How to deal with Mistakes in your Bullet Journal

Imagine this. It's the beginning of the month and you are starting your new set up in your bullet journal. You've been planning for days what you'll include this time and how you are going to decorate it. You are so excited and can't wait to put your thoughts and ideas on paper. You spend all your afternoon creating and drawing. In the end you are so proud of your new set up, that you have to show it to your husband. And his reaction is: 'It looks amazing babe, but I think you got the month wrong!' ARRHHHH! Frustration beyond words!!!! That's exactly what happened to me while creating my July set up.

When you are bullet journaling, mistakes are bound to happen no matter how much you try to make everything perfect. And that's fine because you're only human. Me personaly, I've made all kinds of mistakes in my bujo - wrong date, wrong day, drew a line too big, typos (loads of them!), miscalculated the size of the table I wanted to draw - the list goes on and on!

So, how do you deal with those mistakes? Here are some of the ways I use that help me keep my sanity intact!

1. Try to correct the mistake (like specific letters or numbers) as subtly as possible.

This is for simple typo mistakes that you can quickly rectify by writing on top of them the correct letter/number, so that it doesn't show as much.

2. Oops! It's Tuesday!

Most of the times, when I make a mistake of a word (like writing the wrong day as shown above), I will just add an arrow and the correct word. I think this way, it looks cute and you get the desired effect without ruining the page or the desing.

3. Use the page for something else.

If you're lucky and quite inventive, then you can rectify your mistake by utilising the page for something else. For example, if you've created a table but you made a mistake with the dimensions and it doesn't work for what you were planning to do, then you can still use it to add for example quotes in the little boxes. That way you can still use the page and make it look good at the same time.

4. Correction Fluid

If nothing else works, good old Tipp-Ex comes to the rescue!!!

5. Cover them up!

There are lots of ways you can cover your mistake and make the page look nice and cute.

You can use washi tape. These little colourful tapes have saved loads of my pages in my journal. They add an instant splash of colour and cover up things pretty neatly.

Any type of stickers or mini post-it notes that can cover any mishaps that might have happened on your page. You can even print quotes or various designs (ie. mandala) on sticker paper and cover the whole page if you have to! I really like the ones by Kara on Etsy.

Apart though from covering up your mistakes, there are some ways that can help you to prevent them in the first place. You can use pencil instead of pen. I know some people might find this solution a bit over the top, but if you find that something as simple as that helps you, then why not?

Another solution is to pre-design everything in pencil and once you are satisfied with the result, then you can go over with a pen. It might take a bit more time than usual, but having an almost perfect page in the end, makes it worth it. I do this all the time, especially when it's a big and complicated spread.

You can use coloured pencils for your drawings instead of markers. I use them all the time in my bullet journal, and I really like that they give me the option to erase something that I don't like without ruining the design or the page.

You can also use those erasable pens and highlighters. They make your life so much easier! They come in various colours as well, so you can still create colourful spreads and lists. My favourite one is the Pilot Frixion Ball 0.7.

And lastly but not least, you need to learn to embrace your mistakes. They make your journal even more special, because they show you that you learn from them. Everything you create, right or wrong, is part of who you are and you should accept it. That way, even if you make any mistakes, they won't make your bullet journal journey any less enjoyable.

How do you deal with mistakes in your bullet journal? Please let me know in the comments below ;)