Book Fetish

Bullet Journal Supplies to Level Up Your Practice

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Nikki DeMarco

Contributor

The inimitable Nikki DeMarco is as well-traveled as she is well-read. Being an enneagram 3, Aries, high school librarian, makes her love for efficiency is unmatched. She lives in Richmond, Virginia, and is passionate about helping teens connect to books. Nikki has an MFA in creative writing, is a TBR bibliologist, and writes for Harlequin, Audible, Kobo, and MacMillan. Since that leaves her so much time, she’s currently working on writing a romance novel, too. Find her on all socials @iamnikkidemarco (Instagram, Twitter, Threads)

Bullet journaling has been life changing for people, myself included. It was a system created by Ryder Carroll to be used in any notebook and to help him keep his ADHD mind organized. He’s written a book, The Bullet Journal Method, that explains his philosophy behind this logging system. My copy is marked up, well loved, and highly recommended.

I’ve written before about the best bullet journals, and now I’m back with bullet journal supplies to level up your practice. It’s important to note that all you need to bullet journal is something to write with, a notebook, and to watch this short introduction video, but notebook and journaling supplies have been a love of mine since the first time my mom took me back-to-school shopping. We weren’t even shopping for me, I was too young for school, but my older siblings needed pencils, spiral notebooks, and highlighters. I wanted everything they had to set up my own school at home. My mom indulged me with a notebook of my own (no new pencils, there were perfectly good ones at home). Now I make my own fancy pencil money and have as many colored pencils and pens as my heart desires.

This started my love affair with paper products and planners specifically. Once I found bullet journaling, I was able to actually finish a notebook without a ton of blank pages at the end. Finding and sticking to a system made me feel better about investing in a few tools to make that system even more effective and enjoyable for me. Overall, I’m a pretty simple journaler. Mine is mostly lists, a few doodles, and brainstorming/reflection pages. Having a few tools to help me with monthly set up and to keep my pages interesting, has taken my journaling habit to the next level.

Spacing ruler

notebook and ruler

I’ve been using a ruler since I started bullet journaling, but having one that is specific to my notebook size and with grid spacing markers keeps me from counting the lines or dots every time I want to make a spread. $9

Stencils

Habit tracker stencil for a bullet journal

Habit tracker stencils are so helpful. I was tracking habits by drawing boxes, and while effective, it wasn’t visually pleasing. When I went to the habit tracker spreads, I wasn’t inclined to use them because I didn’t like how the page looked. A simple stencil like this one, made all the difference, especially since I could track multiple items on one page. $6.41

Stencil for differently sized circles

A stencil that has different sized circles on it helps me for the same reason, it makes the page more visually appealing to have perfect circles. $7.15

monthly or weekly boxes stencil

Having a stencil to set up weekly or monthly spreads keeps everything uniform and helps me not run out of room on the page. $8 and $6

Stickers

sticker with pills and boxes

Again, attractive trackers help me use them more regularly. Since I have ADHD, I have to add things to make routine tasks, like taking my meds, interesting. Sometimes, shorter goals, like a six days instead of a month, make me feel like I’m accomplishing goals regularly. These meds stickers with checkboxes are just the thing. There are also stickers for tracking water and blood sugar levels. $3

january through june monthly sticker sheets

If you’re not artistic, but want to add a little whimsy to your journal, monthly themed sticker sheets are an easy way to do it. $32 for the whole year set.

February 2022 calendar sticker

While I use the calendar on my phone along with my bullet journal, having a visual of the months dates can really help cement me in time. The clear mini calendar stickers are perfect alongside your monthly spread to help get a visual of what the upcoming month looks like. $7

Writing Utensils

red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple pens overtop a notebook

Using colorful pens also helps me stay interested in my journal. This set that has clever phrases on them add to the interest, which helps me keep track of them. I like to use different colors for different months or tasks to trigger my brain into remembering what is important and to organize my thoughts. $12

double line pens in multiple colors

Double line pens are so fun! Having something to write with that makes you excited to get back to your journal can help keep your priorities in order. Again, these help to add whimsy to the page and keep interest on specific tasks. $3 each or $18 for a set of six.

Richmond till I dyes color pencil set

Themed colored pencils could not be more perfect for the journaler looking to level up. Not only do these have a punny case, but each color is named after a reference to the show. Brown is “absolute garbage water,” pink is “biscuits with the boss,” and blue is “football is life.” $15