If you’re like me and averse to cutting pages in your bullet journal (eek), but always wanted to try a “Dutch door” spread, this super easy faux method might be just the ticket—no scissors required!

First, here’s a simple visual tutorial and then I’ll walk you through how I like to use this spread, plus some other ways you might make the most out of yours!

Tutorial

It’s really easy to make a faux Dutch Door spread—essentially all you have to do is fold!

1. Your spread will take up 2 two-page spreads (four total pages).
2. Fold middle page in the center. If you’re using a dot grid notebook, the grid will help you make sure your
3. Crease the fold a few times one way, then fold it backwards and crease it again. This will help the page “learn” the fold so it’s easier to use your spread.
4. Then you write on both sides of that folded page, flipping as needed to see what you need to see!

How I use this spread

I have been loving using this spread lately because it doesn’t bulk up my journal and the pages all can still lay flat (I just unfold it to tote my bujo around!). As you can see, it flips up a little but you can just clip it down with a little binder clip.

This is the page unfolded. As you can see on the left I have my beloved timetable for timeblocking (and of course a #tinycalendar). On the middle page, I do my daily logs in a pretty close to traditional Bullet Journal style, minus any events, since they’d be on the timetable on the left. I add in tasks, notes, and anything else I want to remember.

I especially love these daily logs because I don’t mind putting on silly tasks (like vacuum, above! or apparently, unpack shoes—whatever that means!?). There’s so much space! When I only used a weekly list I wouldn’t put those kinds of tasks on even though it feels so good to cross them off and they were certainly things I was doing with my day. But with a daily log it feels really productive and I can get a capture of some of my feelings or things I want to remember, like if we went out to dinner or a movie I loved watching.

Finally on the right I keep a dashboard. I have my habit tracker for the week there as well as a meal and weather tracker. I’m not really sure how much the meal tracker is helping me eat out less (actually, I know it’s not helping because I’ve been tracking meals for 2 months and if anything I’m eating out more! ha!). Honestly, it’s more of a snapshot and nice to look back and see what my favorite meals have been or what we’re eating too much of (which is, always and every week, quesadillas). And I love tracking the weather! I love drawing little weather icons each morning and looking at what the highs and lows were. I also love flipping back to see these dashboards and what the weather and temperature was like. Does this mean I’m old now that I’m so interested in the weather!?

And of course, I have my beloved weekly task list! Though I no longer really track which day I do the task (I guess that’s in the daily log), I have loved having a holding place for a day whose log I haven’t made yet or a longer-term task I can’t forget to do, but can’t yet do, usually things for work.

Other Ideas

You don’t have to use the faux Dutch door like I do. You could always try something else, such as:

• Tracker spread
• Notes specific to a topic (such as for work or personal)
• A different events layout, such as daily blocks (see this post for ideas)
• A space for next week’s tasks
• Monthly calendar with more detail (i.e. not a tiny calendar!)

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And there you have it! I hope this gave you some ideas to give Dutch doors a try. They’re so fun and can really add so much functionality to your bullet journal. I’ve had the best time experimenting with mine over the last month and hope you enjoy doing the same!

Supply Highlights

^NOTEBOOK
Archer & Olive A5 Dot Grid notebook (gifted, use code LINEUNFOLDING10 for 10% off)

^MARKERS
Archer & Olive Calliographs (gifted, use code LINEUNFOLDING10 for 10% off), Sailor Shikiori Brush Pens, Zebra Mildliner Highlighters

^PENS
Pilot Juice Up 03 (black)
Uni Pin Pen 01 (black, dark grey, light grey)

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Did you like this post? You might be interested in my Productivity Unfolding ebook or Journal Prompts Packs!