How to Deal With Bleeding and Ghosting in Your Bullet Journal

In this post, you will find some creative ways to cover up and deal with bleeding and ghosting in your bullet journal.

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Most of us have dealt with it at one time or another. Some people have to live with it every day.

I’m talking about bleeding and ghosting in your bullet journal.

You know when you have the perfect weekly spread in mind and you are anxious to flip open your bullet journal and start working on it? And then you flip to the next blank spread and you’re shocked to see remnants of last week showing through? It can be faint or obnoxiously obvious. But, either way, it bothers you.

Since starting my second Nuuna notebook, I have dealt with this almost weekly. Anytime I use Tombow Dual Brush Pens, Mildliners, or Stabilo Boss Highlighters, it’s almost 100% guaranteed that those colors will bleed through. It took a bit of time and creativity, but I have discovered a few ways of dealing with this annoying incident.

Below, you will learn how to use extra sheets of paper, washi tape, stickers, white gel pens, and hand-drawn decoration to cover the bleeding and ghosting in your journal.

Dealing With Bleeding and Ghosting in your Bullet Journal

Extra Paper Solution

Some of the popular dot grid journals, like the Leuchtturm1917, come with perforated pages at the back. This means they can easily be detached and used in situations like this.

Depending on how large of an area you need to cover, tear out one of the pages at the back of your notebook and cut it to size. Then, use a strip adhesive or glue stick to adhere the extra page over the spot that bled through. Try to line up the dots so that it’s not obvious where the paper has been added.

Finally, draw out your weekly spread as you normally would. Once you have it complete, you will barely notice the glued in section.

Stickers or Washi Tape Solution

One of the simplest ways to cover up ghosting in your bullet journal is to use stickers or washi tape. This solution is more realistic if there is only a small spot you need to cover.

Pick washi tape that will match your theme and try running it across the page as a divider or a border. This will make it look intentional and as if you had planned to use washi tape the entire time.

The other option is to use stickers to cover up unattractive spots on your page. This takes a little bit of thought as you will have to methodically plan out your spread around your stickers. But, it’s very plausible and can look intentional.

My favorite place to get stickers is from Pipsticks. They offer both a subscription service for stickers and an online shop. They often include seasonal stickers in their subscriptions, and you can’t beat the price. You get 15 sheets of high-quality stickers for only $14.95 per month. You are certain to get an abundance of stickers to include in your weekly spreads, monthly spreads, and collection pages.

21 Rolls Foil Washi TapeColorful Rainbow Washi TapeThin Foil Washi TapeGlitter Washi Tape Set

RELATED: Massive List of Bullet Journal Collection Ideas

White Gel Pen Solution

For small areas of bleed through and ghosting, you can use a white gel pen or white out strips. Personally, I prefer using the white gel pen as you can be more precise and it isn’t as obvious as white-out strips.

Because many of the notebooks have cream colored pages, white-out may stand out too much for your liking. And while the white gel pen may be slightly off color, it will blend in better than the strips. Also, once dried, you can write over the white ink with your favorite pens.

Doodles, Lettering, and Hand-Drawn Solutions

After all of the ghosting I have dealt with and covered up, this is my favorite solution. It’s not perfect, and it’s not going to be the right solution for everyone. But, for me, it has allowed me to accept imperfections in my bullet journal, and it has helped to better solve problems creatively.

The solution here entails using your creativity to draw directly over the areas of bleeding or ghosting. This will not cover the spot in its entirety in most cases, but instead, will distract the eye away from the spot underneath.

You can do this with doodles or typography. And you can use black ink or add some additional color. If it matches your theme, you could use the same color that bled through the page to really disguise the spot.

Why I think this method is best…

Before you roll your eyes and say that this is out of the question, let me explain the benefits of this solution. While I don’t have a solid number, I would venture to guess that 75%+ or people who bullet journal want perfection. But we all know that is unattainable. Becoming content with that idea though is a different story.

This solution forces you to accept the flaws in your journal. And not just the one spot of ghosting. It will change the way you look at minor mistakes and laugh at the flaws.

The biggest benefit here is that you can be happy in with your bullet journal just the way it is. If you are constantly stressed about how your journal looks instead of how it functions, you are doing yourself a huge disservice. Your journal should not stress you out. It should be a safe place where you can go to release creative energy and feel your anxiety dissipate.

Instead of covering your flaws, accept them and make the best of the situation. Learn to love your journal and all of the mishaps and mistakes that occur in your journey.

Take a Deep Breath

There isn’t a single right way to deal with spots and pages you don’t like. You have to find what works for you in your current situation. That may not be doodling. But, I highly encourage you to take one of the actions above before tearing pages out of your journal.

Your journal is a direct representation and reflection of you. Which makes it super special and priceless.

I’d like to hear your opinion. On a scale of 1-10, how bad does ghosting in your bullet journal bother you? Have you ever torn or cut pages out of your journal because of a mistake? Let me know in the comments below.