YNAB anyone? 30 April 2014 at 3:48PM in Debt-free wannabe 13 replies 2.7K views

Ciwan

Hi Guys

I want to be Debt-Free. I graduated about 8 months ago, and have nearly 40K to pay back for my student loans, not to mention the amount of my Credit Card (£2500) and Current Account (£2000 over draft).

I heard about YNAB on these forums, is it any good? How does it work when you have a negative balance on your bank account like I do now?

I downloaded it today as a free trial, I want to see if it is any good before I pay for it.

I got paid last week, and I'm still in the negatives on my bank account, how does YNAB handle that?

Any tips and advice on working this would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You.

Standingtall

Ciwan wrote: »

Hi Guys

I want to be Debt-Free. I graduated about 8 months ago, and have nearly 40K to pay back for my student loans, not to mention the amount of my Credit Card (£2500) and Current Account (£2000 over draft).

I heard about YNAB on these forums, is it any good? How does it work when you have a negative balance on your bank account like I do now?

I downloaded it today as a free trial, I want to see if it is any good before I pay for it.

I got paid last week, and I'm still in the negatives on my bank account, how does YNAB handle that?

Any tips and advice on working this would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You.

Hi there

I started a thread on this last week - have a read and see what advice you can glean from it

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4953958

Regards
ST

Bored

YNAB is awesome but the software is a steep learning curve. It can deal with everything you describe but I would suggest you watch the recorded classes or go to a live class where you can win a licence for free.

Bublin1

Calling FireWrym....she is a big fan...

I wish this site had a Mention feature.

AFK_Matrix

YNAB is an awesome tool and it has helped people get out of situations similar to your own. As others have said it takes a while to get it but once your light bulb goes off its a great piece of software.

Get on over to the support part of the YNAB website and watch some videos and sign up to some webinars as its all free. Then if you are still stuck sign up to the forums as there are a ton of people on there who will gladly help you.

Heres a link to the support part of the YNAB website:
https://www.youneedabudget.com/support

Pixie5740

I love YNAB. I was in my overdraft when I started using it. All existing debts are characterised as "Pre-YNAB debts" and you budget money each month to get them paid off.

I downloaded the trial version and spent a few hours watching the tutorials on YouTube and getting my budget set up.

patman99

I can concur with the above.
I started using YNAB back at the tail-end of 2010 to track my finances whilst unemployed.
It is easier to use than MS Money and can handle everything I throw at it.

I currently use it to handle 7 Bank accounts, 3 credit cards, 2 loans and a mortgage.

I like the ease with which you can add categories if they don't already exist.

I actually reviewed YNAB and received an email from it's creator who found the review and signed-up to Dooyoo just to message me.

Legion90

I have been using YNAB for around a week so far. It really does get you thinking about your money closer and where it all goes. Also it is fantastic that you can sync all devices with Dropbox. Makes it really easy!

I have been having trouble keeping track with transfers to savings and other expenses. My partner and I found we had to take around 1/2 days to get it all to reconcile. Perhaps this effort will lessen as we get used to it more.

FireWyrm

Bublin1 wrote: »

Calling FireWrym....she is a big fan...

I wish this site had a Mention feature.

Present.

I love it. Today is the 6th of the month and we are currently £245 in credit with all bills paid!!!!! This is almost all due to YNAB. The interface is dead easy to understand and it makes it almost impossible to cheat it. If you do, you know where you went wrong and it makes you fix it before you move forwards.

I totally recommend it. If you dont want to fork out the £31 for it, you can do it with spreadsheets, but frankly, for the price, it almost pays for itself within the first month of knowing exactly where every penny is being spent.

lemanie

I'm loving it too; my two best friends MSE and YNAB!

I got a free copy

azlan wrote: »

Students can get a free annual subscription for as long as they are at college http://www.youneedabudget.com/blog/2014/ynab-is-now-free-for-college-students/ You don't need to be a full time student - I've just got my copy and hope it will change my finances!!!

thanks to azlan.

RosaBernicia

I love it - I used to run a spreadsheet but the software means I can input and check from my mobile phone. I know it isn't quite the MSE piggybanking system but I find I can run it very similarly with just different rainy day funds for the various pots, so it saves transferring between accounts.

I would also recommend signing up for the intro emails and looking at the classes as that helps understand how it works - it's pretty straightforward, but there are a few little things I found I could do better afterwards.

If you have a look on their forums, sometimes it is on offer and people will put up the link - I got my copy for £7.50.


Rosa xx