YNAB. Can’t get the hang of it but am trying so hard

[Shuffleuplove]

I’ve watched YouTube videos and I think I’ve got the principles but I’m not sure what to do with “assign” options. My income isn’t all on one day, it is staged payments over the month and then the app gives me options including “assign by underfunded.” Is that the one to click?

Also, it’s sent me a thing with all my new transactions on it but I don’t know what I’m meant to do with those.

Oops pressed too soon!

In the “accounts” tab at the bottom of the app is a number alerting me to the transactions I’ve made. I’ve categorised them but the alert is still there - what am I meant to do with that?

I don't know, it seems like too much of a pointless faff to me.

Move your money into different accounts and set up a few standing orders if you want to separate your money into different categories and are worried about accidentally spending money for the gas bill on coffee and shoes. Much easier and cheaper.

I'm with Barbara! I just use a spreadsheet to log income and outgoings. Works fine for me!

I love YNAB and it's saved us thousands in the 8 years we've used it.
OP - send your queries to their customer support, they're very helpful and quick to reply.

In what way has it saved you thousands, Aprexio? I'm intrigued as I don't see how just normal budgeting doesn't achieve the same result.

I really WANT it to work for me!

I tried it last year but couldn't get the hang of it either.

@NoWordForFluffy I'm sure you could do something similar with a spreadsheet if you had the time, knowledge and inclination.

We weren't tracking our spending previously so anything which showed exactly where our money was going and allowed us to run reports was perfect. As a result, we slashed the spends which didn't bring value to our lives. And when I finished full time work I could see that we could afford to do it because we had an exact record of how much we need for essentials.

We have multiple accounts and YNAB collects them all in one place. The accounts themselves then don't matter, what does matter is what's in your budget. DH and I enter our spending on the app and it all links together.

You can set targets, see precisely where the money is going in and out and reconcile the budget with your accounts.

It took me a while but I got the hang of it eventually. Just focus on logging your transactions this month. Don't worry about over spending your categories. Then at the end of the month shuffle the money about. It was credit cards that got me. Once I understood those I cracked it.

Not sure what that is but for the last 10yrs plus I’ve had around 4/5 accounts in my main bank. I have a spend spreadsheet and on payday most of my DD’s go out in the first few days of the month but those that don’t I move that money to another account and move it over as those DD’s come out later in the month. I have worked out how much I need for bday’s and Xmas and divide by 12 so I move that money to another account on payday. Child benefit goes to another account, use that for the kids expenses, lunches etc. I also have a couple of savings accounts.

Saving for house deposit at the moment so I move that to the house savings on payday and any spare goes to the holiday fund. I also recently got a Tesco Bank app, and I move the shopping money to that on payday. So what comes out of my main account then is just petrol, any top up shopping / amazon orders for kids stuff etc. It works well for me, means I’m not just saving what’s left over as it’s much harder to dip into savings I find for pointless stuff.

It’s taken me a while to get the hang of it, but I’m a year and a bit in now and really like it, especially now it auto-syncs with my accounts.
There’s a UK YNAB Facebook group, which I find very useful.

Ok I’ve given categories to everything.

There is still a balance at the top which says “ready to assign”.

What do I do with that? Is that the money left over from when I’ve paid everything?

Have you added money to the categories or just created them? Have you given them funding goals?

I used ynab for about 5 years and loved it, but gave it up when they price went up. I use a similar app called Actual Budget now which works on the same budget to zero principle.

I think I have. I clicked on the “assign by underfunding” and now there’s a figure in green at the top which says “this month is fully funded.” So does that mean I’ve covered everything and what’s left is “spare”? In which case do I need to assign that to another category? Where do I put that?

I made a buffer category in my YNAB. If I have money left over after assigning for the month I put it there. I often end up using it to increase some of my general spending categories during the month and anything left in buffer at the end of the month is transferred to savings. I know I could leave the balance at the top of the page 'ready to assign' but somehow it feels neater to have that at zero and all the money categorised.

Thank you – is that what it means by “give every dollar a job “?

I do what @Darbs76 does. Exactly the same, works really well. We have a joint account which has all the dds and Standing orders for every cost plus two accounts linked one for Christmas and one for short term unexpected bills. We both out the amount needed in and then keep the rest separate in personal accounts.

You could create a 'spare money' or as @sunniest has 'done 'buffer' category and put extra money in there.

But don't forget to budget for everything and split that up each month - eg Christmas, insurance, car repairs.

The age of money video/advice is worth looking at too:

www.youneedabudget.com/what-is-the-ideal-age-of-money/

I've used YNAB for years, and it's helped me to see where my spending is an issue and reduce it where appropriate. I also found it confusing so I watched a few videos when I started and also joined a few online webinars- if they're still available they are great as you can ask questions as you go along.

However, I last updated it last July - we had a family illness and subsequent bereavement that knocked me totally off track with my life - just getting back into a routine now. I've been dreading going back in and updating it with all my transactions, and also they've hiked the price again to something like $90 which to me, is a step too far. So I'm going to stop using it and cancel my subscription. I've got a current account with first direct and also a starling account, so I'm going to try transferring some money to my starling account and setting up 'pots' (they might be called something else) in there. Might also look at the app a pp mentioned.