You Need a Budget (YNAB)

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JQK_Ace
JQK_Ace Posts: 4 Newbie
in Budgeting & bank accounts
Does anyone use the YNAB (You Need A Budget) software for keeping track of their budget.

I've just downloaded the trial version and have been quite impressed with how easy it is to use and set up piggy bank style budgeting on it.

The $60 software cost plus the price for an iphone and Android app are putting me off though. I was wondering if anyone had any good or bad points about it? Or could recommend other budgeting software than can be used across pc, android and iphone platforms.

Thanks

Comments

  • madgagoo
    madgagoo Posts: 354 Forumite
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    I have used it for a few months now and I think it's excellent.

    It helps you keep track of every penny you spend and it helps you plan for the expected and unexpected big expenses. Since I started using it I have reduced the number of accounts I have from about 20 down to 2 and I use one debit card, it has also helped me reduce debt by £2000 or so when it was going up before YNAB. The forums are brilliant as well, if you have a question there's almost certainly someone who knows the answer there.

    The issues I have with it are that you have to manually sync the iPhone to the computer, however they are working on 'cloud sync'. I don't know whether this will be a paid upgrade, it may be worth waiting (or emailing them to ask) before committing the $60 at the moment.

    The other options I looked at were moneywell and eeba, but I preferred YNAB.

    Any other questions feel free to PM me.
  • Lomcevak
    Lomcevak Posts: 1,023 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Name Dropper
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    We use it, and also think it is excellent - started at the end of 2010, and it has really worked well. The $60 tag seems quite expensive, but there's a decent free trial period and it has paid for itself many times over. Particularly enjoy not caring any more about those 'lumpy' once per year expenses (car tax, insurance, professional fees) that now just build up over the year.

    There's a bit of a learning curve at first, especially the (critical) distinction between on-budget and off-budget accounts - which makes a huge amount of sense in practice, but takes a little understanding - but the forum is very helpful.

    Thoroughly recommended.
    £40k-in-’23#18 £78,628.29/40,000 (196.57%)
  • johnny_c-l
    johnny_c-l Posts: 701 Forumite
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    Software available on Steam for £7.49 - offer ends in 15 minutes!

    http://store.steampowered.com/app/227320/
  • lord_lethris
    lord_lethris Posts: 2 Newbie
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    johnny_c-l wrote: »
    Software available on Steam for £7.49 - offer ends in 15 minutes!

    I posted this and I got hammered with marketing accusations by admin trolls "via the thread" (not even a polite PM) :(

    How come you didn't.?
  • grumbler
    grumbler Posts: 58,629 Forumite
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    edited 10 September 2013 at 6:23PM
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    Because it was your first and the only post?:think:

    Is it a coincidence that you came back again only to search the board for the same product?
  • clarkec321
    clarkec321 Posts: 10 Forumite
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    grumbler wrote: »
    Because it was your first and the only post?:think:

    Is it a coincidence that you came back again only to search the board for the same product?

    It's back in the final day of the Steam sale again today, which ends at 6pm GMT

    I arrived at this thread after seeing the item in the Steam sale & Googling for reviews & experiences.

    Weird to see someone clobbered for pointing out a big reduction on the item being discussed, when it's normal $60 price on its website is putting people off.
    Steam sales are famous for massive, often unrivalled reductions.

    Anyway, away from 'testimonials' on their own website, people's experience with YNAB seems broadly-to-overwhelmingly positive so at the reduced price it seems like a 'deal' if you're in the market for this sort of thing anyway... Although it's interesting to note it's £29.99 via Steam as standard, rather than $60 direct from the vendor.
  • owen-b
    owen-b Posts: 63 Forumite
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    edited 7 January 2014 at 4:08PM
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    Yeah if anyone's found this thread looking for feedback from any Money Savers that use YNAB, I've been using it since February last year and really don't know how we managed our money effectively before it.

    Well, answer is we didn't, really! We tracked all our spending in apps to examine after the fact and try to spot where we were spending too much, but nothing that helped us properly assign all our income to the things we really needed to spend it on.

    Biggest thing it's done is help us 'give every pound a job' so that we're building up all sorts of savings in various categories we're bound to need to spend something on in the future, like bike repairs, computer repairs, a holiday, next Christmas, etc.

    That Steam sale was a cracker! I was a bit hesitant about the price tag myself, and even though the website seems super friendly, the fact that it's all a bit… well, common sense, made it seem almost a bit 'scam-ish', but that's absolutely not the case, worth every penny we spent on it, without a shadow of a doubt.


    EDIT: Erm… just a happy user by the way! ;)
  • altocumulus
    altocumulus Posts: 569 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
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    MS Money is still free and working well for me .... It does most of what the previously paid versions used to do...
    There are two versions on the website, I use MoneyPlus Home & Business Sunset ....and I've had no problems...
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