Calendex - How to future plan with your Bullet Journal
When I was first introduced to bullet journaling, one of the things that concerned me the most was future planning. On a system that you create your days as you go along, I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't miss any future events or appointments. While searching online, I came across 4 different ways to future plan with your bullet journal:
I started using the Ryder Carroll's future log. However, I decided to note down only birthdays, holidays and no school days. I found that if I included all the events and appointments as well, it would get very crowded and I didn't want that. The other methods mentioned above were not very appealing to me, so I didn't even consider those.
In the beginning I thought that I didn't even need any forward planning apart from the future log mentioned above, my monthly spread and my weekly spreads. And that was ok for the first month. However, I needed to note down some future events and a summer wedding that we've been invited to and then the need for a more forward than a month future planning was created.
I had seen the Calendex method mentioned online before, but when I saw Boho Berry's video I knew I had to try this one.
Before I show you how I use it in my bullet journal, I just want to explain a bit what a Calendex is and how it works. The Calendex method was created by Eddy Hope. Essentially a Calendex is a hybrid of a calendar and an index - that's how it gets it's name :) So you have a calendar of events and an index of page numbers with those events. You can use this method to schedule tasks and events that are planned months in advance.
To set up your Calendex you'll need to use a double page spread. On each page you easily fit 6 months, by creating 6 columns and on the left hand side you write the numbers 1-31 creating 31 rows that are representing the days of the month. You can also break down the months by weeks with separation lines in each column. That makes it easier to plan. Also some columns have lined boxes at the bottom, because not all of the months have 31 days.
The way it works is pretty simple actually.
I've created a colour coding system at the bottom of the page that works for me, in order to separate the different events/tasks.
So, for example if I happen to have a future event, like the one I had for the Fairy Folk Fest, I will note it down on my daily spread and I will have a coloured box according to the type of event next to it. In this case it's light green because it was a kids' event.
Then I will note down a light green box on the day of the event and on it I'll write the number of the page my daily spread was that I wrote all the information at (in this case, it was page 22).
So, for example if I happen to have a future event, like the one I had for the Fairy Folk Fest, I will note it down on my daily spread and I will have a coloured box according to the type of event next to it. In this case it's light green because it was a kids' event.
Then I will note down a light green box on the day of the event and on it I'll write the number of the page my daily spread was that I wrote all the information at (in this case, it was page 22).
Because I didn't want to make my future log with all the birthdays and stuff redundant, I just put a coloured dot and then I know that I have to look on that page. And that's it!
It's pretty simple, even though it might look complicated at first, and it works perfectly fine for me. This method gives you 4-5 slots for events/tasks per day. If you happen to have more than that, then you'll just have to spread the months in more than two pages and then have more slots allocated for each month.
Which method are you using for your future planning with your bullet journal? Have you given Calendex a try?
