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?

Haven't used ynab for ages but have decided to sign up again. Glad to find that there's a support group on here

Morning all! Went missing for a while as just couldn't get mumsnet to work on my phone (it kept crashing)

Still fully on the YNAB habit, and finding it incredibly helpful. Had some real wins, and definitely saved more than the license cost.

How is everyone else doing?

I'm doing the YNAB no spend January. Moderate success. I did have to buy dd a winter coat & a gift for friend but all out of budget/funded categories.

No eating out - DC are on board & are taking packed lunch every day. Meal planning & aiming to eat our way through overstocked pantry is helping keep food bills down.

I will be up about £300 by end of January if I don't break & that is after paying 2 insurance bills this month.

Being a year in so all annual bills are fully funded when they fall due is a game changer.

It took me over a year to get to the point I could do goals and stuff and wasn't constantly playing catch up.

I always find those kind of challenges so ridiculous because they are just the way I normally lived for years :o

The challenges are a good way to re-set when we find ourselves frittering little bits here and there, as it all adds up.

I’m still on the YNAB wagon at the moment and it is going ok. Still on the true expenses rather than any lifestyle goals, but it’s good to hear that might happen next year…?

I'm not surprised it took a year. I'm still fire fighting like crazy at the moment. Not getting very far with true expenses. But bit by bit I can see a way through.
I've reduced DH life insurance to a more affordable policy so that will free up a bit of money from April. Also finishing paying for the washing machine in a month or two.

I've been using ynab for 18 months and I love it so much. Downloaded the free trial at the start of lockdown when DH's income plummeted to zero and I became the main breadwinner. I swear it's allowed us to pay the mortgage, save for my tax bill (self employed) and put money aside for roof repairs, car stuff, and other 'unexpected'* expenses.

I found the ynab subreddit really helpful in the first few weeks. www.reddit.com/r/ynab/
The Reddit geeks will help out with any problem especially if you can do screenshots.

These days I check and reconcile on my phone every morning with my cup of tea before work.

I have never been less stressed about money even though our income is lower than it's been for years.

That's true, a big thing has been feeling less stressed and more in control, definitely. Even if I still can't really save yet, just understanding what I have and how to manage it has been a huge change.

Thankfully we aren't too skint, (touch wood), but I am a single parent and I grew up quite poor (on benefits). I've found YNAB has taken away so much stress & anxiety around money for me. I always feel quite anxious spending money & having funded categories is so helpful for me - I can just buy stuff we need without stressing about it.

Well, I've emptied all my long term categories and still don't have enough money so it looks like I'm going to have to use the credit card again. Too much month at the end of the money. Disappointing.

Sorry to hear that, January is a tough month financially. Is there any way to increase income or reduce outgoings for a few weeks to help you through it? There are a few threads in money matters and credit crunch that have tips and ideas.

Marking my place on here- I ve had ynab but never commited.

I'll be reading through for success stories!

I'm sorry to hear that OP. That's really hard.

I did my quarterly VAT return and it was less than I expected so there was 100 euro I could move. But I'll still be short so have used the credit card for the weekly shop.
Next month will be tight too because my earnings are going to be low at the end of this month. At the end of February I have much more coming in and March is the last payment for the washing machine I had to buy last year. I've changed an insurance policy to another company to get the same for half the price from April and canceled an accident policy we had that is over priced (and covered by life insurance anyway), also from April.
One of the things that has killed me the last 2 months is huge electricity bills. I've got an app now that shows the cheapest times of day so trying to use that as much as possible.
It will be ok, it's just a disappointing set back.

Gah, the cat's just cost me 125 at the vet and I had nothing saved for that (cos I have had to clear all my categories) . So that's gone on the credit card.
I've got money for the water bill put aside (cos it comes out of my account next week) but I still need to pay for a food shop and the kids maths tutor, so that will be the credit card too. I'd managed to pay 300 off it and I'm going to end up putting more than that back on it.
I will get a tax rebate later in the year and I can use that to fix things a bit but I was really hoping to do the outside paintwork as it really needs it. Every year I end up spending the tax rebate on debt, thought I might not have to this year.

How's everyone getting on? Still firefighting here.

Happy new ynab month! Things aren’t going too bad here as January has been a quiet enough month. February is different though - my car tax is due, we have two family birthdays and also a weekend away booked.

I’m finding general expenses have gone up recently. Petrol has gone up and my weekly groceries are definitely more than they used to be. I don’t think I can cut down much with them and so I end up wamming from other categories. I will have to increase the targets again.

Any light at the end of the tunnel for you OP? Are you hoping finances will pick up again in March?

I'm back to square one with my long term expenses and don't have much coming in this month. At the beginning of next month things will ease slightly but then I will have another tight month in April probably as I won't have much to invoice this month. I'm self employed so if I take any holiday I don't earn. My brother is coming out for 10 days and it's the first time I've seen him in 2 years and I really need a holiday. But it will affect my income the following month

There are also long term expenses building up that I'm not covering becasue I can't.

Cost of living, OMG yes what has killed me these last couple of months is the enormous electricity bills.

So I just feel I'm firefighting on all fronts at the moment and not getting any further forward with anything right now, nevermind save or anything. It's not YNAB's fault. In fact without YNAB I'd be in a bigger mess. It's just a bit depressing.

Seeing as I've had to use my credit card again I've added it back in to ynab and finally got the hang of the interest and how to budget for it, so that's one thing.

Ah great!

I've got into the hang of importing from DH and my banks. The imports are still stupid from PayPal but at least it's something.

How's everyone? My finances continue to be a total car crash this month, but hoping to patch up some holes next month. At least with YNAB I know what's going on.

Hello! Bit of a car crash here too I’m afraid. I thought I was on top of things , but then the cat had to have surgery which took a load of cash that I did not have. I have also had to pay for some of the DC’s summer activities now to ensure their places. I had a category to save up for them, but I hadn’t realised that the money would have to go out in February rather than June, so I did not have enough put away. I will correct this for next year for sure.

So overall a lot of WAMming going on. On the positive side I have upped my hours at work, and I hope that the raised income will cover more than the childcare and be financially worth any extra stress.

As you say, at least with YNAB we know what is going on and where the money is going. Fingers crossed for a better month in March…

My car has died, but thanks to YNAB I had saved the depreciation, and I'm getting a new one tomorrow. Net worth graph has gone down, but what's the point of sinking funds if you don't spend them when needed?

Sorry to hear things are still difficult Orange. Do you have some work lined up?

It's great you have some more income to cover the WAM Kat. It sucks, but it will be better next year.

I will get quite a few invoices in at the beginning of next month and will be able to cover a lot of holes. The problem has been a slow period at the end of last year so not much came in at the beginning of this month. I also had electricity bills of 189, 289 and 240 instead of the usual 90 and the cat got ill and cost me 250 euros. My brother came to visit so I took 10 days off and we did a bit of sightseeing and stuff. I haven't seen him for 2 years so wasn't prepared to cancel but it was more money than I'd usually spend.
So, I've had to use my credit card again and have about 5 overspent categories.
I had actually started building up a little sinking fund for vet's stuff but really wasn't expecting 250 euros and hadn't had time to build it up. I wasn't expecting the electric bills either as I used to be on a different deal with a fixed price that adjusted at the end of each term so didn't get massive fluctuations like that. But now I know and will put away more each month for all year to cover higher winter bills.

Things are actually going really well here. Better than I thought they would be at this point.

I've been able to buy a tumble dryer which I've been wanting for years but has really become urgent with the arrival of DS3.

I've filled back up our emergency fund which was right down in double figures. It's now over half full.

Fund to visit the UK when we eventually get there is filled up and ready to go.

I even started looking at house prices and deposits the other day that's still a long way off but somehow doesn't feel impossible which was a bit of a surprise.

It gives me a bit of breathing room to try and figure out what I want to do for work.