Does anyone use YNAB (You Need A Budget) and fancy a support/chat thread?

[lougle]

I've just got the trial version and I'm hooked, if not slightly overwhelmed. I'm currently in 'why is it asking me to budget so much money' mode.

I'm hoping that I'll really take off with it because it sounds quite life-transforming.

We have more money coming in on Friday so am hoping we'll be able to allocate to savings and emergency spends. The biggest shocker for me is the amount we spend on food - it's obscene and I had no idea. So that's the next thing to get a grip of.

We deal with an ATM transaction as a transfer to a separate account (DH and I both have an on-budget account that is actually our wallet). It's then only a transaction once its actually spent. Still goes skewed from time to time but never that bad.

Oh and congrats on finding the discrepency!

The way I manage Cash is that I take it out of the bank and allocate it to my "Spending Money" line item then when I spend something biggish from the cash, or I need to take out more, or have something I want to keep track of (e.g. small grocery top ups) I go back in and do a Split Category so I can allocate it to the right category. I don't worry about every penny, just round to the nearest pound so it might be £10.21 I spend but I just allocate £10 (as I'll usually have lost the receipt or not remember the exact amount). So I took £40 out last Friday, spent £15ish in the butcher, £16ish on swimming and allocated those to the appropriate category and then just have the spare £9 still listed under "Spending Money" which I probably won't track in more detail as it will end up as a bit in the charity box, a bit for parking, maybe a cuppa etc. We don't spend much in cash, usually putting everything on debit card, so don't worry about tracking the cash in huge detail but I like to know roughly where it's gone. I also take out little and often as needed rather than say £200 at once so can usually remember the big cash transactions. If I genuinely can't remember it just stays under "Spending Money" and I don't worry too much.

Evertonmint - I would love enough to replace my fence! Neighbours did their side at their expense nearly 5 years ago - the other side is mine and I have patched up twice and am expecting it to come down any day. I have a "house maintenance" line in ynab but spent this months' on paying a bill from January for fixing the shower (which was not paid when it was fixed because I was paying for a fence repair... see why I need a budget??)

I also deal with cash exactly the same as you. Log as "spending money" and then adjust if it goes on something in another category.

I don't do that Ruby as the size of the mortgage (very very large!) would make it harder to instantly see our monthly balance. You could maybe try having it as an off budget account so it doesn't affect your monthly balances but is sat there in YNAB? Actually, I might do that as we're trying to overpay what we can.

I agree with evertonmint, it's probably better to set it up as an off-budget account. I think you can still transfer money across to the off budget account.

There must be thousands of fences that need to be repaired/replaced ishesingle. Mine also need doing. DP keeps having to go out in the wind and rain to put a panel back in - it's so warped and flimsy it comes straight back off a couple of hours later. Both sides need replacing, but I am not sure who owns what.

I have our mortgage and pensions as off budget accounts. I also have our house as an asset on there, with a notional value (we only bought it last year so I have a rough idea what it is worth) so that our net worth is right in the reports section. These things matter when you are a dedicated YNABer

Anyone one doing the email free 9-Day YNAB Course? Just started today, its all about roots (budget) to grow fruits (financial goals). Seems fairly fun and, most importantly, not time consuming.

ARGH! All careful budgeting laid to waste as school had just announced they want fees five months earlier than I was planning for.

Practicing 'roll with the punches' now and trying to work out whether there's anyway to manage it without loading the credit cards.

We were doing so well S till if we hadn't been YNABing we'd be even worse off.

still not sure how the errant got in there.

Last day of the month! How is everyone doing?

For the first time:

• All categories are either at zero, or have positive balances.
• I split DH pay income transaction, so a good portion went into March, meaning I have enough to budget withuntil next payday
• Credit card balance is zero.

We have come so, so far in just a few months. True, thismonth is more frugal as DH's car broke so he got lifts for a bit (petrol spend down) and we all got flu meaning he had to take a week off work and we ate practically nothing, but it has set us up nicely and we have got to this position a couple of months before I thought we would.

Clouds, silver lining.

Well we didn't end with everything in budget but close enough and I'm pretty relaxed about just letting that reduce this month's avail to budget.
DH has done the budget this month which is a good start. Let's see.

I ended up with all categories at 0 except 2:

TV savings fund - I have a cronky old style portable in the family room and challenged myself to replace it purely from unearned income (ie ebay). Ended at +£77. Usually would have frittered that away.

Holidays - nothing saved as such but ended +£40 which was a payment from a friend for a weekend away - the last instalment is being taken from my account on 10th March and she paid me early. Instead of thinking "fab, bonus money just before payday", I thought "that's not my money - let it sit and wait to be taken". Never would have happened without ynab.

Nothing in rainy day funds but I did pay a fence repair bill, small car repair bill and a vets bill which kind of wiped out any idea of saving for rainy days this month.

March is expensive but I hope to leave money in my emergency fund and my car tax fund categories.

I love ynab!

We're sorted. All allocated :)

We had to fill up with diesel a couple of days before the end of the month which shot us about £60 over budget, but I just lopped it off March's fuel budget instead as most will be used in March anyway.

Otherwise February was fairly frugal - we pretty much stuck to a very strict budget as DH wasn't earning in January (between jobs) so had no pay for Feb so we were living off savings.

March will be pricier than a normal month with a birthday, a party and mother's day to cover, plus various friends' parties but we have some money saved from previous months to the birthday budget so we should be fine!

Question for you:

Last month I allocated some money to my more frivolous spending categories (social, clothes, beauty etc.) and at the end of the month have a small balance left in each. I don't want that to carry over each month - I want it to be available to my general pot again IYSWIM as I change how much I spend each month on these frivolous things depending on what I need etc.

How do I zero out the balance on a particular item? Or do I have to allocate less to that pot so that the balance available is what I want?

e.g. I was £3.10 underspent on clothes, and I am allocating £30 this month to that category. So the balance is currently sitting at £33.10. Do I have to change the money allocated to be £26.90 so the balance is £30, or is there some way of not carrying over the £3.10?

Yes, you can just click in the budget field and type '26.90', which will bring the balance up to £30. If it's a bit more tricky, the budget fields have a built in calculator, so the easy way to do it is:

Click in the budget field
Type '-amount left in budget + new amount to be budgeted'

So in your example you'd type '-3.10 + 30'

That will release the £3.10 into your Available to Budget amount and then allocated £30 from the ATB to your category.

Thanks lougle!

hello ynab experts, please could you help me!
We use a credit card for living expenses, and pay it off each month. Where do I enter this on ynab? I want to keep track of what we're putting on it without it affecting the rest of the budget iyswim.

don't worry - sorted!

bump for newcomers to the board