I’m taking control of my life, now.

boxofpaws

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

I know I say this all the time, on lots of threads, but do persevere with YNAB. It took us 3 months to fully get to grips with it, but the benefits have WAY outweighed that hassle.

Also, I think it's good that it operates monthly, not four-weekly, as it forces you to asses bills monthly (which is how we generally receive/pay them). My income is sporadic and unpredictable, and YNAB helps smooth the bumps and dips now that we've got the hang of it. Search for videos/advice for your circumstances and give it a couple of months. We took two 'fresh starts' to fully master it all.

Thanks, I am going to give it another go tonight when I am not feeling all tired and unnecessarily emotional. I'll report back!

boxofpaws

Good things:j

• Food spends are good but fridge is bursting. Have an imbalance of fruit and veg.
• Did a presentation today that I was dreading and got the outcome I wanted. Relieved!
• Have checked through all credit card balances. All balances and payments are now in multiples of £100.
• Slightly lower debt total than I was expecting.
• Got into the next 1000 bracket £36xxx instead of £37xxx.
• Checked credit rating. January = 993, Feb 971, today 962. I can only think its because I have been credit card shuffling and closing down accounts. I wonder if changing energy supplier affects it too.

No bad things



No exercise today
Calories in choc = many
Debt today £36933


To do next

• Claim back £13 from Halifax credit card and finally close account
• Give first meter reading to Scottish Power
• Ring Npower and ask them for the £194 credit
• Try harder with YNAB

motivated

Hi BOP

Another YNAB confused here. When it says link your accounts to it I'm not sure if it actually links to your real bank account. I'm sat here thinking :eek: what if I get hacked and someone steals all the money I don't have :rotfl:

Sorry for looking like a complete tw*t but I so want to be able to get my head around it.
M

armchairexpert

You can link your account to it if you're in the States, not sure about the UK - I know it doesn't work in Australia. And you don't have to link actual accounts! Just set it up so that it mirrors your actual accounts. I have Mortgage, Transaction and Credit Card accounts in there, but it's not talking directly to my bank: I'm manually telling it what's happening.

And BOP, although it treats expenses as monthly, it won't 'take off' your mortgage payment before you get paid, if you don't record it as an outflow.

If you'll get paid before your mortgage payment comes out, wait until you get paid and then budget some of those pounds into the Mortgage category. If your mortgage payment comes out before you get paid, then it's coming out of last month's pounds. I think what you're doing is trying to enter all your upcoming expenses before you have the money to pay them. YNAB is very much a 'don't forecast: allocate pounds you actually have' program.

When I started, the balance already in my transaction account was my income for that month. I budgeted only the things that I knew had to be paid in the next few days, before I got my salary payment. So: groceries, a couple of DDs. When I got paid next, I added some dollars to the next set of bills that were due, including the mortgage. You only budget the money you actually have on hand, even if that means there is zero money against expenses that you know are upcoming.

[Deleted User]

What a great day yesterday.

Well done on being in the next level debt wise, it's going down nicely.

Pmo2
X

Treadingonplaymobil

armchairexpert wrote: »

You can link your account to it if you're in the States, not sure about the UK - I know it doesn't work in Australia. And you don't have to link actual accounts! Just set it up so that it mirrors your actual accounts. I have Mortgage, Transaction and Credit Card accounts in there, but it's not talking directly to my bank: I'm manually telling it what's happening.

And BOP, although it treats expenses as monthly, it won't 'take off' your mortgage payment before you get paid, if you don't record it as an outflow.

If you'll get paid before your mortgage payment comes out, wait until you get paid and then budget some of those pounds into the Mortgage category. If your mortgage payment comes out before you get paid, then it's coming out of last month's pounds. I think what you're doing is trying to enter all your upcoming expenses before you have the money to pay them. YNAB is very much a 'don't forecast: allocate pounds you actually have' program.

When I started, the balance already in my transaction account was my income for that month. I budgeted only the things that I knew had to be paid in the next few days, before I got my salary payment. So: groceries, a couple of DDs. When I got paid next, I added some dollars to the next set of bills that were due, including the mortgage. You only budget the money you actually have on hand, even if that means there is zero money against expenses that you know are upcoming.

I also manually tell YNAB what's gone on in my account. It's good for me because it makes me actually register and consider every expense as I enter it.

Also, the 'entering things as you have money to pay for them' was the thing that made me realise how much more we had going out than coming in - I couldn't make what we had coming in meet our 'ideal' outgoings, and that contributed towards us sorting out our budgets.

System

BOP Hello,

Not checked in for a while. Things seem to be going well for you . All talk of YNAB sends me in to a cold sweat. Much prefer pen and paper., each to their own. Hope you get to grips with it .

Bobarella

Imbalance of fruit and veg? Soup and crumble round at yours

Drawingaline

Hey BOP, finally catching up with diaries! Sounds like you are doing really well, we all have our slip ups though.

I love YNAB, but it's very personal, I get 'paid' 5 times a month so i do have a list in my diary as to what payday goes towards which category but for the day to day spending it is awesome. I was raving about it to a customer at work this week

Anyway hoping i am back in the mse groove and will be popping in a bit more regularly now......:j

Suffolk_lass

boxofpaws wrote: »

I planted freesias and gladioli. So late summer bulbs. But I also planted a load of spring bulbs that I gathered up from the garage that I should have planted last year but never got round to. . Crocuses, daffs and narcissi. I hope they'll be alright, I know they won't flower til next year but I just wanted to get them in finally.

Stuff them in, I'd say - the advice is to divide snowdrops "in the green" i.e. after they have flowered and I have just picked up some pots of narcissi from the local nursery that I intend planting once they have finished flowering. I did it a few years ago and they are far better than the bulbs I planted in the lawn.

My guilty secret is that there are still some allium bulbs hanging on the back door and I have not planted tomatoes or chilli seeds yet :eek: