What does YNAB do that I can't replicate in a spreadsheet?

Pixie5740

YNAB is based on Excel so you could do the same thing yourself if you're comfortable using Excel. When I like about YNAB is that I have the app on my phone so that I can keep track of my spending whilst I'm away from the home for days at a time (which is a common occurrence for me). All the files are linked together in Dropbox. There probably is a way to do it yourself but for £30 I'd rather just pay YNAB who have worked it out the bugs and tested the spreadsheets already

hanb

dcouponzzzz wrote: »

Thanks Greensalad, I'm not sure I understand though! I get paid on say 28th July, then my bills come out between 28-31st. The salary covering those payments is the 28th July salary, but the remaining money from this is then my spends until the end of August. Any transactions I then record will show as negative until 28th August, so my budget is only showing useful and correct information for 1 day of the month?!

Is there not a function to set the budget month start and end dates?

I'm not very good at explaining YNAB so not sure hoe helpful this will be - when you start off it's a bit more difficult but what you should be aiming for is that July salary goes in as August income so it only covers money spent in August - so it would actually be used to cover the bills that go out on the 28 August. You should be using money you got paid on 28 June (logged as income for July) for the bills that go out on 30 July.


I have the same with my pay dates and the first month went a bit to pot but now it all works out fine because I budget accordingly.


Ultimately you're aiming to build a buffer of at least one months salary in YNAB which then of course it doesn't really matter what date bills go out because you've budgeted for them and have your buffer but in the meantime you need to budget your current salary payment for the following months bills.


Does that make any sense at all?

Pixie5740

dcouponzzzz wrote: »

Thanks Greensalad, I'm not sure I understand though! I get paid on say 28th July, then my bills come out between 28-31st. The salary covering those payments is the 28th July salary, but the remaining money from this is then my spends until the end of August. Any transactions I then record will show as negative until 28th August, so my budget is only showing useful and correct information for 1 day of the month?!

Is there not a function to set the budget month start and end dates?

Have you watched the YNAB webinars or videos on YouTube yet?

hanb

Oh and sorry OP - I am a big YNAB convert. But I could never keep a spreadsheet going. I find it so easy to have the app on my phone and log every penny I spend as I spend it. I also like having my budget in pocket so when I'm invited for a coffee at lunchtime and I see I've only got 50p left in my 'dining out' pot but have got £10 left in another category I won't use, I know that I can afford to do so if I really want to.


I'd recommend downloading the free trial and watching the Utube tutorials to see what you think. I guess it's each to their own but for the first time in my life, I'm saving about £700 a month every month! I do not want to think what that got spent on before I had YNAB...!

greensalad

This is my first month with YNAB and I can't believe how much it's saving me.

I got paid for some big jobs and usually I'd just go spend crazy and enjoy myself a bit. I'd always cover my bills, but I would never have anything left for the end of the month and my debt repayment would be tiny.

So far I've managed to buy myself some nice things, pay off a massive amount of my debt and still have money leftover. I can't believe it. It's worth persevering.

It also gives me something to do with my MSE-compulsion (I can get quite obsessive about things) but in a positive way. I love tracking my spends as I spend them, and seeing where my bank balance is at. I'll admit I spent about an hour yesterday forecasting my debt repayments and feeling very good about myself!

bsclp118

I downloaded the YNAB app and I have to say I think I prefer my spread sheet. And I can still log purchases on my phone and add them to my spreadsheet at the end of the day right so I'm not sure the logging things as you spend is that big an advantage.

IDK, I've got the 34 day trial so I'm going to give it a go - so far I'm not that impressed I have to say!

Pixie5740

bsclp118 wrote: »

I downloaded the YNAB app and I have to say I think I prefer my spread sheet. And I can still log purchases on my phone and add them to my spreadsheet at the end of the day right so I'm not sure the logging things as you spend is that big an advantage.

Different stroke for different folks. The important thing is to find something that works for you and sticking to it.

If you're going to record what you spend on your phone or a notebook, whatever works for you, then you should also have a note of how much you can spend in that category before you go out. Otherwise you could be out spending and it's not until you get home that you'll realise you've spent more on that category than you had available.

ShirePiskie

Hi

What Pixie said. YNAB isn't just about tracking spending - it's allocating what you're going to spend in each 'category' and sticking to it - or 'rolling with the punches'.

At the risk of sounding like a YNAB groupie, it's a way of life!

I had a quite fancy, even if I do say so myself, spreadsheet, but my spending and therefore the rate of my debt clearing has changed considerably since YNABing.

I will stop gushing now. Watch the videos. It's as much (if not more) about the mindset as the software.

greensalad

dcouponzzzz I found a good support article about just this:

https://www.youneedabudget.com/support/article/mid-or-late-monthly-pay-budgeting

One option is: "Record enough out of your income check in a split transaction as Income for (the current month) to last out the remaining days of the current month."

So if you know you need £50 to last from 28th - 31st, then you can enter income for August to cover just those days and then the rest of your income can be added as income for September.

However, the 'YNAB Way' is to learn to live off last month's pay. That's what you're aiming for. https://www.youneedabudget.com/method/rule-four

Your ultimate goal is to Live on Last Month's Income and with a once-per-month pay situation you're nearly there! All you need to do is strive to not spend as much as normal through the month so that you'll arrive on payday with money still in hand. Eventually you'll have enough on hand when your income arrives to categorize it completely as Income for (the next month) and budget the entire month.

So, the way I see this working best is that you have leftover income at the end of the month, and eventually you get to the stage where you have built up leftover income rolling over to the same amount as your monthly income. That might take a few months, maybe even a year, but that's the aim. If you get paid £1500 then you could try to have £150 month leftover every month, for 10 months. Then you would enter the process where you would be living on last month's pay.

cakeforbrains

Admittedly I haven't used YNAB, but my OH and I use a shared Google Sheet on our phones to track spending. It's working really well.