Anyone interested in a YNAB chat/support thread?

[OrangeBlossomsinthesun]

Hi,

I wondered if anyone was interested in a YNAb thread to chat about progress and help each other. I've just started the trial period a couple of weeks ago and, although it's quite a steep learning curve I'm really impressed with it.
I'm freelance so it's important for me to track money and be prepared for fallow periods. I had a thread here with some great advice. I'll add it as there are some good links www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/4327812-YNAB-help-for-a-freelancer?watched=1&msgid=110514876#110514876

Anyone up for some YNAB chat/support?

I have a question, should I put categories in for absolutely everything, like savings etc even if I can't actually budget any money to that for the foreseeable future?

You shouldn't have a generic savings category - it should be for something specific. So (eg) you could have holiday 2025 if you want to or 6m emergency fund (although technically the YNAB method says don't do this but fund forward six months - I don't follow that bit!)

In terms of whether you set up categories for everything even if you can't fill them, it depends whether you'll find that motivating or demotivating. I think I did. You can also have a 'wish farm' section where you have wants rather than needs and fund that slowly with left over money here and there.

Yes, I've seen a video about wish farms. I think I need a couple of months at least to just get on top of basic obligations and debt before I can consider saving.

Money is now 3 days old!!!! I am finding that really helpful as a motivator actually.

Age of money is a brilliant motivator. Mine is 9 days but my net worth is like minus 13k

Hooray! Has it got longer since you started? Mine was 1 day and is now 3. I really like checking it :)

It will tend to go up day by day until it stabilises. Then one the first of the month it always goes down which is gutting

Ha ha yes I was thinking it would drop with the new month.

Big fan here, been using it since May.

DH gets quite depressed though when we assign our budget at the start of the month - our money never stretches far despite earning well. Once all the true expenses are onto a 12 month plan I'm hoping it will be better!

Yes I think it takes a while to get a handle on true expenses but I just feel that even if it's a bit depressing now, the fact that it is a bit depressing means I really really need to stick with it and get things under control

I've given YNAB a go on three separate occasions but somehow never got my head around it. DH and I don't pool our money but have a joint account for bills/mortgage so I struggled to plan ahead when sometimes he pays for something and sometimes I do.

I also found it tricky getting my head around credit card expenses in there as I try and spend as much as I can on my amex.

Thirdly was what to do with excess money in my account that I keep as savings...

I'm sure it's all very straightforward once you get it but each time these bits put me off and I never completed the one month trial 😅

so I struggled to plan ahead when sometimes he pays for something and sometimes I do.

You just add the accounts and then tell ynab how much the mortgage is. When it goes out, from whichever account, you just add it as a transaction from that account in the mortgage category.

The idea with savings is that it isn't just generic savings. It's all allocated for one job or another. Eg £350 for washing machine replacement. £500 for laptop replacement. £1000 for holiday. £1000 emergency fund. £5000 car replacement. Etc. Etc.

Credit cards are simple once you understand it. There are some good videos out there. I pay as much as possible on credit cards to get points and that's not unusual with YNABers. The big thing if you put everything on a card and then pay off in full come pay day, is that in your head that probably isn't debt but it actually is. You're deferring paying for those expenses until next pay day. I came into YNAB without thinking I had debt but the 'credit card float' was a massive thing to overcome and pay off.

This is a good explanation

My money is 5days old!!!!! Negative net worth though.

How are you all getting on? My accounts have just under 10e each more in them than YNAB says, 9.60 in one and 8.14 in the other. Going to watch a reconciling video and see if I can work it out.

I’m never sure about the reconciling but but I’m trying to keep the bank balance and the YNAB balance as close as possible.
Do you use your bank balance or the YNAB app when deciding whether to spend money or not?

I think it was cash that I'd added twice but in the end I had to do an adjustment as I couldn't find the missing money. It was less than 10 euro on each account. I have added a cash category now so I will just record the withdrawal and not what I buy with it, should make that easier.

No I look at my ynab to see if I can spend, particularly because my account takes a few days sometimes to process debits (I can only set the card to take the money every 2 days or when the quantity reaches a certain amount, and the minimum quantity is 10, so it's kind of not a true debit card iyswim? It's a credit card really that works as a debit card as long as I don't let the money roll over )

Reconciling is really important!

It depends how you want to use the tool but to get full value from it you should be looking at your budget not your bank account (which is why reconciling is important). Just because there's money in your bank account doesn't mean it's free to spend (under the YNAB philosophy) because maybe you've assigned that money to other uses eg saving for your car insurance renewal.

Yes I agree. Looking at your bank account doesn't really help because you can't see what that money still has to cover. I was quite pleased my accounts were only put by under 10 euros in my first month. Will definitely be doing it as often as possible. It's pretty easy actually. The video I linked below is v helpful.

I'm slightly surprised at how much trust Im putting in the system. Accounts are reconciled, and i've now just got to believe what YNAB says I have available is indeed available 2.5k 'saved' towards new bathroom, 1.5k for Christmas

I reconcile every morning first thing. Although am always on the app so never actually tap the reconcile button.

I've got all of my immediate expenses covered this month and am beginning to trickle into some true expenses. It feels good to be able to do that

I've got all of my immediate expenses covered this month and am beginning to trickle into some true expenses. It feels good to be able to do that

That's great! That's kind of where I am, I don't think I will manage to cover any true expenses this month but just having more of a handle on it is making me feel much calmer.
I was explaining it to DH last night and saying how much I like YNAB. I have been trying to do a sort of YNAB in my head and on paper for years really but have always hamstrung myself because a) especially as a self employed person with irregular income, it's just too complex to do in your head and b) I've always made the mistake of paying down credit cards aggressively at the expense of true expenses, which has landed me back with credit card debts.

I have a question, for anyone following who might know:

I assigned my food shop as weeekly, on Saturdays as that's when i usually go. I spent my weekly money last Saturday. Will my little box go green and show me more money I can spend this Saturday?