You need a budget (YNAB) advice thread

Baking_Mad

Hi all, Im a complete newbie here. Could anyone please explain to me what YNAB is, how to use it, how much does it cost,etc.

I've just done an SOA and really need to start budgeting in order to cut debts

Thank you so much in advance!

Frogletina

Baking_Mad wrote: »

Hi all, Im a complete newbie here. Could anyone please explain to me what YNAB is, how to use it, how much does it cost,etc.

I've just done an SOA and really need to start budgeting in order to cut debts

Thank you so much in advance!

Ynab is is a budgeting app and you can read all about it here

https://www.youneedabudget.com/?gclid=CNXA8MuPo8oCFUwYGwodYwgGGg

There is a 34 day free trial and after that you can decide whether to subscribe to it. The charges are 50$ annually or 5$ a month, it is a US company.

There are a lot of details on line as to how it works as well as live classes, although most of these are in the early hours. However, I would suggest that you sign up for some of these - all of these are free.

frogletina

getmore4less

greensalad wrote: »

It's a nightmare, but new job means I can't install programs so I can't budget at work (a necessity for me). I wish they hadn't changed so much.

I just can't work out how to spend on my credit card without it being noted as going into minus budget. I rely on balance available on my credit card to work as available funds because I don't get paid monthly. So e.g if I need to buy my monthly train ticket I like to spend the £350 on credit card, then pay the credit card back £87.50 a week. But if I put through that £350 spend on credit card through nYNAB, it tells me that I'm way over budget because I don't have £350 available.

In a perfect world I'd be paying off my credit cards purely as debt but for me, it's a functioning account.

If it can't cope with transient delayed cashflow through CC it may just be the wrong tool

lhead123

greensalad wrote: »

Horribly confused with my fresh start on nYNAB.

I started with an inflow of 41.91 as that was what was in my current account when I started.
I got paid £300.
I spent £120 on a hobby related expense
I spent £160 on paying off one of my credit cards
I spent a further £7.68 on some food.

So using normal maths you'd know I have 54.23 in my account.

My account balance on nYNAB shows I have 54.23 in my account, yet it's asking me to budget £104. I don't understand. I can't budget money I don't have...

It shows on "Inflows for January" as £391. But when I click on the account I can only see two inflows: starting with £41.91 and then getting an inflow of £300.

Edit: Discovered the issue. It was £50 I had in a savings account. Now... I don't want savings accounts to be part of my budget. But nYNAB doesn't appear to have an off-budget option? Argh.

If you choose 'other asset' or 'other liability' they are made as tracking accounts which are the same as off budget accounts x

greensalad

Still trying my way with nYNAB and just hitting problem after problem.

So I wanted to track a purchase. I purchased an eye test last night for £25.

However I'm a LTD company director and I can claim this as an expense. So this morning, my company paid me back the £25.

I've done an inflow of £25 to the "work expenses" cat and an outflow of £25 from Vision Express.

I'm now showing as £25 overbudget. The activity column shows £0 for activity and £25 available. But I just spent it!!!! Why is it still available?!?

Argh. This is so horribly frustrating.

tizerbelle

greensalad wrote: »

I've done an inflow of £25 to the "work expenses" cat and an outflow of £25 from Vision Express.

I'm now showing as £25 overbudget. The activity column shows £0 for activity and £25 available. But I just spent it!!!! Why is it still available?!

You just need to zero out the Budgeted £25 - that will correct the category balance and negative available to budget.

greensalad

tizerbelle wrote: »

You just need to zero out the Budgeted £25 - that will correct the category balance and negative available to budget.

How do I do that?

I've managed to get it working by marking the inflow as "inflow to be budgeted". But it seems more intuitive to mark inflows straight to the budget category?

tizerbelle

greensalad wrote: »

How do I do that?

I've managed to get it working by marking the inflow as "inflow to be budgeted". But it seems more intuitive to mark inflows straight to the budget category?

Just type 0 in the budgeted column for the category (the left hand column). As you had it originally you
1. budgeted £25 for the expense (category balance £25)
2. recorded the expense of £25 to the category (balance £0)
3. recorded the reimbursement of £25 straight to the category (as opposed to new income) - so balance £25.

Its up to you how you handle income - generally you would mark it as Income - To Be Budgeted so it is available to any category you chose to budget it to. Sending income to the budget category only makes it available to that category (without then deducting it from the budgeted amount to release it for other categories)

Generally, new money coming in I log as Income - To Be Budgeted but old money being returned (e.g. refunds / brother's share of mum's birthday present that I paid out for) I send direct to the relevant category.

For work expenses, you may wish to carry on sending the reimbursements direct to the category (without budgeting to the category) as that way you can see if you are still owed any reimbursements by the category balance - if it's red they owe you, if it's zero - you've had all the expenses back

greensalad

tizerbelle wrote: »

Generally, new money coming in I log as Income - To Be Budgeted but old money being returned (e.g. refunds / brother's share of mum's birthday present that I paid out for) I send direct to the relevant category.

For work expenses, you may wish to carry on sending the reimbursements direct to the category (without budgeting to the category) as that way you can see if you are still owed any reimbursements by the category balance - if it's red they owe you, if it's zero - you've had all the expenses back

Thanks so much for this, it's finally clicking.

Even with YNAB4 I was always confused by how to handle owed cash. My friends and I will often pay for things if we know we're going to see each other the day after. Although I always marked refunds/pay-backs as "income" it skewed my spending reports a lot. E.g I looked like I'd spent £200 on restaurants in a month but it was only £50 etc.

Now I know this I'll go forward with this.

tizerbelle

greensalad wrote: »

It's a nightmare, but new job means I can't install programs so I can't budget at work (a necessity for me). I wish they hadn't changed so much.

I just can't work out how to spend on my credit card without it being noted as going into minus budget. I rely on balance available on my credit card to work as available funds because I don't get paid monthly. So e.g if I need to buy my monthly train ticket I like to spend the £350 on credit card, then pay the credit card back £87.50 a week. But if I put through that £350 spend on credit card through nYNAB, it tells me that I'm way over budget because I don't have £350 available.

Are you budgeting £350 to the travel category when you buy the ticket (i.e. typing £350 in the left hand Budgeted column on the travel category)? If so, this is why your overall budget is going negative.

If you are spending on the credit card and don't actually have the money - what you do is record the spend but don't budget for it - the category balance will turn orange but it will leave your overall To Be Budgeted figure unchanged. When you get your weekly pay, budget £87.50 to the travel category - the category balance will stay orange but will reduce to -£262.50 and the credit card category will become £87.50 available to pay. Repeat as you are paid each week.

The only issue is if the month changes over while you are paying off the amount - if that is the case as YNAB doesn't carry the orange category balance forward on the travel category the debt will now only feature on the credit card category - so those weeks you need to budget the £87.50 directly to the credit card category rather than the travel category