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.