First, if you are new to bullet journaling, you might want to look at this link:
http://bulletjournal.com
and this link:
WTF is a Bullet Journal and Why Should You Start One?
You may notice that a lot of bullet journals are super fancy. People will spend a ton of money and time searching for the perfect notebooks, pens, flags, washi tape, stickers, highlighters—you name it, people will go to the ends of the earth to find the best, even if it's the most expensive. Some of them do look nice. I don't want to discourage you from exploring Pinterest or groups on FaceBook—I just want you to know that doing things exactly the way the above sites say isn't necessary. That is the beauty of the bullet journal. If something isn't working, toss it out. If something needs tweaking to work for you, tweak away. I assure you, my husband's bullet journal looks NOTHING like the original system. Most don't. I cannot tell you how many times I had decided to do something in my journal and changed my mind later and stopped using it. The first thing I stopped using was the key. I hated it. The only thing I kept was putting little boxes by things to check off if I finished or to put an arrow in if I were migrating it forward. Make it yours.
You are going to want to choose your weapons, and they basically fall into three categories: notebooks, pens and miscellany.
THE NOTEBOOK:
To bullet journal, one must have a notebook.
This particular notebook is one you will see in bullet journaling circles, and people just love them or hate them, or love/hate them. They are nice, I have only seen one in person, but most brand new ones cost $25 or more. That's a bit much for pretty dead trees.
This is the one I use. It costs me no more than $5 at the University Book and Supply.
It is a Roaring Springs brand, 80 sheet, 5X5 quad ruled composition notebook. I like it because it is sturdy, the pages won't just randomly fall out and the paper is thick. The quad rule is handy for when I have to make a chart—I still use a ruler because I can barely draw a straight line, but the quad rule is not as dark as it is in some quad notebooks and it helps guide me, as you will see in the pictures below.
Bottom line—the notebook is going to be on the go with you. It will be in your bag, where it can be jostled and bumped and scraped. You want something sturdy, something you enjoy writing in and something that feels you. This comp books feels like me. So I use this one.
You don't need to spend a ton of money. If you think a spiral notebook will stand up to the abuse the bullet journal will take, just pick one of those up. It doesn't have to be expensive.
PENS
Again, people swear by some pens, others hate those pens.
These are some of the most popular pens I have seen in bullet journaling forums:
I have never used these pens, but a lot of people swear by them. They run around $25 or so, depending on how many are in the package and where you buy from.
These are the pens I use. You can get them at Walmart or Target.
These particular pens write super dark, a little runny and smell good, and this pack would cost you around $6, but you can buy smaller packs too.
I love InkJoy pens. Like the pens above, they write well, are a little leaky and smell good, but they don't write nearly as darkly as the Bic pens do. This pack would cost you around $3.
Choose a pen based on what pens you like using. Don't chose it (or any of the bullet journaling products you will use) based on what other people think are best.
MISCELLANY:
As far as washi tape, stickers and highlighters go, same. Do what you want, what you can afford. I have only paid full price for washi tape a couple times, except for the stuff I get in the dollar bin at Target. After holidays is a great time to get cheap washi, and if you really play your cards right, when things go to 90% off, you can get some really super cheap—I have paid as little as ten cents for some in the past. I use whatever I have around for highlighters—some swear by the Japanese ones you have to order, but I could care less about those. Never felt the need.
You can literally start a bullet journal for less than $5 or you can spend hundreds. Anything is possible.
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