YNAB Alternative?

Anoneemoose

Hi,

We had a go at downloading YNAB and after some playing around with it decided it wasn't for us.

Can anyone recommend any other software that is available with both android and apple apps available please?

We currently use Moneywiz but we're having issues with it not updating and things.

Thanks in advance.

Westie983

try again with YNAB, It took me till the very end of the trial for something to click... its not that easy to get your head around to be honest, I managed to purchase it on sale, watch the youtube vids or subscribe the the web tutorials and try and get a free copy....

Anoneemoose

Thanks.

I think there are certain things missing from ynab that we need - forecasting for one. This is something we have always used and has worked for us. Just not sure we can do without!

I shall see what hubby says because it's him who sets it all up!

nyermen

It's the one thing missing for me as well. I tried Pocket Smith and Money hub as both were good (Pocket Smith more flexible, Money Hub a lot easier to use), but both are online which I don't like (I travel a lot on business etc).

So - I've complimented YNAB with a spreadsheet that has evolved over time.

YNAB handles the ledger and budget etc, and I use the spreadsheet to forecast based on known income (ie. salary). It's got fancy over the last year - estimating vehicle running costs, various scenarios such as survival horizon if I loose my job, and a sort of "what-if" function as well (what if I move house, change car, add dependents, etc).

Peter

Anoneemoose

nyermen wrote: »

It's the one thing missing for me as well. I tried Pocket Smith and Money hub as both were good (Pocket Smith more flexible, Money Hub a lot easier to use), but both are online which I don't like (I travel a lot on business etc).

So - I've complimented YNAB with a spreadsheet that has evolved over time.

YNAB handles the ledger and budget etc, and I use the spreadsheet to forecast based on known income (ie. salary). It's got fancy over the last year - estimating vehicle running costs, various scenarios such as survival horizon if I loose my job, and a sort of "what-if" function as well (what if I move house, change car, add dependents, etc).

Peter

Are you my husband in disguise?!! He is like this with spread sheets!! Although since using Moneywiz, he hasn't done as many!!

greensalad

I keep a spreadsheet that I created myself.

Four columns. First column is for the item, second is for the expected cost of that item, third for the actual spend on that item and fourth for the difference (if any).

I break down the items into categories (travel, clothing, food, misc) and also keep a value on each of those categories e.g showing that travel this month is expected at £100. I can then keep a tally at the very top of the spreadsheet to show the same categories above but for absolutely all of my general spends, projected, actual spent and difference.

E.g last month I can see my projected spending was £300. I filled in the amount I actually spent and came to £312. So I overspent £12.

It's no way as good as YNAB I'm sure but I have never been able to make YNAB work for me because of my overdraft - the program just can't understand the concept of overdrafts and kept constantly telling me I was £500 in the red and couldn't spent (true, but I CAN spend and I need to spend within my OD otherwise I'd have nothing to live!)

Next month I'm trying a new thing where I've got myself a pre-paid credit card to load up with projected spend on a weekly basis. E.g on payday (this Thursday) I will need to transfer £80 to the pre-paid card as per the projection in my spreadsheet. The following week, I'll need £180 as I'm going away for the weekend. I'm trying to lock down my spending to weekly only so that I don't do the classic and run out by the end of the month. I'm also using it to keep my daily spending out of my current account in an attempt to pay off my OD.

If all goes to plan, I'll have my smaller OD paid off in only one month

hohum

@greensalad I used YNAB to work with my overdraft and it worked brilliantly - you have to separate the bank account balance (on the left) from the actual debt, which will be in your budget as pre-ynab debt with the arrow turned to the right. Basically that means that whatever your overdrawn starting balance is becomes your pre-ynab debt. For this category you also turn the arrow to the right, which solves the red overbudget problem.

Each time you decide to 'repay' the overdraft, you simply budget money towards your pre-ynab overdraft debt category, and budget as normal. For me this meant I could see how much debt I actually had, and not kid myself that I was paying back more than I could afford when money came in to the account. After 6 months of using the programme my bank account was permanently in credit. I still have £350 of my starting £1940 debt to pay off, a year later but now it only exists in my budget. I have switched the debt from my bank to becoming a debt to me. Which is good because I don't charge 19.8% interest.

If you have to go into overdraft, and don't start in overdraft then you need to add a 'pre-ynab' debt category for the amount you overdraft, because basically that reflects reality, you are creating new debt.

I agree a spreadsheet works fine, but was moved to comment in case other people are considering using YNAB.

The two help topics which helped me

Starting in overdraft https://www.youneedabudget.com/support/video/starting-in-overdraft

https://www.youneedabudget.com/support/article/overdrawn-checking-accounts

If you go into overdraft

https://www.youneedabudget.com/support/article/managing-new-debt

(replace 'overdraft' for 'credit card' in this article)

lhead123

I use ynab and have 2 overdrafts that need paying off.

I simply told it my current balance and created a pre-ynab debt category for that account. I put a -ve amount in there equivalent to my overdraft to free up that income for spending and it works fine, always budgeted to zero and fully reconciled with my account. Whenever I pay money off my overdraft i add it to the pre-ynab debt category.

There is lots of help in the ynab forums for using it with overdrafts, irregular income etc.
x

greensalad

I've tried to get it working but I just couldn't wrap my head around it. I'm hoping to clear my current account OD by next month anyway so I will probably revisit YNAB, and try to get the boyfriend on it too. But at present I'm OK with my little spreadsheet. Once main OD is paid off and my account can only hit zero it should be OK, I can treat my other account overdraft as purely a debt.

nyermen

Hi greensalad - as others have said, there is a method to the madness.
Stage 1 - If you "need" the overdraft currently for funds, then allocate it as "pre-YNAB debt", and anything you can pay off, you allocate to that.

Stage 2 - When you don't "need" it for funds (ie. just for "oops that account went under zero temporarily"), then it just becomes a cash balancing situation, like for a credit card.

For Stage 2, My budget is balanced and "zero available" message at the top, and the sum of my on-budget accounts equals my budget (and is above zero - ie, I could at any point "pay off" my credit card voluntarily as with a balanced budget it's just an account transfer). Also means no worries having "take the full balance" option with my visa provider.

Peter.

rockm87

I just stick to Microsoft excel, and allocate my pounds to work it down to zero.


each account/debt has a separate sheet.