Bullet Journal Weekly Spread VS Daily Log
And welcome to yet another post of your Bullet Journal for beginners series. Today we will be talking about a weekly log and a daily log.
What are these, and how do you decide which one you need to use? Worry not! I’ll walk you through both of these Bullet Journal pages and choose what’s best for you.
Weekly and daily logs are considered some of the most basic elements that help you the most to stay productive every day. But there is always a big question of which one is better and more suited to your needs.
Well, today, we’re looking into what each kind of log can offer you and will figure out which one you should be using for your next week.
But first, in case you’re a beginner, don’t miss out on the other posts:
- Bullet Journal Key
- Bullet Journal Index
- Future Log
- Monthly Spread
- Weekly / Daily Spreads (this post)
- Bullet Journal Collections
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Bullet Journal Weekly Log
The weekly spread is basically an overview of the upcoming week that allows you to plan your every day with a glance view of the whole week.
The basic elements of a weekly log are, of course, daily boxes, where you write your daily to-do list and such. If you don’t really have that much to do on the weekend, you can always fuse the two days in just one section.
The beauty of the Bullet Journal system is how customizable it is. This means that you can play around with your weeklies and how you use the space. Depending on your needs, you can use all the space for your daily sections, or you can add some other elements.
Here are some ideas:
- Weekly habit tracker
- Weekly water tracker
- Notes
- Weekly review
- Meal plan
- Calendar for the month
- Number of the week
- Weekly to-do list
- House chores list
- Plans for next week
Speaking of, if you want a quick weekly setup, check out the Resources Vault, where there are quite a few printable weekly spreads.
If you’re not a part of Planning Mashers yet, join us in the signup form at the end of the post and get access to a wonderful community and TONS of freebies for your Bullet Journal.
Daily Log
The daily log is one page spread with information for just one day.
That’s where you can go into detail on everything planned for a day and add all the information you might need.
You have a whole page just for one day, which means you can add a lot of different elements here, if you want to, of course. If you are pretty busy and have lots of things to do, you can always just write the date at the top and go straight to listing out all your tasks.
However, I know most people use dailies because apart from daily tasks they need to include other details, and a daily log provides the space needed. Here are some ideas on what you could add to your daily log:
- Notes
- Plans for tomorrow
- Daily menu
- Groceries list
- Journaling
- Daily chores
- Weather
- Daily review
- Health goals
- Motivational word of the day
- Time tracker
- Daily challenges (a doodle a day, a line a day, and so on)
If you want to dive deeper and see more daily spread inspirations check out my post What Is A Bullet Journal Daily Log.
Weekly Log Of Daily Log: Pros and Cons
Now that we established what each of these logs stands for let’s go through the pros and cons of each approach.
Consider these things when you pick which to use in your journal, or better yet – give a try to all the options and see what works best.
Weekly Log
My personal favorite, a weekly log, has a lot of advantages.
Pros:
- You have to set up the spread only once a week
- You get at a glance look at your week
- You can divide your goals into smaller parts and go daily step by step, to accomplish them by the end of the week
- You can see the progress you’re making during the week
- You can easily see the tasks you migrate from day to day
Cons:
- You don’t have a lot of space for your daily to-do list
- You don’t have that much space to add other elements
- You don’t get too much space to draw and be creative
Daily Log
Something personally I used just a few times, but I know it has tons of advantages as well.
Pros:
- More space for a detailed to-do list
- More space for anything extra you need to add daily
- More space to draw and be creative
- You can be more focused on one day’s tasks
Cons:
- Have to create a new page every day
- Can’t pre-plan because the page is usually made the night before
- Having too much space to write daily can become overwhelming
Weekly vs Daily: Which One To Pick?
Now that you have more or less an understanding of what each of these is and what elements you can add, it’s time to think about which would be the perfect one for you. I’d advise you to ask yourself these questions:
- What is your Bullet Journal goal?
Why did you start your BuJo? Do you want to organize your every day in a timely manner? Are you planning to achieve some fitness goals? Do you want your bujo to help you with your studies? Do you need your journal just to make sure you’re moving in the right direction day by day?
Think about your why and what you want to achieve with your Bullet Journal and you’ll be able to see what format can help you better with this.
- What are you planning to write in your logs?
I think this is very connected to your Bullet Journal goals. Think through what you are planning to add to your logs. Do you want to track your time and plan by schedule? Do you need to write down your health and fitness achievements daily? Are you planning to journal there?
This will help you see how much space you might need and decide on the format for you.
- How much time will you have for planning?
You might want to have a daily log with all the information for the day, but be honest with yourself – how much time do you really have to plan? Will you have time every day to write all your tasks and other needed information in detail? Or are you just planning to log the main events once a week and just consult your journal every morning?
Why Not Both?
What does it mean? It means that you don’t need to choose, and if it’s necessary you absolutely can use both. Have a one-page weekly spread to plan out the week and create your weekly to-do list, and follow it up with your dailies.
Or – try a dutch door weekly. That way, you can see an overview of your week, have space for your weekly planning, but at the same time, you get a lot of space for your daily entries.
Whatever you decided now, always remember that your Bullet Journal can transform together with your needs. So if this week you do a weekly spread, it doesn’t mean you will be stuck with it forever. When you feel the need to switch to daily spreads – just go for it!
Feeling like you might want to have a weekly overview together with a detailed daily log? – do it! You have complete freedom over your journal.
Weekly and Daily Log Inspirations
I’m leaving you with some inspiration for your daily and weekly spreads.
If you want to see some more, check my post 65 Gorgeous Bullet Journal Weekly Spreads To Try Right Now.
Hayley always created beautiful weekly spreads, and this one is no exception.
This is also a good inspiration if you want to have a weekly spread with a time schedule.
Another beautiful weekly spread from Hayley. She’s always so creative with her weekly setups.
Her flowers are also always flawless! If you want to learn to draw like this check my post How To Draw Beautiful Flowers In Your Bullet Journal.
The circle format is not the most functional one, but I think it looks creative and pretty fun.
There are many cool designs out there; you can check my post with 9 Types Of Weekly Spreads To Try Right Now.
This is more of daily planning than a weekly spread; it seems like she added days as she went.
This is actually an original Bullet Journal planning format, and I’ve been really enjoying it lately.
A little trick I usually do – I create a weekly to-do list and mark the appointments, so I always have an overview of the week, even if my daily pages are not finished yet.
The vertical format is probably my favorite and I love how she used the rest of the space to decorate.
I usually prefer to use the free space for the weekly to-do list and stuff like that, but this is also a good option.
I love this weekly and how much space it allows for writing down everything.
I think it’s also pretty cool how to brush lettering is all the decoration this spread needs.
A great example of how you don’t have to measure and make your weekly spread perfectly geometrical.
And I’m really loving the stickers and the bright colors of this page – really make it look so uplifting.
A cool example that you don’t actually have to draw daily boxes if you don’t want to. Or if you’re like me and have an issue with rulers.
Also, if you’re looking for more check my post Enchanting Disney Bullet Journal Theme Inspirations.
How beautiful is this page? I love how it’s black only and yet it looks so gorgeous.
A great little trick she used on this page is adding shadow to doodles and other decorative elements.
I haven’t used this format for a while, but this image definitely makes me wanna go back to it.
I like horizontal weekly spreads like that because you get a lot of space for daily to-do tasks, but also leave plenty of space for more things.
You can easily recreate it if you check my blog post Cacti And Houseplants Doodle Tutorials.
If you don’t have a lot of space or need space for more than just your daily tasks – this weekly can be a perfect option.
You also can simply use one part of this spread for fast planning and taking less space.
I love how this weekly is so full, and yet it doesn’t look cluttered at all.
Also, I feel like there is some color coding going on here, and that looks amazing and is probably very useful as well.
Such a well-organized weekly spread! And I really love Jess’s handwriting.
Also, I’m absolutely jealous of those beautiful washi tapes.
One of the weekly spreads in my Stationery Themed Bullet Journal Setup.
I also always feel like this setup is probably the easiest to create; just divide the page by four.
These are daily spreads, but did you notice that there are tags there?
These daily spreads are basically dutch doors, so whenever you are there are parts that you can see any day, like this little calendar on the left top corner for example.
Isabel always created the most beautiful illustrations on all her weekly spreads.
Even if you don’t want to create a huge illustration, this spread will still look great, so don’t overlook this design.
I love the flow of this spread. The water bubbles really make it seems like there is movement in the illustration.
It doesn’t leave enough space to plan the entire week, but maybe if you get lost and start your week on Wednesday (like it often happens to me), this one works.
Love this weekly and the dot work in the illustration.
This effect takes quite some time to create, but it does look amazing.
The contrast between the black and the bright colors is amazing!
And I love how the illustration in the middle kind of divides daily boxes into two. That way you can, for example, use the top page to write your main three things to do that day.
This format really allows you to pre-plan and decorate the page in advance but also move the days if you need more space.
And again I’m in love with this handwriting. If you work on improving yours be sure to check my post 9 Easy Tricks To Improve Your Handwriting.
This is more of a journal page than a planning page, but this can totally work as a daily spread.
I really feel like some floral drawings would work very well to decorate this page.
This is a bit of a strange format, but at the time, it really worked for me.
I used a mind map for all the tasks I had to do, and I planned them out day by day on the right side of the page.
Running to-do list is definitely a great way for a quick weekly plan.
Free Printables
Remember, that we also have some weekly spreads you can try out in the free Resources Vault.
If you don’t have access yet, just join Planning Mashers in the email form below.
Once you confirm your subscription, you’ll get your secret word to access tons of Bullet Journal freebies.
You can check my post How To Use Bullet Journal Printables if you need more help on adding them to your journal.
There are also printable weekly spreads available in the shop, so be sure to give it a look as well.
Printables are an easy and fast way to try different formats and figure out what weekly spread works best for you.
Which format do you prefer? Share your preferences in the comments section below!
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And Remember! Keep Bullet Journaling, and don’t be a Blob!
