How To Migrate To Your New Bullet Journal

This is not necessarily a post on Bullet Journaling for beginners, but it’s an important next step to take.

As the new year approaches and we are starting to set up new Bullet Journals, it’s time to start talking about migration.

Moving to a new journal is always a bit sad for me. I get really attached to all the memories, mistakes, and successes of my journal so it’s hard to say goodbye.

But! Starting a new journal is exciting, a new opportunity to turn a fresh leaf and start a new adventure.

With the need to start a new journal though comes also the headache of migrating to a new journal.

Well, I’m here today to turn the headache into a fun and easy process that will allow you to end up with an even better journal.

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Get A New Journal

Cheeky me, but it’s true – your first step towards migrating into a new Bullet Journal is getting a new journal!

This is my absolute favorite part – picking that one beautiful companion for the next year, receiving it in the mail like a Christmas present, and the smell of freshly pressed pages….

Choosing your journal can be not so easy, but I got you covered – check my post with 13 Best Bullet Journal Notebooks, or if you’re ready to invest – The Ultimate 160 GSM Journal Showdown.

Personally, I’ve been a huge fan of Archer and Olive (so much so that I even joined their design team), so finally this time I’m choosing one of their notebooks as my new Bullet Journal.

If you decide to go with them as well, be sure to use code MASHA10 that will give you 10% off your order!

Review Your Current Journal

Once you have your new journal ready time to start preparing.

Look through your current journal and analyze it. What pages worked? What pages helped you and kept you organized and productive? What pages do you use every day?

Ask yourself this and better yet – make a list of these pages, these are the ones you’re definitely keeping for your new Bullet Journal.

Next – think of what didn’t work and why. Were these spreads just useless or maybe they weren’t set up properly and you should just try them in a different way?

Decide which of these spreads you’ll say goodbye to and which you’ll try but with a different setup style.

Honestly, what you keep and what you’ll move depends on you and your needs. I can’t tell you exactly what you’ll have to migrate.

But I can give you some tips on collections.

When choosing which ones to migrate, think of this:

How often do you use it? If not that often you can just keep it in your current journal and look back when needed
Do you always need it with you? Again if you don’t have to have it handy all the time – keep it in your current journal.
Is this spread important and still relevant? Maybe it’s already something you don’t really need in your journal.

Whatever you decide, always remember that you will be able to add collections later on if you feel like you really need to have it in your current journal. So don’t stress about it too much.

Get New Ideas

This is not a necessary step, but starting a new journal is always a fun chance to try out something new, so I usually add a few new pages to my yearly setups.

Some of the experiments failed and I never did them again, like my TV, movie, and book trackers.

But some pages turned out to be an amazing idea for me and I’m keeping them for all my next journals, like my about me page and year in photos.

If you’re looking for new pages to try checking my post 300+ Bullet Journal Page Ideas or better yet 17 Yearly Pages To Add To Your New Bullet Journal.

Plan Out Your Pages

The next thing you want to do is to plan out your pages. I have a little cheat sheet in the Resources Vault that you can print and use to easily plan your new Bullet Journal setup.

If you’re not part of Planning Mashers yet be sure to join us in the signup form below and get your access right away.

I used to not do it and I always ended up forgetting something or not setting up the pages in the order I wanted.

This year for the first time I actually planned out my journal and it was so helpful! I didn’t forget any pages and everything was in the right order.

This really took a lot of worrying out of this process, because when it was time to do my setup I just needed to consult my little cheat sheet, instead of worrying and trying to keep it all in my head.

You are now ready, so get your notebook and pen and let’s start planning!

What’s Left Behind

Ok, some pages will be left behind, but don’t worry, they will not be lost! Here are a few ways to keep it all organized.

Index

Start numbering your journals and in your new index just add in which journal to look for the information. You see, Index can actually be such a useful tool!

Threading

Threading is basically writing on your new collection where to find your old one. And in your old collection, you add the number of the page where you can find it continuing.

Separate Journal

Alternatively, you can always just have a separate journal for your collections, This is kind of what I’m doing and it works very well for me.

Migration Tips

The fact that you reached this point is amazing! You committed to using the journal and now you’re choosing to follow it and start a new one. This is amazing!

The key here, like with all the other Bullet Journal things, is to take it easy and don’t stress too much about it.

Your journal is there to help you, not to be the bane of your existence. So start preparing earlier, take your time to analyze things, and most importantly – don’t overcomplicate it.

Enjoy the process and be ready for yet another amazon year with your Bullet Journal!

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And remember: Keep Bullet Journaling, and Don’t Be A Blob.