Ynab!

Katie185

Hi all,

I am a serious debt free wannabe, I have been lurking for a while and am ready to take serious action to tackle my credit card and loan debts! I read on these forums about You Need a Budget and I am extremely tempted but I have some questions about it and I wondered if anyone could help?

In no particular order!

1. Can you change it from $ to £ ? (Probably a silly question!).
2. One of the 4 rules is to live from your previous month's pay, how do you do this if like me you have no money left at the end of the month let alone the money to cover a month's worth of outgoings to start with?
3. Also I understand you set a monthly budget for things that crop up once a year like car tax and insurance - again I don't have any spare money now so how are you supposed to factor those extra things in?

Sorry if my questions are stupid! I have been reading about people paying so many thousands in debt off quickly and I don't get it lol!

Thanks in as advance.

Katie x

~Beanie~

Katie185 wrote: »

Hi all,

I am a serious debt free wannabe, I have been lurking for a while and am ready to take serious action to tackle my credit card and loan debts! I read on these forums about You Need a Budget and I am extremely tempted but I have some questions about it and I wondered if anyone could help?

In no particular order!

1. Can you change it from $ to £ ? (Probably a silly question!).
Yes - click file at the top, then Budget Properties and you can change it in there

2. One of the 4 rules is to live from your previous month's pay, how do you do this if like me you have no money left at the end of the month let alone the money to cover a month's worth of outgoings to start with?
I wouldn't worry about this one just yet. It will take me a year or so at least before I build a buffer big enough to do that!

3. Also I understand you set a monthly budget for things that crop up once a year like car tax and insurance - again I don't have any spare money now so how are you supposed to factor those extra things in?
You can't if you dont have any money! How will you pay for them when they are due though?

Sorry if my questions are stupid! I have been reading about people paying so many thousands in debt off quickly and I don't get it lol!

Thanks in as advance.

Katie x

Hope this helps! I love YNAB, only been using it a couple of months but love it :T

Katie185

Hi Beanie

Thanks so much for your reply, very helpful and much appreciated.

Unfortunately the one off payments like tax and insurance currently get stuck on the credit card , I will definitely be looking further into YNAB as that has got to stop!

Thanks again x

~Beanie~

I must admit that my partner usually pays my car insurance and then I pay him back monthly

I do currently have £20 under my 'Car Tax' category now though so if I carry on like this I should be able to pay that when it becomes due at the end of the year!

Do stick with it, even if you can only afford to put a fiver a month into one of those categories, it soon adds up!

gsix14

I have been using Ynab for about 10 months.

I find that by setting budget categories and sticking to them where possible, by looking at what is available in a category before spending (rather than just recording spending), I have been able to reduce the amount I spend on some day to day stuff (like food). Any money not spent can then be used to save up for things like annual insurance bills etc.

When I had to pay my car insurance last month, the money was just sitting there in the category as I had been adding a little bit to it each month.

Anthorn

Katie185 wrote: »

Hi all,

I am a serious debt free wannabe, I have been lurking for a while and am ready to take serious action to tackle my credit card and loan debts! I read on these forums about You Need a Budget and I am extremely tempted but I have some questions about it and I wondered if anyone could help?

In no particular order!

1. Can you change it from $ to £ ? (Probably a silly question!).
2. One of the 4 rules is to live from your previous month's pay, how do you do this if like me you have no money left at the end of the month let alone the money to cover a month's worth of outgoings to start with?
3. Also I understand you set a monthly budget for things that crop up once a year like car tax and insurance - again I don't have any spare money now so how are you supposed to factor those extra things in?

Sorry if my questions are stupid! I have been reading about people paying so many thousands in debt off quickly and I don't get it lol!

Thanks in as advance.

Katie x

I have two problems with your proposed use of YNAB one of which has been tackled in a previous reply: First of all it's not free so if you have no spare income how are you going to pay for it? Related to that, the money you pay for YNAB could be better used to pay your debts. Secondly you can only do what your income allows and if you don't have enough income it all falls down.

The way I budgeted and cleared my debts was very similar to YNAB in setting up what I called "departments" with annual payments split over the year in 11 monthly deposits to a regular savings account (interest) (5 in the first year) and the remaining departments constituent parts of the whole. It sounds long-winded but when it's written down it all comes together.

The way I paid off my debts was through what we have come to know as "Austerity". Basically if so much of income is spent so that nothing is left for debt repayment then cut-backs are necessary.

So in conclusion it was a process of moving funds from one department to another as necessary and cutting back sometimes severely where funds were not available - tea, coffee, food, winter heating, lighting, cooking, etc., PAYG electricity and gas meters are an advantage - Ebico, no standing charge. The tremendous advantage I had was that I was a single (divorced) person with grown-up children and a remarried ex-wife. So there was really only myself to consider.

But of course before you do all that you have to make agreements with your lenders if your debts are defaults and that is easier said than done. (If you don't make the agreements first how will you know how much to budget for?)

wiseshark

How much does YNAB cost? Is the charge yearly or monthly? Cheers.

tizerbelle

wiseshark wrote: »

How much does YNAB cost? Is the charge yearly or monthly? Cheers.

Its a one off cost. $60 if you pay YNAB direct. £30 if you get it from Steam - sometimes its on sale there and has been as low as £7.50

Upgrades aren't compulsory but can be purchased for a bit less if they release a new version. The current version was issued in 2012 I think so they don't con you by releasing lots of new versions

wiseshark

tizerbelle wrote: »

Its a one off cost. $60 if you pay YNAB direct. £30 if you get it from Steam - sometimes its on sale there and has been as low as £7.50

Upgrades aren't compulsory but can be purchased for a bit less if they release a new version. The current version was issued in 2012 I think so they don't con you by releasing lots of new versions

Hmmm. Pretty cheap for a 'one off'. May give it a try. Thanks.

Anthorn

wiseshark wrote: »

Hmmm. Pretty cheap for a 'one off'. May give it a try. Thanks.

Get the free demo first which is mostly fully functional but time limited.

FireWyrm

wiseshark wrote: »

Hmmm. Pretty cheap for a 'one off'. May give it a try. Thanks.

Personally, I think it pays dividends in the long run. Yes, you could throw your £30 at a debt, but if YNAB allows you to get a firm grip on your finances and to see where all your money is going sufficient to start accumulating credit, I call it money well spent. They do reckon that you'll make your money back in a month just by cutting out the wheat from the chaff and rationalising your expenses.