Are there any other YNAB users here? Some local mom's suggested it to me and I'm learning the ropes, just wondering if anyone else here uses it and might have some tips or success stories!
I just started the free trial a couple weeks ago. So far, I really like manually entering everything and how easy it so to plan for future expenses. I've used Mint previous and never stuck with it for very long. YNAB just seems a lot more user-friendly.
I've been a DRer for almost a decade, and I started YNAB about 5 months ago. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!! The videos and tutorials are amusing and make sense, the app works great to keep all household users on the same page, and it's easy to use. As with anything, takes a little bit to set up. You can make it as complex or as easy as you want.
The first time I set it up, I had budget line items for EVERYTHING, each utility individually, etc, and my budget was probably 50 lines long! That was a bit excessive. Now I made a new version that's a lot simpler. The great thing is you can remake your versions over and over and play with them until you get it just like you want it.
The customer service is great; I've emailed them about a few things and they respond quickly.
The most brilliant thing is the concept of living off last month's money. The goal is to build up a "buffer" of about 1 month's salary, then all the $$ that comes into the household in March gets sent to April's budget. So April 1st, you're not trying to predict what money will come in, you have an exact # on April 1st to build your zero based budget. THis never occured to me in all the years of DRing!
The app works like an online envelope system. For example, if you put $200 in the monthly gas budget, then when you pull up your app you see a green $200. Then you enter in your transaction right at the pump, and the number goes down (let's say $150). So when my DH and I both pull up our apps (which are linked with the home computer via Dropbox) our phones and the home computer both say $150. Eliminates the "I gassed up but forgot to tell you and now we're out of gas money" conversation.
It's also great if you're not sticking to 100% cash (try as I might, those pesky online purchases always tripped me up!).
After doing DR for so long I sometimes felt a bit burnt out and bored; that magic I felt when I first discovered his program is gone. But this software has rejuvinated me!! It's like falling in love again! (I'm a geek, I know)
Have been booking expenses for a few months, need to step I tip a bit and start using it better. Seems very much more useful and practical than other electronic money minding things we have used.
We have YNAB'ed for a month and we're loving it! I had trouble getting my husband on board with tracking our spending, but he loves the app! It was hard to get him to do zero-based budgeting. He was all hung on on projecting future income. But he's on board now and we are finding it much easier to co-ordinate the budget and tracking between two people. Two computers, two phones with apps, one YNAB budget. If I'm at the grocery store, I'll know that we have $50 left in our grocery "jar". We could never do it with cash; too disorganized. YNAB apps let us use the envelope/jar system while still using our bank cards.
Michelle
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