bullet journaling is one of the best ways to keep yourself organized while also having fun. This post has covered some of the best bullet journal ideas for students to try out and take advantage of. As a quick recap, here they all are:
- Goal Setting Spread
- Semester Overview
- To-Do List
- Class Schedule Spread
- Morning Routine
- Weekly Layout
- Weekend Planner
- Social Media Organizer
- Birthday Tracker
- Grade Tracker
- Study Schedule
- Sleep Journal
- Exam Tracker
- Budget Tracker
- Self Care Tracker
The awesome thing is that if you do a little digging, you'll be able to find even MORE bullet journal ideas for students. The possibilities are truly endless.
The best part is that to get started, all you need is a pen, a journal, a couple of different markers, and a ruler and you can create your very own bullet journal. So what are you waiting for? Start bullet journaling today! Your future (much more organized and mindful) self will thank you for it.
Jeff is a current Harvard student and author of the blog Financial Pupil who is passionate about learning, living, and sharing all things personal finance-related. He has experience working in the financial industry and enjoys the pursuit of financial freedom. Outside of blogging, he loves to cook, read, and golf in his spare time.