YNAB users?

[Becky]

Anyone using YNAB budgeting software? I just downloaded it for my free one-week trial. So far, it looks really neat and useful, but I admit to being a little overwhelmed right now.

Any tips or tricks for getting started?

[tulip]

I suggest just start using it. Start where you are from this point forward. Look at the tutorials and just start.

For those of you who don't know what YNAB is, it is a personal budgeting software program. It stands for You Need A Budget. I would gander than many of us do need a budget.

Congrats, Becky. You are on your way to a new freedom.

[Becky]

I sat down last night and started filling in categories, going through credit card and bank account statements, and figuring out what we currently spend in certain areas. While we certainly live below our means, there's fat that can be trimmed! It was eye-opening.

I'm still trying to figure out the accounts section, "budget" vs. "off-budget" accounts, and how one affects the other. A week is just not enough!

I like the way that the budget and transactions work together. I plugged in DH's dinner receipt from last night and it automatically subtracted it from the budget. Pretty cool :)

We'll see how the next 6 days go....

[Irulan]

The biggest thing when budgeting or tracking $$ is just to establish new habits. I forget what the number is on how many times you need to do something ( ie, enter a reciept) before it becomes a habit and not an effort.

[tulip]

I've heard 30 days. Just keep going, Becky.

If you really want to make a difference. Combine YNAB with Dave Ramsey and you'll be set. There's amazing power in paying attention and taking control of your finances. And it's not nearly as daunting as it seems. Just do it! Can you tell I'm a little enthusiastic?

(Go, Becky, Go!)

[Becky]

Thanks for the encouragement, ladies :)

I was excited to discover that both my bank and credit card company will allow me to download transactions for import into YNAB.

I do have a couple of "procedural" questions that I thought of while driving this morning:

If I allocate a charge on my credit card to the budget (e.g., groceries), how do I manage that expense in YNAB when I write the check to the CC people to ensure that my checking balance is accurate? Is it a transfer from my checking to my CC, or is that somehow "double counting"? (Yes, I need to read and experiment more.)

Also, what do y'all do with one-time expenses that aren't really a category? For example, I need a new crock pot. Not something that I really need to save or plan for, nor is it something that I intend to buy again anytime soon.

[Catrin]

Figured I would just resurrect this thread rather than starting a new one. Since women here have had good experiences with this software I downloaded it last night and checked it out.

I found, to my surprise, that it isn't all that different from my personal budget spreadsheet I have in Excel. The only real differences between what I have and this $60 program is it provides running sums for categories and individual items. The monthly totals for income is reported differently, but that is more of a style difference.

I've come to the conclusion that my problem is more a combination of a lack of discipline and unforeseen medical expenses than not knowing what I am spending. I am a whiz at Excel and can easily enhance my current spreadsheet to add those features that I like in YNAB - or re-write everything in a custom interface. I see no reason to spend $60...If I didn't have anything similar I would.

Time to make my OCD tendencies start working for me rather than against me and focus on getting out of this rough spot I am in and change how I do things. I had thought that I had succeeded in doing that, but then got bitten, badly, by the cycling addiction. This is my non-cycling New Years Resolution, and I am posting it here as a form of self-accountability. Don't ask me why it helps, but it does.

[Becky]

Yay, Catrin! I'm glad to hear that you're working on this.

YNAB has been a life-changer for DH and me. In summary, we no longer spend according to the account balance, but according to the budget. I love the "forward looking" philosophy to YNAB and the concept of the buffer. Rather than simply categorizing dollars already spent, we actually plan where our money is going, and adjust accordingly. It's good stuff.

Even if you decide not to use the software, I encourage you to explore their website a little more. The blog and the podcasts are a good source of ongoing support for me, especially when I feel my self-control starting to wane.

ETA: The trial period was recently extended to 34 days, which is really helpful for seeing the buffer idea in action. Try it! :)

Good luck!

[Catrin]

Glad this is working for you. I basically do what they advise,my budget always looks ahead at least 6 months. It was just a combination of things came up that got me off track. Time to change that.It does look like there are some nice resources on that site.