Journal Me Organized: The Complete Guide to Practical and Creative Planning

by Rebecca Spooner

“Those who have difficulty with planning or journaling will be inspired by the multitude of projects and options for personalizing their daily and overall life story. . . . Highly recommended.” — Library Journal (Starred review)

Need to get organized? Blogging star Rebecca Spooner shows you how to create a great journal that will put your life in order.
 
Whether you’re rearranging your laundry room, planning the week’s menus, outlining your dream vacation, or training for your first 5K, Journal Me Organized provides all the information you need to eliminate mental clutter, focus on goals, and enjoy a creative outlet. Author Rebecca Spooner covers everything, from choosing a notebook and the basics of cross-referencing to the intricacies of different types of journaling, planning, goal setting, and time management.

The fun truly begins with Spooner’s inspirational pages, clever ideas, and easy-to-follow instructions. She provides tutorials, sample lettering to trace, and templates that range from minimalist daily spreads to exuberant designs that capture the joy of holidays, birthdays, and personal milestones.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Crafts, Journaling, Art, Reference, Productivity

144 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2018

Reviews

[Kailey (Luminous Libro) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got so many wonderful and creative ideas for my planner from this book! I love how the information is organized, with chapters about different planning methods, notebooks, styles, and supplies, along with ideas for doodling, creating lists, using watercolors and acrylics, brush lettering, and even making your own notebooks from scratch.

The beauty of it is that you don't need fancy paints, pens, or notebooks to use the ideas in this book. You could just as easily set up a planner or bullet journal in a simple lined composition notebook from the dollar store. And the author gives tips about how to set up in a plain composition notebook versus a dot grid notebook.

I love all the different styles of daily, monthly, and yearly spreads! Whether you want a minimalist style or an artistic style, there is something for everyone.

There are even tutorials on how to use paints in a simple, easy way that is accessible to all of us non-artistic people. And there are tutorials on creating your own custom tabs, decorative paper clips, and adding custom pockets in the pages of your journal/planner.

At the back of the book, there are several removable pages with doodles, dividers, and banners that you can trace or copy into your own notebook, and I already traced a few into mine!

I found so many imaginative ideas in this book, with practical tips on actually scheduling, organizing, tracking, and planning. I love it! This book has it all. Literally, everything I was looking for and hoping for... this book has it.

[Celine · Rating 3 out of 5]

For someone who is just getting started with (bullet) journaling this would certainly bring a lot of inspiration. I’ve been bujo‘ing for almost 3 years and was hoping for a few new things for me to take away. There was one page layout with trees I liked and a page with hand lettering combos. The rest I had seen before on Social Media or already had in my own bujo.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lately, I've become more and more interested in getting back into bullet journaling and/or planning/organization.

I picked this book up at the library and I found it really helpful! The pages have a ton of pictures and examples, lots of tips and I truly feel like this book could help anyone start their own Creative Planning journal!

[Sam (Hissing Potatoes) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview for beginners of important journal planning elements, like different journal types, methods, and more. The book focuses far more on artistry than minimalism, but the tips provided are very practical and explained effectively.

[Jennifer (Jenny) Andrusak · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were a lot of good ideas. I’m sure you can find these in other places but nice to have it all together in a book. I want to do better at planning/using a planner and this gives me ideas for sure!

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd definitely recommend this for Bullet Journal fans, although the author uses other similar systems. Her approach is much more art-oriented than mine -- I like somewhat minimalist Bullet Journaling, with a fair amount of color, and I'm never going to do watercolor washes as background, but Spooner offers just about everything, and gives some very helpful ideas that I'll probably use some time in the future.

[Judi Easley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! I think Rebecca has more energy than I did at her age. Homeschooling five children, running a home, volunteering, being a good Christian, a good wife, working full-time as a blogger, and now an author of a really good book. She must take magic vitamins. I enjoyed reading her cheerful text about how to approach and do the journal setup and a wide range of choices to personalize your planner. I found myself picking and choosing and customizing from what she offered. I wanted more Habit Trackers since that's a big one for me. But I think I'll check out her blog and see what she has to offer. I can also check on Pinterest for more. She probably has more there. I loved the fact that she used her planners from years past. They revealed so much about her, what type of person she is. So genuine. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to start a personal planner or better incorporate your professional or academic schedule with your schedule.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very practical set of suggestions for people interested in bullet journals. I particularly appreciated the suggestions for people who have less time to spend on creating this organizational system; it made me feel it was possible that this could work as a tool and not become an end in itself. I liked the author's style and her realistic approach.

[Vickey · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you find the volume of bullet journal resources available online a bit too overwhelming, this is a nice summary. Very briefly lists some different journaling methods and directs you to the websites for more info, then shifts to lots of photos of different layouts you could copy or be inspired by. More of a focus on creative layouts than cognitive layouts, but some good ideas for both.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are into artsy bullet point development, this book is great.

I started to learn bullet journaling at the beginning of November 2020. And continued playing (practicing) with what I liked and eventually didn't like about it. And what I wanted to use that worked for me. There were good changes in myself on how I completed projects, set goals, to-dos lists, and more. I enjoyed the journey. However, I'm not an artsy person other than stick people. Nor did I want to spend the time being artsy. I thought it wasn't something I would keep up in the long run. The basics were handy once I stopped measuring myself to all the artsy stuff.

This book is artsy bulleting. Similar to what is available online. Published in 2018 it was done at the upswing of this movement.

What I did like about it: The chapter on "Discovering Your Inspiration, Writing Your Story." And "Cerebral vs Creative Planning" chapter. I had a mindful shift reading these two chapters.

I am glad I checked out this book from the library and not purchased it. I do recommend the book if you are artsy and dig bullet journaling. This could be because I like holding books. The color in this book is out-of-this-world beautiful. Diagrams too. Well written and laid out. There was a difference from seeing similar illustrations, at least for me, online and then touching them.

Bottom line: If you are artsy and into bullet journaling. This book is perfect for you. For this I give 5 stars. For everyone else I give 2 stars, 4 stars if you borrow from the library.

[Sofia Balderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Journal Me Organised is a really pretty book! Visually calming and lovely to flip through when you need a moment of relaxation. There’s definitely an aesthetic charm to it, and I can see how it would appeal to people who enjoy slow, creative planning.

That said, I found it pretty unrelatable. The author homeschools five children and is a full-time homemaker, while I run a charity and juggle a completely different kind of daily chaos. I couldn’t quite see myself in her routines or suggestions.

Ultimately, I’ve realised that to-do lists, at least for me, need to be functional and digital. There’s just too much going on in my day to manage it on paper. Still, I did appreciate the idea of writing down what you’ve done. It creates a real sense of accomplishment and invites a touch of creativity into your day, especially if you like doodling or experimenting.

Nice to look at, and probably great for the right kind of user, but not a fit for my lifestyle.

[Westminster Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book introduced me to the world of using a journal to become organized/dot journaling. The layouts are beautiful and inspiring. Alas they are too complicated for me. I've found several other books on dot journals that gave me the foundation I needed to begin and simple steps to make my pages pretty. Maybe someday this book can help me become more artistic in my journal, but for now it's just not helpful.

Find Journal Me Organized at Westminster Public Library today.

And if you are in search of new books to read, try our services, What Do I Read Next. Our library staff are standing by to create a personalized recommendation list for you!

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a quick, easy read, owing to the fact that it has lots of colorful layout examples. What text is present in the book is clearly divided into sections for easy browsing. This book is geared more toward planning and bullet journaling and has lots of suggestions for layouts, or spreads, and additional optional trackers. Trackers are spreads that focus on keeping track of a particular thing, like your mood or the weather.

This book is less helpful for traditional journaling. However, I do want to incorporate a mood tracker into my journal. I also did get some inspiration to make my traditional journal more creative. Furthermore, I appreciate the instructions on how to make a pocket that can be attached to pages or to the inside cover.

[Mary Chrapliwy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent book for the beginning journal planning person. I got this nice clean, empty composition book that I covered with decorative paper. I started planning and journaling by the seat of my pants. Not quite as pretty as I imagined it would be. That's where this book was such a great help and inspiration.

Rebecca Spooner starts by saying that she has never been artistic, but over time she developed the skills to create pages she enjoyed looking at and planning with. She has interesting pages covering: color, lettering, dividers, and most fun of all, planner doodles. I still use a main planner to keep my schedule in, but now have created a journal-planner hybrid for goals, months in review, and general notes. Now nicely set up after reading this planner guide.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lovely book, it came across my attention through a different search, so I checked it out from the library not sure what I would find. The author shows how she designs journal pages to organize her life. Organizational wise, I have my lists and various notebooks covered, however her designs were so lovely it was a delight reading through the book anyway. I won't change my method to match hers because I don't like drawing, nor do I want to make the time to make everything so delightful myself. But her brush lettering is so lovely, if we were friends I would ask her to make specific pages for me and have a book that looked like hers with all the pages I want to use.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great resource for different layouts and collection ideas as well as ideas on how to organize your journal and the ways you can draw out your more artistic side while still getting organized. Most of all the author emphasizes that it's okay to make mistakes. The journal is for you and perfection is not needed. I know that this book will not long stay on my shelf as I will be turning to it constantly in my journaling life. As an added bonus, the author included lettering, sketches, and banners in the back of the book that you can add to your journal and step-by-step instructions on art projects that can go into your journal.

[Pamela Hatch · Rating 2 out of 5]

The cover was so beautiful that I had to pick up the book and flip through it -- I then checked it out at the library and took it home. The crafted pages were very unique and absolutely gorgeous. However, the practicality of putting all the work into your "to do" lists didn't make much sense. But I would like to talk some of those ideas and use them somewhere else, I just don't know what, how, or when.

[Sarah Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book has good, clear instructions with lots of color pictures. If you're interested in bullet journaling or creating your own from scratch but don't know where to start this book wild be good for you. It doesn't have much for new info, all of it can be find online easily but it's consolidated in an easy to read form to help get you started.

[Al · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wasn't as helpful to me as other, similar books I've read, so the low star rating is based on a personal preference. This book definitely has its merits for those new to this type of journaling or people who lean further towards the creative, free-flowing methodology that this book is good at.

[Christine]

I read this book for inspiration on how to better plan and organize my job tasks and utilize my current work journal, so not all the information presented was applicable to me. However, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and gleaned some insight on how to plan and organize in a fun, creative way.

[Kelsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great! Inspiring, well organized, and full of great ideas and tips. I feel like I have a really great starting point for my bullet journal now. There are tons of ideas on Pinterest but I felt a bit overwhelmed and wasn't really able to figure out a good layout for all the different ideas floating around. After reading this I actually feel like I know how I want to start this project.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those who are more artistic leaning. Lots of good instruction and templates however those who wish to try. Nice Pictures & good in progress pages to show how to do certain things to enhance your journalling.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is basically a book of bullet journal instructions for people who like to draw and doodle in their journals. I found a few good ideas for lettering but the drawing ideas require a pretty high level of skill to pull off.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. This is probably great for people who have no idea what planning is. I’ve always wanted to try this style of planning but I know I never will because of time and perfectionism. The book didn’t even reference planners like EC or Happy Planner, etc.

[Jaime Barfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent read with plenty of tips for planner lovers. I loved all the different collection ideas as well as the break down of different notebooks. The best part was the tips and tricks at the back of the book to help you decorate your planner.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way to artsy for my personal tastes. Don't get me wrong! I love the beauty of all the artsy journaling but it's not my cup of tea. It becomes another task in my view. I often wish I could be artsy but it is not so. Sooo, if you want some inspiration for journaling here ya go.

[Judith Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a creative/bullet journaler I enjoyed the ideas and visuals shared. The author has really beautiful layouts included. I enjoyed the varied types as well, caregiver template, homeschoolers, ect... My only drawback was the lack of cultural diversity.

[Gratefulscottie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read but very good overview of the idea of Personal day planner creations. I have read a lot of blogs and articles on bullet journals and day planners and this is a good overview of the subject.

[Jen&Tonic · Rating 4 out of 5]

This had some cool ideas for spreads and I love the doodle pages at the end. Doodles are something I am not great at but enjoy doing, so I always appreciate ideas. Most of this was just basic information about bullet journaling.

[Kioni · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll be completely honest and say that this was super hard for me to navigate. The organization of the book felt haphazard, and chaotic in a way that was a turn-off. That said, this book is filled with a lot of helpful layouts and advice.