How to Set Up a Monthly Log

Twenty to thirty minutes on a blank spread: count rows, number dates, add weekdays, split the spread, index it, and bookend it with the future log.

Start on the next blank spread. Count the usable rows first — on A5 expect 38-42 — and tick every fifth line in the margin with a pencil. Numbering before counting is the classic failure: the 'short page', where the 31st of the month lands on the last available row.

Write the dates 1 to 31 down the left edge, one row per day, then run the weekday column beside them: the first letter of each weekday, repeating the cycle of seven. Draw 31 rows even in February; a layout that never changes is a layout you stop thinking about.

The right page is the month's task list: short bullets, no dates inside the calendar column. Events fixed to a day go on the calendar side as a few words after the date; everything else stays on the task side, where weekly migration can scan it.

Index the spread immediately: month name and both page numbers on the index page at the front. Then open the future log — the two-page spread covering the next 6-12 months — and move anything dated beyond this month into its proper block.

Close the loop weekly. Fifteen to thirty minutes: read the index, check the future log for items entering the current month, and migrate open tasks forward or strike them. Size and paper choices that make the spread comfortable are covered in Notebook Sizes Compared.

• Count usable rows and tick every fifth line (2 minutes).
• Number dates 1-31 down the left edge (5 minutes).
• Add the 7-letter weekday column beside the dates (3 minutes).
• Split the spread: calendar left, tasks right (2 minutes).
• Write the month and page numbers into the index (2 minutes).
• Move out-of-month items into the future log (5-10 minutes).

Further reading

• Notebook Sizes Compared
• Dot Grid vs Lined Paper