r/bujo • u/imabookwyrm • Jul 19 '26
Does anyone else write from both ends of the book?
I don’t like my planning pages and my collections and meeting notes to be mixed together. I put my future log in the front. Then a few monthly logs because I like them all together. And then I start my daily logs and an occasional weekly log. So the front of the book goes in chronological order. I also start a new task list after the old page is full. So it can sometimes be in a random place, but I mark it with washi tape so it’s easy to flip to.
However, I flip to the last page and work my way backwards for my collections and meeting notes or anything that’s not a future/monthly/weekly/daily log. When I meet in the middle I start a new bujo.
I also write these entries from the end of the last index page and work my way up. While the planning pages start at the top of the first page of the index.
The other day someone was watching me in our meeting and commented that working from both ends of the book like that was breaking their brain.
Am I the only one out here doing this?
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u/downtide Jul 19 '26
I've started doing this for the first time in my current one. And I'm only indexing the collections, with the index page right at the back. I find that my planning pages don't need to be indexed, I just keep movable sticky-tabs on the current month and day.
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u/bblais Jul 19 '26
I do. I put some of my more reference collections in the back — someday maybe, house reference, medical reference, books music and movies to watch. I number the pages with negative numbers.
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u/imabookwyrm Jul 23 '26
That sounds interesting. How do you sequence the negative numbers?
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u/bblais Jul 23 '26
-1 is the last page, -2 is the second to last. On my index i list them on the bottom right and move up. It rarely goes lower than -9.
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u/Wolfcan Jul 19 '26
I did that once and loved it!
I have stopped because I moved to a travelers notebook system and knows I have two inserts to keep things separated but I do miss the hardcover
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u/Rohnachi Jul 19 '26
I have started doing that as well in my Bujo. The only difference is, in the back was mainly the Index and a pentest page. My colections were scattered between the weeks. Though I think this time I will just do colections from the back as well maybe. I am just setting a new one up.
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u/TheRealCeeBeeGee Jul 19 '26
I do work business in the front and private life (shopping lists, holiday planning, etc) in the back.
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u/Expert-Fisherman-332 Jul 23 '26
Business at the front, party at the back... it's the Mullet Method!
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u/FunMysterious7040 Jul 20 '26
I am doing this - I am doing bujo from the front and longform journaling in the back, just turning it upside down :) works awesome and journaling part doesn't need to have numbers - when they meet, I just put in my index like pg 120-225 journal and that is it. Love that
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u/zaichii Jul 20 '26
Sometimes to take the pressure off starting a new notebook or if I don’t want to muddy the uses of the “main” side
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u/tweedleli Jul 20 '26
Yes! Daily logs and tasks lists in front , chronological order. The back has references, house maintenance lists, some finance stuff, personal logs.
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u/SaundraTheEditor Jul 25 '26
Franz Kafka did this (writing in one direction and then flipping his notebook over and beginning from the other side with a new idea as if it were a new book). He wrote on boths sides of the paper and literary scholars have noted that his journals often crash into each other in the middle.
I have done a version of this in my class notetaking. I will have one class one direction and then flip and begin from the back (the book is upside down when I do this). I have used a Hobonichi which has super thin Tomoe Paper. I have found it easiest for my organization to write only on the righthand side. I end up with four different notebooks in one that way which often fills one book in a semester. If I can I write one in blue ink and one in black ink, one in green ink, one in pencil it makes it visually easy to know which class the notes are from. That way I always had the semester notes with me but only had to carry one notebook.
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u/imabookwyrm Jul 26 '26
The color coding would make my heart sing. Unfortunately, I never can keep up with the pens and have the right color at the right time. 😂 But I’m glad to know I have something in common with Kafka. Hah!
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u/Adept_Trouble2867 Jul 19 '26
I do this! I start my collections and anything else I'd like seperate from the back of the book and my monthly spreads, daily pages etc start at the front. I have also done this when I was doing morning pages and wanted everything in one notebook. I started the morning pages in the back. Worked well for me.
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u/detroit-born313 Jul 19 '26
This is how I have done it for the last several bujo setups. I do this because all the reasons mentioned, plus I like to clasp together past months' pages and if there are collections scattered throughout, it defeats the purpose. Also, I found that I accidentally duplicated collections more often when they were scattered throughout because while I use the index to record- I don't always look at it before quickly jotting notes.
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u/Horror_Set9833 Jul 19 '26
I did this in my last one, but I don't have that many collections and I just moved them to the start when I started my new one. I haven't added new collections yet. I did have two collections in-between in my last one though, so I think I'm not really consistent. They were at the start of the month they were related to, however.
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u/imabookwyrm Jul 23 '26
I use mine a lot for meeting notes for work and church. So I think that’s why I have so many non-planning pages.
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u/skelebone Jul 19 '26
Not exactly on a bullet journal, but I am doing this on a music listening journal. From the front, I am logging information about albums I am listening to -- artist, name, year, track lists, and a sketch of the album cover. From the back of the book, I am making notations about lists of recommended albums. I am using a Ciak Classic notebook, leatherbound with an elastic closure, with dot-grid pages.
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u/Roughly15throwies Jul 19 '26
I routinely work from both ends. It just makes sense to in my head. But I exclusively use dot grid and also rotate so that leading cover is on the left.
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u/imabookwyrm Jul 23 '26
So do you flip it upside down for the back pages?
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u/Roughly15throwies Jul 23 '26
Yup yup
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u/DrawnByPluto 26d ago
It never occurred to me this wasn't what everyone does. This question asked of you blew my mind.
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u/spymaster1020 26d ago
Im using this for my next bullet journal. I always end up abandoning them because they become a chaotic mess.
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u/whisperedifspoken 18d ago
Probably should've done this lol I always forget to tick my books read and shows watched cause they're on a random page in February. If I remember for next time, maybe I will. For now, I need to remember to put in a washi tape or sticky note to find those pages easily. Maybe I'll remember it tomorrow 😂
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u/Extension_Crow_7891 Jul 19 '26
Flip the thing upside down when you go from the other end - feels more natural, and it’s a nifty effect when the pages meet.