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Gothmog1065
May 14, 2009


Initially this thread was about the software YouNeedABudget, but has begun to somewhat encompass other software as well. You still need a loving budget.

What is YNAB?
YNAB or You Need a budget is a budgeting software that is commonly recommended on the forums. It's a forward-thinking, flexible software that will help you track your spending.

Why should I use YNAB?
YNAB is great for those who have various debts and are having trouble tracking money. It shows you where your money is going to go, most of all, it's not a set in stone plan. It's flexible, so if something happens and you need to change your budget, you can!

I already use Mint/other software
YNAB doesn't look at your past, it doesn't care about your past. (You can create a "second account" to track your past a lot more accurately). While Mint tells you were your money went, YNAB will tell you where your money is going. Other budgeting software tries to forecast your income and budget that, sometimes without flexibility.

100 HOGS AGREE posted:

The main thing to get is YNAB isn't for forecasting and poo poo, you allocate the money you have to categories and that's it. YNAB tells you how you are doing right now. You can put in future income if you want, but it's not really how they recommend using it.

As you use it, it also will let you see trends in your spending from month to month with lots of pretty graphs!

Here's a sample budget:


This looks complicated, I don't know if I should
Are you even remotely worried about how much money you have? Do you sometimes wonder why you don't have as much money as you think you do? Then you want to use YNAB. The first steps are easy. YNAB will walk you through setting up you basic accounts and getting a basic budget going.

How much is this going to cost me?
YNAB is $60 for a license. Cheaper than most software in general. It is an extremely useful tool. If you get into it and take their online classes, you have a chance at winning a free license. (I did not win a free license :eng99:)

How do I get started?
First, download the program and install it on whichever device you would like. YNAB will actually walk you through the basics of setting up your first budget. I recommend starting from today (or your last paycheck) and go from there. The tutorial is straightforward and will explain YNAB's basic principals.

Once you get the program, you get to learn about YNAB's methodology, which separates it from other budgeting software. There's four basic rules:

Rule 1: Give every dollar a job. Simple enough, you want to make sure your money is going somewhere. Food, gas, rent, emergency funds, all of your money will be going somewhere and that is a good thing.
Rule 2: Embrace your expenses. This is where you start saving money for larger bills or bigger payments. Spread your money out, plan ahead some. A little bit into each category will go a long way in making sure you're not in the hole when large expenses come due.
Rule 3: Roll with the punches.1 One of the biggest core tenants of YNAB is flexibility. You budget $300 each month for groceries, and everything is going good, but you decide to throw a huge party. Well, you didn't spend as much on gas that month because you stayed in. This means you can move money from your gas to your grocery budget, and not feel like a failure because you're still covered.
Rule 4: Age your money. The goal of YNAB is to get it so you've got enough of a buffer to have all of your current month's bills paid, and are getting ready for next month's bills. This is the ultimate goal, knowing you are ahead now. Now you can start knocking out bills like your cars, and start saving up even more money. It's financial freedom and it's nice.

:siren:CREDIT CARDS CONFUSE ME HELP!!!:siren:
Credit cards have a really odd way of working in nYNAB. I will find the write up buried in the thread somewhere and post it here. In about 3 years.

How can I learn more
Quick start guide
Take a class!
More support!

For the old fuckers :bahgawd: who refuse to change, be overcharged, or got the software for $15, some tips for YNAB4:
Things that may help you out!
Q: I've been using YNAB for a while and it's gotten slow and dumb!
A: 100 Hogs posted something that may help people with larger budgets!

100 HOGS AGREE posted:

there's a secret keyboard shortcut that can compress down your YNAB budget folder and consolidate all the thousands of .diff files that's in there, that can help the budget load much faster on older budget files, and reduce the size of that folder.

It is CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+C

I believe it won't let you load prior versions of the budget before you do that though, so definitely back up your folder before doing it.



Took my folder from 63 MB down to 7.8 MB and cut the number of files from like 8k to 80

:siren: BUT I DON'T LIKE GETTING CHARGED MORE AND MORE AND WANT OTHER SOFTWARE:siren:
Shamelessly stealing from Dancing Peasant who shamelessly stole from Reddit:

quote:

Aspire - Free solution and works with Google Sheets but does not have automatic sync with your bank

Tiller - similar to YNAB has automatic sync with your bank cost 80 bucks a year but not as great of a UI in my opinion

Good budget - similar to YNAB has the charts does offer a free tier or a paid tier ($60 per year) envelope method allows up to five devices and seven years of history has debt tracking as well

Buckets - privacy focused stays all on your computers unlimited free trial but does have a $49 one-time fee it does allow to sync with your bank and seems like the most one-to-one comparison with YNAB but does seem to lack some of the charts and accounting features

Co-pilot - All app based but seems very similar to YNAB does allow syncing with your banks does allow goals and charts cost is $69 per year

TOTALLY DIFFERENT BUDGETING SOLUTIONS

Mint - need I say more it’s the most common but blast you with ads and has a very dated UI and not a lot of flexibility with its primary categories that you can’t delete

Every dollar - Dave Ramsey solution does not have fancy reporting based off of the Dave Ramsey methodology which may or may not work for some people

Google sheets - it can be whatever you want it to be

Gothmog1065 fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Feb 4, 2022

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Gorman Thomas
Jul 24, 2007
YNAB is $15 on steam for the next 20 hours!

Gothmog1065
May 14, 2009
Time to make a steam account!

GAYS FOR DAYS
Dec 22, 2005

by exmarx

THE RED MENACE posted:

YNAB is $15 on steam for the next 20 hours!

loving awesome. I used the demo last spring and really liked it, but never got around to shelling out the 60 bucks to get it. I'm pretty frugal, so 60 bucks is a lot to me, but it probably would have payed for itself by now if I would have just bought it.

I love the phone app which allows me to update my budget as soon as I make a purchase.

Gothmog1065 posted:

Time to make a steam account!

Doing the same thing right now.

corkskroo
Sep 10, 2004

Is it a one time license fee and that's it? No recurring cost?

Gothmog1065
May 14, 2009

corkskroo posted:

Is it a one time license fee and that's it? No recurring cost?

Yes.

corkskroo
Sep 10, 2004


Nice

bigzak
Aug 15, 2003
This is an incredibly simple piece of software and in my opinion not worth the full price but it is worth it for $15 dollars while on sale.

Old Fart
Jul 25, 2013
That may be, but this simple software is what finally made he light bulb go off for me regarding what budgeting actually meant, and how credit cards were supposed to work. Plus, all the free videos and courses. I think it was $40 when it bought it, but for me, $60 would easily have been worth it, too. Home-made spreadsheets just didn't work for me.

100 HOGS AGREE
Oct 13, 2007
Grimey Drawer
I love YNAB with a fervent passion. I convinced several people to buy it already and I tell everyone I know to buy it all the time.

I really really recommend watching the videos they have on the website, and maybe even take a couple of the web courses. The main thing to get is YNAB isn't for forecasting and poo poo, you allocate the money you have to categories and that's it. YNAB tells you how you are doing right now. You can put in future income if you want, but it's not really how they recommend using it.

It's simple software, but my budget is simple so it works for me. Six months ago I would't even have thought of having a pile of cash earmarked for a tattoo, or to put aside fractional portions of yearly expenses every month so the money is waiting when they are due, or to allocate a certain amount of money a month towards car repairs, even when I wasn't making them.

I used to feel guilty when I bought things for myself, now it feels great because I feel like I am spending responsibly and planning for it in advance.

I love YNAB, and when the next major version comes out and they stop updating version 4 (whenever that is) I'll probably buy it immediately.

I'm glad I got it on sale last time it was 75% off, but in hindsight it is worth 60 dollars to me and I'd gladly have paid that amount now.


:v:

100 HOGS AGREE fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Jan 2, 2014

HelloIAmYourHeart
Dec 29, 2008
Fallen Rib
Sadly Steam seems to be overloaded at the moment so I'll have to try again in a couple hours.

Gothmog1065
May 14, 2009

100 HOGS AGREE posted:

The main thing to get is YNAB isn't for forecasting and poo poo, you allocate the money you have to categories and that's it. YNAB tells you how you are doing right now. You can put in future income if you want, but it's not really how they recommend using it.

Going to steal this as this is what I was looking for as a comparison to other budget software

Giant Goats
Mar 7, 2010
It's true that YNAB (the software alone, not counting the classes and support material) doesn't do anything that a sufficiently well-designed spreadsheet couldn't do for free. But, embarrassing though it is to admit, if I were the kind of person who could make that spreadsheet and stick with it, I wouldn't have loused up my finances the way I did.

I was never someone who overspent as a habit. I lived below the poverty line for years and had a knack for keeping to a budget and stretching out a dollar. But when my income finally went up, I found I had a hard time seeing that additional cash as anything but an amorphous blob of "savings" and "free spending money" - which meant that when three major life emergencies hit in a row, I ended up in debt to the tune of just over $5000, which could have been avoided with the proper planning.

YNAB makes the principle of giving every dollar a job simple and flexible, and ever since I started using it, I've made major strides in paying off my debt while building back up my emergency savings and setting clear amounts aside for specific savings goals.

TL;DR - if you've ever been stupid with money, YNAB is worth a shot.

Knyteguy
Jul 6, 2005

YES to love
NO to shirts


Toilet Rascal
I'll throw in here that YNAB has really helped us slowly overcome the paycheck to paycheck cycle (along with Goon help).

While YNAB is on sale on Steam this doesn't matter, but here's a $6.00 off coupon for when it's not on sale: http://ynab.refr.cc/CFWF5J3 - This is an affiliate link, but I don't think there's a way to give out the coupon code without the affiliate link. I don't think there's a better coupon out there either.

Knyteguy fucked around with this message at 17:12 on Jan 4, 2014

Grouco
Jan 13, 2005
I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member.
YNAB is seriously amazing. I started using it near the end of November, and it's really helped stop frivolous spending and allowed me to get an overview of my financial situation. Even when I do want to buy something "extra," I just make sure I've budgeted accordingly. I'm currently focusing on saving up for an all-encompassing emergency fund, but over the next few months I hope to build up a 1-month buffer as well.

clayburn
Mar 6, 2007

Cammy Cam Juice
I paid the $60 for YNAB and am not at all disappointed. I will say that I had to stick with it for a while before I really got it, but now I couldn't live without it.

The iPhone app is really good. If I force myself to enter transactions on it as they happen, keeping things up to date takes almost no time at all. The app is limited to entering transactions and seeing budget and account information, so don't buy this expecting something that would work without an actual computer.

Another amazing side effect was that this clicked with my wife where Mint didn't. I set her up with the iPhone app, and she might keep closer tabs on it than I do. Trying to discuss anything about Mint usually ended with eye rolls.

The online classes and tutorials are probably a necessity. YNAB has a pretty specific way that it wants to work that can take a little time to learn, but is simple once you get it. If you are set in your own ways and not willing to adopt their methods, this probably isn't the software for you.

corkskroo
Sep 10, 2004

Picked it up in anticipation of starting a new job with a new salary on a new city later in Q1 so I'll just hold off on doing anything with it just yet... But glad to have it standing by!

Bloody Queef
Mar 23, 2012

by zen death robot
How do people handle investments in the budget side of things? I get that you can add a line item under savings for "investments" but the balance of investments will change due to gains/losses etc. Is there a way to track that in the budget portion, or is that budget investment number (overall, not monthly addition) a made up number?

For clarity:
I decide to put $250 a month into an investment account. After 4 months the balance in my Budget area will say $1,000. But let's say I made some good trades and turned that $1,000 into 1,100. So my investment account says 1,100 but my budget area for investment says 1,000. How can I reconcile those?

Giant Goats
Mar 7, 2010

Bloody Queef posted:

How do people handle investments in the budget side of things? I get that you can add a line item under savings for "investments" but the balance of investments will change due to gains/losses etc. Is there a way to track that in the budget portion, or is that budget investment number (overall, not monthly addition) a made up number?

For clarity:
I decide to put $250 a month into an investment account. After 4 months the balance in my Budget area will say $1,000. But let's say I made some good trades and turned that $1,000 into 1,100. So my investment account says 1,100 but my budget area for investment says 1,000. How can I reconcile those?

I keep my investments and my RSP as their own accounts in the off-budget section. These aren't tapped for my daily spending, so they shouldn't affect the pool of money I'm drawing from each month. I update them manually every quarter.

100 HOGS AGREE
Oct 13, 2007
Grimey Drawer
I've been putting aside a bit every month for my motorcycle insurance that renews this year and it's fairly obvious but here's how I make big annual bills into manageable monthly ones.

1. Make a category for that expense. I put the total amount right in the category name and add a note for when the bill is due.



Now let's assume that I just paid my car insurance and the next bill is due a year from now. Don't bust out that calculator, you can do math right in YNAB!

Pop 1650 in the budget box and then hit / on the numpad.



Holy poo poo a calculator. So just divide by 12 and hit enter and...



Wow easy. In future months just use the same amount. You can even use the lightning bolt icon up in the budget summary to autofill in the last month's values.

This is really useful because it gives you a much more realistic view of how much it costs you to live every month, instead of having a month where you freak out because you have a one time expense.

You can do this for non-bills too! Sit down and figure out how much you say, pay for car repairs in a year on average and break it into monthly chunks! Or maybe you want to save a certain amount for a vacation you're taking in the summer. Make a category and start putting money into it every month! Give every dollar a job, even if that job is a future expense a couple months away. That's Rule One and Rule Two of the YNAB method and it's really super important!

At the end of every month your Available to Budget amount should be $0.00. All of it probably hasn't been spent but it all should be assigned to a category.

Bloody Queef posted:

How do people handle investments in the budget side of things? I get that you can add a line item under savings for "investments" but the balance of investments will change due to gains/losses etc. Is there a way to track that in the budget portion, or is that budget investment number (overall, not monthly addition) a made up number?

For clarity:
I decide to put $250 a month into an investment account. After 4 months the balance in my Budget area will say $1,000. But let's say I made some good trades and turned that $1,000 into 1,100. So my investment account says 1,100 but my budget area for investment says 1,000. How can I reconcile those?
When you add the earnings (or losses) to your investment account, instead of categorizing it as income for the month, categorize it directly into your budget category. It won't show up as budget-able money but all your values will be correct in all your line items. I generally do that on the last day of the month for my student loans.

100 HOGS AGREE fucked around with this message at 20:17 on Jan 2, 2014

Omne
Jul 12, 2003

Orangedude Forever

Bloody Queef posted:

How do people handle investments in the budget side of things? I get that you can add a line item under savings for "investments" but the balance of investments will change due to gains/losses etc. Is there a way to track that in the budget portion, or is that budget investment number (overall, not monthly addition) a made up number?

For clarity:
I decide to put $250 a month into an investment account. After 4 months the balance in my Budget area will say $1,000. But let's say I made some good trades and turned that $1,000 into 1,100. So my investment account says 1,100 but my budget area for investment says 1,000. How can I reconcile those?

You can just add in interest/dividends/gains as an influx. I do it with my emergency fund every couple of months to align the balance in YNAB with my actual balance. I just did it today, adding $13 in interest income to that account.

DrBouvenstein
Feb 28, 2007

I think I'm a doctor, but that doesn't make me a doctor. This fancy avatar does.
I just got this yesterday on sale, and set it up today with my accounts, and I've got a few questions:

In my budget, where do I put in income? Everything is all showing over-budgeted because I only have my account as it stands now, not my future paychecks. Is there a way to add those in the budget, or do I add them in as a "scheduled transaction" on the main account summary page and it will add it in for me to my budget?

Secondly, I'm a tad confused how credit cards work in it's system.

Here's a screenshot of my budget (So far, everything in the "Everyday Expenses" is an estimate...the rest is accurate WRT my average or fixed monthly bill):



As you can see, I removed the parts that would let you know exactly how much money I have...I'm ok with you folks seeing my CC debt, but not so much my income/current checking account balance.

So we've got my three CCs there. I have nothing budgeted for them yet, though I'm certainly making monthly payments. Case in point:

Again, hopefully any info regarding my current checking account/income status is hidden.

I've got the payemnt for CC #2 in as a transfer from my checking account to the CC (which is why the balance for that CC is different on the two screenshots.)

It yelled at me for trying to put that payment in a budget category, saying "no, don't do that."

So should I still put it an amount for the CC payment in the budget section and it will "take care of it" or something? It's weird, because it has the ENTIRE CC debt as an outflow, rather than whatever I put in for the payment, unlike my other bills/expenses.

clayburn
Mar 6, 2007

Cammy Cam Juice

DrBouvenstein posted:

In my budget, where do I put in income? Everything is all showing over-budgeted because I only have my account as it stands now, not my future paychecks. Is there a way to add those in the budget, or do I add them in as a "scheduled transaction" on the main account summary page and it will add it in for me to my budget?

This is one of the things YNAB does on purpose that is a little confusing at first. YNAB does not try to be a forecasting tool. They simply want you to budget the money that you have on hand right now. You can certainly schedule your paycheck if you want for ease of entry, but this has the same effect as entering it manually would. Those funds aren't available until the date they hit your account.

100 HOGS AGREE
Oct 13, 2007
Grimey Drawer
I didn't really deal with any pre-YNAB credit card debt (all my student loans are off-budget and they work a little differently than on-budget debt) but they got a tutorial video on how to set up credit cards and dealing with pre-existing debt mechanically here: http://www.youneedabudget.com/support/video/handling-credit-cards-in-ynab

If you haven't I'd really recommend going through all of their video tutorials.

clayburn posted:

This is one of the things YNAB does on purpose that is a little confusing at first. YNAB does not try to be a forecasting tool. They simply want you to budget the money that you have on hand right now. You can certainly schedule your paycheck if you want for ease of entry, but this has the same effect as entering it manually would. Those funds aren't available until the date they hit your account.
Yeah, so if you're still living paycheck to paycheck you may want to go back through your budget and adjust it for the money you have on hand, and then budget the rest when you get paid. It's how I did it my first couple months until I got my buffer sorted, now I'm living on last month's income and budgeting for January with December funds and so on. That's Rule Four and it's the hardest one to do because most people don't have enough money on hand when the start.

YNAB even gives you an option when you put in an inflow to assign that inflow to next month's Available to Budget amount instead of the current month.

It's amazing how much less stress I have when I can sit down on the first of the month and budget out my entire month with money I already have. I could literally pay all my bills on the first and I would be ok. Hell, my paychecks could be a couple weeks late one month and I wouldn't even give a poo poo.

100 HOGS AGREE fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Jan 2, 2014

I Love Topanga
Oct 3, 2003

DrBouvenstein posted:

I just got this yesterday on sale, and set it up today with my accounts, and I've got a few questions:

In my budget, where do I put in income? Everything is all showing over-budgeted because I only have my account as it stands now, not my future paychecks. Is there a way to add those in the budget, or do I add them in as a "scheduled transaction" on the main account summary page and it will add it in for me to my budget?


Income is a transaction. Click "Add a Transaction" from the Accounts screen. The category will most likely be "Income for January", unless you are already at Step 4. YNAB is a quite a bit different from other budgeting methodologies in that you shouldn't actually budget to any of your categories until you have the actual income (Step 1). That's why it's saying you are overbudgeted because you don't have any income transactions yet.

You should definitely sign up for their class. I think it's an hour, and the system requires you to use their methodology.

Edit. Psyche, looks like you're doing it pretty close to right based on your screenshots. They will continue to be "overbudget" until get paid again. What you can do is only budget out the money you have made to those different categories. Maybe your bills won't be completely covered yet, but they will be by the end of the month.


Side note, I've been using YNAB for about 6 months and love it. It's a game changer when you get to Step 4.

I Love Topanga fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Jan 2, 2014

Cockblocktopus
Apr 18, 2009

Since the beginning of time, man has yearned to destroy the sun.


clayburn posted:

This is one of the things YNAB does on purpose that is a little confusing at first. YNAB does not try to be a forecasting tool. They simply want you to budget the money that you have on hand right now. You can certainly schedule your paycheck if you want for ease of entry, but this has the same effect as entering it manually would. Those funds aren't available until the date they hit your account.

This is the only part that's really frustrated me so far. I carry a small monthly balance on my credit card ($200-$400) that I can always pay with a chunk of my savings account if everything were to explode; I also get paid regularly on the last banking day of the month. My balance gets automatically paid off the day before the statement is due on the 7th of each month. Am I just supposed to accept that I have $400ish less than I think I have now?

I haven't tried to log a credit card payment yet, but will I do that as a transfer or as an outflow from my checking account (where it autodraws from)? I think I tried it as a transfer and I lost $800 ($400 as an outflow and another $400 showed up as credit card debt), but I'll admit that I sped through the tutorials and probably messed myself up.

Aside from this confusion (which is entirely my fault, I'm sure), I'm definitely a fan of YNAB so far and I'd recommend it.

100 HOGS AGREE
Oct 13, 2007
Grimey Drawer

FadingChord posted:

This is the only part that's really frustrated me so far. I carry a small monthly balance on my credit card ($200-$400) that I can always pay with a chunk of my savings account if everything were to explode; I also get paid regularly on the last banking day of the month. My balance gets automatically paid off the day before the statement is due on the 7th of each month. Am I just supposed to accept that I have $400ish less than I think I have now?

I haven't tried to log a credit card payment yet, but will I do that as a transfer or as an outflow from my checking account (where it autodraws from)? I think I tried it as a transfer and I lost $800 ($400 as an outflow and another $400 showed up as credit card debt), but I'll admit that I sped through the tutorials and probably messed myself up.

Aside from this confusion (which is entirely my fault, I'm sure), I'm definitely a fan of YNAB so far and I'd recommend it.
Basically, yes. The way YNAB tracks transactions is you categorize them when they happen, so a credit transaction hits your budget immediately and reflects itself in the amount of money you actually have available to budget in your categories. When you pay your credit card you just make a category-less transfer from your checking account to your credit card account, since you're just moving money around to take care of already-budgeted transactions.

If you want to wipe out that pre-YNAB debt category in your budget just allocate funds to it and then hide it and ignore it forever. That'll tell YNAB that even through you have a balance on your credit card, you've already budgeted for it (the money is in a different account, YNAB doesn't care about accounts for the purpose of the budget, just available funds) and you don't need to worry about it.

If you've already allocated your savings a category in YNAB, just subtract the amount of debt out of that category and put it in the pre-YNAB Debt line instead. That will reflect the reality of your budget, that you have that money in savings but it is earmarked for your debt and thus it is unavailable for use for other things.

100 HOGS AGREE fucked around with this message at 21:57 on Jan 2, 2014

Mad Wack
Mar 27, 2008

"The faster you use your cooldowns, the faster you can use them again"
Just chiming in to say I love YNAB and use it religiously. It's currently the only reason I'm not trying something insane to get money coming in since I was laid off.

tuyop
Sep 15, 2006

Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted

Fun Shoe
In July 2011 I was 60k in debt and constantly stressed out about my finances and counting on promotions and raises and bonuses to bail me out. None of those windfalls ever came and I started using the software last year. Though I'd mostly fixed my finances by that point, YNAB has allowed my partner and I to combine our finances in a stress-free and incredibly productive way. With no small thanks to the program I now, 30 months later, have a net worth of about 50k rather than -60k with no increase in income and feel financially secure in a way that I never could have imagined a few years ago. Thanks YNAB!

PaganGoatPants
Jan 18, 2012

TODAY WAS THE SPECIAL SALE DAY!
Grimey Drawer
I'll post this here too.

If you just got YNAB please take a GETTING STARTED live webinar. It'll explain EVERYTHING you need to know about the program and the philosophy behind it (in an hour).

http://www.youneedabudget.com/support/training-and-education

100 HOGS AGREE
Oct 13, 2007
Grimey Drawer
You can also win a T shirt or a free copy.

Gothmog1065
May 14, 2009
YNAB deals with credit cards in an interesting manner. They are on budget because you can use them to spend money. However, if you come into the program with pre existing debt, that is where the "pre ynab debt" comes from. Yes, the first month will have all your credit card's previous debt as an "outflow". However, once you have them in, the line items are the previous debt. if you're spending what you bring in on your paycheck, then its' all coming from your pool of current money.

When you spend money on the credit card, it will NOT affect the "pre YNAB" debt category, because you should be budgeting that money. So it doesn't matter if you use your card, you're supposed to only be spending what you make at this point.

I'll use my credit as an example.


The example here is the card labelled "My CapOne". That's my capital one card. I used it in the beginning after I inserted in the pre YNAB debt. That's why in the budget window, there is a balance of 200.17, yet under the account information there is a balance of 262. The 200.17 is the old debt, teh 262 is the new debt, including what I added to the card.

Since I budgeted the extra 62 dollars, it should be in my checking account (It wasn't as I went over budget). What happens is when you make the payment for 62, you're not affecting your budget since you've already given that money a job. You're simply moving it from your checking to the credit card. the 86.56 you see in the budget category is what I budgeted to pay off the OLD debt. the 62 I added to the card is below (namely in house maintenance and pets).

The biggest thing I don't like how YNAB handles is the interest. I would suggest taking the class (link in OP) or watching the video here. that will kind of explain what I'm saying a bit better. It's about 30 minutes long.

Gothmog1065 fucked around with this message at 01:51 on Jan 3, 2014

tuyop
Sep 15, 2006

Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted

Fun Shoe
It works best if you imagine it all as envelopes. It doesn't matter if you stuff your power bill envelope with credit card dollars or cash dollars or debit dollars, you only have as many dollars as you have.

At the end of the month the only difference if you stuff with a CC is to repay the CC company for letting you use their money to pay for poo poo. Just like if you used cash and liked having $100 on hand but only have $60.

Gothmog1065
May 14, 2009

tuyop posted:

It works best if you imagine it all as envelopes. It doesn't matter if you stuff your power bill envelope with credit card dollars or cash dollars or debit dollars, you only have as many dollars as you have.

At the end of the month the only difference if you stuff with a CC is to repay the CC company for letting you use their money to pay for poo poo. Just like if you used cash and liked having $100 on hand but only have $60.

Or you have the cash, but forgot it at home and you borrowed $40 bucks from a friend, then pay the friend back. you still spent the money on that video game, you just used a different source and had to pay it back.

100 HOGS AGREE
Oct 13, 2007
Grimey Drawer
Yeah here's mine:



If you see, since I'm fully buffered I can allocate all of January with no problem (since my income from last month goes forward to this month) As I get paid in January my inflows will get categorized as "Income for February" and then I can plan out my spending then, once I have the money.

This means, now that I am thinking about it, since I get paid every other friday and my budget is pretty solidly based on two paychecks/month is that months like this month where I happen to get three paychecks the third one is entirely EXTRA CASH MONEY IN MY POCKET and I can jam that poo poo wherever the gently caress I want. Or I could push my budget out another half month and be that much more ahead. Being fully buffered rules and I really recommend doing it unless you're in crisis mode paying down high-interest debt.

That phone balance I set to go forward was because I wanted to track exactly how long it took me to break even after I broke my cell contract with Sprint and switched to Ting. YNAB by default will subtract overspending from next month's budget but this was a special case so I made it carry forward instead.

LogisticEarth
Mar 28, 2004

Someone once told me, "Time is a flat circle".
I just picked this up in the Steam sale and am loving it so far, however I'm fuzzy on the credit card issue. I have a couple cards, but only use them because I get points. I pay them off at the end of every month and don't carry a balance. If coming into the month of January 2013, I have 700 from December, then I want to budget for that THIS month? And then NEXT month budget for the January balance?

My only question is that that I will be linking the credit card purchases via the Quicken reports to various already-budgeted expenses, and I want to make sure I'm not double-counting that money.

So, say in January I start with -$700 on my Bank of America card from December. I budget $700 because that money will be coming out of my checking account. However, at the end of January, when I budget for February, (assume another $700 on the card) do I just budget another $700? This is confusing me because I will have subtracted the budgeted funds from various subcategories as funds are spent.

tuyop
Sep 15, 2006

Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted

Fun Shoe
No, you just track the expenses in whatever account, categorize them, and when your bill is due transfer the balance to your credit card. You do not have a category for what you'll be transferring to your credit card, the categories are what you spend your credit card balances on.

Edit: say I go to the grocery store and spend $100 from my credit card. I enter that as 100 in my groceries category on my CC. When the time comes, I transfer $100 from my bank account to my CC so that the balances reconcile correctly. That transfer is not categorized because it's not spending, the spending was from the CC when I bought the groceries. The money was gone from the budget at that point, the rest is just reconciliation.

tuyop fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Jan 3, 2014

LogisticEarth
Mar 28, 2004

Someone once told me, "Time is a flat circle".

tuyop posted:

Edit: say I go to the grocery store and spend $100 from my credit card. I enter that as 100 in my groceries category on my CC. When the time comes, I transfer $100 from my bank account to my CC so that the balances reconcile correctly. That transfer is not categorized because it's not spending, the spending was from the CC when I bought the groceries. The money was gone from the budget at that point, the rest is just reconciliation.

Ok, so this month I budget funds for the December bill, but next month budget nothing as the money will have already been subtracted from other categories? If I allocate all the expenditures on the credit card's account page then the "outflows" column for February should read $0.00?

100 HOGS AGREE
Oct 13, 2007
Grimey Drawer

LogisticEarth posted:

Ok, so this month I budget funds for the December bill, but next month budget nothing as the money will have already been subtracted from other categories? If I allocate all the expenditures on the credit card's account page then the "outflows" column for February should read $0.00?
Yes exactly, Put $700 in that Pre-YNAB debt category to zero it out and then you can just hide that category and forget it exists. As you make new transactions in YNAB on your card they get categorized right as you make the purchase as your actual spending categories and not as Pre-YNAB debt. When you pay off the card in the future you make a transfer to it in YNAB which does not change your budget at all since everything's already categorized and accounted for.

Or you could just pay off the credit card right now and then start your budget with no credit card debt in it at all. Either would work.

100 HOGS AGREE fucked around with this message at 02:03 on Jan 3, 2014

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Cockblocktopus
Apr 18, 2009

Since the beginning of time, man has yearned to destroy the sun.


I went back and entered the past month's worth of checking account activity, as well as the last two statements for my credit card. Since my current balance is just the sum of my last two statements (and the payment for two statements ago is processing as I type), I took the "Pre-YNAB debt" category out altogether.

If you have an outstanding balance this might not work, but I thought that helped a lot. I doubt that December is a great predictive month for anyone (I got hit with my gas bills from both Thanksgiving and Christmas; the next month I spend >$100 on gas will probably be in the summer, if not next November), but it was useful for figuring out how the heck this thing works.

e: If you have the cash on hand to pay off a credit card, I'd do that for the sake of budgeting simplicity. Alternatively, just subtract the card's balance from what you're reporting as your checking/savings sum and eliminate the "Pre-YNAB debt" category.

Cockblocktopus fucked around with this message at 02:10 on Jan 3, 2014

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