I've had the worst of times - now for the BEST of times!

jwil

YNAB sounds really scary! I know people rave about it. I'm not sure I'll ever be bothered to go into that much detail.

But then that attitude is probably why I have huge debt levels :doh:

peaceandfreedom

jwil wrote: »

YNAB sounds really scary! I know people rave about it. I'm not sure I'll ever be bothered to go into that much detail.

But then that attitude is probably why I have huge debt levels :doh:

FEAR NOT . You don't at all need to go into that much detail - that's just an experiment I'm doing for a few months. It is laborious, as I've said, and I wouldn't do it long-term. My main YNAB budget doesn't go into grocery expenditure in any detail - it just records main shops, extra shops and butcher shops.

Much of the spending on YNAB is repeated every month and YNAB takes care of this with scheduled payments that you just have to approve. There are lots of other categories of spending that I record on my main budget but they are easy to update, especially if you do it regularly. It really does help keep tabs on things.

liltdiddylilt

I find YNAB a bit of an addiction... and my budget pretty much runs itself. The shame of entering non-budgeted items stops me from purchasing them most of the time! Cut my groceries down just by being accountable to it on there...

Most income and monthly expenses are on schedules brilliant for keeping track of child benefit, tax credits which are 4 weekly and my monthly wages

Could go on about to forever... sad case! lol

Pepperoni

peaceandfreedom wrote: »

On my main YNAB budget for food shopping I have categories for 'Main shop' as well as 'extra shops' - it is interesting to see how much is spent on extra shops and mostly it's me that spends it. But this is because I work in a town and so am close to so many supermarkets to pick up stuff. Down to poor/no meal planning really.

OH does get mildly fed-up with me asking him for receipts all the time, but I do find it has reduced the number of cheeky bottles of wine he is purchasing out of our food budget.

Great idea as we are TERRIBLE for popping to shops here and there!

Thanks! :T

jwil

That's a relief.

It still sounds quite heavy for me though. I just want to put x amount in an account each month and know I've got enough to pay everything. I guess I'll need to have a closer look at it.

peaceandfreedom

jwil wrote: »

That's a relief.

It still sounds quite heavy for me though. I just want to put x amount in an account each month and know I've got enough to pay everything. I guess I'll need to have a closer look at it.

Ah, but how will you know if you've got enough to pay everything if you don't have a budget showing what everything is? YNAB will help you do this.

It will also allow you to allocate a budget every month for annual / irregular bills so when that £400 car service hits, you've already got the money in the budget for it.

It only needs to be as detailed as you want it to be though.

liltdiddylilt

Agreed p&f

My budget this month included £50 for Xmas presents and £10 for xmas food. Then I added in some for my annual line rental and some for my annual home insurance. That means I don't spend it on treats and rubbish because I know I only have X amount to spend on that regardless of what the bank says.

I think it was the mental break I had, where I stopped seeing my current account being full as a sign I could go and spend whatever I pleased that really got me on the right track. Now I know what I have to spend from my account regardless of whether there is £2 or £4000 in it :rotfl:

Hope you're ok today hun. xx

peaceandfreedom

liltdiddylilt wrote: »

I think it was the mental break I had, where I stopped seeing my current account being full as a sign I could go and spend whatever I pleased that really got me on the right track. Now I know what I have to spend from my account regardless of whether there is £2 or £4000 in it :rotfl:

This is exactly the breakthrough I have had and it is exactly the problem I had - £400 left in my bank account - I can carry on spending then . Now I know exactly what I can spend and my current bank account balances are not especially relevant.

liltdiddylilt wrote: »

Hope you're ok today hun. xx

I'm a bit under the weather today if the truth were known . On the plus side, it means that getting back to healthier eating has been a bit easier .

Couple of jobs to do then I think I'll have an early night.

liltdiddylilt

Oh

Feel better tomorrow hun. Is it something you can put your finger on or just an argh feeling?

Am off to sleep myself. Tomorrow is another day xx

jwil

peaceandfreedom wrote: »

Ah, but how will you know if you've got enough to pay everything if you don't have a budget showing what everything is? YNAB will help you do this.

It will also allow you to allocate a budget every month for annual / irregular bills so when that £400 car service hits, you've already got the money in the budget for it.

It only needs to be as detailed as you want it to be though.

Yes, I know what needs to be paid - I already have that, but YNAB sounds much more detailed than I want. Maybe it's different if I have a look.