YNAB...ing my way to freedom!

Sarahwithlove

I agree I think ynab is worth while if you can pay for it up front. 

greensalad

OLaney said:

 Also, looked up YNAB....it is now £75.99 for the year or £11 something a month 😳....would you say it was still worth using at that price? I, too, cannot get on with spreadsheets....🤷‍♀️. 

Stepping in to say I also highly recommend YNAB. I wouldn't have paid off  significant debt, saved half a house deposit, got zero credit cards nor be perfectly comfortable about my car MOT tomorrow if I didn't use YNAB. Life.changing.

Shopaholic_no_more

Thanks for everyone’s input
My debt is manageable and I can pay a bit over the minimum on the cards it just doesn’t leave me with a lot so I guess I’m saying I’m living paycheque to paycheque and this is really starting to grate now so I need a budget, definitely.
I have got the YNAB app and am going to do the free trial and see how I get on 👍.
  I don’t want to tread on your page so maybe I will start my own diary. I will keep you posted. 

Hopefully, it will come good for you as regards taking over the company you work for. That would be such a result wouldn’t it 😃

Sarahwithlove

If you find near end of trial you need bit longer to decide contact them as they quite often give extentions on free trial 

Drawingaline

OLaney said:

Thanks for everyone’s input
My debt is manageable and I can pay a bit over the minimum on the cards it just doesn’t leave me with a lot so I guess I’m saying I’m living paycheque to paycheque and this is really starting to grate now so I need a budget, definitely.
I have got the YNAB app and am going to do the free trial and see how I get on 👍.
  I don’t want to tread on your page so maybe I will start my own diary. I will keep you posted. 

Hopefully, it will come good for you as regards taking over the company you work for. That would be such a result wouldn’t it 😃

Good luck, I adore ynab, and feel it is worth the price. There are a couple of active groups on FB, there is a UK one but also an international one (although it tends to lean very American, reading about their medical debts is eye-opening!) But they are a mine of information and full of lovely budgeting nerds 😉😁 we cash flowed our house move, couldn't have imagined doing that five years ago pre ynab. 

Shopaholic_no_more

Thankyou 😊. Following the YNAB tutorials....bit of a minefield because not sure which order they should be in! Found Nick Trew from Mapped Out Money and his quick start guide seems to be helping. I’m quite determined to get the hang of it though...seems a lot of people get “aha” moments and then it all clicks in to place! I’m hoping to get to that moment before my trial ends...@Sarahwithlove thanks I will definitely do that if I need to. @Drawingaline I am going to check out the UK Facebook page...thanks! 

Shopaholic_no_more

Have now since found Hollys Budgets on YT. She is uk based ...so much better for the basic YNAB set up in my opinion.😊🙌

SuperFrank88

OLaney said:

Have now since found Hollys Budgets on YT. She is uk based ...so much better for the basic YNAB set up in my opinion.😊🙌

Haven’t heard of this channel, will check her out. I really hope you do ‘crack’ YNAB because it will seriously change your life! May sound a bit OTT but it’s true. The mind set shift you’ll have will set you up for the rest of your days 😉

Sarahwithlove

Oooo I will have to have a look at her channel as well. 

SuperFrank88

Morning all,
So nice to have the good weather back after what seemed the longest winter! Just makes everything seem that little bit better. Not really much to report. Still on my own in work, but we are planning to bring the boys back on the 22nd March as our pay cycle starts on 18th. Will be nice to have some company after nearly 3 months on my own. One bonus is that I have been able to be more flexible with my working hours because nobody is relying on me being here. But I've had a good run do can't complain 

Still waiting for that last default to come through. The default notice said I had until the 19th Feb to pay or they would default. Will give them another week then chase that up. 

Car passed MOT on Friday and had full service, so it's running like a dream again . Also paid my tax in full for the year.

I have decided to ditch my Monzo pots going forward. Now that I am more disciplined with my money and can trust myself not to waste it, I have decided just to fund the 'pots' within YNAB to keep track, but just have all the funds in my current account. 
Don't get me wrong, it has been great to have the separate pots in Monzo as it taught me how to have sinking funds ready for future bills. But it is a bit of a hassle every month making all those transfers into Monzo, then splitting them up. I feel like now all my finances are 'set & forget' that I can just simplify the amount of transactions in YNAB. 

In other news, OH & I failed to get into the London Marathon ballot, so we have decided to sign up to the virtual race and do it on our own. The training plan we are going to use starts tonight  I like it because it is broken down into 4 blocks - 0-5k, 5k-10k, 10k - Half Marathon, then Half Marathon - Marathon. I like this because even though we used to run regular, we haven't for the last year or so, so need to ease back into it gently.  It will also help with the lockdown weight that's seemed to have crept up on me!