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?

So actually an easy sync is a huge bonus for me and I'd probably choose that over the old version. I have ADHD and I find the best apps for me are those that sync between phone and computer because it means they are accessible to me. Email, calendar, docs, shopping list, Kindle, budget. If it's not accessible then I won't use it so these are highly important.

I've been able to fix it myself every time it's glitched so far, but someone not as techy wouldn't. When nynab first launched there were bits missing, bugs, no reports, importing data from 4 was a nightmare... The launch was a bit bungled too. I woke up, looked at the app and it had an orange flash over it and was now called "ynab classic". No one had a clue what was happening they just dropped it. There was a thread here, and we discussed it all a lot.

Watching them pivot towards mobile was interesting. It has been accompanied by a different focus. 4 works well for users like me and @h0rsewithn0name who have buffers and emergency funds and we're in "maintenance" mode. Nynab is much more focused on getting people out of debt, it's a lot stricter and ties you more tightly to the method and philosophy. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's a really good way to run your finances, but 4 is a bit more flexible. I wonder what is going to happen now Jesse is no longer CEO but still owns it.

I don’t think I would have ever bothered with YNAB if I had to get the laptop out to use it - I am probably a little too much in love with my phone but I love that I can just add transactions as I go about my day. The app definitely works well for me at this stage - I might need to look into it further if I wanted to get anything more complicated up and running.

And I’m massively proud that my money is now 11 days old and I am not in my overdraft this month (yet!)

@katplva

And I’m massively proud that my money is now 11 days old and I am not in my overdraft this month (yet!)

Woohoo!!

Well done @katplva
I'm still sticking the ynab. Not winning but nit exactly losing!

Just found out that there is a six week delay on all the maternity/paternity pay and that's after they receive your application, which for us is delayed because the birth certificate is! If we didn't have money put aside in ynab I think we'd be really struggling over the next few weeks. Fingers crossed, we should be ok to make it through.

Good thing you had budgeted!

I just got paid an invoice a bit earlier than expected, I love getting paid and adding it to YNBA hahaha

DH and I have been with YNAB for the last fen years. I cried when we went through the first budgeting exercise!! We really struggled with the grocery budget until we followed their suggestion of having a weekly grocery budget - game changer! So there's a little tip for you!

And here is a link to explain the weekly grocery thing

I've been doing a weekly budget for groceries but I have realised since starting ynab and recording everything that I was underestimating how much we actually spend on groceries.

Oh that's an interesting way to organise it, thanks. I might do that next month.

I've also made it work by using the plan-to-eat meal planner. If I go over budget one week then I plan cheaper meals the next.it'a a paid subscription but I save overall because I don't buy things I don't need.

I use a weekly groceries budget and this is easy to set up in the app. I usually do the supermarket shop on a Saturday so it is set to this.

We are trying to push the big shop out a day or two each week though, in order to save a bit of money each month, which is making it a bit harder to keep track of!

Generally I’d always rather overbudget for groceries than underbudget.

Going to do a separate food category with weekly sections.
Just paid last month and this month's braces monthly fee, before ynab I would have worried about that and probably not had the money for it at this stage of the month. But I budgeted for it so I know I can pay it.
Got a lot of unavoidable expenses piling up over the next few months and I can see it's going to take a while to get things under control but I feel so much more like I know what I am doing now. I feel like I have a plan iyswim.
Money is 17 days old.

17 days - congratulations! I’m on 7 days old and we have an expensive weekend coming up. I have not very much in my current account until payday next week, so I might end up back in my overdraft again before I get paid. BUT at least now I know where my money is going, and I can see where I need to put it over the next few months if at all possible. It’s hard as there are big expenses every month really.

I find it too much hassle to do the food shopping budget weekly and I don't like any of the methods for doing that really. So I just keep a weekly amount roughly in mind but budget about 450 for the month and it seems to work ok. Sometimes if we're short of money at the beginning of the month I don't fill it up completely at the start.

Yes I can see that too. I think I will give it a try in October and see how it goes.

DH works in an industry that is very commission based, and is also badly affected by the chip shortage. There's no prospect in a let up of the income squeeze, so I have had to get a handle on things, and it's been a bit depressing.

During covid our grocery bill went a bit mad. I think I bought more convenience food because I was struggling to cope, and we'd do things like a weekly at home date night. That's gone, and I've tried to spend no more than £100 a week. September is a five week month for us (shop on Wednesday) but I am on track and I'm really pleased.

I've finished the Christmas shopping for the children. Just the adults to go.

October is a 5-week month for me as I do the shop on a Saturday. Long-term expenses are gonna catch up with me quite badly in the next couple of months so it's going to continue to be squeaky bum time for a bit longer.
I have NOTHING organised for Christmas so that's a stressor as well. I think I might be able to get the thing DD wants on interest free credit over 12 month possibly though....might have to do that.

A few questions - how much per month dues this cost? Can you take photos of receipts to upload them? Is it compatible with UK banks?
I'm looking for a money management/ expenses tracker app but this looks like it takes a lot of time to use.

You can't upload receipts, no. You add the transaction but it only takes a second in the app. You can't link to uk banks. If you pay yearly it works out at about €6 a month.
The point is kind of to input transactions yourself so you can see where your money is going and how much you really have.
There are loads of videos you can watch to find out, Google ynab getting started or ynab four rules.

It takes a while to get your head round how it works and set up your first budget but once you have then it really is a couple of minutes a day at most.
It's so much more than a tracker app though.
I think you would be best to watch some introductory videos. There are lots on the internet.

It's not a tracker really, it's a philosophy and way of managing your finances bolted on to an app. The two work together - you could use ynab as a tracker, but it would be quite an expensive one, and you wouldn't be using it to its full potential.

UK sync is coming, with the EU not far behind. support.youneedabudget.com/t/h7hza9c/update-on-direct-import-in-the-uk-and-eu

There are pros and cons to it - the pause when you input straight away and think is invaluable to me, I'm not sure I'd give it up.

If you were talking about work expenses/reimbursements I'm not sure it works well if you have significant ones. Fine for the odd train ticket or meal out, but if you are spending a significant percentage of your income then getting it back it's not as good.

Jesse said that he didn't think that the receipt pics thing was something worth the development time to implement a few years ago.

I'd read up on it, I think I could come up with a reason for anyone to use ynab, but I am not sure it's what you are looking for.

Agree, it's a method first, the software just helps you implement it.

You can do the method in a spreadsheet for free but if you're not very organised (me :o) you'll get behind and forget to update parts which can make it all fall apart. Whereas the software keeps multiple parts in sync which helps.

Essentially it's just the old envelope/jar method, which is probably older than any budget software. You get paid, you portion your money out into various jars - one for rent/mortgage, one for food shopping, one for Christmas (even though it's currently June) or whatever. Then when you spend you only take from that jar, which keeps you disciplined.

The problem with the jar method is it works fine with physical jars, but who deals with cash these days? And you can do virtual jars but that can become hard to keep track of if you have too many and/or forget to update them every single time. YNAB works so smoothly you could literally have hundreds of jars and it would work. I have 73, and that isn't counting the ones I've retired or snoozed for now.

In addition it has a few useful features that help:

• It automatically reserves any money you spend on a credit card into a jar to pay off the credit card, which means you can pay off in full every month and never create card debt again (unless you want to).

• It has the option to input direct debits (or any regular payment) as recurring payments even if you can't or don't want to link your bank account, which prevents these being missed or forgotten.

• You can set up "targets" on any jar which tell you how close you are to reaching a savings goal and/or how long it will take you to get there or how much to put in monthly to reach it by a certain date.

• You can view graphs showing average/actual spending from different jars (categories) by month, year, etc, or showing how your balance changes over time and the overall trends up/down.

• You can search by loads of different metrics allowing you to find transactions (helpful for guarantees etc!)

• Sync across devices (computer/tablet/phone) and up to 2 separate log ins meaning 2 people can share (3 if you use both apple and android).

If you want to track spending there are free apps that can do that, but this is the best jar method app I know of. I vastly prefer the web interface but the app is useful for entering transactions and checking balances on the go.