(light upbeat music) (bell rings) ♪ Oh oh yeah ♪ - Hey, everyone. It's Amanda. Welcome back to my channel. Today is the video
(light jazzy music) you've all been waiting for, the 2021 bullet journal setup. Yay! (laughs) I know I say this pretty much every year that I do a brand new bullet journal setup for the upcoming year, but I really need a fresh start. I think we can all agree on that, that 2020 was not so great. So hopefully a new bullet journal setup will manifest that fresh start energy. This is actually goin to be my fifth year bullet journaling, which is kinda crazy. I've been doing it since
2017 and never stopped. So if you've been there
since the older videos, then shout-out to you, but since it is my fifth
year bullet journaling I want to call back a little bit to my first year setup. I really wanna get
inspired for my older work because I know that my
style and everything has evolved so much since then. But sometimes I look back on my older work and I'm like, wow, this
is just like so different and I was in such a different mindset. So hopefully I can take elements from my older setups and implement
them throughout the year. It's gonna be kind of interesting. Maybe we'll do a few videos where I recreate older setups and stuff, but that's not what
we're talking about now. I'm going to be setting up the beginning pages of my
fresh new bullet journal. So grab a notebook if
you're planning with me. If not, just sit back, relax, and enjoy, and let's get planning. All right, so a 2021 bullet journal setup. We're just getting right into it. The notebook that I'm using this year is my Shop AmandaRachLee
dot a notebook of course. I was deciding between colors. I was initially gonna
go for a camel or gray but I decided on a nice basic black one. I'll leave a link to
these notebooks down below since everyone always asks
me what notebooks I use throughout the year. And there'll also be a little coupon code for you guys as well. Now, normally I would start out with a key which basically just shows
you which symbols mean what so that you can reference it, or maybe by planning out
which pages I want to include. But at this point, this is my
fifth year bullet journaling so I pretty much know
which symbols I like to use and it's kinda second nature to me. And I also have a pretty good idea of what spreads I like to include in these beginning setups. So if you do wanna see an example of a key or maybe what I've done in the past, I would recommend checking out my previous year bullet journal setups. Maybe especially if you're a
beginner to bullet journaling, I have four other ones, 2017
all the way through 2020. So there's a lot of inspo
and information in there. Speaking of my previous
year bullet journal setups, I feel like every year my bullet journals have a particular style or vibe. And when I was trying to
think of what I wanted to do for this year, I thought it would be nice to do kind of like a little throwback to the very first year that
I started bullet journaling, which was 2017. As I mentioned, it's my fifth year which feels a little bit like a landmark, especially since bullet journaling is something that is special
and has changed my life and connected me to so many people. So before I filmed this I actually flipped through
my 2017 bullet journal, the very first one. It kind of felt like a
archive or something. And I was honestly kind
of inspired by myself which I know is funny to say but I had forgotten what
my old bullet journals had looked like since it was so long ago. And since then, my bullet
journal has evolved and so have I as a human so, you know, naturally what I need in a planning system has changed. But what I did appreciate from my 2017 bullet journals was how simple they were. As sort of an homage to that year, I tried to make my
spreads in a similar style but maybe just a little bit more updated to what I currently like
in a bullet journal. So I was really into pastel
and muted colors back then. If you watch all of my old videos, you'll notice that there isn't a bright color in sight. (chuckles) So I used about four pastel colors throughout this entire setup. They're all pastel toned. And two of the colors that I chose were actually gray and yellow, which are the Pantone colors of the year. So it kind of worked out. Anyway, as you can see
for the first cover page, I did sort of a quote page. I wrote out 2021 in a
simple bubble letter style with my fine liner and
added a slight drop shadow with those pastel colors. I kept the quote pretty simple. It says, "Dear 2021, please be good." Usually I would put like
a motivational quote or a quote about being
excited for the new year but I think we all saw how that turned out last year. (chuckles) I rewatched my 2020 setup video and it was so funny to
see how excited I was for a fresh start. Oh, I was so naive back then. But at this point, you
know, I have high hopes for the new year but I also
don't wanna be disappointed so I'm going into it
with a simpler mindset. As long as we're all happy and healthy and hopefully the world heals a bit, I think that'll be good. On the page next to it, I made my grid spacing cheat sheet guide which you guys know I've made a lot in my previous bullet journals. It really helps you make spreads quicker. And the reason why I do it on this page in particular
on the left side is because it's easy for me to flip to and reference throughout the year while I'm making spreads. You know, having it on that left side, you can kinda just peek
at it and then go back to whatever spread you're making. I actually do have a whole
video where I show you guys how I use this grid spacing guide so I'll be sure to link
it in case you're confused because I always get questions about it. But basically you just number the dot spaces vertically
and horizontally, and you make marks on the page. And it shows divisions
that I use frequently whenever I'm making a spread. So I have like halves, thirds, et cetera. It honestly, really just
depends on what you use when you're making spreads. So don't feel the need
to copy mine exactly. It's just there for your own reference and to help you out. Oh, and throughout the setup, you'll see me adding a few strips of washi tape here and there. I wanted to keep it pretty minimal so I used the diagonal stripes from the Shop AmandaRachLee. I think this is from
the light monochrome set as well as the dark neutral set. And it kinda goes with
the diagonal hatching that I did in the lettering style. Next step, we have my future
log or my yearly overview. So for this, I thought of the idea of doing it kind of like Dutch door style. And I chose to do this mostly because I didn't wanna
have to keep redoing the title but also because I thought
it would just be kinda fun to make a mini notebook
that I can flip through inside my bullet journal. So basically what I'm doing
is I'm cutting off the edges of two pages. I made sure to measure beforehand so that I knew I had the
right width and everything. And I also made sure
to cut around some tabs on the side of each flap. As you can see, I'm splitting up each flap into two columns with
just a vertical line. I think the grid spacing
width for these columns was 11 wide in case any
of you were curious. Basically each column
will be for one month. Now, this is what I meant
by me not having to do the header or the title
over and over again. Because there's 12 months, obviously I typically don't fit
all 12 months onto one page. So if I were to have
done a flip future log on two separate pages, I would
have had to redo the title or maybe just not include the
title on the second spread. But because of this handy
dandy little Dutch door flap I can see the title no
matter which calendar flap that I am on. So now I'm creating each monthly overview. I just did a simple highlighted rectangle to label each month. And I also colored the tabs on the side and wrote out which months
are shown on each tab. And basically the monthly
calendar goes at the top. And any events that I'm
planning for the future will go in a list underneath it. I wrote out my mini calendars. This is always a pretty tedious part. But nowadays they have so many, I don't know why I said nowadays. I sounded really old there. But there are a lot of like
stickers and stamps and things if you don't wanna write
out these mini calendars that you can get instead. But I kinda find it therapeutic to do repetitive tasks like this. So yeah, you know, just
turn on some music, write out the calendar, make sure you don't mess up the numbers because I've definitely
done that in the past. And I had to go back in later
and fix a lot of the months. So it was a little bit traumatizing. So ever since then I've always made sure to look at my calendar and make sure I'm doing it
right the first time. (chuckles) But anyway, I really like how
this future log turned out. Honestly, it was just
kind of fun to make too, but I also like the way it looks. It's kinda like a mini-folder
inside of my bullet journal. So maybe I'll try experimenting
with this more later on. (light jazzy music continues)
(birds chirping) All right, moving on to the next spread which is my 2021 goals page. I also wanted to keep this pretty simple. So I just have a simple header at the top that matches the
style that I've been doing for all of the pages. You'll see this a lot throughout my setup. But in terms of the actual spread, I split it up into several categories. I have one for my work goals, my personal goals, affirmations, my focus of the year, which is kinda like a word or an energy that I wanna emulate for
that particular year. I always kinda choose that
at the beginning of any year. And then finally I have a
space for my manifestations or my big dreams as I
would like to call them. So yeah, just a simple highlight division through all of them, really easy to make. And yeah, hope you guys all achieve whatever goals you set out for yourself for this year. Next to it is a spread you guys have probably seen me
make a lot if you've seen any of my previous bullet
journal setup videos. It's my recommendations dashboard or things to check out spread. And it's a spread where I can write down any content recommendations from people that I want to
check out in the future. I've split it up into quarters with the same simple highlighted style from the previous spread. And I have a section for movies, TV shows, podcasts, and books. And by the way, if you guys do have any recommendations for me, leave them down below so I can
start filling in the spread. I trust your guys's recommendations. The next spread that I made
was my content planner spread. So in the past I've had spreads like YouTube video idea spreads where I just list out any ideas for videos that I wanna make. But this year I decided
to be a bit more specific and organized with it. So I actually made a table
where I can write out any video idea that I have. If I have a rough date
of when I wanna post it, I can list that out too, in the column. And then there's also a column for me to check off
whether I filmed it or not, when I edit it, and when I have posted it. So I know this might not apply to everyone 'cause not everyone
is making YouTube videos, but I think this type of format is pretty applicable to
a lot of other things. Maybe like assignment trackers, if you're, you know, in
school, project trackers. But on the other side
of the page, I actually wanted to have a section for
other social media platforms since I've been trying
to focus there as well. So I made one for TikToK and Instagram. Since these require a lot less production, I didn't need as intense of a chart for it so this is mostly an idea list but I do have a column for
whether or not I've posted it. We'll see how this goes. Maybe I will need a more
detailed chart for it but if that's the case, then I'll just make a new
spread and adapt later on. I did forget to make a
spread for Twitch as well which is something that
I have been loving doing. If you guys didn't know, I stream my weekly spreads
live every single week. So I'll probably end up making a separate full-page spread for this later so I can write down any stream ideas and all of that over there. Moving on to my shipment/package tracker. Recently, due to the virus, I have been ordering a couple
things online a bit more. And since there have been
a lot of shipping delays with the couriers due to the virus, I wanted to keep track
of what I'm expecting and what I have received. So I created this chart. It's pretty similar to
the previous charts. I just love charts in this setup, I guess. But I can basically
just write down the item or shipment that I've been expecting, whether it's been shipped out, whether I received it, and
the date that I ordered it. This is also a new spread for me so we'll see how it fits
into my actual daily life. But on the other side of the spread, it kind of goes with the
purchasing theme, I guess. So I created a section
where I can write down any wishlist items or
things that I need to buy. And I also have a section
for a gift idea list or maybe things I need
to buy for other people. A lot of times throughout the year, I'll think of a gift idea
for a friend or family member but then by the time it's
their birthday or Christmas I'll forget any gift ideas that I have. The reason why I thought of doing this is because I'm currently
struggling for Christmas shopping. So hopefully this will help me out and maybe I'll, you know,
at least have some ideas of gifts for my friends and
family that I can remember throughout the year instead
of scrambling last minute. We're almost at the
end of this whole setup but this next spread is a
space for me to jot down any art ideas or things
that I want to draw. I recently got a new drawing tablet and I've been wanting to do more drawing just for myself because I
actually used to do it a lot as a kid. I drew a lot of anime and characters and that's what got me into
art in the first place. I, of course, never expected
that art would become my job which I'm very lucky that, you know, something that I love has become my job. But of course, whenever
you do anything as a job, your relationship with that thing changes. So it's a really big goal of mine in 2021 to do more art
for myself and as a hobby whether or not I end up
sharing it on YouTube. So the next spread I have is
called series I'm watching. And I probably should've put this next to the TV and movie
recommendation spread, but I was really just making
these spreads as I was going so it's totally fine. But I watch a lot of online series, not just TV shows, but like
web series, video series that come out weekly. And sometimes it's hard
for me to keep track of what I need to watch for the week so I made this simple tracker. There's basically a column
for the series name, the date that it comes out, like whether it comes out
every Monday, et cetera. And then the last column I
labeled it episodes/seasons because I wanted it to be a bit flexible. So if I want to track
something by the season, I'll just write S but if I wanna track it by
the episode, I'll write E and I'll just draw out
however many circles the respective series has. And if it's a series that
comes out continuously, I can keep drawing empty
circles when there is something that I still need to watch. Finally, the last spread that
I made was my 2021 in photos or 2021 memories spread. I do this every year and it's been a really
nice thing to look back on. It's almost like a time
capsule or a scrapbook. And I think it'll be even
more cool to look back on like 10 years down the line because I'll basically have a photo for every single month
for whatever time period. And, I don't know, it's kinda cool to me. So this year I actually called it my 2021 highlight reel. As usual, I outlined spaces
for the picture for each month. And then at the end of each
month, I'll print out a picture of my favorite moment from
that particular month. I do have a photo printer. So I just, you know, go through my phone and pick out my favorite
moments and print them out. So it's not like I carry
around a camera with me every single day. I did it six for this instead of 12 because normally I split
up my bullet journals six months for one notebook and then I end up needing
to do a new notebook midway through the year anyway so I'll do the other six in the next notebook
whenever I switch over. So I highlighted each month and then at the bottom,
there is some space so I thought of the idea of
doing a song of the month. And I basically have a
highlight that corresponds to each month's color. And then at the end of every month I will put a song that
was on repeat for me for that month. If you watch my monthly
"Plan with Me" spreads you'll know I do playlists a lot so I think this'll be cool to look back on at the end of the year because I'll have 12 songs, one for every month that
represent 2021 to me. All right, so here's
the final flip through of my 2021 bullet journal setup. I actually really love how
this year's setup turned out. I feel like every year my
bullet journal has a vibe, as I mentioned, and this
year's is kinda simple but a bit bright as well. I just get happy looking at it because of all the light colors so that'll be a nice
energy to bring into 2021. And it was also kind of
nice to reminisce a little and bring in elements from my
first bullet journal in 2017 'cause you gotta remember
where you came from, you know. So yeah, that was my 2021
bullet journal setup. Of course, since this was my
fifth year bullet journaling, if this setup doesn't suit your taste, I have four other videos like this. So I will be sure to leave my
whole bullet journal playlist linked down below if you're in
need of any more inspiration for your new year bullet journals. And as usual, if you do want
to tag me in any recreations or see more bullet journal inspiration, be sure to follow me on Instagram. It's just @amandarachlee. I also do live streams of bullet
journals on Twitch as well so make sure you check me out there. All of the things I'll link. Just go to the description
box, guys. It's all there. On one final nice note,
with the holidays coming up and the end of the year, of course, I just wanted to wish
you all a Happy New Year. Hopefully 2021 treats you all well. Please be kind to yourself,
stay happy and healthy, and thank you so much for supporting and watching my videos. Love you, guys. Keep doodling. Bye everyone. (light jazzy music)
