S/O: YNAB, how do YOU use it?

[ScoutTN]

One of my goals this year is to become better at using it. I’d love to know what features you like best, things you’ve learned, helpful YT videos, etc. 

I will do a fresh start for 2024, changing up some categories and targets and also switching to auto-import of transactions. Data entry is too much time.

[Ginevra]

Well, since I was just fan-girling the other thread, I will say this: I just did my third Fresh Start, but this time I expect it to stick. 
 

I admit that the “zero-dollar” thing was hard for me to really get. I was interpreting it as if I have to spend every dollar, or at least have it in a category for future expense. I didnt know how to separate that in my mind. But now I do. 
 

You can make a savings category with, say, $10,000 allotted to it. That meets my weird mental need to have an account with $10k in it for “whatever”. You can either make it an asset account, so the money never goes through the budget at all, OR you can have it budgeted but just permanently keep the $10k “budgeted” to it. (It may turn out that I will turn it into an asset account anyway, because I don’t know if it will alert as underfunded in the future? Not sure.) 

 

Also - I think this is called the Hawthorn Effect -  when I see what I’m really, truly spending on things it makes it easier to reign in bleeding nickels and dimes. Or dollars and twenties. 
 

Things I had to figure out: properly accounting for credit cards, properly handling reimbursements, and how to hashtag things for better data. I used to think I had to make a category for everything if I wanted granular data. Now I # in the memo line so I will have a searchable way to group similar items. So, for example, if an Amazon order was mostly or completely Christmas gifts, I #Christmas in the memo line. If it was stuff for my college kid, I #College. 
 

I really like Nick True, and I usually like the Heard it From Hannah videos too. Nick’s are usually good for clarifying something more complex while Hannah usually gives good ideas for basics. (The # thing was a tip on Hannah, which came from a YNAB user comment.) 

It’s the only thing that’s good about being sick for days at the end of the year. I’m sitting in my recliner all day; might as well learn something. 

[ScoutTN]

@Ginevra So your example items with the # are not from categories labeled College or Christmas? 

Edited December 30, 2023 by ScoutTN

[Ginevra]

2 minutes ago, ScoutTN said:

@Ginevra Do your example items with the # are not from categories labeled College or Christmas? 

No; it’s a way to make a category like “Amazon” (if someone has an Amazon category) more granular without having to split transactions. 
 

Another way to use this would be, for example, in Auto Expenses. You could #Nissan and #Fordfusion, in order to see which car is costing more money. Or if you had two kids in college, #Jane and #John under the category College. 

[matrips]

I find it awesome for saving. I have lots of detailed savings categories that I contribute something to each month for those ‘not a surprise surprises’- car repairs, new car, new roof, roof repairs, new AC, new furniture, vacation, college visits, funeral flowers and flights, painting, home repairs, eye glasses and contacts, medical copays, dental costs, subscriptions, new computer, clothing and shoes etc.  

I use it for our regular expenses too of course, but staying organized and ready for future expenses is the best part for me. For big items like a roof/car/ac, I take an estimated cost and how many years before we might need to replace it to get a monthly estimated savings amount. I also like saving a little bit per person for clothing and shoes each month so I don’t have $100-$200 future ‘surprises’ if someone needs a suit or new shoes. Each family member has their own category.

If we ever have extra unassigned money, I zero it out by assigning it to a category called Unspent Monthly Money which is a generic pot of money.

[fraidycat]

I've been using YNAB since two versions before it became an online subscription model, so "features" were fewer at that time, and I really have not "upgraded" my usage. I think a lot of the "features" are a huge waste of time and added complexity that is really unnecessary.

 

[Danae]

Disclaimer:  I am a YNAB classic user.  I don’t like the new subscription-based version.  But I think some of this will translate.

One of the best things I did when setting up our budget was to group categories based on how/how often money is spent.  So I have “out-and-about” categories for things like groceries, restaurants, gas, and clothes . . . things that we would buy at stores.  Since we were manually entering purchases these were pinned at the top of the app.  Then “monthly bills,” “non-monthly bills” (like insurance that is billed every six months or water/sewer that is quarterly, but still regular and mostly known amounts), and “expected unexpected” for things like car & house repairs that we know will happen but don’t know when or how much.  “Saving to buy” for saving for expected purchases like cars, computers, vacations, and “long term saving” for just socking money away.  
 

This is a fundamentally different way of looking at finances than grouping gas, car repairs, insurance, and car payment or saving for the next car as “car” or “transportation” but I find it much more useful.

[ScoutTN]

@Danae Yes, my groupings are similar to yours. 

[Heartstrings]

I don’t make full use of all of the features.  I don’t link my credit cards to it either, we rarely use those. I only link our main account to it, but YNAB’s set up makes it to where I don’t feel the need to have a bunch of separate accounts.   

I have 6 overarching categories, bills, debt payments, sinking fund, fun stuff, holiday and other.  (I should probably change some of those but these are working for now). I “fund” these categories every month.  Then I have sub categories under each category to track spending or planned spending more specifically.    So I’ll add the set amount to Bills each month, then the electric bill has a sub category that the bill is assigned to.  When that clears each month I move money from Bills to that subcategory, and so on.  

This allows me to add money to future months without actually having to think about a detailed budget for that month yet.  We like to be a month or two “ahead” so that this months pay is covering next months bills, or ideally the month after.   
 

Edited December 30, 2023 by Heartstrings

[Slache]

I don't use net worth, which I regret, and I don't have credit cards. I started using it for expense tracking when my life fell apart, my bills doulbled and we had six streams of crappy income instead of one decent one. This set me up for better budget management when things started getting better. My big categories are Bare Necesseties (spending, like gas and groceries), Un Poco Loco (bills), Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee (debt), Be Prepared (true expenses), Ever Ever After (savings) and How Far I'll Go (travel).

[Slache]

I binge watch youtube videos on YNAB on occasion. That's helpful.

I married the YNAB philosophy with Dave Ramsey's. Very strict budgeting with very clear goals, not too heavy on the beans and rice.

[TexasProud]

UGGHh..  sounds like most of you don't do credit cards.  That is pretty much all we do. We pay them in full each month.  All of our expenses are pretty much paid by them with the exception of 5 bills that get automatically withdrawn from the checking account. We pay our charity on credit card to get the miles.

So does it not work if you use credit cards?  I am really confused.

[Slache]

17 minutes ago, TexasProud said:

UGGHh..  sounds like most of you don't do credit cards.  That is pretty much all we do. We pay them in full each month.  All of our expenses are pretty much paid by them with the exception of 5 bills that get automatically withdrawn from the checking account. We pay our charity on credit card to get the miles.

So does it not work if you use credit cards?  I am really confused.

The subreddit complains about credit card bugs a lot. I love the CC feature in theory. This is what it does.

My credit card has a zero balance, therefore there is no money in my CC payment. I have a grocery budget of $1,000. I spent $500 on the debit card so my grocery budget is now $500, nothing on the CC has changed. Then I spent $500 on my CC at the grocery store. The $500 that was in my grocery budget has now moved to the CC payment. 

I have no idea what this does to the reports.

[TexasProud]

Just now, Slache said:

The subreddit complains about credit card bugs a lot. I love the CC feature in theory. This is what it does.

My credit card has a zero balance, therefore there is no money in my CC payment. I have a grocery budget of $1,000. I spent $500 on the debit card so my grocery budget is now $500, nothing on the CC has changed. Then I spent $500 on my CC at the grocery store. The $500 that was in my grocery budget has now moved to the CC payment. 

I have no idea what this does to the reports.

Ok... but I have over 5,000 on it and it just put it as a lump sum.  Where are the actual transactions? I think I understand what you said. But I need December budget.

[historically accurate]

31 minutes ago, TexasProud said:

UGGHh..  sounds like most of you don't do credit cards.  That is pretty much all we do. We pay them in full each month.  All of our expenses are pretty much paid by them with the exception of 5 bills that get automatically withdrawn from the checking account. We pay our charity on credit card to get the miles.

So does it not work if you use credit cards?  I am really confused.

We use credit cards on YNAB. It's weird, but actually works really, really well once you figure it out. 

 

A) Set up your credit cards as accounts in YNAB. YNAB will automatically set up a line item for the credit card in your budget. If you have a balance on your card (which there probably is if you use them often), this is when you tell YNAB how much it is. It will ask you when you want to pay it off. You can say pay on the next due date or if you have too much debt for that, you can tell YNAB you want to pay it off in a year or whatever. Then it will tell you how much you have to assign to the credit card. 

B) Enter any spending as a transaction in the credit card account (or you can wait for it to show up if you have linked the account). If you enter into a linked account, you will get a "match" to approve it when it goes through the bank, so it will not be doubled. When you enter the transaction, use whatever category you want (eating out, groceries, etc).

C) YNAB will automatically pull from the available balance of the category and move it to the credit card line in your budget. Voila, when the time comes to pay the credit card, all of the money on it has been moved from the various categories to the credit card line, meaning there is now enough to pay the credit card. 

D) Note the only time you need to assign $ to the credit card payment would be on the first set up or if you overspend on it and the month rolls over to next month.

 

In reporting, you will never see the credit card as a line item - it only shows the category that you spent $ on.

 

 

 

Edited December 30, 2023 by historically accurate

[scholastica]

4 minutes ago, TexasProud said:

Ok... but I have over 5,000 on it and it just put it as a lump sum.  Where are the actual transactions? I think I understand what you said. But I need December budget.

It’s starting you from today. It’s telling you to take $5000 from ready to assign and assign it to the cc payment. From now on you will add transactions and the money will move from the category to the cc payment.

If you want to have your Dec transactions, you’d have to put in the balance as of wherever you’re starting in December (I assume you’d do that as of the starting date for the next statement) then enter all the transactions manually for the current statement period. That should get you to the current balance. It’s a heck of a lot easier to just start from the current balance and go forward.

[Slache]

I don't know anything else about credit cards. It honestly sounds like a hassle. I see mostly complaints on the issue. Many people have it as a bill. So if you buy all groceries on it you can have no grocery budget and a $1,000 bill called Mastercard. That's what I would do because I'm lazy, but it's the wrong way, according to them.

[Soror]

40 minutes ago, TexasProud said:

UGGHh..  sounds like most of you don't do credit cards.  That is pretty much all we do. We pay them in full each month.  All of our expenses are pretty much paid by them with the exception of 5 bills that get automatically withdrawn from the checking account. We pay our charity on credit card to get the miles.

So does it not work if you use credit cards?  I am really confused.

No one said it didn't work with credit cards. However, the way they do credit cards may be different than how you do it now. Like you, we use credit cards a lot and pay them in full each month. Before it would be budgeted when it was paid with Ynab you budget it when you spend the money. 

[Soror]

I think for most they start at the beginning of a month and go from there. Personally, I'd wait until then. I'd also pay the credit cards off before adding them as it is a hell of a lot easier to that way. 

[TexasProud]

9 minutes ago, scholastica said:

It’s starting you from today. It’s telling you to take $5000 from ready to assign and assign it to the cc payment. From now on you will add transactions and the money will move from the category to the cc payment.

If you want to have your Dec transactions, you’d have to put in the balance as of wherever you’re starting in December (I assume you’d do that as of the starting date for the next statement) then enter all the transactions manually for the current statement period. That should get you to the current balance. It’s a heck of a lot easier to just start from the current balance and go forward.

So how is going to reconcile it??  So I am just making up numbers.  So for Mint, when I spent the money on the credit card it put it in December budget so if I paid 250 to Walmart, it put it in Groceries.  

So now, it shows me with a debt of let's just say 3, 457 on one card.  I will pay it out of the checking account January 7, but the money was actually spent in December .  So it will just show 3, 457 out of checking account...  But they should be from 30 or more different categories...  I am so confused....  

[TexasProud]

4 minutes ago, Soror said:

I think for most they start at the beginning of a month and go from there. Personally, I'd wait until then. I'd also pay the credit cards off before adding them as it is a hell of a lot easier to that way. 

But they will never truly be paid off...  I mean I pay the entire balance that is due for the due date, but we have made more charges.  So I get the bill that is due January 10th and I pay 3, 478 but the entire balance is 5129.  

Plus, if I do do 0 that means January will be totally screwed up and there is no way I can get it set until February...  One credit card is due on the 10th the other on the 25th. 

Edited December 30, 2023 by TexasProud

[historically accurate]

11 minutes ago, TexasProud said:

So how is going to reconcile it??  So I am just making up numbers.  So for Mint, when I spent the money on the credit card it put it in December budget so if I paid 250 to Walmart, it put it in Groceries.  

So now, it shows me with a debt of let's just say 3, 457 on one card.  I will pay it out of the checking account January 7, but the money was actually spent in December .  So it will just show 3, 457 out of checking account...  But they should be from 30 or more different categories...  I am so confused....  

The first month reporting will look a little wonky because YNAB doesn't know what that 3457 is for - it's just a debt payment. Going forward, you'll get the details of what the transactions are making up the credit card balance. I started YNAB in mid-August and honestly, I just do my reports from September onward because I subscribed after paying rent, most of the month's groceries, etc. LOL - I wish my spending was like August's report shows!

YNAB has to set the bar somewhere on where to start. Yes, you pay your cc off every month so knowing what makes up your balance isn't difficult. But a lot of people don't, so for all YNAB knows that $3457 is the culmination of 6 months overspending, so they can't tell you what makes it up.

Edited December 30, 2023 by historically accurate

[Ginevra]

12 minutes ago, TexasProud said:

So how is going to reconcile it??  So I am just making up numbers.  So for Mint, when I spent the money on the credit card it put it in December budget so if I paid 250 to Walmart, it put it in Groceries.  

So now, it shows me with a debt of let's just say 3, 457 on one card.  I will pay it out of the checking account January 7, but the money was actually spent in December .  So it will just show 3, 457 out of checking account...  But they should be from 30 or more different categories...  I am so confused....  

YNAB does not operate in the past. It operates from NOW. If you don’t pay off that card until 7 Jan, then Yes, it will show $3,457 from the checking account (although it will say you paid Visa or whatever). Going *forward*, though, if you maintain YNAB, you *will know* exactly what is represented by that $3,457. You’ll know that $789 was Christmas gifts and $216 was Fuel and $841 was Groceries and… You will know. 
 

I get that that bugs you because you wanted December, but you’re actually not any more ignorant than you would have been if you didn’t start a budget software. And if you don’t start budget software sometime before next December, you’ll be in the identical boat in the future. 
 

I think, if you really must have December, you should spend the gazillion hours to write December’s transactions out on paper. But use a software system beginning now so you will be in a better spot next time. 

[scholastica]

If you need to know December, download a csv from Mint and put it in your favorite spreadsheet program for reference. But really, you’re starting at almost the perfect point with January 1 in 2 days.

[Slache]

Just now, scholastica said:

If you need to know December, download a csv from Mint and put it in your favorite spreadsheet program for reference. But really, you’re starting at almost the perfect point with January 1 in 2 days.

It's even a Monday! New budget, new workout program, new reading plan. All new things! 

[TexasProud]

1 minute ago, scholastica said:

If you need to know December, download a csv from Mint and put it in your favorite spreadsheet program for reference. But really, you’re starting at almost the perfect point with January 1 in 2 days.

Actually, it is looking like Monarch will give me the picture I need for December.  It was very mint-like and I am through categorizing December now.  

I think I will be able to do the budget for December with it.  Then I will just have to do last year by hand.  I have January - November already done  with Mint ( as we went along) and categorized.  But I normally do a year in review and look to see what categories if any went down or up substantially.  For example, son graduated from seminary in May, so he is totally supporting himself.  I had a category of expenses to help him with while he was in school that no longer applies. We no longer have cows, so our farm budget has gone way down.   But I will have to add it all up by hand because Mint there is no way for me to only do Jan-November. it gets the half of December before it stopped working.

Ok, so I guess. YNAB will be starting Jan 1...  Still not sure I understand it. But we will see.  Will ask if I have anymore questions. 

[Slache]

48 minutes ago, TexasProud said:

Ok, so I guess. YNAB will be starting Jan 1...  Still not sure I understand it. But we will see.  Will ask if I have anymore questions. 

You do not understand it. I promise. It's worth learning though. 

[73349]

I use a credit card with YNAB and pay it off at least monthly. I don't import transactions; having to put everything in manually also helps me keep an eye on my category balances. I like that my YNAB view is more accurate than my online banking, because YNAB has things that haven't gone through yet. And it keeps me from mentally spending money more than once.

My category groups are Giving (annual giving week, monthly gift to my church, monthly help for the family we sponsor, etc.), Household and Personal Expenses (groceries, gas, home/cleaning, etc.), Kid (clothing/shoes, curricula, music lessons, etc.), Enjoyment (travel, holidays/birthdays, etc.). I also keep a small Hold/Cushion category for expenses for the next month that might come through before the money is in my checking account. DH handles utilities, insurance, and the like separately, so they're not in YNAB.

I started with the free trial, then liked it enough to subscribe monthly for a few months, then decided I was sticking with it. Now I subscribe annually.

YNAB has videos that are helpful, as are some from Nick True.

[ScoutTN]

1 hour ago, scholastica said:

If you need to know December, download a csv from Mint and put it in your favorite spreadsheet program for reference. But really, you’re starting at almost the perfect point with January 1 in 2 days.

I do a fresh start each calendar year.

[Slache]

6 minutes ago, ScoutTN said:

I do a fresh start each calendar year.

What does this do for you and why do you do it?

[ScoutTN]

@Slache We use the reports in December to rethink and shift goals. Usually a category or two appears or disappears; this year I will reorganize how categories are grouped. I know I can search and pull up date from a specified date range in an ongoing YNAB budget, but somehow it feels good to start over. Maybe just a psychological effect for me? 

[Slache]

13 minutes ago, ScoutTN said:

Maybe just a psychological effect for me? 

Now THAT, I understand! 

[Ginevra]

56 minutes ago, ScoutTN said:

I do a fresh start each calendar year.

I had been wondering if anyone does this as a matter of keeping it cohesively annual. It seems like a good idea. 
 

I have been wishing my Quickbooks Online (for dh’s business) had a Fresh Start option. I really need to start fresh for the company books. 

[Heartstrings]

1 hour ago, ScoutTN said:

I do a fresh start each calendar year.

So what does that involve exactly?   I’m trying to decide if I need to do one after using the program for a few years. 

Edited December 31, 2023 by Heartstrings

[matrips]

5 hours ago, TexasProud said:

So how is going to reconcile it??  So I am just making up numbers.  So for Mint, when I spent the money on the credit card it put it in December budget so if I paid 250 to Walmart, it put it in Groceries.  

So now, it shows me with a debt of let's just say 3, 457 on one card.  I will pay it out of the checking account January 7, but the money was actually spent in December .  So it will just show 3, 457 out of checking account...  But they should be from 30 or more different categories...  I am so confused....  

I use mostly credit cards and pay off monthly. And I do linked accounts.

both checking and Cc are listed as accounts. I reconcile my linked accounts several times a week with the button. If all transactions are entered properly, it reconciles. If not, you investigate to find why.

if you buy gas, the transaction is entered as (example) Payee- Mobile Gas Station, category -Honda Odyssey Gas Money, Account- credit card 1234.  Then that $40 is ‘moved’ from Honda Gas Money to Credit Card 1234. And so forth for every transaction. The money moves from your budgeted category to your Cc category.

(I have a main budget category as credit card payments, and then my credit cards are listed under that. I ‘think’ ynab did that based on my Cc accounts, but I can’t remember.) so when you pay your Cc bill the next month, the money to pay it has already been accounted for. 

Not sure if that helps or is just confusing. Watch the videos for credit cards. 

[Just Kate]

I puffy-heart love YNAB. Seriously. It changed my family’s finances. 
 

DH and I started 5 years ago with credit card debt on three cards. Not much, but enough that I could never seem to buckle down and just pay it off. So YNAB first helped us to do that. It was amazing. 
 

Then we decided to try travel credit card hacking. We currently have six credit cards that get used regularly and I can only manage that because of YNAB. We import all transactions and my cards are paid in full each month. The credit card feature is what really makes YNAB, in my opinion. 
 

Now that we are 5 years in, I have been considering a fresh start, but I’m just not sure. I would love to clean up the Payees (after 5 years, there are a ton of one-off payees in the system for our budget). I know there is a way to do this, but I need to check into it. 
 

Also, YNAB has a bunch of new features that I should probably check out. I mostly use the iPhone app version, so there are probably features I’m missing by not logging in on a pc. 
 

There is a learning curve. But for my family, it was 100% worth it!

[TexasProud]

Houston... I think we have a problem

So, can you assign more than 100,000?  When I try to assign a category with more than that it will not let me? For example, we have an RV fund that was over that as part of a savings account.  We just purchased one, so it will not be over 100,000 anymore, but it needs to start at over 100,000.  We actually only spent half of what we budgeted for it. But we will keep that account and continue to add a little bit to it in case we want to buy another one in 15-20 years. (If we are physically able to RV at that point.)  But our emergency fund part of that savings account will be over 100,000 as well. 

[historically accurate]

46 minutes ago, TexasProud said:

Houston... I think we have a problem

So, can you assign more than 100,000?  When I try to assign a category with more than that it will not let me? For example, we have an RV fund that was over that as part of a savings account.  We just purchased one, so it will not be over 100,000 anymore, but it needs to start at over 100,000.  We actually only spent half of what we budgeted for it. But we will keep that account and continue to add a little bit to it in case we want to buy another one in 15-20 years. (If we are physically able to RV at that point.)  But our emergency fund part of that savings account will be over 100,000 as well. 

I don't have that much in any account or category, but I know you can. I read a blog post here: https://www.ynab.com/blog/managing-your-retirement-budget where they show the retirement accounts with way more than $100,000.

From article:

I just added $100,000 to my rent to check and see, and all I got was the red over-assigned thingee at the top of the budget. 

[Slache]

I just added a million to my grocery fund with no issue. 

[Heartstrings]

1 hour ago, Slache said:

I just added a million to my grocery fund with no issue. 

If only it were really that easy.   🤣

[Slache]

5 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:

If only it were really that easy.   🤣

I know! I wouldn't have to worry about groceries for at least 3 months. 😭

[Hyacinth]

Question about sinking funds. If you have a line in your budget for, say, a future car, and you assign $500 to that item, where do you keep those funds? Is it in your checking account and you just know, because of YNAB, that you don’t really have that much to spend in your checking account? Or do you put it somewhere else? (Does that make sense?)

[Slache]

1 minute ago, Hyacinth said:

Question about sinking funds. If you have a line in your budget for, say, a future car, and you assign $500 to that item, where do you keep those funds? Is it in your checking account and you just know, because of YNAB, that you don’t really have that much to spend in your checking account? Or do you put it somewhere else? (Does that make sense?)

I leave it my checking because I hate two accounts in ynab. I would only do 2 accounts with two separate budgets. Many disagree here. I use my budget to shop and budget, I almost never look at my bank.

[scholastica]

12 minutes ago, Hyacinth said:

Question about sinking funds. If you have a line in your budget for, say, a future car, and you assign $500 to that item, where do you keep those funds? Is it in your checking account and you just know, because of YNAB, that you don’t really have that much to spend in your checking account? Or do you put it somewhere else? (Does that make sense?)

We keep that type of budget category in the savings account. 

[Heartstrings]

3 hours ago, Hyacinth said:

Question about sinking funds. If you have a line in your budget for, say, a future car, and you assign $500 to that item, where do you keep those funds? Is it in your checking account and you just know, because of YNAB, that you don’t really have that much to spend in your checking account? Or do you put it somewhere else? (Does that make sense?)

I would just stick it in a future or savings category as a subcategory.  I don’t like dealing with multiple accounts, so I like that feature in YNAB.

 

I don’t really consider saving for a car one of our sinking fund categories.  Car repairs would be.  I use sinking fund for categories that I know will be drawn down just not when.  So it’s clothes, car repairs, pool stuff, house stuff.    Maybe I’m using it wrong though?   
 

I use Ynab instead of checking the bank.  I essentially never just check the bank account balance.  

Edited December 31, 2023 by Heartstrings

[ScoutTN]

3 hours ago, scholastica said:

We keep that type of budget category in the savings account. 

We do too, but I do see that it is not really necessary. And it makes an extra layer of work, to make sure the funds are in the right place in both the accounts as well as the budget. Our savings account earns some interest, so we hold funds there. 

[ScoutTN]

I have never used the Cc feature, but y’all have explained it so well, that I will for 2024.

Do your cc transactions import just as the bank ones/debit card ones do?

[scholastica]

Just now, ScoutTN said:

I have never used the Cc feature, but y’all have explained it so well, that I will for 2024.

Do your cc transactions import just as the bank ones/debit card ones do?

Ours do. 

[73349]

7 hours ago, Hyacinth said:

Question about sinking funds. If you have a line in your budget for, say, a future car, and you assign $500 to that item, where do you keep those funds? Is it in your checking account and you just know, because of YNAB, that you don’t really have that much to spend in your checking account? Or do you put it somewhere else? (Does that make sense?)

I keep it in checking, which for some reason has a higher rate of return at my credit union. My online bank balance is only for reference when reconciling, not the amount of money available to spend. My YNAB categories show how much money I can spend.

When money comes in (wages, interest, whatever), you immediately assign it to a category, and it stays in that category until you spend it or move it to another category. I can't buy books with the grocery money. This is what makes YNAB valuable for me.

[Lecka]

I downloaded YNAB last year and then didn’t keep it past the free trial.  In my memory, my husband didn’t want to do it.  We cleaned up a lot though, and we added up spending amounts in different categories from the previous year.

 

First, our finances are very simple.  We share a checking account, we have a second checking account, and last year I opened a HYSA account that has CDs now, that is our emergency fund.  
 

We have been good about looking over our transactions together.  
 

One of the things from last year, is that my husband wanted to just carry cash.  Well, that has morphed over the past year.  Now he is withdrawing much less cash, and paying for more from the debit card, so we can see it as a transaction.  Personally I think he has just cut down on impulse fast food and coffee this way.  Because — it’s not obscured by spending cash on groceries or something, and then that also means — unless I get the receipt, I don’t know how much was spent on groceries.  It’s just a better system with more clarity.  I was keeping receipts for a while, and he would rather use the debit card than bring me a receipt.  
 

I have my own cash now too, which I rarely did before.  Now if it’s like — oh, you’re withdrawing cash, that’s okay, I’ll withdraw cash too, he is more mindful.  Also because I sometimes give money to homeless people if I have cash, so he doesn’t want me to always have cash!  
 

We got a lot out of going through the process with the free trial, though.  
 

I have also changed some spending he thought was excessive after pointing out to me, how some things were adding up.