You need a budget (YNAB) advice thread

Red-Squirrel_2

Frogletina wrote: »

Not happy today.

Just had my latest gas and electricity bills and I am in debit of around £300. I know why my gas bill is higher (problems with my central heating) and I'll have a repair bill to pay for sorting that out too!

I'm thinking of clearing the debt in full because the extra amount being asked for via direct debit will take ages to get the bills back into credit.

So, I will have to raid my savings account to do that. Haven't yet built up enough in my emergency fund yet and my buffer is under £10 so far...

frogletina

I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to clear it in full. A well as the fact that you're getting the repair done, its April, the weather is getting warmer, you probably won't be spending anything on heating and not as much on cooking hot food etc.

You're allowed to ask them not to increase your direct debit if you feel you can cover the overpayment on the existing one. I did that last year with EDF and they kept it as it was because I insisted it was enough! If you do that and hang on 6 months (being really careful) you may find the debit massively reduced, or even in credit.

[Deleted User]

I'm thinking about having the free trial of ynab. How easy is it to use? I'm not very good at all with spreadsheets!

How much is the full version after the trial?
Thanks!!

Mysteek

Hi thanks Pixie5740 I did look at the tutorial on credit cards on you tube but they were using the credit cards for purchases which affected their budget so it was put 'on budget'. My credit cards are not being used for purchases as I am treating them as a loan, I'm just paying the minimum payment each month and anything left over is going to be winging it there too.

I might try both on budget and off budget to see which way I like the best

Frogletina

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to clear it in full. A well as the fact that you're getting the repair done, its April, the weather is getting warmer, you probably won't be spending anything on heating and not as much on cooking hot food etc.

You're allowed to ask them not to increase your direct debit if you feel you can cover the overpayment on the existing one. I did that last year with EDF and they kept it as it was because I insisted it was enough! If you do that and hang on 6 months (being really careful) you may find the debit massively reduced, or even in credit.

Thanks for the advice.

The odd thing is, now I've looked at their figures, they are increasing the electricity DD by £32 a month for a debit balance of £119, but are decreasing the gas DD to £67 from £73 and yet I have a debit balance of £217. It doesn't make sense. According to their projection, they estimate I will only use another £250 worth of gas until 24th December.

frogletina

Frogletina

Missu wrote: »

I'm thinking about having the free trial of ynab. How easy is it to use? I'm not very good at all with spreadsheets!

How much is the full version after the trial?
Thanks!!

I've found it much easier than spreadsheets, one advantage is that all the calculations are done for you. On excel I was just tracking how much I was spending.

Example.

With Ynab, once I decide on how much I want to spend on housekeeping, I show that in the budget and as I enter each purchase via online shop, visit to local shop or supermarket (whether by cash, credit or debit card) the housekeeping budget reduces so I can keep track of how much I have left for the month.

Ynab is 60 dollars to buy (about £40)

After the trial if you decide to buy Ynab you can use my link to get a 10% discount

http://ynab.refr.cc/H9HM6RZ

or you can attend the online webinars (which are very good) and you may also win a free copy (one is given away at the end of each session).

frogletina

Frogletina

Mysteek wrote: »

Hi thanks Pixie5740 I did look at the tutorial on credit cards on you tube but they were using the credit cards for purchases which affected their budget so it was put 'on budget'. My credit cards are not being used for purchases as I am treating them as a loan, I'm just paying the minimum payment each month and anything left over is going to be winging it there too.

I might try both on budget and off budget to see which way I like the best

If you use it off budget, I would suggest that you list it as a regular monthly bill. Ynab will work fine this way.

The more you use Ynab you will see where you can reduce individual budgeted amounts to allocate more to the credit card payment.

frogletina

Thistlewhistle

Hi everyone,

I'm so pleased to have found this thread on YNAB (the best invention since the wheel!!) as I've been using YNAB since beginning of January 2015 but find the official forum very difficult to read and follow.

It was a member on another MSE forum I was following who mentioned it and I downloaded the free trial in December - it soon became apparent that my first savings goal was going to be the £37 I required to buy the full version.

Since then it's revolutionised the way I think about money. I'm self employed too with varying income across the month and so I've set my business accounts up using YNAB too which is just brilliant as I now know that once I've budgeted in my business account for all my business spends, any leftovers can be taken as drawings and paid over to my personal account to be budgeted there.

In 3 months to end March, I've reduced my CC debt by £900 and am totally de-stressed with regard to money. It's amazing.

Now I'm focussing on clearing my debts completely and I've just taken the step of adding my mortgage as an off budget account.

I've got miles to go but I can see the path ahead.

Read the thread from start to finish and have picked up some more tips.
I hope you don't mind if I tag along for the ride!

Thistle
(YNAB convert)
Xxx

andyfromotley

Missu wrote: »

I'm thinking about having the free trial of ynab. How easy is it to use? I'm not very good at all with spreadsheets!

How much is the full version after the trial?
Thanks!!

You can usually pick it up for £30 or less on Steam. (or get it for free if you are a student.

MoneyMission2015

andyfromotley wrote: »

You can usually pick it up for £30 or less on Steam. (or get it for free if you are a student.

I was going to say the same, I got it on Steam for £30. Even with the 10% discount offered if I bought direct from YNAB, it was cheaper to buy it through Steam.

Red-Squirrel_2

Frogletina wrote: »

or you can attend the online webinars (which are very good) and you may also win a free copy (one is given away at the end of each session).

frogletina

Just to offer some hope, I was lucky enough to win a free copy this way. I'm a shift worker so I was able to attend the webinars at silly times like 3am which must have boosted my odds, but I'd only had the free trial about a week when I won my free copy. I was over the moon!

I would still have paid for the full version though, and it would definitely have been worth it.