YNAB support thread (2)

[HouseofHolbein]

Just a continuation of the previous one before it fills up!

I helped my DD set up some new categories last week. She heads off to uni in 12 months, and although she has a category for that in her YNAB Together account, it’s pretty abstract. I helped her set up a new category group with categories like freshers week, going out, meals out, beauty products, etc. We did a weekly budget for each (apart from freshers week), then multiplied x40 weeks, and put in a goal with a target date of Oct 2027. It did the maths for her, and says how much she needs to put in each month to be fully funded or the start of term. It’s a shame YNAB wasn’t around when I was that age!

Yes, I too would be worried about a hard credit check and possible rejection, which would sit on your credit file, limiting any future transfer of borrowed money to a better interest rate.

Yes. I have taken the 4500. It's already in my account. I am going to use 2000 on clearing as much as possible of the higher interest loans. Then when I get my extra pay at Christmas I am going to try to take 500 off what's remaining, which will take me down to around €1000 at the higher rate. That should take me by the new year to total monthly repayments of 130€ as opposed to 120€ but I will have been able to pay for the building and painting so effectively getting that money at €10 a month iyswim. Then the plan is to chip away until the other higher interest one is gone. Then start trying to overpay this new one bit by bit.

I've been very lax again about updating YNAB and have also been relaxing the hold on the purse strings quite a bit over the summer. I still have a basic plan in the back of my mind and am heading into Autumn/Winter in a much healthier place financially than I was last year and the year before. Fresh starts are my best friends now.

@OrangeBlossomsinthesun I was in a similar position to you when I first started with YNAB many years ago. Juggling lots of different debts etc. What YNAB enabled me to do was make a proper plan and stick to it. Much as you are doing. Good luck, it is amazing how quickly things sort themselves out when you are in control.

I have looked at alternatives to YNAB as part of a review this year of all regular expenditure. I am very impressed with @WorthySloth 's discipline. The YNAB renewal won't happen till next year so I will make a decision then. I suspect I will conclude that it still represents good value for money and saves me more than it costs. I've cancelled a couple of IT software accounts that were costing far more than they were worth and transferred to free or lower cost alternatives.

Yes, I am still in debt but slowly managing to reduce it or make it cheaper. I have also slowly earned more each year for the last three years, which has helped massively. That and having a salary as opposed to being freelance. It just takes such a long time to get out of a financial mess. Even things like this building and painting work, we are having to do that now because it's been put off for years due to lack of money.

So, got the Revolut loan. Unfortunately the car (2009 Citroen) cost me 900 freaking euros in suspension and brake pads. I was expecting about 500 because I didn´t how bad the brake pads were. So I haven´t been able to pay off an entire higher interest loan as I hoped, I´ve cut one of them about in half. When I get my extra pay at Christmas I hope to cut it in half again, which will take the monthly repayments on that to about 15 a month instead of 60. I still have the other higher interest one at 60 a month for about 3 years and the new lower rate loan is 85.
So by the new year I hope to have around 160 going on loans a month (was previously 120) but half of that is at the lower rate.

Sometimes I get a bit of overtime and I can use that to chip away at the loan. Should get a teeny pay rise next year too (I do mean teeeeeny, but it all counts).

Going to keep paying off as much as possible on the higher interest one and we will have fixed the house and painted the exterior at the front, which we really had to do as we are getting damp and the next door neighbour (terraced house) is too so we have to do this work, no two ways around it.

The neighbour hopefully will give us a couple of hundred for the bits that are party walls but if he doesn´t at least it´s done and we can sleep easy.

We won´t have painted the back of the house, but it´s not as terrible and nobody is really looking at that. It will have to wait a bit but we could even try to get another lower revolut loan for that and use some of it to pay down what´s left of this higher loan, as we have done this time.

I know it´s all debt but it´s gradually cheaper debt. It´s what I ended up doing with a credit card I had at 18.5%. I took a loan at 7.5 and paid it off. It´s just slow. But I don´t have any other way to do it at the moment.

OrangeBlossomsinthesun Disappointing for you that the plan didn't work out exactly as hoped for but you still have a plan and are making progress, plus achieving your priority expenditure, in control. Tortoise not hare but the tortoise still won in the end! Congratulate yourself for progress so far. You are winning.👏

Thanks, sometimes I feel like I am crap with money but I think once you get in debt (like your business dies and it takes two years to get a salaried job) it just takes soooo long to get back out. Money gives you choices and options, having no money and being in debt is the opposite, it makes everything much harder and slower. But I am getting there. @