You need a budget (YNAB) advice thread

Determined2Save · 29 December 2016 at 9:34PM

Hi all, hope you don't mind if I ask a (potentially silly) question? I bought YNAB last week, won't start using it until the 1st as I haven't had to spend anything between then and now. I've been budgeting in a sense for about 5 months now, dealing only in cash as my personal spending money. I'm tempted to use my debit card for as many transactions as possible in January so that I can reconcile and track actual amounts (I have a good/ bad habit of putting any coppers and silvers under 20p into the nearest charity box), but on the other hand this seems like relinquishing a bit of control, and potentially a pitfall.

Do any of you have any advice / guidance?

Frogletina · 29 December 2016 at 10:20PM

Determined2Save wrote: »

Hi all, hope you don't mind if I ask a (potentially silly) question? I bought YNAB last week, won't start using it until the 1st as I haven't had to spend anything between then and now. I've been budgeting in a sense for about 5 months now, dealing only in cash as my personal spending money. I'm tempted to use my debit card for as many transactions as possible in January so that I can reconcile and track actual amounts (I have a good/ bad habit of putting any coppers and silvers under 20p into the nearest charity box), but on the other hand this seems like relinquishing a bit of control, and potentially a pitfall.

Do any of you have any advice / guidance?

It depends on how you decide to handle cash in Ynab.

Personally I have a cash account so that when I get cash out of the cash point I transfer it in Ynab from my bank account to a cash account and then I account for every penny as I spend it in one of the categories that I have. If you did this you could categorise any money put into boxes as charity donations, as part of your personal spending money.

Other people just take money out of the cash point and class it as spent at that point. If you were to do that, you will know how much money you have taken out as cash (and considered spent) but not have the information on what it went on - including how much is going into charity boxes etc. On Ynab you would show this not as a transfer to cash but as an outflow from your bank account, categorised to a budgeted category.

It really depends on how much detail you want to see in Ynab. If the only cash you are taking out is for small personal expenses then the second option would be ok. However, I paid the plumber out of my cash last week, and groceries, eating out and all small daily expenses, so I want to keep accurate accounts and therefore have a cash account.

frogletina

joedenise · 29 December 2016 at 10:54PM

I use the 2nd option -just have a Spending Money category but don't track what the money is spent on; but as Froglatina says it's up to you whether you want to keep track of the cash you withdraw.

Denise

Determined2Save · 30 December 2016 at 8:45AM

Frogletina wrote: »

It depends on how you decide to handle cash in Ynab.

Personally I have a cash account so that when I get cash out of the cash point I transfer it in Ynab from my bank account to a cash account and then I account for every penny as I spend it in one of the categories that I have. If you did this you could categorise any money put into boxes as charity donations, as part of your personal spending money.

Other people just take money out of the cash point and class it as spent at that point. If you were to do that, you will know how much money you have taken out as cash (and considered spent) but not have the information on what it went on - including how much is going into charity boxes etc. On Ynab you would show this not as a transfer to cash but as an outflow from your bank account, categorised to a budgeted category.

It really depends on how much detail you want to see in Ynab. If the only cash you are taking out is for small personal expenses then the second option would be ok. However, I paid the plumber out of my cash last week, and groceries, eating out and all small daily expenses, so I want to keep accurate accounts and therefore have a cash account.

frogletina

Thank you both, that makes sense! I think I'll probably go with the first option, just so that I can still see where the cash has gone after I've withdrawn it

January2015 · 17 February 2017 at 12:23AM

Hi everyone :wave:

I have finally decided to revisit new the online YNAB and give it a proper try.

2 questions - is there any way at all to change the units from $ to £, and is there any way to change the date format to UK style, e.g. DD/MM/YYYY?

It's not the end of the world if you can't but both of these things are bugging me (especially the date format).

Thanks for any help.

Edit: Don't worry - I found how to change both (eventually).

Treadingonplaymobil · 17 February 2017 at 7:29AM

I was going to offer advice, but I see you've resolved it!

I love YNAB, it is more or less entirely responsible for my LBM.

January2015 · 17 February 2017 at 9:32AM

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

I was going to offer advice, but I see you've resolved it!

I love YNAB, it is more or less entirely responsible for my LBM.

Another dedicated believer in the power of YNAB here. I started using it shortly after our LBM and at the point we set up our DMP. I honestly believe we wouldn't be where we are in the DMP road without.

I've just decided I really need to give the new YNAB version a chance. I have to say I am loving it so far.

safara · 1 March 2017 at 7:26PM

January2015 wrote: »

Hi everyone :wave:

I have finally decided to revisit new the online YNAB and give it a proper try.

2 questions - is there any way at all to change the units from $ to £, and is there any way to change the date format to UK style, e.g. DD/MM/YYYY?

It's not the end of the world if you can't but both of these things are bugging me (especially the date format).

Thanks for any help.

Edit: Don't worry - I found how to change both (eventually).

How did you manage it? Wondering the same thing here....

Edit - found it - It is in My Budget - Budget settings.

curlyhairsuzy · 6 March 2017 at 12:14AM

Hi
Might sound like a silly question.
Get paid on the 26th, so some bills have gone out already.
I have added the balance of my account which stands at £700
I then added ALL of my expenses pm to my budget.
Is this wrong?
It's confusing as between me and my wife we have income coming in 3x pm.
Can someone clarify. Thanks.
Also if it's relevant I've got the classic version not ynab4.

Frogletina · 6 March 2017 at 1:17AM

curlyhairsuzy wrote: »

Hi
Might sound like a silly question.
Get paid on the 26th, so some bills have gone out already.
I have added the balance of my account which stands at £700
I then added ALL of my expenses pm to my budget.
Is this wrong?
It's confusing as between me and my wife we have income coming in 3x pm.
Can someone clarify. Thanks.
Also if it's relevant I've got the classic version not ynab4.

You have said that you have £700 in your account. How much are your monthly expenses? If they are more than £700 then you should not be including them until you have more income.

You can only budget with money that you have, not money that is to come. You need to ask what needs to be paid before your next income arrives. For example, in my bills category, I set the subcategories in the order that they need to be paid.

By the way, the classic version is ynab4 which is a desktop version. The other version is nynab which is an online version.

frogletina

You need a budget (YNAB) advice thread

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