YNAB question

[mrsdoylesteapot]

I've been trying to get to grips with YNAB for a couple of months, but am getting very confused with it! I get paid on the 24th of each month as does DH and I have been entering it as income for that month. A lot of our big expenses come out straight away, but others come out over the course of the next 4 weeks. I've filled in the budget spreadsheet with all of the bills that come out each month, so for example rent is in each month's column until the end of the year. However, my September column is now saying I'm going over my budget because it's taking the bills that will be paid out of September's salary out of my August income. How do I stop it doing that?

[SellingIn2014]

You need to budget the money for the bills in the month you receive it, that often means that you have a balance (pot of money) that can be carried over to be spent in the following months. Remember to give every £ a job, i.e. you should budget all your income each month.

Does that make sense?

[SellingIn2014]

Re-reading your post it sounds like you are budgeting money that you haven't yet received, i.e. your September income which is why you are over-budget in September. You will be over-budget until that money comes in, one reason for aiming to live off LAST-MONTHS income, otherwise it can be all a bit touch and go during the month.

Think of YNAB as a real time system, don't budget cash you don't have. If I have a regular budget amount for a category I include it in the category description as a reminder.

[mrsdoylesteapot]

Thanks selling. So does that mean I can't put all of my regular monthly outgoings into my budget in advance? Or, do I need to set it up so that when I get paid on the 24th I use that as the income for the following month? So, when I get paid on the 24th September I count it as income for October? I can try and get all of my outgoings to go out on the 1st of the month instead of just after I get paid. Would that work?

[SellingIn2014]

Yes, when you get paid you can allocate some of that as this months income (if you need it) and some as the following month's, then if possible build up a buffer until you can live totally out of last months income.

If you know your income in advance you can enter it ahead of time (if you have it set up as a scheduled transaction then you can edit it to enter in register now, it will then appear in the budget) if you take this approach you would have to be very careful with your cash flow to ensure you didn't pay out for anything before the cash was received.

Have you tried the YNAB webinars? They are good and explain things better than I can!

I download transactions from my bank account to ensure I don't miss anything, but also aim to enter transactions as they happen otherwise I can forget what they are.

[lougle]

What you really need to do is set all your regular outgoings up in the scheduled transactions section. Then, on the 24th of the month your wages go in. Some will go out straightaway. Anything left will roll over to the next month, then as the dates of the scheduled transactions come around, you'll see the balance go down.

I set my categories up week by week, so I have a master category called 'Week 1 bills', 'Week 2 bills' and so on. Each Friday I budget whatever will be going out until I next get money. Anything surplus gets budgeted to another category somewhere.

[mrsdoylesteapot]

Thanks both, I think it's becoming a bit clearer now . I really want to get to grips with it, even with my not using it 100% the way I should be it's made a difference to my budgeting, so if I can use it properly it'll be fantastic!

[ANLBXX]

Have just downloaded free trial really want to get to grips with it but at the end of the month we are usually overdrawn-does it count for that? i know a silly question-sorry!

[spababe]

yes you start with pre -YNAB debt and account as normal