You need a budget (YNAB) advice thread

Red-Squirrel_2

andyfromotley wrote: »

Get IN......!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks!

I've also been sent a link to share with a 10% discount for anybody who signs up by clicking through it. Not much, but better than nothing.

Anybody who wants to buy, feel free to use this discount if you wish:

http://ynab.refr.cc/GZZ4S79

tizerbelle

MoodyMel wrote: »

It sounds to me like a product that will work better for those with larger incomes. Well at least those that are able to cover bills in advance of them being due.

How would I start with it if I am only just managing to pay bills that are due right now?

YNAB doesn't discriminate. It works just as well for those with little income as it does for those with lots. The beauty of it is that you build the categories so you have a full picture of all your debts, bills, regular spends (like food) and funding pots (e.g saving for christmas).

The over-riding principle of YNAB is only budgeting the money you actually have in your hand/bank - when you get paid (however frequently or infrequently that is) you ask yourself "what does this money have to do before I am paid again" - that way you allocate it according to your priorities.

When you start doing it like this, you not only take control of your money you also get a grand overview of how and where you spend - and that is really useful in later identifying areas you can make savings. When I started with YNAB I was spending well over £250 a month on food/laundry/toiletries (for just me) and there was never any real food in the house. Now I budget £125 a month but usually come in at around £95 a month and my freezer/cupboards are stuffed with food/cleaning products.

Download the trial, you get to play with it for 34 days at no cost. Watch the training videos (or do the live webinars) and get to understand it - it can be a huge shift in thinking - I spent 2 days muttering "Eh! I don't get it" but then it just clicked.

tizerbelle

andyfromotley wrote: »

First of all i am reconciled!!!

Waahaaay!!! Well done :T

andyfromotley wrote: »

I tried an import earlier but the dates (american -v- english) caused problems. Im sure theres a simple fix for that

There is. Select "File" from the top menu bar and then "Budget Properties" and you can then change the "Date Format" just above the Cancel and Save buttons to "25/07/2015 - English (United Kingdom)"

Bublin1

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

Well, I just won the free software on one of the live classes! I'm as excited as if I'd won the lottery!

Finally, post night-shift insomnia pays off, i have to be up for work in three hours but I don't even care.

Well done you.
Did you ask lots of questions? They say a name is picked randomly but im not so sure.

snowscreamer

Hi! I am also a YNAB addict! We actually started using it way back in November 2013 just to record where we were with our finances and how much cash we had as we were buying a house and wanted to keep track of money for stamp duty / deposit / solicitors etc. we didn't use the budgeting feature at that point, just imported our bank statements every couple of weeks and categorised spends.
Fast forward a year and having moved into said house, getting overexcited by home improvements, new furniture etc led to huge overspending for 6 months; when we both breached our credit card limits and got fined, whilst also having to increase our overdrafts we realised there was a bit of a problem... So end of November 2014 I resolved to start using the budget functions in YNAB and keep it up to date better. We were able to look back at previous months and find where we cut back (household goods, mainly!). Set up a budget for December that saved us a couple of hundred quid on our income and haven't looked back! Now I am able to budget £500 less than our income and know that we won't go without and I wonder where all of the money was going!! We were spending an average of £1000 more than income from April to October last year and I genuinely don't feel like we're cutting back at all, but saving so much money; it's awesome and I am totally addicted
I am in line to have our lowest spending month ever this month - £1000 of income not spent (but £700 of that is currently budgeted - we will claw some back to go towards debt repayments though when we balance up for February tomorrow).
My aim now is not just to pay off the debt - and our debt free date is getting closer every day as we are able to tighten the budget further - but then to build up a buffer and start living on last month's income - and we will start working on this one as soon as the debt is gone.
I just cannot even describe hoe much YNAB has saved me and taught me, it is my hero...

snowscreamer

January2015

As someone fairly new to YNAB I cannot stress enough how important it is to either watch the tutorial videos or take the classes.

Finding my way around the programme was easy enough, but it's the change of mindset you need to learn and understand that's important. For the first week or so I was trying to forecast with money I did not yet have and in that respect YNAB was no better than my own Excel spreadsheets.

Forecasting and budgeting are two totally different things - don't muddle them up and concentrate on the budget

DH is paid in the middle of month and I was forecasting at beginning of the month and including outflows that needed to be covered by his salary. It doesn't work

Once you realise that you only budget with the money you physically have received and identify what must be paid with that money before the next lot of income comes in, you are halfway to understanding and appreciating the power of YNAB.

The other thing that has been brilliant is the app on our phones. Both DH and I know what's available in a budget pot at any time. If he wants to buy something and there isn't enough in a budget for it (or even if there is no budget at all for it), he contacts me and asks is there any way we can move funds around for a specific purchase. Historically, he would have looked at the bank balance and bought it. I must stress he doesn't do this often anyway, but the point I'm trying to make is that we are both working together now and understanding our budget commitments and flexibility (if any!).

As someone just starting a DMP I can't see the day when we will be able to budget on last month's income - at least not for several years. That doesn't matter. We are already managing with what we have been allocated by StepChange and managing to save for those categories such as repairs and maintenance, emergency fund, birthdays/Christmas etc. etc. We are even managing to cut back on the grocery/household budget.

YNAB really is a lifechanging piece of software.

Richmc1983

Hi All

I have been following this thread with great detail and watched all the webinar's already BUT not started using the software yet for various reasons but really looking forward to starting to use it as it seems a great bit of kit.

MoneyMission2015

I signed up for the free trial & have about 20 days left now but will definitely be purchasing the software.

Just want to say a big thank you to the knowledgeable people on this thread. I'm learning how to use the software properly & am enjoying reading all the advice and tips.

I got paid yesterday & have budgeted my wages already and already allocated money to most of our pots and my OH hasn't even paid his wages in yet, so once he pays his in to the account we should have excess money, which I am setting up an emergency savings pot for. This is something we've never had before because we've always just spent money as soon as we've had it & then racked up debt because we never had savings.

Thanks for all your help on this thread!

MoodyMel

Thanks for the replies. I think I will download the free trial and have a look at it.

I wonder if I could access the free student version as I am still a student until May

MrsDavo

Question about reconciling:

I've just reconciled my main bank account and it worked great!

Just went to reconcile my "spending" account and got confused. When it asks me for my balance in YNAB, am I putting in the account balance, or the available balance? Because there is a difference between the two as I've spent money on my debit card, but I have put those transactions on YNAB, but they haven't cleared yet?

If I put the account balance, it reconciles, if I use the available balance - it's wrong?

Edit: Just gone back to my budget page and now I apparently have 1p left to budget? Wheres that come from? lol