A Digital Journal Using Google Sheets

I have a confession. I am incredibly jealous of a gorgeous bullet journal. Folks who can add little doodles and write neatly and draw a straight line have me #jelly. Since they took off in 2013, I have stared longingly at others’ bullet journals, wishing I could be as creative and organized as the “BuJo” holders. But, alas, I have a fatal flaw. I am clumsy AF.

I have kept lists and journals for most of my life. However, many of them are half full because I also have constantly knocked shit over my entire life. A ridiculously large percentage of things in my life are stained by iced tea. And a soggy, brown notebook is not a great place to write your to do list.

Also, I lose things. One of my favorite jokes is that I would lose my head if it weren’t screwed on. I have no clue how many times in my life I have left my notebook full of incredibly personal thoughts, feelings, and computer passwords in a public place.

And so I felt that the bullet journal fad would be idiotic for me to pursue. But the longing never faded, which is why, when I had my moment of inspiration yesterday, I got so excited that I worked for 10 hours straight to make my new favorite thing: a digital journal inspired by the originals.

To do this, I used my other favorite thing: Google Apps. I went into Google Sheets and seriously impressed myself by making a completely digital journal. It has lots of colors and pretty fonts and pictures like any other dot journal. But it also has drop-down menus and equations and the permanence of a thing that lives in the cloud.

I am so thrilled I could sing!

And I want to share the joy with the world, so I made it into a template in Google Sheets that anyone can use. And I added some extra tabs for fun!

Here’s a quick rundown of the features:

• The first tab includes instructions on how to make the best of the template.
• The second tab has a weekly schedule, a place for a photo from the week, a to do list section, and a drop-down menu where you can choose to add an inspirational quote, something you are grateful for, or an important memory for the week.

• The third tab is for a monthly calendar. Add birthdays and anniversaries here, or use it for daily memories. (I can even make it so that any date you put in the monthly calendar shows up on the weekly calendar or vice versa*).
• The fourth tab is the most basic money planner ever. It’s always driven me crazy that sometimes I can’t predict exactly when I’ll run out of money each month. So I’ve set up a very basic sheet where you put in what is in your checking account, and then log your purchases every day. You can even put your regular bills and payments in so that you can easily predict exactly how much money you will have.
• The fifth tab is a dating tracker. I made this because I live in NYC and dating here is a little getting a graduate degree in humans. I recently found myself arranging a date with someone I had actually already been on a (horrible) date with. With this handy tracker page, I can forever remember who everyone is and not make that mistake again.

Now, all of this has been done in the past 24 hours, so it may have some flaws. I’ve already had another amazing idea that will take even this idea to the next level, but I wanted to get this out there. It’s the beginning of the year, and I know people are wanting to get organized, so here you go!

*All personal adaptations are for a small fee.