You need a budget (YNAB) advice thread

Frogletina

Missu wrote: »

I've just won the free copy of ynab in the webinar! Can't believe it as I never win anything!!

Well done Missu

Hope you enjoyed the webinar as well

frogletina

[Deleted User]

Frogletina wrote: »

Well done Missu

Hope you enjoyed the webinar as well

frogletina

I did enjoy it. The webinars are very good. Another one tonight and I will have seen all of them. Ynab is changing my view on money and I can recommend it.

Red-Squirrel_2

Missu wrote: »

I've just won the free copy of ynab in the webinar! Can't believe it as I never win anything!!

Congratulations! :money:

Kermie

Anyone have a referral code they'd like me to use? My trial of YNAB is up in 7 days and I'm ready to buy it!

LondonGirl252

I downloaded YNAB last Friday and got it set up pretty quickly, really happy with it so far. The spreadsheet I had designed was similar to YNAB but with forecasting, however it didn't help me stick to budget as a spreadsheet is difficult to access on my iPhone and I would always take money from future months. This weekend, having YNAB on my phone helped me keep within my spending budget which is rare for me so only 4 days in and I'm really happy!


Will be trying to get on a webinar to win a free copy otherwise I'll defo buy either way.


I've been a bit different. I have input all my salary payments for the year as future dated transactions, and then budgeted for every month. It makes my net worth a bit squiffy but I like being able to see into the future!

katejo

LondonGirl252 wrote: »

I downloaded YNAB last Friday and got it set up pretty quickly, really happy with it so far. The spreadsheet I had designed was similar to YNAB but with forecasting, however it didn't help me stick to budget as a spreadsheet is difficult to access on my iPhone and I would always take money from future months. This weekend, having YNAB on my phone helped me keep within my spending budget which is rare for me so only 4 days in and I'm really happy!


Will be trying to get on a webinar to win a free copy otherwise I'll defo buy either way.


I've been a bit different. I have input all my salary payments for the year as future dated transactions, and then budgeted for every month. It makes my net worth a bit squiffy but I like being able to see into the future!

It's not a good idea, particularly when you are new to YNAB. You could easily find yourself counting on money which you might never get. I don't enter income until I have confirmation that I will get it.

SeduLOUs

katejo wrote: »

It's not a good idea, particularly when you are new to YNAB. You could easily find yourself counting on money which you might never get. I don't enter income until I have confirmation that I will get it.

It's true. I defiantly started out doing exactly the same thing, because I was trying to use YNAB to forecast like I did with every other budget I'd tried and failed.

The key is the simplicity. Don't look beyond what you currently have and what you need it to do. You can't rely on your category balances to guide your spending if there is 'imaginary' money in your budget. That bonus you were relying on might never transpire and then the whole thing falls apart.

There can be good reasons to look ahead, but not in YNAB. Keep YNAB to be the reality and use a separate spreadsheet to daydream about what the future might hold - I can promise you that any forecast you make for the next 12 months will be utterly wrong!

If you need to save up for a bill that is coming in a year, create a category for it - you can keep the details in the name or the notes. i.e. I have a "Car MOT £500 £42/m" which instantly tells me I need to budget £42 each month to have £500 available come MOT time.

If you feel it would be helpful to budget 3 months into the future, then save up a buffer that allows you to do so with the money you have on hand.

Bublin1

bazzaang wrote: »

Congratulations

I must start using ynab again, been along time, need to get back on track with finances.

Do it. Make a start today.

andyfromotley

I agree with SeduLOUs. I don't think YNAB is great for forecasting (although i know that others manage it successfully.)

However given how much juggling i do each month i agree that forecasts are pretty much incidental anyway. I think the strength of YNAB for me is that it deals with here and now, how much do i have, how much do i have saved for predictable expenses, what can i spend today?

Frogletina

Cannot get into Ynab today as there is an error. It was ok when I went to bed last night.

I have contacted support for help. This has always been my worry with relying on the software to always work. Luckily I still have my excel spreadsheets or I would not know where I was.

As it is, I can only tell what money I have spent and not what is budgeted, although as it is nearing the end of the month it is not that much! I'm out all day, so I hope it gets fixed by the time I get home

frogletina