The New Year is here, and what a better way to get ready for it than setting up the New Year’s bullet journal and January spread?

Creating the New Year’s bullet journal inserts. 

I can’t believe how quickly 2023 flew by. 2024 is finally upon us, and I’m hoping it turns out to be the best year ever for everyone.

For this setup, I went for a star theme—something simple because, with the holidays, I don’t have much time and energy for elaborate bullet journaling.

I picked the star theme for two reasons: it matches the stars on the side of my journal, and I love the idea of wishing upon a star for the new year.

To kick off the setup, you’ll need a page to celebrate the new year. I drew a big ’24’ in the middle surrounded by stars. You can write a quote if you prefer, but personally, I’m not big on quotes.

I began with my yearly inserts, adding them at the end of the journal. It allows me to revisit or add more without interrupting my monthly logs.

The first insert is “My Year in Photos.” I love documenting my year with one important photo for each month. That way I will be able to look back in a few years and remember all the fun times I spend in 2024.

I created 12 borders, the size of my printer photos, and sprinkled stars around the page.

Using stamps, I labeled it “My Year in Photos” with blue ink.

Next is the “Savings” insert. I want better tracking of my savings in 2024, so I drew 12 circles with a gold marker, each representing a month.

I plan to write the saved amount inside at the end of each month.

I believe that having written data for every month really helps me monitor the process of my funds.

The next spread is “Books to Read.”

In the past, I was reading several books each month and I was making a big spread to hold several book titles. Sadly in recent years, I don’t read as much.

So I decided to be realistic for my book spread. I drew one big book in the middle and will list the titles I want to read throughout the year on the empty pages.

Hopefully, I will manage to read 2-3 books this year.

Of course, I added a few stars around the title to match the journal theme.

Of course, the new year needs new “Goals.

” Now for this insert, I made something a little different.

I wanted my goals to stay hidden if someone were to open the journal. I don’t know why, but I feel uncomfortable with the idea of someone else reading my goals.

So I took a page from my old journal and glued it onto my new one.

I stamped the title and added a few stars. Underneath I drew a few stars and numbered them to look like a list.

That’s where I’ll write my goals, and hopefully, by the end of the year, I will have crossed out a few.

Before I got into setting up January, I added a future log right after the year page. I divided each page into four sections and stamped the names of the months. This is where I’ll jot down stuff like future plans and birthdays.

You can also stick a calendar for each month, but honestly, I didn’t find it necessary.

Funny thing, when I was making the future log, I forgot about April (blame it on crafting in the middle of the night).

To fix it, I stamped the title on an extra piece of paper and glued it on top of the goof-up. Just a reminder, when you’re crafting and mess up, there’s always a way to fix it.

If you’re up for it, you can create an Index page. But me? Nah, I don’t use them in my journals. Not my thing.

Creating the January spread.

Now that the yearly setup is good to go, let’s dive into setting up the first month of the year.

I wanted January to vibe with the overall theme of the journal, so I kept the starry theme going.

I whipped out my blue ink and painted the cover page, added the month’s name in gold, and outlined stars all over with a gold and black marker.

The calendar got the same treatment.

I used washi tape to keep lines crisp, painted a strip of paper with ink, and drew stars. After that, I jotted down the days and made the grid for the calendar.

Moving on to the “To Do” page.

For this one, I made a frame decorated with stars. Again, use washi tape to protect the center of the page. If you want, you can add stars instead of bullets for your tasks.

For January, I kept it simple with just a mood tracker.

I wasn’t in the mood for more tracking. I wanted the first month of the year to be chill, without keeping tabs on all my responsibilities and habits.

For the mood tracker, I drew lots of stars in different sizes. In some, I wrote the dates, and in others, I colored them gold to add a pop of color.

The feelings I chose to track are stressed, relaxed, cranky, energetic, tired, happy, calm. Here’s hoping the positive emotions outweigh the negative.

Finishing up the setup, I added this “Expenses” log to keep a handle on all my spending throughout January.

I’m noting down every little expense to see where I stand financially. It’s my way of staying on top of things and making sure I don’t go overboard with the spending.

Materials I used for my Bullet Journal setup

I really liked the journal I used last year, so I stuck with Notebook Therapy for my bullet journal again this year. I went for the “Sun Solstice” one because I loved the cool blue color.

If you want to do the star theme, grab a metallic marker. I went with the Edding 750 because it gives a nice shiny finish, but use whatever marker you like.

You don’t have to have stencils to draw stars, but I used some star-shaped stencils and dies for a neater look. Some suggestions you can try are the Pink and Main Scattered Stars Stencil, the Echo Park Birthday Stars Stencil, or the Tim Holtz Layering STARS Stencil.

To jazz up the Reading insert, I used Tombow markers in 493-Reflex Blue and 990-Light Sand. As for the mood tracker, I went with 090-Lemon Cream, 020-Peach, 026-Yellow Gold, 993-Chrome Orange, 873-Coral, and 055-Process Yellow.

To outline everything, I used the SAKURA Pigma Micron 01 Fineliner Pen to give it that finishing touch.

Lastly, to color the pages I used the Distress Ink Pad Mermaid Lagoon. 

Thank you so much for reading. Don’t forget to check out the April bullet journal post.