In the first one, I mentioned being inspired by Chris Aldrich’s post about using index cards for bullet journaling. I decided to try bullet journaling on index cards, specifically the daily logs. I found that I was very productive, but repetitive daily tasks were not a good fit.
After using index cards for a bit, I decided to try using the daily log template on obsidian for bullet journaling to see if I liked it better. I liked using it, but it doesn’t have the portability that a single index card per day has. Here, I wrote about how I was going to test both before I made a decision and committed to one method for the year.
Well, I’ve made my decision! I’m going to do my daily notes on index cards for 2026 (unless something drastic changes). I love how versatile, portable, and simple this method is. And to be honest, I love marking tasks complete using a pen.
I will use obsidian for long-term planning, personal knowledge management, and for creating my writing collections. It is a wonderful tool and I look forward to learning more about it.
There are some other tools I’m using for organization and planning, but more on that later.
How is your end of year/beginning of year planning coming along?
If it helps with your issue, for repetitive daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual to do items I use purple, blue, green, yellow, and red index cards, respectively, with the task at the top. I file them with the daily card for the date when they’re due. Once done, I put the date done on it and refile it into the next applicable date. Colored cards aren’t really important, but they do help me see them quickly between the white daily cards. If you need to know all the dates I’ve gotten haircuts or done specific loads of laundry for the past few years, I’ve got them on file…
This system is well documented with other options and ideas in:
Young, Pam, and Peggy Jones. 1981. Sidetracked Home Executives: From Pigpen to Paradise. ed. Sydney Craft Rozen. New York: Warner Books. http://archive.org/details/sidetrackedhomee00youn
Thank you so much for sharing this! I will def. give it a try, and I think it’s past time I read that book. Flylady mentioned them several times and I know her system is derived from theirs, and now you’ve mentioned it. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. 🙂