Hey, Masha here from Masha Plans. And I’m back with a pretty fun blog post for you.

May was a pretty strange month for me in many ways, including the fact that I haven’t really used my main Bullet Journal at all.

It is also a square journal with a lot of space I just didn’t feel like I have the energy to plan in it. Suddenly those beautiful big pages seemed intimidating and tiresome.

But that’s ok, things happen and after a few weeks of not planning at all, I realized I need at least something to stay on track with my goals.

Yes I know I could’ve just used my usual journal without actually spending time decorating it and such, but I wanted to do something more fun.

Instead, I dusted off a B6 journal from my collection and started planning on it.

It wasn’t a lot, just about a week, but it’s been super fun and I thought I’d share with you some of my experiences in case you’re also thinking of trying out a smaller journal.

 

SUPPLIES

Of course, let’s start with some of the supplies I’ll be using in this blog post.

• B6 Archer and Olive journal, I have a few in my collection and this was definitely a fun way to utilize it.
• Acrylograph pens. I had a special idea about the look I wanted and arcylographs were perfect for that.
• Archer and Olive washi tape. My whole idea for these pages was to use more of the stationery I have and spend less time setting up my pages. Washi tape really helped me to achieve that.
• Fineliners, pencil, and eraser. These are kind of basics I always have with me when it’s time to Bullet Journal.

And remember with my affiliate code MASHA10 you can also get 10% off your order at Archer and Olive.

Well, that’s covered, let’s get into the pages.

 

B6 BULLET JOURNAL SETUP

A few words before we sit down. My main idea for this setup was to have something easy and fast. Something I can create in a matter of minutes and start using right away.

It’s also not a complete monthly setup, just a few pages I needed to make through the day.

Okay, maybe a little bit more than a few I needed…

 

Quote Page

I know I know I said I’ll do something very easy and basic, but it’s a completely new notebook, I needed to create something to commemorate it.

There are two more reasons.

First of all, I think quotes are a great way to motivate yourself, and I really needed some extra motivation.

Secondly, once I start using acrylograph pens I just can’t stop myself from doing some faux calligraphy.

Be sure to check this post for some tips on how to create a quote page with acrylographs.

And if you want to learn faux calligraphy check post How To Practice Faux Calligraphy (+free printable).

 

Cover Page

One more page I didn't really need but couldn’t resist creating.

I feel like cover pages are a great way to set the mood and divide your journal. I honestly would feel pretty strange just starting with my planning page.

Am I the only one like that?

 

Monthly Log

Ok, now we’re onto the actual planning pages, starting with my monthly log.

I’m starting with the monthly log because even though there isn’t much of the month left, I still have some appointments and deadlines, so I wanted to make sure those are there.

Plus, as you can see most of this page is kind of just a brain dump for all the things I have to do before the end of the month.

And yes of course it wouldn’t be my journal without a misspelling - I forgot the letter m in word dump. This happened to me all the time, especially when I do faux calligraphy which is more about drawing letters and not writing.

 

Weekly Spread

Next up is a weekly spread.

To be honest, I’m actually planning with daily spreads in this journal, but I always want to have an overview of the week with all the deadlines.

Plus as you can see I decided to go for a weekly habit tracker.

It kind of makes more sense to me, since I’m starting this in the middle of the month and have just a few weeks to use it.

 

Daily Log

Finally, this is what my daily planning looks like.

It’s a pretty basic setup, but it allows me to track my mood, my water intake, and of course - my daily tasks.

I must say this worked very well for me.

 

PLAN WITH ME

Before we jump into discussing the pros and cons of using such a small size, here is my Plan With Me video.

 

B6 JOURNAL: PROS AND CONS

So what would be the final verdict? Should you use a B6 as your main journal?

Well, it all depends on what you need and of course, I always say you should give it a try and figure it out for yourself.

But here are my thoughts.

Pros:

• Less space to stress about decorating. This is not something everyone has issues with, but I can’t just leave empty space or do something minimal. So it was very helpful for me to have a small journal on the days when I didn’t feel like doing anything special.
• Faster setup. With less space, you also speed up all your setups, which was definitely a bonus for me.
• Easy to carry with you. It's a significantly smaller size, so if you need a journal to carry with you at all times - this is the one!
• Daily spreads. I don’t usually use daily spreads because they take a whole page and I don’t really have all that much information to fill out the entire page for just one day. But this journal is smaller so it’s a perfect size to try our daily planning.

However, there are some drawbacks I saw as well.

Cons:

• Fewer pages. And they are smaller, so if you use this size as your main journal - be ready to run out of pages much faster.
• Too small for weekly spread. I tried at first creating a weekly spread like I usually do and I failed miserably. Two pages weekly spread is possible to create, but you won’t have much space for anything. So if that’s your favorite format to use - maybe try larger journals.
• Can’t get too creative. Well, you can, but you have significantly less space to do that. And I’m not just talking about decorating, I also mean different flops and pop-ups and such. This journal is kind of tiny and if you want to experiment more maybe this is not your best option.

For me and my need for something fast and easy this was perfect, so I definitely had fun and will be back to this tiny guy.

B6 might also be a good companion to your Bullet Journal, to carry around for fast notes and maybe be a bit less organized and more chaotic.

 

FREE PRINTABLE

Of course, I didn’t want to leave you without something special, so I created a free printable for you.

This one has all the measurements for Archer and Olive B6 journal so you can create your setups faster. This can be like a portable mini-grid guide.

Hope you had fun reading my experiments with a B6 journal and if you ever decide to use one yourself, be sure to tag me @mashaplans and @archerandolive, @archerandolive.community, #AOShare, and #archerandolive.

Looking forward to seeing your amazing spreads!