Managing Life and Finances With a Bullet Journal

I've been doing a lot of research on different and new ways to manage my ever-changing lifestyle and current finances. It's become a goal of mine to get any and all of my debt paid off, as well as keeping my life as a whole on track. With a new a busy stage of my life emerging along with the beginning challenges of motherhood, I needed a revamp and new style of organization. After a lot of deliberating and pinning, I decided my best route would be to begin a bullet journal style for tracking. 

I began thinking about what I wanted to track in my journal and knew my main focus was going to be budgeting and finances. I thought about all the things I am saving for and all of my debts I am trying to pay off, and went from there. 

The first thing I wanted to set up was a visible savings goal sheet. It acts as my visual aid and motivation to continue on my savings path. I mapped out each of my current big savings goals, and started coloring in each of the fields. 

Next on my financial bucket list is to pay off my debts, which currently consist of my car loan and my credit card. I wanted to make this portion fun and snazzy, so it's like a goal sheet and interactive all in one! I struggled with how many boxes I wanted mapped out on my little snake diagram, so instead of counting them all out ahead of time, I drew all my boxes and started at the goal line and worked backwards. First up was my car payment plan. 

 

Next on my list was my credit card. When I worked my way backwards, I didn't end up where my current balance lies, but that's okay with me. More filled in equals more motivation in my book :) 

And of course, no motivation sheet is complete without little words of wisdom along the way...

Next up was my "fun things" savings envelope. For each of these categories, I have an envelope set aside for my little collections along the way. These categories are different and work on a small gains method. So when I have an extra $5 or $20 here or there, it goes in an envelope and I get to color in a pretty little square! I ended up with two pages of these quick little goals. 

Last on my list is my daily tracking. As we're halfway through April already (where has the time gone?!) I originally tried to back track and fill in for earlier this month only to realize it wasn't going to work out in my favor. Instead I'll be starting off tomorrow and filling in the blocks as we go. I also went ahead and filled out a sheet for next month as well. 

Overall I am ecstatic on my new way of tracking my savings and goals and daily achievements. My new visual aid is the shiny new penny that I am able to color in each day. This graph journal has quite quickly become one of my favorite $3 investments! My most favorite part is it's easy customization to fit my needs. What do you think?! Anyone else out there going to utilize this tracking system?