You need a budget (YNAB) advice thread

Bublin1

Discovered I need a new category.....


'Mum, I've lost my school bag that contains my expensive PE kit, trainers, wallet, keys and Oyster Card'.


I didn't know where else to post this vent!!

japmis

tabby_cats_mum wrote: »

Took me a little while to get the hang of YNAB but after watching webinars, help from Firewyrm and lots of playing I've got the hang of it and I can honestly say it's changed my life.

Couldn't agree more :beer:

I spent a blissful hour on YNAB last night re-starting a budget from scratch (now I am an expat my finances have changed).

Ooooooh it was lovely :T

joedenise

I rewatched the using a credit card tutorial yesterday and have finally got my head round it properly so have spent quite a bit of time this morning sorting out my Budget properly!

I've now got my Credit Card on Budget rather than Off Budget as I had before.

Everything is now reconciled and up to date, except for the spending I did this morning!

Denise

DD265

I love YNAB. It's so easy. The only reason I think about pay day now is because I want to allocate funds for the next month.

Question though:

You want to have £1000 in a category for something. You may never need the £1000, you may need some of it. It's there just in case.

You have built up the £1000 in the category - do you keep adding to it in your budget? Or do you stop, wait until you use some/all, and then start adding to it again?

Basically, if I reckon I have enough money in that pot, am I sensible to keep adding to it (perhaps at a reduced rate)?

Red-Squirrel_2

DD265 wrote: »

I love YNAB. It's so easy. The only reason I think about pay day now is because I want to allocate funds for the next month.

Question though:

You want to have £1000 in a category for something. You may never need the £1000, you may need some of it. It's there just in case.

You have built up the £1000 in the category - do you keep adding to it in your budget? Or do you stop, wait until you use some/all, and then start adding to it again?

Basically, if I reckon I have enough money in that pot, am I sensible to keep adding to it (perhaps at a reduced rate)?

What's the pot? If its for something specific then I'd leave at £1000 if you're happy with that and divert extra funds elsewhere, maybe allow yourself a bit of extra fun money, set up a new charity DD, or you can never have too much in your rainy day fund!

I know what you mean about pay day, I'm on my first full month with YNAB and this is about the point where usually my account would start creeping towards going into overdraft, this month there's no danger of that and I've even been able to pay more than usual off my debt and book a night away with friends!

How terrible with money must we all have been before YNAB!?! :eek:

katejo

I am also a YNAB fan. Joined last August. Still look forward to the end of the month because I want to mess around with my toy and increase my net balance!

Here is my code if anyone would like to use it. http://ynab.refr.cc/PR8DJ7N

katejo

FireWyrm wrote: »

Some people can be a little over zealous at YNAB Towers. Also, the Americans are paid differently and have different obligations like local taxes, federal taxes, local sales taxes...you name it. They also largely get paid bi-monthly which is a bit weird too. They have to calculate their own tax and pay it.

Generally speaking, most people in the UK get one payday a month, they have a small number of fixed bills and tax is mostly irrelevant since we pay it up front. The rest of our spending is largely discretionary and can be handled with a small number of transactions. I would use it to run a business for instance, but for most household finance setups, it is more than adequate.

I dont feel in the least that it is dangerous to forecast. Quite the contrary. I think it is essential to know all potential outgoings for the year and what is likely around the corner. For everything else, there is a 'dont know/holding' category for those unforseen expenses. When the MOT is over, if there is any money left, it gets redistributed to other pots that are now higher priority, or if those other pots are well buffered, simply sits and waits for next year.

Yes the US tax system has filled me with horror. Also all the categories which the need for different medical costs.

FireWyrm

DD265 wrote: »

You want to have £1000 in a category for something. You may never need the £1000, you may need some of it. It's there just in case.

You have built up the £1000 in the category - do you keep adding to it in your budget? Or do you stop, wait until you use some/all, and then start adding to it again?

Basically, if I reckon I have enough money in that pot, am I sensible to keep adding to it (perhaps at a reduced rate)?

Well, it really just depends on the purpose of the pot. If it is a 'a tornado ripped the roof off' fund, then yeah, I'd say that this is a pretty uncommon occurrence and you will probably never need it. If it's a MOT by some garage that shall remain nameless fund, then, I'd say £1000 is pretty close to not being good enough. Ideally, you should have a 'SHTF' fund which is equal to 3 times your gross monthly pay to be reasonably sure you are covered should you lose your job for instance. Add to that a few more pots along the lines of CarTax and CarRepairs and you can start to see how you should be acruing pretty decent amounts of money in your accounts. Now, not all those funds need to be quick-access...the tornado-ripped-the-roof-off fund could probably be invested in a high interest account for the foreseeable future, wereas the others might need to be more readily accessible.

What was this £1000 for exactly?

andyfromotley

DD265 wrote: »

I love YNAB. It's so easy. The only reason I think about pay day now is because I want to allocate funds for the next month.

Question though:

You want to have £1000 in a category for something. You may never need the £1000, you may need some of it. It's there just in case.

You have built up the £1000 in the category - do you keep adding to it in your budget? Or do you stop, wait until you use some/all, and then start adding to it again?

Basically, if I reckon I have enough money in that pot, am I sensible to keep adding to it (perhaps at a reduced rate)?

Id say just stop and send the rest elsewhere, Particularly if you have outstanding debt, use it to pay that off or just put it in a general emergency fund, whatever. Theres no harm in over paying into those categories but is it the most effective use of the money?

Example, i have a car repair category, when it reaches 6-700 i will stop it there as i think thats enough for most repairs and if its more than that i'll have to use my general emergency fund.

FireWyrm

andyfromotley wrote: »

Example, i have a car repair category, when it reaches 6-700 i will stop it there as i think thats enough for most repairs and if its more than that i'll have to use my general emergency fund.

You think? You've seen my recent thread right? In one ear out the other.:rotfl: