Based on the blog post I just downloaded and am setting up the free trial. Anyone else starting out? I know I had a thread a while ago about not liking mint.com so I am hoping this is different/better.
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Not just starting out.. but I figured I'd chime in in case anyone has any questions. We've been using it on-and-off for 2 years, and got really serious about it just over a year ago. It's awesome to be able to look back and see an entire year's worth of how we spent $$ and where we can improve.
There is a bit of a learning curve (IMHO) but if you stick with it it's REALLY worth it. We got my mom hooked on it and she's been an excel-charter for many many years. DH and I are 'barely scraping by' financially, but have still been able to get a pretty substantial emergency fund and savings going. Subscribe to the newsletter too! Lots of good ideas in there.
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@Thehistoryofus: check out the YNAB forums too - I had some questions too like how to reconcile my accounts, etc... and found it very helpful - http://www.youneedabudget.com/support
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@thismustbetheplace: I may totally pick your brain! I just got it installed and kinda set up today.
Do I have to manually import my bank accounts or can I somehow do that automatically?
Also, is there a way to carry my January budget over to February?
@Mrs. High Heels: Thanks, thats a great tip.
So far, I love that I can split transactions over two budget categories. I don't think you can do this on Mint. So when we go to Walmart and buy baby stuff and groceries it all falls in the appropriate category.
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You have to manually import your statements by downloading it and saving it as a quicken or other type of file.
You can carry over your budgeted amounts by clicking on the little "lightning" sign on the right column of that month... just click "budget values used last month".
I love the split transaction feature too!
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woah. this looks really interesting. We need a new computer so I'm subscribing until we get one.
Currently we just do our budget in a spreadsheet.
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@Mrs. High Heels: Thanks!!! I really should take the webinar, luckily there is one tonight from 8-9pm!
You can do a carry over here right? So if I budget $20/month for the dog, it will carry over and I will have $40 next month if I don't spend the money this montH?
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@Mrs. High Heels: I remember in the old version when I was a teen, we manually entered each and every transaction... Do you still have to do that? You said something about importing statements?
oh and agreed! I loved the split transaction too - especially since trips to target often include, home, clothes, grocery, etc!
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I saw the blog post and it definitely piqued my interest. We started Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and we are still trying to find a good way to budget and track our spending.
I'm a teacher and only get paid once a month in the middle of the month. Is there anyway I could budget paycheck to next paycheck or is it just first of the month through the end of the month?
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@Thehistoryofus: I need to take a webinar too! Hoping I can do that sometime this week.
And yes, it automatically carries over! If you expand your screen (at least for MACs), it'll show you three months at a time so once you start playing around with it more you'll see how everything carries over. Also, if you end up with a negative balance in one of your categories you can choose to have it deduct from next month's category, or from your overall available budget amount. I've been so obsessed with this app ever since I downloaded it!
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@Mrs. Pen: I chose to manually input everything, but there is an option to import statements too. You just don't "link" accounts and it doesn't automatically pull from your other accounts the way that Mint.com does. I like it that way though.
@Boopers: Yes, you can still budget paycheck to paycheck, but the goal of this app is to eventually to get you to a point where you've built enough of a "buffer" so that you can start budgeting based off last month's income instead of this month's income.
I started the app mid-month, but if you can wait a few days until Feb 1st, I think it'll be easier to setup everything starting from the 1st of the month!
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I downloaded it last night and set up my budget and I'm SO excited! We've been using a spreadsheet for a few years, but mostly it just served as a reminder of when bills were do and a place to mark if they'd been paid. I think this will really help us designate every dollar to SOMETHING. I'm probably most excited that DH can use it on his phone and see where our money is going. I take care of all the finances so the poor guy is really clueless to what we have each month unless he asks.
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I tried it months ago and I didn't like the syncing issue. I would import my bank statements but things wouldn't match up. It was rather annoying and I spent more time trying to match things up than actually budgeting.
Good overall software but just some little things that made budgeting a hassle. At the end of my one month trial, I felt like going back to excel. Excel is annoying and complicated but YNAB was just too complicated.
Maybe I should give them another shot and try importing it in manually. Also, maybe it's an issue with how my bank export data.
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I did the free trial then we changed up how the our paychecks were deposited and I got all messed up! I need to start over!
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@bluestriped bee: interesting. I would love to hear more about what got messed up before I go buy the software.
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I downloaded the app called "Spending" and I'm in love with it! The best thing is it's free!
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I downloaded ynab after reading the post. Seems cool but still figuring it out. I have Dropbox on my iPhone...can't figure out how to use it with ynab?
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@matador84: we're you able to download the app even thou you are still in the free trial?
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Do I go thru the App Store? I have it only in my MacBook right now. @thehistoryofus
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@Matador84 @thehistoryofus. I downloaded the "lite" version of YNAB on my iPhone through the App Store. It was free, but there was another one for $5. Once you open it, they ask for your Dropbox info and it syncs to the desktop version.
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You can rollover budgets and split transactions with Mint.com too.
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is there any way to split stuff by paycheque ? So far its all working out monthly but I have certain bills that go out with certain pays ....am I missing something?
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@Thehistoryofus: Try the 30 day trial. I think it was an issue with how my bank reported transactions. So I think it's a bank issue not a program issue. If I try the program again, I will have to manually import transactions.
For instance if I go to Target, my bank would report it as "HKKIDHKOJ [random letters, transaction ID possibly?]- Target of [city's name']- [date of purchase].
In YNAB, you are able to set up filters (?), where if they see Target in the transaction, they will import it into a certain category. Which is great. But the problem is, I, also, make payments to my Target Visa so those filters don't work. So categorization gets all wonky. My bank doesn't distinguish between in store purchases and bill payments. Yeah, I think it's a bank issue and I'll have to start importing the transaction manually.
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I downloaded the free trial tonight! I started playing around with it and I like it so far! I hope to get the swing of things quickly so I can aggressively pay down this debt! It is depressing seeing the total amount of money we pay towards debt each month
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@bloopers. I feel ya! Looking at that debt column is painful
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@Boopers: Debt sucks! I have a student loan and a car payment and even just those are terrible.
I am still trying to get the hang of it. I missed the webinar monday.
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Another question -
I like that it does not automatically update my accounts, but how often do you do this?
Should I try to go in weekly and upload my accounts?
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