You need a budget (YNAB) advice thread

andyfromotley

wow thats impressive pixie. I finally remembered my apple password and now have the app on my phone too. I take it that as you used it you found lots of 'hidden' costs you weren't aware of, and are constantly juggling the budget at this early stage? Things like my train fares for college twice a week i always just pay from my pocket change or card but when looked at totals nearly £50 a month! Hopefully this will settle down after a month or two.
Has definitely made me want to spend less!

Pixie5740

Yes it took a bit of tweaking in the first few months. There was what I thought I was spending on groceries and what I was actually spending. I was also spending a lot more on wine and makeup that I initially thought. I found lots of fat to trim from my budget and try not to dwell on how much I've wasted in the past.

DD265

OH bought me YNAB for my birthday in January (reduced in the Steam sale!) and I love it.

I have two on budget accounts:
Classic account (my bills)
Silver account (horse's bills)

I have off budget accounts:
Purse
Emergency fund
Credit card
PayPal account
ISA
"Treatment" account (I pay in advance so this lets me see how much is paid, against when it's used)

I give myself "spending money" each week which I withdraw as cash and move into my purse under a spending money category. At this point I don't categorise it. I hope to build up to doing that.

I didn't want to run before I could walk or put myself off because I made it too hard to stick to. I'm not ready to completely cut out the random chocolate bar here and there but I would like to reduce the "spending money" amounts.

22cuddles

I've tried the free trial for YNAB and think I'm going to sign up to the full version. Before I do, does anyone have experience of how well it works if you don't get paid monthly (4 weekly in my case)? Is it still straight forward enough to use?

Pixie5740

It shouldn't matter what your pay cycle is to use YNAB.

They have a class especially for people that don't have monthly pay cycles.

https://vimeo.com/youneedabudget/review/79104651/644358e1c6

maggiecon

I am a YNAB convert but I have a quick question about how best to utilise it.

I get paid weekly so its a careful balancing act to make my budget work as I do not have my buffer saved yet.

Every month I put money into categories such as clothing, home, entertainment etc. some months I spend it all some months I don't. What do people do with the leftover? For example I have £120 in my clothing budget now and nothing in my home budget and I need to get a new dishwasher.

Do you move money around between categories? I was thinking of taking the leftovers every month and putting them into a "leftover" fund which means I always have a few pound to help bolster categories if it is needed. Alternatively I was thinking I could put this money in my buffer category which should help me get there quicker. Or do you just let it sit?

Just wandering what others do.

Pixie5740

I have moved money between categories before. Recently I bought a car which cost £3,200 less than I budgeted for so I moved the excess £3,200 into my "holiday" and "car maintenance" categories.

Sometimes though I just let some categories build up though. My clothes category is looking pretty healthy as I'm determined not to buy any more clothes whilst I'm still tubby.

hohum

maggiecon wrote: »

I am a YNAB convert but I have a quick question about how best to utilise it.

I get paid weekly so its a careful balancing act to make my budget work as I do not have my buffer saved yet.

Every month I put money into categories such as clothing, home, entertainment etc. some months I spend it all some months I don't. What do people do with the leftover? For example I have £120 in my clothing budget now and nothing in my home budget and I need to get a new dishwasher.

Do you move money around between categories? I was thinking of taking the leftovers every month and putting them into a "leftover" fund which means I always have a few pound to help bolster categories if it is needed. Alternatively I was thinking I could put this money in my buffer category which should help me get there quicker. Or do you just let it sit?

Just wandering what others do.

Absolutely I move money around between categories. On the YNAB forums they call it 'whack-a-mole'. If a category has built up a balance and you want to release it, just enter a minus into the budget field of the amount you want to release. The budget the money to whatever category you choose. This is part of YNAB methodology rule 3 -roll with the punches http://www.youneedabudget.com/method/rule-three

Do you have your rainy day and emergency funds set up? I am a big fan of funding these properly. That's rule 2, save for a rainy day http://www.youneedabudget.com/method/rule-two

So if you want to roll the money over to next month, you can either roll it over in categories (eg if you do nothing, you will have £120 next month in clothing category just 'sitting' there). Or as you say move to your buffer fund.

andyfromotley

hi maggie,

having taken the budgeting lesson the answer is, its up to you. You can simply leave it there, it will carry over every month until you spend it.You can use it cover overspends in other categories or you can move it to a category that you wish to bolster, buffer or rainy day funds would be the obvious ones i guess. Paricularly given yr pay cycle i would send it to the Buffer!

maggiecon

andyfromotley wrote: »

hi maggie,

having taken the budgeting lesson the answer is, its up to you. You can simply leave it there, it will carry over every month until you spend it.You can use it cover overspends in other categories or you can move it to a category that you wish to bolster, buffer or rainy day funds would be the obvious ones i guess. Paricularly given yr pay cycle i would send it to the Buffer!

Thanks for the tips folks, I have been moving money between categories as needed, I was just wondering what everyone else does. I put £40 per month in clothes, entertainment, home and misc categories but some months I have money left and I not sure what is the most efficient use of this money. Do I build a buffer, pay off debt or maybe move it to my emergency fund and try not to touch it. Just wandering what everyone else does.

I think I might try and pay off my credit card. I prefer to get rid of my debt before I start working on my buffer, although YNAB advocates the reverse of this.