#know the notes

I’ve started digital bullet journaling recently. These are from the past month or so that I’ve been trying it out.

I found myself spending a lot of time and money on supplies that I either didn’t use or didn’t want to use in a particular spread, so I moved to OneNote instead. I wasn’t sure if I’d like it, but it’s so easy to add pictures and there are an infinite amount of colors of highlighters, pens, and pencils. I’m actually really enjoying being able to adapt each spread to what I need that week, whether that’s meal planning, journaling, or just listing what movies and songs I’ve been watching and listening to. I can move any text I’ve already written, I can easily copy and paste or erase and re-create elements, I can switch between handwriting and typing. I can also drag and drop anything that doesn’t belong in a section/month so I stay organized. One thing I didn’t like about physical bullet journaling is that if there was something I was working on long term and I didn’t know how much space it would need, I would always end up with too little or too much space in a place that was no longer relevant. I’m planning the week a friend from college is visiting (late June, early July) and I started planning this in April. What I thought was going to be a list of ideas of places to go turned into a whole itinerary and to-do list. In OneNote, I carried the multiple pages across April into May and now into June and they can expand and contract as I need.

It’s just so much easier than paper (though, admittedly it isn’t as satisfying) and I’ve been able to get past the “but what if I mess up this page” block that usually prevents me from creating spreads. And it cuts down on time. I have a lot of free time away from work, but I try to spend that out with my friends or on my other hobbies. I enjoy bullet journaling, but the paper version can take a lot of very painstaking and detailed work that takes up a lot of time, time I would rather spend on friends. These past two weeks I found a spread that really works for me (week 21 and 22), so I literally just copied the whole week 21 page into a new page for week 22, removed my to-dos/events/grocery list, and highlighted the next week on the calendar. It was so easy. (Let me know if you guys want a post on OneNote or digital bullet journaling, I’ve come across a lot of tips and tricks as I’ve been trying this out.)

week 28 & 29

week 25 - 27

I actually have the first Surface Book! I bought it a couple of months ago because I needed a replacement for my laptop that was 5+ years old. I knew I wanted a laptop replacement but didn’t want to spend like $2k on a laptop so I opted for the first generation Surface Book rather than the Surface Pro.

I really enjoy having the power of a full laptop along with the full keyboard, while still being able to detach the tablet portion. I honestly also wanted it because of how cool the design is. There have been 2 in 1 laptops before but not ones with fully detachable tablets while still maintaining the battery life and power this thing has. And the functionality is ridiculous, it’s got so many features. I can type up notes quickly and efficiently, or I can detach the tablet and hand write in my digital bullet journal.

The only thing that might not be to everyone’s taste is how large the tablet really is. It’s a full size computer screen, so it’s not as portable or as convenient as other tablets, but that’s not it’s primary purpose for me, I’m never bringing just the tablet anywhere on its own. I find the larger size to be really nice because I like larger work surfaces as well and would probably find a smaller tablet, like the Surface Pro, to be too cramped to work on.

So yes, I would highly, highly recommend the Surface Pro. It’s got all the power and functionality of a full size laptop with the keyboard, mouse, etc. that traditional tablets don’t have, but it still has the convenience of a tablet with a paired pen/stylus. I’ve only had it for a few months, but I can definitely see it lasting for a long time. I’m sure the Surface Book 2 is even more amazing, but I didn’t want to spend that much money when the first Surface Book looked by and large the same. Certain versions of the Surface Pro are available at lower price points, but some are even more expensive than the first generation of the Surface Book because it’s not the latest, so they’re on pretty even footing there.

So I’ve only just seen this because I’ve only just been on tumblr for the first time in a while, but yes, I do have some advice for this!

I actually had the same problem for a while (well, it’s not necessarily a problem because your notes don’t have to be a specific size to be functional, but I relate to the wanting to make them want to look nice). I started using graph paper in college and I found that it worked so much better for me than lined paper. The small sizes of the boxes gave me smaller borders and so I was able to keep my handwriting smaller and neater and fit more on the page. It definitely made me feel like I was using my space well and the neater handwriting was kind of a side effect, but a nice one. Plus, it’s excellent for math because it keeps you organized not only horizontally, but vertically as well, which can help with equations.

So yeah, using graph paper is probably my number one tip. Of course, practice helps too, but graph paper (or smaller lined paper, if you can find it) forces you into smaller, neater handwriting.