Other posts in the Bullet Journaling 101 series:
Welcome back to bullet journaling 101!In part one of this series, I introduced some of the key principles of bullet journaling. I planned to include this section on bullet journaling supplies in part three but, given it’s around 800 words, I’ve turned it into a dedicated post. So if you don’t share my obsession with stationery and discussions about pens, notebooks and journaling supplies aren’t your thing, feel free to skip this part! I’ll be sharing more next week about how to set up your bullet journal, plus 49 ideas for page spreads.
When I started bullet journaling, I began following the work of several talented journalers (some of whom I’ll share in next week’s post). As inspiring as this was—and looking at different bullet journal layouts on Instagram is my new favourite time sink—I started to wonder whether I needed a craft cupboard’s worth of stationery before I could start bullet journaling “properly.” Which is a great way of not getting started at all (isn’t this the truth for most new experiences in life?). So, in this post, I’m covering the bare bones of what you need to set up your journal. I’ll share a few “nice to have” tools too, but these are optional. You can probably start your bullet journal right now with what you have in your home.
Bullet Journaling Supplies: The basics
In a nutshell, all you need to start your bullet journal is a pen and a notebook. That’s it! Here are a few suggestions based on what I use:
A notebook
My favourite notebook for journaling is the Leuchtturm 1917 A5 hardcover. This has overtaken the Moleskine, my previous favourite for a few reasons. It has nifty extra features, such as a Table of Contents page and archive labels you can stick on the spine once you’ve finished the notebook. I’ve found the pages have less ink bleed than other notebooks like a Moleskine. The Leuchtturm also has two bookmarks instead of just one, which is especially useful for bullet journaling where you have different pages for different topics and projects. I use the dotted notebook as I’ve found this to be most customisable for bullet journaling, however they also come in lined, squared and blank.
As well as the Moleskine and the Leuchtturm, many bullet journalers recommend Rhodia notebooks and the official bullet journal, neither of which I’ve used yet.
A pen
These gel pens from Muji are my pen of choice. Whenever I go into London, I bring home a stationery haul (their blank paperback notebooks are great too). Although this is what I usually write with, I’ve found they aren’t ideal for bullet journaling as the gel takes a while to dry and will smudge if you use a highlighter or coloured pen over the top.
As alternatives to Muji pens, I also like:
- Pilot Frixion. These pens are perfect for bullet journaling too as they are erasable.
- Faber Castel Pitt artist pens. These are perfect for creating strong grids, lines, doodles, and similar, however I don’t enjoy writing with them.
- A fountain pen: To me, writing with a fountain pen feels special. I use the Platinum Preppy, which is £2.55 on Amazon and is brilliant quality for the price. Another pen I’ve seen recommended in multiple places but haven’t tried yet is the Lamy Safari.
Bullet journaling supplies: The optional “nice to have” extras
- A ruler. This is useful for creating dividers, grids, boxes, titles… you name it
- Correction fluid. Mistakes happen and a page filled with crossings out and scribbles isn’t easy to read.
- Washi tape. I don’t use this myself but it’s a popular way to add decoration to bullet journals.
- Brush pens. Another decorative tool. These are useful if you want to add lettering to your bullet journal without using fauxligraphy. I like the Tombow Dual Brush pen in black (which has a brush nib at one end and a fine printing nib at the other). The Faber-Castel Pitt brush pen, which has a smaller and easier-to-manage brush nib than the Tombow, is also good, especially if you’re new to lettering like me.
- Coloured pens for colour-coding, highlighting, etc. Handy tip: you can also blend coloured Tombow brush pens without ruining the individual nib colours.
- Stickers. Like washi tape, stickers can be decorative. You can also get stickers for common page headings (like these) so you don’t have to write out the headings each time.
So that’s a supplies list for starters. As you can probably see, much of this is down to personal preference. If you’re stumbling through a haze of “where do I begin?” though, I hope this helps point you in the right direction—even if that’s to the notebook and pen sitting right in front of you! Happy writing 🙂
What are your favourite bullet journaling supplies? Are there any you absolutely can’t do without? Leave a comment and let us know!
