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If you're consistently over budget by that kind of money, then I'd be willing to bet that you're budgeting money you don't yet have. E.g., you can't budget for what you're going to do with a particular paycheck until that money is actually in your account.
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Mar 3, 2015 06:29
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The biggest reason I stuck with YNAB is its mobile app and near-instantaneous syncing. I can just whip out my phone, see exactly how much I have in all my categories, and easily add a new categorized transaction. It's clean, quick, and easy. For those needs, spreadsheets are cumbersome, and Mint is usually a couple days behind, due to bank processing times. I could use a hand ledger, but I prefer to carry as few things with me as possible. For longer term forecasting, just make a spreadsheet. It doesn't have to be pretty, and it doesn't have to be complicated, and can be used easily in tandem with YNAB and Mint.
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Apr 3, 2015 19:45
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PhantomOfTheCopier posted:If one has so little funding in a category that a purchase is concerning to the point of breaking the bank, so to speak, then one should not be making the purchase. At that point, no unplanned purchases should occur. Meanwhile, receipt entry on the same period as the purchase is sufficient to know the balance --- if you buy fuel once a week, you have plenty of time to determine your balance before the next purchase. For stuff like fuel or basic groceries, I'm going to make the purchase whether I have the space in that category or not, and reconcile later from another category, and either increase my budget to match rising costs (gas, specifically) or reduce my spending for the next month. I rarely have the need to check a category before I make a purchase, because I have a general idea of what's there, but I have too many way more important things to worry about in my day to day life than if there's 40 or 50 or whatever in a category, especially if that balance has been sitting idle for awhile. It's nice for the peace of mind to be able to see exactly what a category balance is at a moment's notice.
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Apr 4, 2015 04:13
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