I know the oilam here is pretty committed to YNAB, but in terms of reducing manual labor, Monarch just released a beta feature that auto categorizes Amazon purchases (and potentially other big retailers in the future)

That's pretty cool, do they use the envelope method?

What I've Learned from Years of Experimenting with Money Jesse has a long history experimenting with money. From rating every meal he and the family ate out, to "hyperbudgeting," to not budgeting at all... he's run an experiment almost every year for the last several years to see how his habits affect his financial planning. In today's episode Jesse recaps the experiments he's done, how they went (good and bad), and reminds us that personal finance is, well, personal.     Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on Youtube: <a...

I'm new here: Has anyone ever tried making an Amazon category in Ynab, for ex: assign 300$ target to Amazon purchases. Big purchases would be manually assigned to their category, but common Amazon purchases will just be assigned to the Amazon category. Is this a good idea?

i've done something similar, but it's really the lazy way and doesn't really help with your budgeting. Most people aren't "overspending" on their rent or mortgage, it's the lack of clarity in their groceries, amazon etc where they can be more strategic.

Can anyone share of monthly budget template?

For those into AI Agents… https://smithery.ai/server/@calebl/ynab-mcp-server

Spendfulness: An Origin Story Spendfulness is the new word around YNAB, but the concept goes back to the beginning of the company... and even before the company itself. In today's episode, Jesse recounts the very early days of YNAB, when the budgeting method was just a spreadsheet. Jesse realized that the spreadsheet was enforcing a set of behaviors, or "rules," around money and that those rules were the foundation of what is now referred to as the YNAB method. YNAB is more than a spreadsheet, and more than a software...

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How and When We Teach Our Kids About Money Judging from the difficulties many adults have managing their money, we don't do a great job collectively of teaching our kids about money. Jesse doesn't consider himself an expert on this, but he does have seven kids, and thus seven chances to instill good money habits in his own children. In today's episode he shares how he teaches his kids about money using the YNAB method, scaled down in language and concepts that younger children can understand.   At the end of the day, the goal for kids...

Should I manually enter expenses into YNAB or should I have them be uploaded automatically from my accounts?

Hi, new friends! I’m celebrating a win and thought I’d share. 🙌🏻 I created a spreadsheet to track about 15 bills I could cancel or negotiate (attached!). I also made a few lifestyle changes—like cutting my boys’ hair and having my husband take over lawn care—which easily saves us hundreds each year. We trimmed spending in our weak spots (takeout and books!) by eliminating those categories, and now books come from our personal spending money if we choose. I also lowered our electric bill by switching to community solar (no panels needed!) and enrolling in a utility incentive program. As a coach, I always tell clients: Just ask. That advice paid off big time here—on 2 or 3 bills, I simply asked what could be done and had payments paused or canceled completely, sometimes without losing service at all. Overall, we’re saving about $1k per month just with these changes! The spreadsheet tracks: Bill Name, To Cancel, To Negotiate, To Consider, Progress, Before Totals, and After Totals. Happy to share more tips or a blank copy if you’d like! *SPREADSHEET TEMPLATE (just make a copy!): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1t_Wm6XnMT17znPQ-DfFz0M2Vk-Iae-QVURiRpXRapsw/edit?usp=sharing

You've Got Budgeting Backwards To many, the word "budget" brings to mine restrictions, guilt, punishment, and a general feeling of dread that they don't have control over their money, much less hit their budget goals. But this idea that a budget means setting hard limits on spending in various categories, then looking back every month to see if you were "good" or "bad" in adhering to those limits... it's all backwards!   Jesse has another way to look at "budgeting," or planning as he calls it. You give every dollar you...

This popped up in my LinkedIn feed https://www.linkedin.com/posts/yitz-s_some-of-my-frum-friends-have-no-idea-how-activi[…]m=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAACZwdp4B04_qcanbUQhTJmsf33y6bewf2CU cc @mysterious-tomato-10057

4 Ways to Start a Fight About Money It's no secret that money is a major factor in relationship conflicts. Whether it's misaligned values, a feeling that one partner is sabotaging the other's goals through their spending, or a desire to keep up with the Jones'... money has the potential to start or fuel a lot of conflict. But it doesn't have to! Often money arguments belie fundamental communcation problems, and YNAB can help by clarifying for both partners what the goal is for your dollars and whether that is aligned with your...

My #1 question right now: are they going to rename YNAB to YNAP? because I am 100% in favor. I most definitely need a nap https://www.ynab.com/blog/budget-tab-breakdown

What app is best to get a full picture of current spend across all my accounts and subsequently allow me to set up a budget to help me manage them. It needs to support several accounts (checking, credit card, loans, etc) and multiple profiles at the same bank (my wife's and mine). Cost is a factor but, if needed, I'll pay.

Money Stress Wrecking Your Health? Here’s How To Fix It! (Rebroadcast Art of Being Well Podcast) This week Jesse and the rest of the YNAB team are working hard prepping for the upcoming Fan Fest in Minneapolis, so today we are rebroadcasting an interview that originally appeared on Dr. Will Cole's Art of Being Well podcast. In this interview, Jesse talks about how money stress not only leads to poorer mental health, it has real physical impacts on the body as well.   We hope you enjoy this interview. If you'd like to follow Dr. Cole's podcast, check out the links below: Web: <a...

What I Do When I Really Want to Buy It When you really want to buy something, what do you do? Do you wait for 48 hours to cool off a bit and think it over? Or perhaps do you create a category for it in YNAB and fund it with a few dollars, just to see how it feels? Having the urge to buy something is not a bad or shameful thing, but there should be a process for weighing that purchase against your other priorities. That's what YNAB does -- it makes money more real by giving you a framework to evaluate your spending against your...

Does anyone know how to get the free YNAB subscription? I filled out the form but no response

There Is No Such Thing as Savings It seems obvious that you should save money. It's the right thing to do, after all! But even the words that we use talk about saving money have problems -- should, ought --  loaded with moral baggage. Jesse reminds us that even money earmarked for savings is still spending, just spending that has been deferred to a later date, retirement for example. That money still needs to have a job, however. Saving for what in retirement? Utility bills? Travel? Presents for the grandkids?   Money for the...

The amount I pay for my insurances goes up slightly every month. How do I budget for this? I don't know exactly what the amount will be...should i just set a target for some amount more and then adjust the target every year?

Recently I've been having discrepancies in my account balances whenever I reconcile YNAB It's tricky to reconcile my credit card since there's always some transactions that have not settled yet Anyone have advice / able to take a look?

We Stopped Eating Out for Three Months. The Result Was Interesting... In 2017 the Mecham family decided to live in Manhattan for three months to experience the city, soak up the food and culture, and just have fun doing something different. While they were there they chose to maximize their opportunity to eat out -- Jesse went back and counted over 140 different establishments during that 90 day stay!   After that experiment, Jesse and the family decided to try the complete opposite. No eating out for 90 days. The result? They didn't really care about it much,...

Has anyone tracked how much groceries cost per adult per month...I'm in Lakewood.

Does anyone have a recurring issue in YNAB where certain specific transactions are regularly mis-categorized because the same "Payee" belongs in different categories depending on other factors? I have this issue in a few areas, and I wrote a script to highlight those rows on YNAB so I can pay special attention to them. I'm just wondering if this is the type of thing that would help other people too or not

Has anyone else had issues with ynab importing confusing transactions? I see that for some reason the credit card payment doesn't have a payee on the checking account side, I add it, I see that I now have to two credit card transfers for the same amount and same day, and then I see that one of them has an imported payee indicating it was an investment account transfer (so I then switch it to match the imported payee)

Fan Fest Reflections: Spendfulness Is About More Than Just Stuff Jesse reflects on his interactions with YNAB'ers at the recent Fan Fest in Minneapolis, and how spendfulness manifested in many different ways. One important takeaway for Jesse was that while practicing spendfulness could mean taking a cool international vacation, or buying something fun and interesting (and those are totally valid things to spend money on!), it could also mean having the freedom and peace of mind to take risks and embark on new ventures.   Watch The Jesse Mecham Show on...

shoutout to Aldi's - their store brand has very good imitations of major brands - think Hellman's mayo, Heinz ketchup And their brand of Snackers crackers is pareve! Just don't spend everything you save in the closeouts aisle 😆 I have also become a walking advertisement for Primark, clothes at Walmart prices but much better quality.

You Can Stop Second Guessing with Money We talk about how YNAB is the ultimate weapon against money stressors -- as you gain control over your spending, learn to give every dollar a job, and bring your spending in line with your priorities, the stresses decrease and are replaced by a growing confidence. There are other psychological "costs" of money, such as the anxiety and mental overhead created by second guessing your choices.   Should I buy this? Can I even afford it? Should I have bought that? Is this what we should be doing...