A good budgeting app???

FireWyrm

tea_break wrote: »

How much time do you need to spend on average keeping your YNAB records up to date? Do you need to use it every day and record all your spending for different categories? This Christmas has shown me it's too unreliable budgeting on a 'back of an envelope' type system and I overspent a bit so I need to look at something a bit more systematic.

5 to 10 minutes every time you spend money (depending on how many transactions you need to register)....you need to enter transactions as they happen. Three times a month, I do a bank reconciliation and make sure it all balances which takes roughly 20 minutes each time. Other than that....zero effort other than at the end of the month when you set the budget and priorities for the next month. If you have YNAB on your phone, you can enter transactions before you even step out of the shop, that way, your balance in YNAB is always right and what the bank does or does not do is irrelevant.

...peace of mind...

happybunny86

tea_break wrote: »

How much time do you need to spend on average keeping your YNAB records up to date?

If you have a smart phone it takes me a couple of seconds when I buy something. Or... I save the receipts for the day and do it on the way home on the train but I find doing it there and then is better.

I then log in on the iPad every couple of days to make sure I have enough money in all the categories.

Its very quick and once you have all your categories set up even when I get paid it only takes 10 mins to allocate money. The time consuming part is getting your head around it to start.

lhead123

Another vote for YNAB here. When I started using it, OH got paid on the 1st and me on the 4th.......now, I get paid on the 4th, OH on the 16th and other bits come in through the month, like tax credits weekly and child benefit every 4 weeks.....without YNAB I'd be so mixed up not knowing how much money we'd have available to spend and what needed to stay in the bank account. Now I know exactly what's going on and have managed to start paying off debts - i was finding that nearly impossible before!

Pepperoni

A further YNAB vote!

Pixie5740

tea_break wrote: »

How much time do you need to spend on average keeping your YNAB records up to date? Do you need to use it every day and record all your spending for different categories? This Christmas has shown me it's too unreliable budgeting on a 'back of an envelope' type system and I overspent a bit so I need to look at something a bit more systematic.

I also enter my transactions as I make them when I'm out and about on my smart phone. Every Saturday morning I reconcille my accounts and every month I import my bank statements. I've found that by spending a couple of minutes a day using YNAB it makes the reconciliation process really quick.

Whatever other budgeting tool you use you'll need to tell the budget what you've spent otherwise it'll end up out of whack too.

SeduLOUs

Another YNAB lover here. Partner recently changed to a 4 weekly pay cycle and I'm finding YNAB is perfect for it.

I want calendar month budgets because my bills are monthly, so I have et up my categories to go down in order of due dates which makes it easier to see what I need to allocate money to first. As and when we get paid I allocate as far forward as possible, and after only a couple of months realised I was allocating this months pay well into next month's bills.

In July 2014 we were living payday to payday and there was never a penny left at the end of the month. Christmas used to be a disaster because we got paid early and January crippled us. But this month I got paid on 19th and he got paid on 22nd. All of that money went straight to January for budgeting and has not yet been touched.

We have also significantly reduced our debt in the last 4 months, which is particularly pleasing as partner is now earning less than he was in his previous job.

Dog had an emergency vet appointment today which cost £90 and would normally have ruined me, but now I just paid with my debit card and all I need to do is spend the next month or two rebuilding my "vet fees" emergency fund.

I have to say I'm addicted to it. I can't wait for Feb, because that's the first month he gets two pay days! The magical 13th pay is going straight to the debt pile

As for time spent, I personally track each transaction as it happens and spend 2-3 minutes per day on my lunch break reconciling my accounts. I could leave it for a week or probably even longer now but find it's easier to do every day and I actually enjoy doing it. I find myself just looking at my budget and wanting to play with it, but having nothing left to do!

FireWyrm

SeduLOUs wrote: »

As for time spent, I personally track each transaction as it happens and spend 2-3 minutes per day on my lunch break reconciling my accounts. I could leave it for a week or probably even longer now but find it's easier to do every day and I actually enjoy doing it. I find myself just looking at my budget and wanting to play with it, but having nothing left to do!

I left reconciliation for two weeks once and got twitchy. I ended up having to go through all transactions to find a 21p discrepancy in the end. I too find it far easier to scrupulously log every transaction as it happens and reconcile often. It's just easier and if you do that, the balance is always right in YNAB and you can spend with confidence knowing the account is accurate and there is nothing lurking you havnt seen coming.

peaceandfreedom

FireWyrm wrote: »

I left reconciliation for two weeks once and got twitchy. I ended up having to go through all transactions to find a 21p discrepancy in the end. I too find it far easier to scrupulously log every transaction as it happens and reconcile often. It's just easier and if you do that, the balance is always right in YNAB and you can spend with confidence knowing the account is accurate and there is nothing lurking you havnt seen coming.

I'm with you on this one - I reconcile most days. I am a bit of a YNAB addict at this stage and I really enjoy tweaking my budget.

I need to spend some time looking at their training videos though because while YNAB has helped me enormously, I don't think I've properly transformed my thinking when it comes to managing my income - I'm still too inclined to forecast based on future money.

FireWyrm

peaceandfreedom wrote: »

I need to spend some time looking at their training videos though because while YNAB has helped me enormously, I don't think I've properly transformed my thinking when it comes to managing my income - I'm still too inclined to forecast based on future money.

P.S dont tell the brethren over at YNAB Towers (or they'll excommunicate me) but I do actually forecast 12 months in advance. I have to, or I cant work out how much I need to be setting aside each month for longer term savings (MOT, Car Tax etc). I do however ensure that the budget is sound and workable every month and that my fantasy figures match reality. In truth, I can pretty much guarantee that I will be paid every month, on the last working day of the month and how much that will be. If I am to be made redundant, I will have months of warning and I can tweak the plan accordingly. I dont see why you cannot forecast frankly, it is a subtlety that eludes me evidently. I decided to keep my mouth shut and do as I please. It works for me.

SeduLOUs

FireWyrm wrote: »

P.S dont tell the brethren over at YNAB Towers (or they'll excommunicate me) but I do actually forecast 12 months in advance. I have to, or I cant work out how much I need to be setting aside each month for longer term savings (MOT, Car Tax etc). I do however ensure that the budget is sound and workable every month and that my fantasy figures match reality. In truth, I can pretty much guarantee that I will be paid every month, on the last working day of the month and how much that will be. If I am to be made redundant, I will have months of warning and I can tweak the plan accordingly. I dont see why you cannot forecast frankly, it is a subtlety that eludes me evidently. I decided to keep my mouth shut and do as I please. It works for me.

I sort of did this, but my partner's income isn't as stable as it once was so it's not as easy as it used to be.

I often start forecasting into the next month or sometimes further, but leave the 'available to budget' in the red. It makes it very clear exactly what our wages need to be in order to cover what I have planned, and as I usually err on the side of caution in terms of what the income might be so it has worked well so far.

Obviously if the actual pay didn't cover the shortfall I would have to revisit and adjust my spending plans accordingly. It doesn't cause any panic or affect what I'm doing 'now' as I never budget past zero in the current month.