https://frum.finance logo
Join Slack
Powered by
To not further hijack the other thread, starting a...
# budgeting
w
To not further hijack the other thread, starting a separate thread about YNAB. How much upfront effort does it take to set up YNAB? How helpful is it if I don't have all of my expenses plotted out yet? How easy is it to adjust as you go for things that are in flux or weren't taken into account when setting it up?
t
following
m
@witty-engineer-80805 it is a lot of work. It really needs to be worth it for you. I am not at all going to insinuate using YNAB is at all simple or easy. There is a community of resources and it is an incredible software, but if you are someone who has a budgeting that works for them and your investment projects meet all your budgets then this really is overkill. It is a very powerful software and with that comes complexities and time commitments.
I have seen ynab burnout, I have also seen families blow me away with how optimized they have made their situation using ynab. It is definitely not a broad recommendation I would make across the board.
w
Is it something that can be set up in small segments, or does it really need to be done as one block of time investment?
m
it is not an upfront cost, you can continue to optimize it as you go and over time
as long as you can keep up with at the bare minimum categorizing incoming expenses as they come in
w
maybe I'll budget the time it takes to set it up and spread it out over the year 😄
😂 1
m
🙂
@acceptable-angle-23240 @thousands-sunset-8939
t
IMO it’s a slightly heavy up front set up and then it’s just correction and maintenance moving forward. I’ve found it to be very helpful to have someone walk you through it and talk it out. They have a lot of resources and there are videos out there (Nick with Mapped Out Money is phenomenal) but I have personally walked people through it and they seem to get a benefit from that
a
It doesn't need to be done all at once. First step would be categorizing transactions as they come in. Next paycheck go to the budget screen and ask yourself "What does this $ need to do until next time I get paid?" and assign those categories. As you start using it you will find expenses that you hadn't thought about and you may want to set a category and goal for them so the do not surprise you in the future. Or you can sit down and try to identify all those expenses or goals at once.
To the original question, it is easy to make adjustments to your budget as you go along. In fact, every month you essentially start with a blank sheet (which you can easily auto-populate based on your goals or past spending). (The only caveat is if you want to merge or break down existing categories, you would want to bulk re-categorize the transactions in your history as well so that your new categories have accurate trend data. There are tools to do this in bulk. But we might be getting ahead of ourselves here)
b
I've been setting up YNAB and it is a bit confusing, I have to watch more of their videos. My main issue right now is what to categorize transfers between accounts. Do i just leave it uncategorized?
m
there is a transfer category
b
Hmm I thought I searched for that and it didn't come up, l'll check again
I don't see it when searching the categories
a
@broad-australia-98095 In the payee field, select the account that the transfer is to/from and then the category field will be disabled
b
OK I see, thanks
w
I think I will need to wait until a less hectic time so I can set things up and see if it's working for me during the 34 day free trial. I guess I'll schedule it for marcheshvan 🙂
🎉 1
t
@acceptable-angle-23240 I think you’re right and not right at the same time. Because you get the 34 free trial, I would recommend you already have been tracking. I used every dollar at first for tracking and then it was simple to make categories (and of course edit them ). To each their own…
a
Good point. I wasn't thinking in terms of the 34 day trial, and I've been tracking long before I started YNAB with mint.com
With that said I still adjust my categories every once in awhile. Is summer camp "tuition", "kids activities" or "summer camp"?
m
or more recently, eggs
😂 1
t
Yeah I actually sometimes use a category called ‘large one time purchases’ and rotate the names around when I have to save for them
m
Does anyone have both spouses onboard with YNAB or is everyone just doing this solo?
t
My wife is on board with YNAB but I do the heavy lifting
m
I meant helping with the actual work 😜
n
@thankful-angle-58448 the 3-dot menu on a thread lets you "get notified about new replies"
😂 1
m
Typing following helps us get our message count up though
😂 2
n
bot has entered the chat
t
@nutritious-raincoat-28876 I'd actually never noticed that 😳
w
So @acceptable-angle-23240 and @thousands-sunset-8939 you guys think it would be k'dai to start with something else (free?) to just start tracking for a few months before diving into YNAB? (And @mysterious-tomato-10057?)
👍 1
t
Yes, if you don’t know how much you are spending, that would be a good place to start. Whatever works for you, spreadsheet or just waking notes, but I’d say for a month-two track every dollar.
a
What are you doing now? And what do you want to accomplish? There are a few elements here, for example: 1. checkbook register 2. reporting on spending by category 3. allocating your money (giving every dollar a job, aka budgeting
w
so right now I'm vaguely paying attention to my expenses through my credit card bill and checking account withdrawals. I was more proactive about it a while back, but it got depressing because my expenses were greater than my income after cutting back on lots of stuff and I did the obvious most responsible thing and just gave up. B"H I am in a better position now.
a
Plugging your accounts into mint will give you more of a summary where your money is going. There is also the function of a basic checkbook register to keep track of transactions (such as ACH or checks(!)) even before they hit your account so that you know how much you actually have available, and can then reconcile with your bank balance. You can do this on paper, spreadsheet or mint (sort of. You can manually add transactions but I don't think there is a reconcile function)
m
I also recommend organizing in mint to get your feet wet before going over to something advanced like YNAB.
If mint meets your needs, no need for the overkill of YNAB.
w
Is Mint something that I would benefit from some instructions on how to get the most out of it?
m
I don't think so. I would say the only instruction is to make sure that everything is in there both the house and the mortgage both the car and the car loan to get an accurate overall net worth number
And then use the budgeting section to practice. Categorization before you move to a real budgeting tool like ynab
w
I am trying to add a gemach loan to Mint, which I pay back a monthly sum. It seems that the only way I can add it is as a bill. That doesn't seem like the most accurate way to add it - it doesn't deduct from net worth, and I can either set it as a one-time total or as a monthly bill with no set total. Any better way to input that?
t
when you add a bill, one of the options for "type" is loan, so that seems like the right place for it
w
That was what I was describing above, but then it doesn't register as current debt, just a future bill.
m
Under property you can add a manual loan amount.
Open in Slack
PreviousNext
Powered by