Beginner's Bullet Journal Supplies

I admittedly jumped onto the bullet journaling bandwagon a little later than I care to admit, but it's something that's really changed my life and how I work on my blog and business.

I've talked a little bit about various things on bullet journaling, namely what it is, how I use it for my biz, how I use it for meal planning, and the accessories I have for it. Bullet journaling is still relatively new for me, but now that I'm about 4 months into using one, I frequently get asked how to start bullet journaling by folks who are looking for good ways to spend time, who are working on something that will help get their life together in an analog way, and who want help planning their lives.

This post will be all about materials you may need to get started. Obviously this list will accordion based on what you already have, but I wanted this post to be a one-stop-shop for materials you may absolutely pick up in order to get started on the right foot.

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Read through the suggestions and at the bottom of the post there will be a link roundup so you can grab all the materials you may think you want.

The Journal

When you get started bullet journaling, you can literally use any notebook you have in your possession. Small, large, lined, blank, gridded, soft cover, hard cover, something you picked up at a conference, etc.

However, I always recommend the Leuchtturm1917 medium size hardcover notebook for several reasons:

The pages are all already numbered for you
There's already an index in place
You can choose between dotted, gridded, lined, or blank
The quality is high: these notebooks can go through hell and still look great
There's a pocket in the back for extra goodies like stickers or loose notes

The Pen

Everyone has their favorite pen. My personal favorite for a very long time is the Pilot G2 pen in size 05, or extra fine point. These pens work very well with the Leuchtturm notebooks; the ink doesn't bleed through and there isn't a whole lot of ghosting.

I've also seen that people love black felt tip markers like my new favorites for doodling in my Moleskine notebook, the Faber Castell PITT artist pens.

Colored Pens - Le Pen

Colored pens help your bullet journal with organization and can make it more fun to journal. My journal tends to be more minimalistic with just my Pilot G2 simply because I don't have the time or resources right now to make my journal look super pretty.

Marvy Le Pen colored felt tip pens for bullet journal

I love Marvy Le Pen pens—they're very smooth and don't bleed through. Plus the colors are more interesting to me than traditional primary and secondary colors.

Correction Tape

Although I don't like to have my journal looking super pretty, I can't stand it when I mess up and have to scribble something out. Thus, I used Kara Benz's recommendation and got myself some Bic Wite-Out correction tape. I can't find a good link on amazon so I'm going to recommend the Tombow mini correction tape.

Roller Adhesive

Having some roller adhesive on hand is a great idea in order to quickly paste in clippings you get from magazines, mail, etc. Sometimes I will clip a project idea out of a magazine and slip it into my bullet journal (because let's face it, where else would I put it and not have it get lost for good?).

I love the Tombow adhesive dispensers. They come in dot and regular tape. I personally bought the regular tape at a Michael's craft store but the link for dotted tape on Amazon is there if you prefer that.

Washi Tape

Now we're into the really fun and colorful stuff. Washi tape is adhesive tape that will stick to surfaces but can be peeled up again without leaving residue or tearing your paper. I love washi tape for all sorts of projects, snail mail, and especially for my bullet journal.

In my bullet journal, I use washi tape as a way to mark important pages and decorate more permanent spreads that I'll refer to over and over again, such as a meals page for meal planning or a dashboard of sorts for various projects.

You can see washi tape wrapped up on an old gift card from my pal Jessica at Pretty Prints and Paper. It's such a good idea and I always love to share that idea.

Masking Stickers

Along with washi tape, I use masking stickers. I included these in my minimalist accessories post, too. I love these so much because they're pre-cut, so you have thicker stripes, thinner stripes, and four dots per page. You can write on top of these too (better than some washi tapes).

As I shared on my Instagram, I love to use these masking stickers as tabs and ways to mark important pages by folding the tape over itself.

Use masking stickers as a bookmark for bullet journaling

Post-It Notes

If you like to be able to write things down quickly and messily without making it permanent right away, I recommend keeping some post it notes in the back of your journal. I flip to the back whenever I'm doing something fast, like making a phone call or taking quick notes. Then I'll decide if I want to just stick it in my journal, or re-write my notes so it's a lot easier.

The Supplies

Bullet journal supplies for beginners on hellobrio.com

As promised, here's the full list of supplies in one shot. You can also shop my Amazon aStore which is even easier.

Leuchtturm1917 journal, I recommend size Medium in any color and paper type you like
Your favorite pen (or mine)—the Pilot G2 05 pens are my absolute favorite. Faber Castell PITT artist pens are popular for folks who like a felt tip instead of a gel pen.
Colored pens, I highly recommend Le Pen pens by Marvy. Staedtler Triplus Fineliners are also very popular
White-out correction tape to stay neat. You can pick up a Bic Wite-Out 2-pack in most stores.
Roller adhesive or glue for magazine clippings and similar, I like Tombow's
Washi tape to mark important pages
Masking stickers to make impromptu tabs or cover up mistakes within pages, can also be used to mark important pages, these are very flexible
Post-It Notes