You need a budget (YNAB) advice thread

hohum

andyfromotley wrote: »

adjust as in add or take money out of it?

click on the amount in the category (it highlights it,) press + or - key calculator appears put amount to be added or subtracted from category total and it will change. if you are taking money out from a category because you don't need it it will appear in Available to budget. if you are adding to a category the amount you add will come off the Available to budget.

I've made it sound long winded, its not, dead simple - super quick.

to add, YNAB support materials are really good and include written breakdowns on most tasks as well as the videos. You can search on the support materials too

here is the support for how to adjust a category

http://www.youneedabudget.com/support/article/moving-money-between-categories

Frogletina

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

Personally, I wouldn't accept that as compensation. That's an offer that drops into my email regularly anyway! I'd be onto complaints saying you want there to be no strings attached to the voucher or it isn't really true compensation.

Emailed back to Waitrose - what they have done is cancelled the voucher code and given me one which lasts until the end of May.

That's better for me as I'll be able to spend £60 with no problem next month.

Don't have much left for this month, especially as I have got 3 £2 coins which I like to save.

frogletina

joedenise

DH was paid today and I have now budgeted it. Won't need to use much of my money this month to finish it off so a bit more than usual to put into the buffer.

This is the first month I haven't needed to use some of DH's money to finish off this month and all of it can go to next month so things are definitely improving. Also in the time I've been using YNAB I have also saved a lot more than previously.

Only wish I'd found YNAB a long time ago. Have now got my DD using it and it's helping her to pay off her CC debt which she was left with when she split with her ex. He couldn't get a CC so everything was in her name and she's lumbered with dealing with it!

Denise

ShirePiskie

I've just collected nearly £100 in fundraising for a friend's marathon effort (and now have a shaved head... bbbrrrrr), but because of YNAB and it and me not caring where the money physically is (and I know the money is in my bank account because it's got other jobs to do, just not yet) I could make a transfer for the amount straight to her giving account without having to get to a bank first to pay it in.

It does now mean I have a super heavy handbag full of change!

But it means she gets to see her balance take a jump before she runs on Sunday.

Love it when budgeting and YNABing (yes, it's a verb now) can be used for good rather just the day-to-day.

(As a side note, when I told my friend, she was quite incredulous that I had £100 kicking around in the bank a week before payday, she only had to listen to me proselytise about YNAB for about a minute before she had to go.)

(Extra note, just read this back and realise I sound a bit up my own backside with some fancy words, I blame the extra oxygen getting to my bald brain!)

Frogletina

To enable me to get the most interest I have a few current accounts with a couple of direct debits on each.

I do not have these all listed as online accounts in Ynab as they are used primarily as savings accounts. They are offline and any interest they create I show in Ynab after transferring as income so the total money in these accounts is my offline capital which I don't draw from with any regularity.

In Ynab I have one current account which is where my all income goes. On Ynab I show my direct debits as coming from this account, whereas in reality they come from other current accounts (off line). Once paid, I transfer the same amount of money to these other accounts as I want to keep the maximum amount in them.

I know this seems overly complicated but I don't see how else I can manage to work my finances the ynab way and maximise my income.

Any thoughts?

frogletina

Edited to add that I do have savings categories on Ynab and some savings accounts. This is what I see as working money, not capital - ie used throughout the year

SeduLOUs

I know exactly what you mean Pixie!

I used to live desperately from one month to the next with minimal emergency funds, and yesterday (the day before payday) there was still over £1000 in my main bank account! (Only really about £400 net as I do a lot of spending on a cashback CC now, but still a drastic improvement!)

Still got a bit of a climb to get to debt free but so much stress has gone! I haven't been saving as such because the debt was/is more expensive, but from clearing some and getting limit increases I now have around £5000 available on CCs in case of a genuine emergency - things like MOT time don't terrify me anymore!

andyfromotley

Frogletina wrote: »

T
Any thoughts?

frogletina

I think if you are rinsing money through bank accounts to get interest/perks whatever then thats fine to just keep them all as 1 account on ynab.

Must make reconciling a bit of pain though?

SeduLOUs

Frogletina wrote: »

I know this seems overly complicated but I don't see how else I can manage to work my finances the ynab way and maximise my income.

Any thoughts?

frogletina

It would make your life a lot easier to have all of the savings accounts on budget in YNAB.

Just create a generic long term savings category to plonk the total amount into to get rid of it out of 'available to budget' but it will make your life so much easier for dealing with and reconciling all of the transfers, and for dealing with the odd direct debits that aren't tied to the main account.

If you have standing orders between them you can set these up as scheduled so they will just post themselves, and then you'll be able to spot it very quickly if anything goes wrong with the actual payments and it doesn't all match up.

Frogletina

andyfromotley wrote: »

I think if you are rinsing money through bank accounts to get interest/perks whatever then thats fine to just keep them all as 1 account on ynab.

Must make reconciling a bit of pain though?

It's not too bad - in Ynab they are set up as recurring transactions and I send the exact money to the accounts where the direct debits are from so that I can reconcile those transferred payments in Ynab.

I've two direct debits in Halifax (for the £5 a month), four in Santander (for the cashback) and two in Lloyds (to get me the 4% interest).

frogletina

Frogletina

SeduLOUs wrote: »

It would make your life a lot easier to have all of the savings accounts on budget in YNAB.

Just create a generic long term savings category to plonk the total amount into to get rid of it out of 'available to budget' but it will make your life so much easier for dealing with and reconciling all of the transfers, and for dealing with the odd direct debits that aren't tied to the main account.

If you have standing orders between them you can set these up as scheduled so they will just post themselves, and then you'll be able to spot it very quickly if anything goes wrong with the actual payments and it doesn't all match up.

I did think about putting them all on budget but it would still involve making transfers on the accounts side so I didn't think it was worth it. I still have to put the minimum money into each account each month, so it just goes around each of those accounts and I'd rather it not show on my budget.

Now if only I could find an account which gives me 4% on all of my money I'd be fine...:)

frogletina