New Year – New Bullet Journal?

In: Collections, Helpful Pages, Planning, Trackers, Yearly
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Should you start a new bullet journal for the new year? In this post I hope to help you decide if you should start fresh or finish out your current journal in the new year.

I’ve been seeing a lot of questions in the bullet journal Facebook groups lately. They are all wondering the same thing. “Should I start fresh with a new journal for the new year?”

It seems to me this is a question that people struggle to answer. Ryder Carroll prefers to start a new journal every year. Though loads of other bullet journalers prefer to finish out whatever journal they are currently working with.

Before we get started here is a list of my recommended supplies.

Recommended Products

From time to time the Scribbles that Matter Journal is sold out on Amazon. When this happens third party sellers will try to sell the journal for an insane amount of money. DO NOT BUY THAT! Scribbles that Matter should be back in stock soon. My second favorite journal is the Essentials Dot Matrix, though I warn you the pages on this one are thinner and bleeding and shadows show up on opposite sides. However, it's a decent cheap journal if you are in a pinch and just want to get started.

Pros And Cons

There are pros and cons to finishing out a journal or starting fresh for the new year. I want to make sure that I cover all of them so you can make the best choice for you and your journal.

Pros To Finishing Out A Journal

Some of the pros to finishing out a journal are you have zero wasted pages, you don’t have to transfer any collections yet, and it’s easier to review later.

Having zero wasted pages means it’s better for your pocket book and the environment. Less overall needed pages and less money spent.

I have a Scribbles That Matter journal, which is not a cheap journal, that I’ve only used 90 pages in. If I were to start new I’d have 111 pages left over with nothing on them. It would be such a waste.

All those collections you have at the start of your bullet journal do not need to be redone into a new journal when you literally just did them a month or two ago.

Finally, if you ever review these journals later in life it’s easier to move through a completed journal. Only getting a couple of months than needing to find the next journal for the start of a new year leaves the journal feeling incomplete.

Let’s face it it’s the start of a new year not a whole new life.

Cons to Finishing Out A Journal

The cons to finishing out a journal is – if you had a not so great year not starting a new journal can make you feel like you aren’t fully done with the previous year. There is nothing worse than trying to make a fresh start in a fresh year and still feeling stuck in your old self.

Another con to finishing out a journal is you may want to redo some of the things in your journal but would hate for them to be stuck somewhere in the middle of your journal. It makes them difficult to find without page markers.

Finally, there is nothing like a new journal so starting a new journal for a new year can be like an extra bonus for surviving the previous year.

It’s All Personal Preference

It really boils down to your personal preference there is no right answer to this question. If you want to start fresh – than go ahead and start fresh. If you want to complete the journal you currently have – than do that.

You can always try starting fresh for the new year and just seeing if it’s what works well for you. If it doesn’t than you know better for the next year.

What To Do With Leftover Pages

If you decide to start new you may find that you have loads of leftover pages. If you don’t want to waste these pages there are a few things that you can do to use them up.

Write A Conclusion

Write out a conclusion or a cliff notes version of this journal. What did you learn, how did you grow, what events changed you and your direction?

Creative Outlet

Use the remaining pages as a creative outlet. Create quote pages, doodle pages, fun things to share on instagram. Try creating mock-ups for future spreads that you can reference back to.

Best Possible Future

Take those remaining pages and build your best possible future. Where do you see yourself in 6 months, a year, 2 years, and 5 years. Where will you be living, what job will you be doing, will you own your own business?

This is a fantastic thing to practice from time to time anyways because it helps you to realize what steps you need to take to reach these goals. It creates a path to your best possible future.

Why I Choose To Finish The Old

I choose to finish off my old journals because for me the start of a new year means nothing but a change in number. My goals are still my goals and I am chasing those goals every single day. It doesn’t matter if it’s December 31st, 2018 or January 1st, 2019.

The year does not play a factor in where I am and where I am going. I just keep pushing forward.

I also finish my journal because I don’t want to be wasteful. I already have a creative journal for quotes, doodles, and other random designs. It’s not worth it for me to use up the last of my pages in my journal for these things.

New Bullet Journal For New Year

It doesn’t really matter if you decide to start the new year with a new journal or complete the old one because it really all boils down to your own personal preference.

You can use those blank pages for so many different things. Create beautiful art, practice calligraphy, or just write an overview. Those pages are still apart of that part of your story so use them and fill them with all sorts of wonderful things if you decide to start new.

Recommended Products

From time to time the Scribbles that Matter Journal is sold out on Amazon. When this happens third party sellers will try to sell the journal for an insane amount of money. DO NOT BUY THAT! Scribbles that Matter should be back in stock soon. My second favorite journal is the Essentials Dot Matrix, though I warn you the pages on this one are thinner and bleeding and shadows show up on opposite sides. However, it's a decent cheap journal if you are in a pinch and just want to get started.

Will you finish out your journal or start fresh for the new year? Let me know in the comments below.Do you have bullet journal spreads you would like shared? Email them to Crystal@BulletJournalAddict.com and they may be featured on an Instagram post and/or to the blog. Please leave your IG Username so I can tag you in the posts. Follow me on Pinterest for more like this and pin this to your Bullet Journal boards.

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