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@IRunForFun: Oh good!
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i have 5 master categories:
giving
monthly bills
everyday expenses
rainy day funds
savings goalsmonthly bills are the things that are set in stone.
everyday expenses are still things we need, but more flexibility
rainy day is for stock piling for gifts, emergency funds, insurance, dentist, car repair, etc. stuff that comes up as a big payment all at once, so we split the budgeting for it into manageable monthly "payments."
saving goals are big things that we want, but won't be givens: vacation, car replacement, house down payment, new computer.i try to keep sub categories succinct, but easy to figure out what category it goes in. i think i need to add an "entertainment" sub category though because it's getting confusing to add movies, music, concert tickets, etc. to random sub categories
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@swurlygurl: ah yes! I get it. I think you will find that YNAB would definitely help clear that up and as others have said, it's super flexible in case you need to pull money from one category to another.
@birdofafeather: That is a great idea. DH is self employed, thanks!
@mrswin: I also like your home improvement category, you could even add in the notes/comments how much each piece would cost you, so you know what $ amount you're saving for. ie. Paint 15$, Door 100$, Hardware 20$. So you would need to save 135$.
I have 8 Master Categories:
Monthly Bills
Child Care
Vehicle/Transportation
Everyday Expenses
Rainy Day Fund
Savings Goals
Giving
DebtWith 43 Subcategories.
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@IRunForFun: @Mrs. High Heels: yes, that's it! and we just continue to use that even though we are on last month's income already.
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It's really interesting to see everyone's different categories. I might make some screen shots at home tonight of my subcategories too. Is that weird? would anyone even be interested? I think it's really neat to see those lists.
I love their forums. The one I'm trying to find/figure out right now is accounting for interest.
DH & I have a substantial tax debt, and each month we save to pay off a chunk of the debt. However, I'm not sure how to account for the interest. Assuming we pay off a little each month, it's ever changing, and if I save up $600 dollars, say, to put towards our debt, that somehow doesn't account for the interest that comes out of our account each month.
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@.twist.: i would love to see subcategories! i have 29 and i think that's pretty good for us, but it's kinda streamlined!
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@.twist.: I'd definitely be interested! I love to see how others separate out their categories.
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@birdofafeather: @Mrs. High Heels: Sweet! I know what I'm doing tonight! LOL. Oh, my exciting life!
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@.twist.: Do you get a statement of some sort? When we were dealing with a debt that was incurring interest I would do the following to calculate the interest that was charged.
Starting balance-Payment-Ending Balance= Interest Charged
$3,000-$600-$2,550=$150I just put the interest charged through as its own separate transaction....does that help?????
I will share a screen shot too!
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@.twist.: I was thinking of doing the same thing! I want to see everyone's sub categories. I think there was an old thread that we shared some screen shots on...
I'm going to post some screen shots of mine..
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Ok, here are all my categories! I want to see everyone else's too! There are some things I think I want to rename/rearrange.
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@mrswin: You'll have to bear with me since I majored in failing math. hah. Our interest is base on a percentage? I think we are at a 3.5% interest rate? Does that make a difference in your formula?
I've only made one payment so far (relatively new debt), and I did make the interest a separate transaction, but I had already saved up and paid the amount I wanted to pay that month towards the debt. So I ended up having to take extra money out of another category to cover the interest.
I guess, my answer should just be as simple as, if you plan to pay down $600, then you are really only paying down $550 if the interest comes out to be $50.
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here are mine! (i'm supposed to be working through DD's nap, but clearly that's not happening! :P)
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@mrskc: Oh! That is fantastic! I can't wait to get home so I can share mine!
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Ok here are mine - I actually just changed up a few things based on ideas I got from this thread!
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Now I totally want this! But $60...?!
I know people have mentioned Black Friday deals, but I don't want to wait that long...Another problem we have with Excel is when we want to change/rearrange our categories - we have to change them on every sheet! (I know there are fancy Excel formulas and macros that would solve this problem for us, but we don't have the time to sit down and format our sheet like that
)
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@swurlygurl: there are other deals for sure! i grabbed it through steam (random software app) when a bee posted here! i started with the 30 day trial first though.
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@swurlygurl: I know it might take a little longer, but you could put a little bit of money away each month, start your own YNAB category. Think of it as, the beginning of new beginnings.
hahOk, here are our categories!
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Here are mine, I took out some of the personal info but you get the gist!
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Is there somewhere to input your monthly income? Or do you have to input that manually? (Like, I get paid bimonthly, so could I get it to drop my paycheck in the budget automatically? Right now I'm budgeting for a whole month based on two week's pay...)
Nevermind! I think I figured it out. I'm assuming it drops into the budget only when you actually schedule it to (i.e. when I get paid on Fridays)
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@mrswin: YES! I have mine set up by weeks then date. hahaha It's so helpful to see when everything is coming out in succession.
I also love the app feature. I love the live real time aspect of it.
@swurlygurl: I got it for $14.99! Someone just posted the same deal about 6 weeks ago. Both were via Steam so I would perhaps check there frequently?
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@locavore_mama: I could get behind that price! I'll have to keep my eyes open
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I forgot to take a screenshot, so I'm just going to type them out:
Groceries
Gas
Household Goods
Breakfasts and Lunches (Me)
Breakfasts and Lunches (DH)
Restaurants and Bars
Clothing and Salon
Health and ExerciseMortgage
Cell Phones
Gas/Electric
City Utilities
Cable/InternetHomeowners Insurance
Car Insurance
HOA Fees
Vehicle Registration
HealthcareSubscriptions
Fun Money (Me)
Fun Money (DH)
Entertainment(Pets)
Food/Stuff
Medical and Emergency
DaycareCar Maintenance
Home Maintenance
Home Improvements/Decorating
Birthdays and Holidays
Christmas
Unexpected ExpensesBuffer
Electronics Replacement
Car Replacement
VacationGiving
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@mrswin: holy crap! Your bus passes are expensive. Our's are $96.00 right now and I'm totally annoyed that they increased it recently because I don't feel like I'm seeing any improvements in service at all!
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@.twist.: Sorry I didn't answer your question last night but I think paying the $600 ($50 to interest and $550 to the debt) makes sense especially if you are trying to come up with a "set" amount to put against it.
Our passes increase in price every year but it is for the subway/busses/LRT so its not too bad. We rarely drive and don't have to pay for parking downtown daily ($25-$30) which would add up to way more -
@Mrs. High Heels: haha! I love that you put "state farm" instead of just life insurance.
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@mrswin: Ours are for LRT/Busses. We don't have a subway, but I still feel ripped off! HA.
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@.twist.: Haha, you have a meme up your sleeve for everything! Yea I indicated state farm bc it makes it easier for me to remember where our life insurance is coming from vs our car insurance, etc. We get life insurance from state farm, and car insurance from AAA so I didn't want to confuse the two when they hit our checking account!
@Espion: Yep, you got it! You input your monthly income manually, but only when it actually hits your bank account. The idea behind YNAB is, you don't "forecast" your budget, you budget based on money you already have.
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@swurlygurl: I'll definitely alert you when I come across a deal - I usually post about the YNAB deals whenever they come up!
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I love this thread... I wish we could keep it going forever!
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@Mrs. High Heels: Hmmm, so I can't schedule it to drop in every two weeks? (I.e. It magically appears on Friday vs I have to input it this Friday.) I guess I wonder the same thing about recurring bills, like the mortgage.
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@Mrs. High Heels: That makes total sense. Our life insurance is tied in through our mortgage and our car/home insurance is through someone else. They don't get mixed up really, but if they did I'd be making the same notes!
@Espion: Yea, you only want to budget money already sitting in your bank account. The goal is to pretty much never have to use credit for anything! It takes the guess work out of your life so that there are very few/limited surprise expenses.
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@Mrs. High Heels: Oh, we can. We can. Look, even Ryan thinks it's possible.
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@Espion: You can have reoccurring transactions, but you will have to approve them once them money is deposited into your account.
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@Espion: Oh yes you can do that! I have a few recurring transactions scheduled. So you can schedule it to do 1st and 15th of the month or something like that.
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@.twist.: Oh em geeeeeeeeee.... insert ::drooly smiley:: here
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My husband and I are thinking about starting YNAB. Can anyone give me an idea of whether it's a hassle to get up and running? I have a pretty good record of what our monthly and yearly/quarterly expenses are already.
Would you recommend watching the videos and doing the e-mail course before getting started, or is it pretty intuitive?
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@My Only Sunshine: I started the free trial last night (in hopes that it will go on sale Labor Day) and it is pretty intuitive. I'm definitely going to watch the videos, though.
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@My Only Sunshine: Because I budgeted a similar way before YNAB, I didn't find the set up to be complicated. The actual software is easy to install and it runs beautifully. I think I mentioned it in the other thread, but my biggest learning curve with YNAB was learning NOT to forecast a budget, and rather, to budget with the money IN my bank account (not money I was expecting to have).
I, personally, found the emailing course to be helpful and I think I did watch the start up video, which I also found helpful. I know there are webinars and the forums are incredibly informative. There is really no lack in information on how to do it right.
They give a Month free trial, which I did religiously, and it really helped sway my opinion to actually buy it.
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@.twist.: @Mrs. High Heels: Thank you!
@.twist.: The hardest part I'm finding is wrapping my head around the fact that I'm budgeting for two weeks, not a month, because I get paid every two weeks. Most my major bills drop at the end of the month instead of the beginning. I'm trying to figure out if it makes more sense to be in the negatives (over budget) and let it work itself out at the end of the month, or conspicuously budget for two weeks at a time and let the rollover take care of the major bills at the end of the month...
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