You need a budget (YNAB) advice thread

joedenise

LannieDuck wrote: »

I'm sure this has been asked before in the thread (I did read it from beginning to end a couple of weeks ago), but I can't find the right posts now that I need them... is there a way of having my 'months' running from 25th - 25th instead of 1st - 1st, so that they coincide with my paycheques?

When I started using YNAB I had the same problem as my DH is paid on 24th of month. To start with I used to put 1/4 of his takehome pay into the current month and then the rest to the next month. Each month I reduced the amount I put to the current month and within 3-4 months I was able to put everything forward to the next month.

I've definitely found YNAB very useful and am far better at budgeting now than when I started.

If you can watch some of the live webinars which unfortunately are usually on at very awkward times you'll have the opportunity of winning a Free copy of YNAB.

If you can't watch the live webinars they are still available to watch and very useful. I only managed to watch one live one but didn't win a copy but during the trial period I managed to budget the cost to buy it when the trial ran out.

Denise

LannieDuck

It's mostly just because I'm getting things muddled in my head - when dealing with my bank account, I typically think about the expenses going out and how much is left at the 'end of the month' meaning the 24th. But on YNAB I have to think about it up to 31st, so I get very confused about how much we have spare and whether or not I've accounted for payments between 25-31st in my various budgets-in-my-heads.

But it sounds like something I'll just have to deal with :P

LondonGirl252

I had that problem to start with Lannie but like SeduLOU mentioned after a few months you'll find it doesn't matter about timings anymore as you will have built up enough buffers that when you get paid on the 25th of July you allocate it all to August and you use the 25th June salary to take you through to 31 July... does that make sense?!

lazer-zxr

I thought I knew how to YNAB ... but ....

My annual spend is very comprehensive, including everything from car insurance, TV license, to kids milk fees due in September.

My problem is, I'm putting 1.12th of each expense away to annual expenditure each month, as is intended.

However, the balance of this annual spend, is now over £1200. I will never need this amount in a month, and I believe my money is being used inefficiently because of this.

simple example:
Say home insurance is due January £600. Car insurance June £600. Other annual expense £500 April
Month In Out Balance
Jan 142 0000 680
Feb 142 0000 822
Mar 142 0000 963
Apr 142 -500 605
May 142 0000 747
Jun 142 -600 288
Jul 142 0000 430
Aug 142 0000 572
Sep 142 0000 713
Oct 142 0000 855
Nov 142 0000 997
Dec 142 0000 1,138
Jan 142 -600 680
Feb 142 0000 822
Mar 142 0000 963
Apr 142 -500 605
May 142 0000 747
Jun 142 -600 288
Jul 142 0000 430


The opening balance of £680 is 6 months worth of the £600 June payment, and just over 9 months of the £500 due April.

I'm sure with minimum balance being £288 here, I could withdraw £250 and use against debts?
Any thoughts?

LondonGirl252

As long as you don't have any other annual spends to come out of here then yeah it looks like you take out a bit!


You've done well to build up a good fund!

lite_ruse

Hi all, is there any discount voucher or offer for this software?

andyfromotley

Steam is usually the cheapest place to pick it up. Its £30 price is cheaper than the full price with a discount code.

Sing up for a trial and use the webinars and they give one away every time. Quite a few on here have won their copy.

You can get it for free if you are a student.

SeduLOUs

lazer-zxr wrote: »

I'm sure with minimum balance being £288 here, I could withdraw £250 and use against debts?
Any thoughts?

Looks like you do have room to take some out.

Have you considered paying for your insurance monthly? I know it costs more than paying upfront, but I only suggest you look into it because you said you have debts.

When I looked at the APR on my car insurance, it was actually lower than the APR on my 'debt' credit card, so for me I paid less interest overall by spreading the insurance over 12 months and sending more money to the credit card sooner...

Now that all of my remaining debt is on 0% obviously it's a different story. :beer:

zcrat41

Quick query - I'm on holiday so only have access to my app. Is there any way of changing budget totals per category when away from my laptop?

MookieSnuffles

So I've been on MSE since 2008, I am a complete lurker but over the last few months I've been brave and written a few posts, and I've been really enjoying lurking on the DFW boards over the last month, something I've never done before. (That sounds really pervy! Lol!)

Anyhoo, I just wanted to say a thank you to Firewyrm as I've been noticing the Ynab signature for a while now, which then led me to read the ENTIRE 32 pages of thread in one sitting, so I wanted to say thank you to everyone else that posted (Andy, frogletina, Denise, sedulous, the list goes on and on) as I finally bit the bullet and downloaded Ynab! Yay!

Amazing bit of software, although I am kicking myself for not doing it at the beginning of the month when I got paid, but the beauty is you just start with what you have and don't forecast money that you don't currently have - it took me a couple of hours to get my head round that and get rid of all my minus figures! Lol! I'm now thinking about saving for bills to be able to pay in one go next year, and saving small amounts for incidentals that creep up that you end up putting on the C/C that you should of been saving for, although it's making my debt figure way more realistic than I like! Lol!

But I signed up for the webinars (which I secretly love all the hellos from around the globe!) and I've done a couple and last night I won a free copy of Ynab, and I'm so happy, I never win anything!

So this rather convoluted post is just to say thank you to everyone who posted, because I am very happy and I'm very pleased with how the software is helping to change my thinking and keep me on track!

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

Mookie x