You need a budget (YNAB) advice thread

nyermen

Greensalad - the point of YNAB is to put all debts in black and white (and red).
So any "debt" (including available funds in an account overdraft or a credit card) should be considered "pre-existing debt", as you "need" that facility. As you start paying it off, you can put surplus income against that debt's category, and eventually it reaches zero meaning you no longer rely on the facility.
If you pay the card off monthly, you can put zero down (ie. don't bother with a category for the card) from the beginning.

This can be difficult to explain - better to read a proper guide - credit cards should be well described on the YNAB website I think.

Kelxx

greensalad wrote: »

Another issue.

How is budgeting with money left on a credit card handled?

I have a CC with a limit of £1500. I had £1450 as the balance, so £50 available.

I have purchased train tickets on it, for £18. I put it through as a transaction on the Barclaycard. I then put £18 in the travel budget. It now says it's £18 overbudget.

How do I handle this? I don't want to be overbudget obviously, but I want to have the ability to spend on my credit card when needed.

Should I put my credit card off-budget?

Type: [+] [-] [18.00] into the Barclaycard budge line It will now free up the £18 into the ATB and raise your BarclayCard balance line by £18
On the budget screen, type [+] [amount] when you add to it & [+] [-] [amount] when you take from it. Think of each line as an envolope and how you would put money in & take it out.

greensalad

Brill thanks! So I need to remember it's a budget from the Barclaycard budget not from my standard travel budget.

DD265

I had a "durr" moment the other day.

I wondered why I never had any (or very little) money left in my account at the end of the month.

Well that's because I am budgeting every penny which is fine, except I forgot to set up a category called "leftover at the end of the month".

My savings go out into my savings account, and the surplus for the joint account gets transferred into there too - both of these amounts are left over, just not in my account!

I am adding a new "buffer" category

Thistlewhistle

alisont wrote: »

Hi I've signed up for the months free trial but would I need to enter my pay from last payday or what is currently in account until next payday. Presuming it will mean I'm over balance for next month if I enter all outgoings now when I'm only 9 days off payday.

Very new to it and will not be awake to watch a lesson at 11.30pm!

Am sure in time I'll get my head round it but just trying to start off.

Thanks

Hi alisont

There's loads of fantastic You Tube videos that help you with a lot of your questions. I'm always going back to them when I have an issue. I've subscribed to them too so any new videos which come out, you get automatically. I must have watched the "handling credit cards in YNAB" video a gazillion times already!!! :rotfl:

Thistle:D

Kelxx

greensalad wrote: »

Brill thanks! So I need to remember it's a budget from the Barclaycard budget not from my standard travel budget.

A lot of people get confused with Credit cards in YNAB, because as nyermen pointed out that the idea of YNAB is to eventually budget for everthing so one won't need a credit card. I'll try and explain how I would handle it. I hope I make sense

• In the real world, you charge travel to the Credit Card.
• And then open YNAB & record the transaction as Travel in the BarclayCard register

• But now, on the budget screen, you don't have the money in the travel envelope, So you...

• Budget to travel £18.00, on the budget screen & now your ATB is red -18.00.

• 'Take' £18.00 out of your credit card envelope, by typing [+], [-], [18.00] on the credit card budget line.

• That will make the 'envelope' balance match the account balance.(on the left of the screen under accounts)

• Your ATB will now be back to zero

greensalad

Thanks that makes a lot of sense. If I think about it as envelopes then it does make a lot more sense.

peaceandfreedom

Kelxx wrote: »

'Take' £18.00 out of your credit card envelope, by typing [+], [-], [18.00] on the credit card budget line.

Good explanation, Kelxx.

Just wanted to add that you can subtract from a budget category without adding first - you just highlight it and type in -18.00, at least on the desktop version.

lhead123

greensalad wrote: »

Another issue.

How is budgeting with money left on a credit card handled?

I have a CC with a limit of £1500. I had £1450 as the balance, so £50 available.

I have purchased train tickets on it, for £18. I put it through as a transaction on the Barclaycard. I then put £18 in the travel budget. It now says it's £18 overbudget.

How do I handle this? I don't want to be overbudget obviously, but I want to have the ability to spend on my credit card when needed.

Should I put my credit card off-budget?

You categorise the spend as 'Pre-YNAB Debt' for the Barclaycard. I assume you've already got a pre-ynab debt category for it as it's carrying a balance? All you are doing then is adding the £18 to the debt x

Kelxx

lhead123 wrote: »

You categorise the spend as 'Pre-YNAB Debt' for the Barclaycard. I assume you've already got a pre-ynab debt category for it as it's carrying a balance? All you are doing then is adding the £18 to the debt x

Whilst it's true that you would pay it from the Barclaycard register, you should catergorise it as Travel, so that on the budget screen, you can see which 'envelope' it has come from.
If you catergorise everything you buy with a credit card, Pre-Ynab debt, then you wouldn't see (on the budget screen & reports) what you were spending the money on.