My Bullet Journal Essentials

When one gets into bullet journaling trying out a bunch of stationery becomes part of the process of developing the perfect bullet journaling system for you. In this post, I will be mentioning my day to day bullet journal essentials. If you are interested in developing your bullet journal system, I recommend you check out my post on how I started bullet journaling and my recommendations. As you can see in the picture, I have a Frozen binder pencil bag I got for like a dollar and I find that it works well enough to carry all my supplies.

Journal

I cannot recommend journals because even though I have a great collection of them, I don’t use any of them for bullet journaling since I made my own at the end of last year to use throughout 2020. I use plain old computer paper and added strings to the spine to use as bookmarks.

I then use a 4mm graph paper template that I put behind the page that I would be working on to have as a guide for writing and making the layouts for the spreads.

Writing Tools

One of the main supplies that are essential for all bullet journalers is the writing tools you are going to use mainly in your day to day planning. I use two writing tools in my day to day for different reasons but one of them is primary to the second one.

Writing and Drawing

The main pen that I use in my day to day bullet journaling in the Pentel RSVP Fine Black Ballpoint Pen. The reason why I use this pen is that it writes nice and dark and it has a fine point that suits my small handwriting. In any case that I doodle in my journal and want to go over it with a pen, I will use this one. If you are planning to also go over pencil marks with this pen you will need to wait a bit before erasing the pencil marks because though it transfers nicely the black ink it also smudges if you rub against it with your hand or any stencils your might be using and for that reason I use a second pen.

Tracing and Lining

I use the EasyTouch Fine Black pen to trace lines and it can also be great for writing. I started using this pen for both things but eventually moved on to the Pentel to write with because I found myself finishing the ink pretty frequently and once I got halfway through the pen, the ink would turn lighter and I didn’t like that very much. Still, it is a great pen to try out.

If you have any ballpoint pen recommendations you would like to share make sure to share them in the comments down below.

Sketching

I use a pencil to sketch big doodles in my bullet journal to then trace over. I use this mechanical pencil for most of my sketching but resort to the wooden pencil for lighter marks when needed.

Ruler & Circle Stencil

I use the ruler to separate sections in my spreads and make tables and graphs for trackers and calendars.

Some of my doodles have circles and this stencil comes handy when making them and I also use it to make the circle checklists of my monthly, weekly and daily to-do lists.

Do you have any other sort of stencil that you swear by?

Writing Tools Company

I also carry a whiteout roller to go over pen mistakes and an eraser to erase all the good old pencil marks in my journal.

I have a stencil set that I use every day in my bujo because I need straight lines and perfect circles.

Coloring Supplies

My biggest recommendation for coloring supplies out there is the Crayola coloring pencils. The reason why I recommend them the most is that my bujo doesn’t have that thick of a paper and the thing that it handles best in terms of colored media is coloring pencils and I have been using them for about two years in my bullet journal and couldn’t love them more.

Markers

If you have a higher quality paper, I recommend the Crayola super tips for coloring and doing calligraphy. I don’t use them in my bullet journal but I use them in my other planners and again, they are the best. They are not only good but they are affordable and that’s another reason why I like them and recommend them.

I also carry in my pencil case an erasable highlighter to use now and then.

I hope you found this blog post helpful and, if you have any stationery recommendations, feel free to leave them in the comments so that everybody including me can check them out. Subscribe to my weekly newsletter to receive every Saturday the content posted on Tuesday and Saturday as well as the freebies I put up now and then. And, check out my previous posts and my social media for more fun content.

Be Yourself, Be Happy, Be Human.
xoxo, Patrick.