Happy Planner or Bullet Journal

I love the Happy Planner and I love Bullet Journalling in a blank notebook, but I do not have time nor do I want to use both. So what do I do?

So, have you ever been scrolling the social mediums looking at beautiful planner spreads, bullet journals and happy planners and been feeling like you need all the stuff and do all the things. Well so have I.

Being creative

I love planning my days, weeks and months and at the same time be creative and find purpose with my creativeness. Not just drawing or lettering and then having an artwork just lying in a drawer, but doing it because it serves a purpose.

Lettering what you are grateful for, doodling because it enhances your memory about something you have to do. Drawing flowers because it means you will use a planner page. Using stickers and washi tape to enhance a specific time or appointment. This is why I started bullet journalling in November 2017. (If you do not know what a bullet journal is head over to this page: [Bullet Journal](https://bulletjournal.com/)).

My Journey

But then I found out about Happy Planners ( [https://www.thehappyplanner.com/](https://www.thehappyplanner.com/) ) and fell in love with the aesthetics and the stickers. I wanted one, and I bought one. Actually, I bought two back in spring 2018, one for memory planning, which probably will be another post, and one for planning. I chose a vertical one because I thought it would fit my style the best. I quickly found myself back in a bullet journal because I could not for the life of me fit everything in it that I needed. But I always had the “I want a happy planner”- feeling in the back of my head while using a bullet journal, so in January 2019 I bought a Horizontal happy planner and I love it to pieces but I still kinda miss bullet journaling.

The Struggle

The struggle is hard, but the leaning is worth it.

So where am I at now, May 2019? I’m in-between both, trying to figure out if one fails to meet my need, which has not been the case so far. I use the principles of bullet journalling in my happy planner, I either rapid log on the days, or if I have a lot of tasks I add a dotted page in my weekly view and use this. When I need to take notes while at a meeting I have extra blank notes pages in the back of my planner. This is also where I have collections, for now, I have a Fringe tracker (a series we love watching at home but we have it on DVD and keeping track of how far we are I needed this collection). I also have a wishlist and a books read page. Everything I can do in a bullet journal I can do in a Happy Planner and vice verca.

You might then be thinking, but was is the problem then, you obviously love it. This is true, but I also love the idea of filling out a blank notebook with what I need. It is so simple to use and you never really run out of space. Another thing is that when I use the happy planner I always feel like I have to use a sticker which is not always possible when out and about. And then there is the added price of buying the stickers which can be expensive, especially when you live in Denmark.

Pro and con

I think a pro and con list might make my feelings more clear:

Happy planner

Pros:

• Beautiful planner

• Easy to add what one need

• Easy customisable

• Love the paper

Cons:

• Can become expensive

Bullet journalling

Pros:

• Easy to add what one needs

• Easy customisable

• Never run out of space

Cons:

• I don’t like cream paper and a white paper dotted journal is difficult to find

So in the end, I love both but only want to use one. I don’t have an answer to which one will win in the end