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Anyone interested in a YNAB chat/support thread?

990 replies

OrangeBlossomsinthesun · 04/09/2021 10:43

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?

OP posts:
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19
JackieWeaversZoomAc · 15/11/2023 11:19

I don't know how I missed the Toolkit references upthread but I have this moment discovered the Toolkit & reports & I will be spending much of today looking at those instead of working. 😁

Where do I find the "days of buffering" please?

JackieWeaversZoomAc · 15/11/2023 11:24

@BlastedSkreet you are doing really well and you are only a few months in. Its incredible how quickly you can turn things around and even if you are still skint, you feel much more knowledgable about how everythings is playing out financially.

Congrats on clearning that debt -that's fantastic. Imagine the year ahead can be debt free, and after several months/a year all your true expense catagories are well funded and the magic really starts to kick in.

JackieWeaversZoomAc · 15/11/2023 11:25

I found the DAYS OF BUFFERING option x

JackieWeaversZoomAc · 15/11/2023 12:11

you really need "savings" (I know I know) to get your Age of Money up. Now several YNAB years in my savings are nicely padded and my AoM went as high as 103 days. Then we went on the 2 lovely holidays I've been budgeting for for a few years and AoM back to 50 days.

My newly discovered Days of Buffering are high at 148. Its lovely know know how long we could go if income stopped, though of course "Rolling With the Punches" would have to manifest as "All bets are off" and every catagory would get cleared out during those 148 days. Still its great to see how far I have come from living paycheck to paycheck in the time I have been using YNAB, and how honed my budgeting skills have become.

BertieBotts · 15/11/2023 13:03

Yes I think the savings is the key.

It's probably helpful as a rough guide. I just found it fluctuated too much in the beginning.

My exciting YNAB milestone is that I am nearly, as they say on the reddit sub, "worthless" aka our net worth is nearing 0. I have included the loan that we have and DH's overdraft on the budget.

I think when DH's pay goes in this month, we'll actually hit 0 for the first time ever. Sadly I think by the actual 30th it won't be at 0. But it's a very exciting milestone to me, all the same!

Taking out this loan was such a big mistake - it was about 5 years ago, I was pregnant with DS2, DH's dad died and we felt obliged to contribute to the funeral, as well as the costs to travel there at short notice, it was just all a big mess, we took out a loan to get us "back to zero" but then didn't actually pay things off with it and it was a bit nuts. It was around 18 months after this that I suggested taking over the finances and started YNAB. DH was a bit head in the sand/just look at balance right now to see if we can afford things and it didn't work.

JackieWeaversZoomAc · 15/11/2023 14:05

Hey we take every milestone as they come! Its all a boost & encouraging.

I went into the blue re Net Worth a couple of months ago & it thrills me every time I see it.

I got on the housing ladder comparatively late in life and on my own. So while we live in a very modest house, my mortgage is quite high. I'm "saving" now to pay off a lump sum when my very cheap fix ends in 2 years. The YNAB mortgage caculator came out just in time for me to run the numebrs and realise it was worth buying myself out of my then fix, to remortgage on a 5 eyar fix, literally the mo nth before the rates all rocketed. I'm thankful to YNAB for so many reasons.

BlastedSkreet · 23/11/2023 18:13

Hi everyone! It’s five days till payday, still 7 days till I roll the month over and I have about £5 of loose change left in November’s budget. My Age of Money is now 25 days - if I can hang on for five more days without spending it will it be 30 days?

Anyway, I was YNAB poor ten days ago, I am on the bones 🦴 of my backside now. BUT by YNAB magic I had the money for the window cleaner, my kids pocket money and even a tank of petrol this week!

Hanging in there till 30th! Hope everyone else is also ok.

BlastedSkreet · 23/11/2023 18:15

Hi everyone! It’s five days till payday, still 7 days till I roll the month over and I have about £5 of loose change left in November’s budget. My Age of Money is now 25 days - if I can hang on for five more days without spending it will it be 30 days?

Anyway, I was YNAB poor ten days ago, I am on the bones 🦴 of my backside now. BUT by YNAB magic I had the money for the window cleaner, my kids pocket money and even a tank of petrol this week!

Hanging in there till 30th! Hope everyone else is also ok.

JackieWeaversZoomAc · 23/11/2023 18:25

I get paid tomorrow but I'm YNAB broke until Dec 1st. 😁

BlastedSkreet · 23/11/2023 18:50

@JackieWeaversZoomAc you seem pretty happy about it 🤪 There is definitely something very satisfying about hanging in there and doing without while knowing the things you really want to prioritise are still covered. I’m not going to make the mistake of allocating ahead into the next month this time and I will hold fire till 1st. I’ve been saving for four months for a special (surprise) meal out for DH in December which will be a real treat. And for a change January won’t be a financial shitshow!
I WISH I had found YNAB 10 years ago. I think if I had I would be mortgage free now. This week I shared it with my DS. He’s still a teen but he loved it immediately- he’s a numbers nerd like me 😁 I hope it will give him a good start with his financial habits.

JackieWeaversZoomAc · 24/11/2023 14:30

well the great thing about being YNAB broke is I am watching spending in certain catagories, but I've also been able to do a bit of online Xmas shopping for the DC as my Christmas accounts are funded. And there was a bit in my clothing budget so I was able to buy something I needed too.

I also wish I had found YNAB 10 or even 15 years ago. But its great we found it when we did - it is what it is. Its about 3 years for me now and the improvement to my finances are vast.

Your lovely December meal will be all the more enjoyable as you can relax and enjoy the experience without fretting about the spend. I grew up quite poor, so even when I've had money to spend as an adult I've fretted over it. That is one of the big YNAB bonuses for me - I can now spend money and enjoy it. I took my kids to Disney Paris recently and splashed out on a nice hotel after saving for years. Even though it was a lot of ££ I could really enjoy spending money this way. This would have been inconceivable pre YNAB - not only would I be stressing about doing everything as cheap as possible I would find it really difficult to enjoy spending the money so "friviously". The whole experience would have been needlessly stressful for me. Now I can budget for treats and then really really enjoy them rather than feeling wicked and friviolous about the spend. I can't emphasise enough how lifechanging this has been for me - though for many/most people it wouldn't be an issue at all.

TodayForTomorrow · 26/11/2023 17:28

This is my first month on YNAB and I have absolutely loved it. I've been down every online rabbit hole I can find and just wish I'd done this sooner.

YNAB broke til Tuesday payday, but have my money for a night away next weekend saved up with money left in true expenses.

I'd say I'm most excited for January to reset my priorities. With only starting this month, i've had to funnel a fair bit towards immediate Christmas related stuff, whereas in January will be a bit more reflective of a normal month.

MrsWombat · 28/11/2023 17:36

TodayForTomorrow · 26/11/2023 17:28

This is my first month on YNAB and I have absolutely loved it. I've been down every online rabbit hole I can find and just wish I'd done this sooner.

YNAB broke til Tuesday payday, but have my money for a night away next weekend saved up with money left in true expenses.

I'd say I'm most excited for January to reset my priorities. With only starting this month, i've had to funnel a fair bit towards immediate Christmas related stuff, whereas in January will be a bit more reflective of a normal month.

I'm on month 2 and I'm doing the same by moving money from future (not very important) expenses to Christmas and hoping everything works out for next Christmas. January won't be normal either though because a couple of bigish payments I've been snoozing in favour of Christmas (just got that feature, it's fab) will be due, and they will need paying.

I'm definitely more aware of what I'm spending and having to move money from groceries or Christmas for stupid things is definitely making me more aware of how I spend things and what is a priority for me. I actually returned something to Amazon the other day which is unheard of.

I am significantly more aware of what my money needs to do before I get paid again, and how little of it I have. Which is making me look to the future a bit more with earning extra. I need more money in my account if I'm going to be able to buy more Christmas presents before the kids finish school (we normally wait until DP gets his bonus), and I want to include a bottle of wine in the groceries. Before I ignored everything while I had money in my account. Now I technically have money in my account but I'm YNAB broke I'm more motivated to upload something to sell, do some data entry, or do a Prolific survey before my account is negative.

I'm really hoping this all works out in the long term. It's looking good.

TheClitterati · 28/11/2023 21:49

For the new starters, Christmas next year will be a whole new experience.

I have separate Xmas categories for each DC and a family Xmas one too. Each month as little goes in there and by the time I start Xmas shopping the ££ is there waiting.

I've been buying "Xmas booze" etc with grocery shops for a while- all funded out of my general Xmas category.

It's magic.

WouldBeMrMicawber · 30/11/2023 12:49

Can I join? I started the free trial yesterday after reading through this thread. I seem to run out of money every month. I should have around £200 leftover each month to save, but instead I spend the last few days of every month with about £8 in my account, hoping I don't run out of conditioner.

For December, my YNAB budget is just based on getting through the month, as Christmas shopping has meant there will be nothing spare and I'll need to tighten the belt. I'm paying down debt at the moment so most of my discretionary income is going towards that. I need to start being a lot more careful with the rest.

MrsWombat · 30/11/2023 16:20

WouldBeMrMicawber · 30/11/2023 12:49

Can I join? I started the free trial yesterday after reading through this thread. I seem to run out of money every month. I should have around £200 leftover each month to save, but instead I spend the last few days of every month with about £8 in my account, hoping I don't run out of conditioner.

For December, my YNAB budget is just based on getting through the month, as Christmas shopping has meant there will be nothing spare and I'll need to tighten the belt. I'm paying down debt at the moment so most of my discretionary income is going towards that. I need to start being a lot more careful with the rest.

Welcome! if you use a referral link you'll get the third month free once you've paid for month 2. If you didn't, you can pick someone from this thread, send YNAB an email and they will apply the referral for you.

I'm doing the same for December. Clinging on with my fingernails, and hoping it all works out long term. I've still got money in my accounts and I've still got half a month to go to pay day so that's definitely a win for me. It's all accounted for though, so I'm YNAB broke. New budget day tomorrow!

WouldBeMrMicawber · 01/12/2023 12:18

@MrsWombat Thank you! I will look into the referral links at the end of the month.

I've set a new target: I now get paid around the 23rd of each month, but I'm used to getting paid at the end of the month, and have not adjusted to this - I always seem to spend far too much in that first week because it doesn't feel like the next month has properly started. I need £450 in that week for bills, subscriptions and groceries, so I have set a goal of saving that by May, so that I won't need to touch my "new" salary each month until the 1st. I've also made a target of a replenishable £100 "slush fund" by Feb for unexpected expenses in the last week of each month.

I do have a question - how do you input one-off bills? E.g. a car or house repair which isn't repeated. Anything I put in seems to come up the next month as well. Do you just hide things once they're no longer relevant?

Edit: I didn't realise "slush fund" meant money for something dodgy! Am changing it to "contingency fund" Grin

Lougle · 01/12/2023 13:43

@WouldBeMrMicawber set a general category of DIY/Maintenance and a general category of Car Repairs. Allocate those expenses to that category. Then you'll only need to use it when those expenses arise.

JackieWeaversZoomAc · 01/12/2023 13:47

@WouldBeMrMicawber I can promse you will be in a different place next Christmas! Embrace the true expenses (Rule 2) means you will more than likely have Christmas covered before it arrives. It does take a few months for everything to come together and settle down.

WouldBeMrMicawber · 01/12/2023 13:59

@Lougle Thank you! That seems obvious now but for some reason I couldn't figure it out!

@JackieWeaversZoomAc That would be amazing, I can't imagine being that organised but it's starting to look possible just from these couple of days of using YNAB!

I have another question - how does transfer to savings accounts work? I have 2 savings accounts, and let's say I want to transfer £10 into one as part of my "emergency savings" goal. If I do it as a transfer to savings account from my main bank account, it doesn't allow me to select a category. How do I "link" it so that a transfer to savings account will match up with the emergency savings goal?

BertieBotts · 01/12/2023 14:01

WouldBeMrMicawber · 01/12/2023 12:18

@MrsWombat Thank you! I will look into the referral links at the end of the month.

I've set a new target: I now get paid around the 23rd of each month, but I'm used to getting paid at the end of the month, and have not adjusted to this - I always seem to spend far too much in that first week because it doesn't feel like the next month has properly started. I need £450 in that week for bills, subscriptions and groceries, so I have set a goal of saving that by May, so that I won't need to touch my "new" salary each month until the 1st. I've also made a target of a replenishable £100 "slush fund" by Feb for unexpected expenses in the last week of each month.

I do have a question - how do you input one-off bills? E.g. a car or house repair which isn't repeated. Anything I put in seems to come up the next month as well. Do you just hide things once they're no longer relevant?

Edit: I didn't realise "slush fund" meant money for something dodgy! Am changing it to "contingency fund" Grin

Edited

How are you putting in the bills now so that they are repeating? This will help advise on how to do it so they don't repeat.

I did not know that meaning of slush fund Grin I have a "firefighting" category which is my name for smallish emergencies that need paying for immediately. I used to put £100 in that a month but now I try to keep it topped up to £1000 - this doesn't usually happen, I think it's hovering around 2/300 currently.

BertieBotts · 01/12/2023 14:07

I have 2 savings accounts, and let's say I want to transfer £10 into one as part of my "emergency savings" goal. If I do it as a transfer to savings account from my main bank account, it doesn't allow me to select a category. How do I "link" it so that a transfer to savings account will match up with the emergency savings goal?

You can do this one of two ways. It sounds like your savings account is "on budget". If you plan to spend out of it and/or assign categories to it, this is fine, but it is a bit fiddly to manage in YNAB as you'll want to ringfence the funds in it into a category (or category group). If you never spend out of it and only transfer in/out of it, then it might be better to add it as a tracking account instead. The way to do this is to add a new account > Unlinked > Account Type (scroll to bottom) Tracking/Asset. (Wow this is overcomplicated since I last did this!) Set as current balance 0.

Then do a transfer of all the funds from your savings account into this new account, which will make the savings account balance 0 and allow you to close that account from YNAB.

Once you have a tracked account in YNAB, any transfers to that account will show as a transaction and money flowing out of the budget. You can still see the balance of it on the left of your budget (on the web) but you can't move the money around in categories.

Lougle · 01/12/2023 14:24

I use @BertieBotts's cheaty method one. I say cheaty method because YNAB is intended to be used for one account because the categories remove the need to keep separate accounts for savings.

So, I have a main account and two savings accounts. I do this:
~Set main category groups
~Set a main category group called 'Account 1' (mine is named, it doesn't matter either way) with a sub category savings
~Set a main category group called 'Account 2' (ditto above comment)

I add accounts 1 and 2 as checking accounts. Using a worked example:

Account 1 has £250
Account 2 has £800

In my budget, the category 'Account 1 - savings' has to have £250 assigned to it. 'Account 2 - savings' has to have £800 assigned to it.

If I spend £100 on clothing from Account 2, I enter the transaction as normal, but when I assign it in the budget I use the 'account 2 - savings' category to assign the money, so that category drops to £700.

If I forget to do that, and it comes out of 'ready to assign', then I make a manual adjustment to the category 'Account 2 - savings' by typing in -£100 to the assigned box, which has to effect of moving £100 out of that category into ready to assign, which balances the budget again.

Basically, as long as your savings category has the same value as the amount in your secondary account, then your budget will be sound.

BertieBotts · 01/12/2023 14:39

I don't think YNAB has to be used with one account, DH and I have separate accounts and it works fine for us, though I do need to keep an eye on balances, I just do a transfer if one of us is accumulating money and the other is veering close to the red.

It's more when you have savings accounts it gets a bit confusing, because usually you want to separate that money so that you don't accidentally think it's available for spending. It probably would be useful to have savings accounts on-budget if for example it has a better interest rate and you use it to hold any "buffer" money like stuff that is in funds and will be spent later in the year but not yet.

This is helpful:
https://www.ynab.com/blog/the-relationship-between-your-budget-your-accounts-its-complicated

What’s the Difference Between Budget vs. Bank Account? | YNAB

YNAB let's you see your money from two different angles—in your bank accounts or in your budget. Same money, different organization.

https://www.ynab.com/blog/the-relationship-between-your-budget-your-accounts-its-complicated