My 3-part indexing system in my notebook

This originally was part of my post on the 2014 Star Wars notebooks, but the indexing part got so big I decided to take it out into a separate post so it was more easily referenced.

This is the notebook I will use first in 2014 as my daily records, lists and notes. It is the Moleskine 2014 Star Wars notebook, large unlined with Yoda's quote. You can see more details of this specific notebook in my review post. But my indexing systems can be used in any notebook or Filofax.

 

I'm planning to use it as a sort of Bullet Journal. First I numbered all the pages:

Monthly Index:

At the beginning of the book I labeled pages for January through June, with a two-page spread for each month. (I figure it will take me six months or less to fill this notebook.)

This will be my monthly index where I will index events from my daily pages, which I will start right after the months and work from the front. So for example on my daily page I would write that my son's tooth fell out, and on that month's page at the front of the book I would write the date and that his tooth fell out that day. That way I'll be able to reference events easily.

Index pages at the back of the book:

At the back of the book I labeled several pages for my Index, where I will reference information like lists and non-day-specific notes (which I will write in the back of the book). For example I will write which page my household maintenance list is on. That way I can find information easily.

So my daily pages will start from the front of the book, and my lists and non-day-specific notes will start from the back. When they meet in the middle, the notebook is full!

At first I was disappointed that Yoda was only available unlined, but now that I have it I think I will enjoy the freedom of open, unlined pages.

Color-coded index:

I used an undated notebook for about a month in October and while I liked the freedom, by the end of the month it was starting to turn into a jumbled mess despite my index system. Looking through the notes and lists pages I discovered I had a limited number of specific topics: home, blogs, Plannerisms planners work, kids, personal, job search etc.  I am tempted to switch to a Filofax with tabbed pages, but I do want the permanence of bound pages especially for my daily record. So I will incorporate a version of DIY Fish's genius color-coded index for my topics so I can easily find related pages in my book. You can see the details of DIY Fish's color index system in her guest post she did awhile ago here on Plannerisms, click here to see.

Once I had this idea, I couldn't wait to set up the color-coding index! Here are some quick photos (sorry for the poor image quality taken hastily in my sunny windowsill):

On the back and front endpapers I wrote my index code: purple for me, pink for my daughter, orange for my son, light blue for my husband, green for financial/ home/ car, dark blue for my blogs and planner/ notebook stuff, black for the publisher of my Plannerisms planners.

So for example, when I make lists of weights of notebooks and planners, those pages will be tagged with a dark blue square at the edge of the page. When I write my notes on updates for the 2015 Plannerisms planners, those pages will be tagged with a black square.

 You can see the colors at the edges of the pages.

I'll match the location of the colored squares on my written pages too, for easy indexing. Within my written pages, I'll use that corresponding color to circle or underline the referenced information. That way if I have a lot of different topics (on my daily page for example) I can find each referenced bit of information easily. This also allows me to write in whatever color pen I have with me, and use my color references later when I index my pages.

I have specifically not used red yet, and am saving it for something important. I might decide to use it for very important things in general, or if a topic comes up that specifically needs red I'll use it for that.

Running 3 types of index systems simultaneously (dates, page numbers and colors) will be an interesting experiment to see which is most useful to me.

***Update January 27, 2014: I've been using this notebook for almost 2 solid months now, and it's 3/4 full. Here's how I'm using each individual indexing type:

Colors: I stopped doing the color-coding at the page edges after just a few days, it was too much to keep up on. However I do use colors on the pages by circling things relevant to my kids in "their" colors. That way I can find things relevant to them easily.

Page numbers and Index pages: I haven't been using the Index pages in the back of the book at all, and stopped writing in them after about 3 weeks. I have my daily record starting from the front of the book and my lists from the back, so it's easier to just page through and find what I'm looking for than it is to look it up in the index. I do like the numbered pages though, because I reference them within the book. For example "see list pg 38" or "see phone number pg 82" so I don't have to rewrite info within the book. I'll continue to number the pages in my future notebooks.

Monthly dated index at front of book: This is the only index I actually use. I will continue to do this, but in future notebooks I think I will draw grid calendars for the monthly index because it's easier for me to remember events spatially on the page with the month grid calendar.

**Updated again:  I made a monthly booklet that I put in the back pocket of my notebook for my monthly dated index. It has 12 months of month-on-two-pages grid calendars where I write my daily index. I can move it from notebook to notebook as I fill each book, and still have the full year indexed in one booklet without having to re-draw grids every few months. You can see how I made this monthly booklet in this post.

I have really enjoyed having unlimited space to write each day. I usually use two pages for each weekday, with my schedule on the left page and the right page for notes and journaling. Saturday and Sunday usually only need one page each. I'm working on ways to add more structure to my pages. I'll keep you updated on my use as it evolves!