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Hi! I wanted to purchase this, but what is the difference between buying it from YNAB.com and the app store? If I buy the desktop version, can I get the app for free and sync it?

@cmomma17: @T.H.O.U.: I hope it meets expectations and that you guys get a lot out of it!

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I agree with others that the initial setup can be a bit confusing, especially if you start off with a category called "Pre-YNAB debt" that they automatically create if you have credit card balances. We pay off our full balances monthly, so we eliminated that right away.

A few things that made ynab easier for me:
- Starting it at the 1st of the month. It was just easier for me to start a fresh budget at the beginning of the month.
- Manually inputting transactions. It helped give me more visibility into what was going in/out at all times. I probably enter transactions every other day.
- Reading the blog, the forum, and there are tutorial videos on Youtube too that I found helpful. I've never taken any of the live classes, but I want to.

I LOVE how we can plan ahead so easily now. We have a master category for "wants", so instead of a random major purchase out of nowhere, we have money set aside for it, even if it's just $20/month! For example, right now we're trying to save up for a new laptop, so we've been putting money aside for it monthly... and I love watching the numbers roll over and add up each month.

I LOVE the roll over feature. LOVE LOVE. If I overspend in one category and it goes in the red, I like choosing whether to deduct from that specific category next month, or from the overall budget.

If you have any other questions I'm happy to answer them since I've been using it for awhile now.

@cmomma17: you can set it up and play with it... and there's a "start fresh" feature that allows you to wipe everything out if you wish.

i did play with it right away when i got mine too and it was sometime mid-month, but i found it hard to make all my numbers match my accounts, but try it and see if it works for you! if not, just hit the "start fresh" button on the menu bar and restart at the 1st of august.

@cmomma17 we are and it's AWESOME!!!!! such a good feeling.

ETA we always had enough money (both working & no kids or mortgage yet) but the way we put everything into savings, retirement, investments, etc. before YNAB and the whole living off last month's income made it stressful sometimes at the end of the month. now there is just no stress and we are still doing all that. plus we are more aware of things like groceries because it's so easy to see.

@Mrs. High Heels: I hope you dont mind me asking you a question here directly, but I will also try to read on the ynab support.

I have 8 scheduled transactions. Bills that are paid automatically like my daycare payment. However, I don't know how to get them to move up as a transaction but not cleared yet. My balance on my account is high but thats only because daycare hasn't been paid yet.

@cmomma17: Here's a screenshot - just the numbers will be deleted:

@T.H.O.U.: Oh I see what you mean. Can you manipulate the date so that it shows up earlier on the budget? It'll probably only move up after it hits the scheduled date you've set.

I tried doing scheduled transactions, but I hated waiting for it to show up in my accounts, so I decided to just manually do them. That's just me though.

Just downloaded it @CMOMMA17

Question - I put in all of my monthly bills/categories, but then it asked me for the current balance of my checking account. Now it looks like I'm majorly negative on the account. How can I set this up for mid-month without having to start from scratch on Aug 1?

Sidenote: how is Aug 1 a real thing in 3 weeks?! Did summer not JUST start??

@cmomma17: No, I didn't even know there were videos & tbh I couldn't even get it downloaded (idk what's happened to me.... I didn't always have DH so I know I used to know how to do this stuff) lol.

We'll sit down & look at it this week!

@runsyellowlites: Yes, we'll be here to field any questions you might have! I know it's confusing to setup and get the hang of it, but once you get over that hurdle it's so easy and I promise you'll love it. I spent the first week just browsing through the site, googling questions I had, looking at youtube videos, etc. I was OBSESSED. It was fascinating, and I was determined to make it work. We'll help you!! The classes are great, and I suggest you subscribe to their newsletters too!

I love it! It definitely is confusing at first. I was able to set mine up mid month. It was really confusing for me because we pay everything on credit cards and pay it off every month so that was confusing starting with all the cc debt.

I've been using it since Feb and it's really helped me get a handle on our finances. I recommend putting transactions in as soon as possible. I usually do it in my phone right away. For a while I was getting behind, DH was forgetting transactions, and I was having to comb through my cc statements to enter transactions I forgot. I got on DH and he's better now but I still log onto his Discover account to make sure he put it all in there.