Little By Little...

DD265

What approach are you taking to the budget?

With YNAB, you only budget money you have right now. So as a simplified example you might have:

Bills
Rent - £500 - 25th of the month
Council Tax - £100 - 2nd of the month
Electricity - £100 - 7th of the month

Income
Weekly - £50 - 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Monthly - £500 - 1st of the month

If you know that council tax and electricity come out before rent you'd cover those first with the monthly income, then put the rest to rent. As the weekly income came in, you'd assign that to rent until rent was covered. Ideally you'd put a bit extra into each category every month so that you get to the point where you're budgeting ahead.

If the money you receive in November isn't going to be used until December, it doesn't matter whether you get it on the 1st or 30th of the month. Takes a bit (or a lot in my case) of getting to that point though!

The downside is that I don't know what my financial position will be in say March. If I want to forecast, I make a spreadsheet or a copy of the budget (at least in old YNAB...) and start adding fictional transactions.

Another way of doing it might be if your monthly income can cover all the direct debits/fixed bills, and the weekly income can cover things like the supermarket shopping etc.

redmel1621

DD265 wrote: »

What approach are you taking to the budget?

With YNAB, you only budget money you have right now. So as a simplified example you might have:

Bills
Rent - £500 - 25th of the month
Council Tax - £100 - 2nd of the month
Electricity - £100 - 7th of the month

Income
Weekly - £50 - 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th
Monthly - £500 - 1st of the month

If you know that council tax and electricity come out before rent you'd cover those first with the monthly income, then put the rest to rent. As the weekly income came in, you'd assign that to rent until rent was covered. Ideally you'd put a bit extra into each category every month so that you get to the point where you're budgeting ahead.

If the money you receive in November isn't going to be used until December, it doesn't matter whether you get it on the 1st or 30th of the month. Takes a bit (or a lot in my case) of getting to that point though!

The downside is that I don't know what my financial position will be in say March. If I want to forecast, I make a spreadsheet or a copy of the budget (at least in old YNAB...) and start adding fictional transactions.

Another way of doing it might be if your monthly income can cover all the direct debits/fixed bills, and the weekly income can cover things like the supermarket shopping etc.

Unfortunately my monthly income nowhere near covers the monthly outgoings, far from it. Maybe once I go back full time it will. The issue I have then is that I feel like I have no money and DH has loads... even though I know this in't the case really as we are combining our money.

I am trying the YNAB method but still not getting to grips with it at all. I don't know how much to budget and when. When DH gets paid, for example, I am putting it to the bills that need paying first, then with what is left over I don't know what to do with it.... I want to keep some back so he can buy things, but I don't know how much. I also don't know if he will need fuel. When he is driving himself in to work it is costing around £60pw, but when he has a van it is free..

I also want to be able to save, but I'm not sure how much to save without impacting on bills being covered in time lol. It also isn't clear what kind of categories I should have set up. Today I need to transfer £16 back to DS1 because he paid for my things in a shop as i left my card at home. I think it is the strange mindset that I feel I need to physically move the money from the bank account into the different pots...but in reality it only needs to be done virtually, doesn't it.

It is all made more tricky by DH's variable income and the fact it is Christmas and an expensive time of year, that we are not at all prepared for this year.:o

I think I am making things harder for myself as I am trying to be at the point where I have all of the money needed for December's bills by the end of November, so then the money we are getting in December is accumulating to cover January's, but it doesn't yet work out right, so I am getting stressed and confused lol. We are behind on the rent in so far as it is due the 1st of each month, but we aren't paying it until I get paid on the 24th.. so it is 'kind of' late, but not entirely.

With DH's overtime we have more money than we need to cover the bills and should/could be saving it, but I'm not sure where it is going. Oh actually, I have paid off over £500 of debts, so I suppose that has accounted for most of it. And we've had 2 expensive birthday meals out, plus presents, which is probably another £200. Yeah, so that is probably all his overtime money right there.

Right I need to do some shopping and then I am getting on with YNAB (again)

DD265

Oh it definitely takes some getting used to - I'd say it's taken me a couple of years and a switch to nYNAB rather than the desktop based one.

You could start by using it as a spending diary? Set up your account(s) with the current balance but don't add any categories and don't actually budget the money. As money goes out, add the category for that transaction. You'll need to move money from 'to be budgeted' to the category so it's not showing red/overspent, but you can leave the rest of the money in 'to be budgeted'.

Gradually you'll budget all the money and have the categories to use going forwards. You'll also build a picture of the spends in each category (the reports can help with this) and know what to budget going forwards for each category. And at any time you can start from scratch with a new budget if it's not quite working for you.

redmel1621

DD265 wrote: »

Oh it definitely takes some getting used to - I'd say it's taken me a couple of years and a switch to nYNAB rather than the desktop based one.

You could start by using it as a spending diary? Set up your account(s) with the current balance but don't add any categories and don't actually budget the money. As money goes out, add the category for that transaction. You'll need to move money from 'to be budgeted' to the category so it's not showing red/overspent, but you can leave the rest of the money in 'to be budgeted'.

Gradually you'll budget all the money and have the categories to use going forwards. You'll also build a picture of the spends in each category (the reports can help with this) and know what to budget going forwards for each category. And at any time you can start from scratch with a new budget if it's not quite working for you.

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

I have a feeling that YNAB could really work for me, if I could only get the hang of it lol. It sounds exactly how I want to get our finances (So my November income is basically paying a month or so down (January/February) the road bills) And having a few savings pots for different things. Very soon I want to be saving for our new pup, saving for ALL birthdays and Christmas next year, saving for flat purchases, and all the while still paying down debts :money:... I have so many plans that it gets confusing lol. I am hoping that YNAB will help me to separate all of those plans and work towards them.

I've signed back up for a free trial and am having another bash at it.

BabyStepper

It's hard to start saving when you are paying down debt. The budget is so tight and you're also worried about making mistakes and putting money away in savings that you might need for the bills. My solution when I saved up the emergency fund was to put savings in a savings account with the same bank our bill paying account is with. I had to watch it all like a hawk but when I made mistakes, which are kind of inevitable, I could instantly transfer some savings back to cover a bill. It was the only way I could work it. Good luck. You're doing great. x

redmel1621

BabyStepper wrote: »

It's hard to start saving when you are paying down debt. The budget is so tight and you're also worried about making mistakes and putting money away in savings that you might need for the bills. My solution when I saved up the emergency fund was to put savings in a savings account with the same bank our bill paying account is with. I had to watch it all like a hawk but when I made mistakes, which are kind of inevitable, I could instantly transfer some savings back to cover a bill. It was the only way I could work it. Good luck. You're doing great. x

Thanks Baby stepper.

Maybe I am trying to do too much too quickly. I am really trying to get to grips with YNAB at the minute. I find I can do so much more on the computer than on my phone, or at least, I can't work out 'how' to complete the actions on the mobile. I think once I have worked it out, it will be great.

The tricky thing is Dh's spending while he is out at work. Sometimes he has to be in work stupid early, or do long drives to jobs. These things make him buy MCD's or Costas. I'm reluctant to complain too much as he is bringing in a decent wage at the minute....and long may it continue. If I need to 'bribe' him with Costas then so be it :rotfl:

P.S I know that sounds silly, but he is not working in a field of work he ever wanted to do and is doing it solely to keep the money coming in right now. He is also coming to terms with the fact that he may never get into his desired line of work now.... I, on the other hand, absolutely love my job and although I have trained hard to get where I am, I do sometimes feel a bit bad that he hasn't managed it.

Anyway off to watch some youtube videos about ynab.

BabyStepper

Maybe take OH's debit card from him and give him cash in his hand to last the week? A small budget that at least you can keep tabs on. Nothing like an unexpected debit card payment to mess up the plans and do your head in.

redmel1621

BabyStepper wrote: »

Maybe take OH's debit card from him and give him cash in his hand to last the week? A small budget that at least you can keep tabs on. Nothing like an unexpected debit card payment to mess up the plans and do your head in.

I am going to suggest that to him. Sometimes the transactions take days to show up in the bank and I can never work out where the money has gone. At least if I gave him cash each week for his foody stop-offs it wouldn't mess up my budget.

I am definitely going to speak to him about that tonight. Tbh it might actually work out better for him, because he has had some instances where his phone/android pay hasn't worked, but he can't use his card because it isn't contactless and he can't remember the pin.... Also a few cafes etc don't take card at all.

I am based in one place all the time and there are limited facilities (unless I want to fight against hundreds of teenagers in the canteen) so I just take lunch/snacks with me. He usually takes lunch, if I've made it, but he cba to make it himself.

BabyStepper

Sometimes there's a minimum spend with a card too, and you end up spending a fiver when all you wanted was a packet of crisps! That's my experience anyway...:o

Good luck with ynab. I never did get into it, didn't try either, feel in principle that I don't want another monthly DD for something that's supposed to help me save money. But if it helps with the initial confusion of trying to keep EVERYTHING in your head then that has to be good.

kindofagilr

redmel1621 wrote: »

I am going to suggest that to him. Sometimes the transactions take days to show up in the bank and I can never work out where the money has gone. At least if I gave him cash each week for his foody stop-offs it wouldn't mess up my budget.

I am definitely going to speak to him about that tonight. Tbh it might actually work out better for him, because he has had some instances where his phone/android pay hasn't worked, but he can't use his card because it isn't contactless and he can't remember the pin.... Also a few cafes etc don't take card at all.

I am based in one place all the time and there are limited facilities (unless I want to fight against hundreds of teenagers in the canteen) so I just take lunch/snacks with me. He usually takes lunch, if I've made it, but he cba to make it himself.

I have the exact same problem with OH, he buys a slushy, or fancies a bacon sarnie (even tho I have lovingly made him lunch) or a packet of pork scratchings, or a mix up etc etc and just puts it on the debit card and then it doesnt show up on the bank for days so I end up confused

I just said to him last night once we have been paid again I am going to give him cash at the start of the month for those random things, then once they are gone its tough till payday again xx