How did you start using ynab?

[purple monkey]

Considering starting and wanted to get your story related to cost, likes, dislikes, etc.

[bmiles62]

I started using it about two years ago and it instantly gave me total control over my money. I respect those on here who do not need to budget their money but for me it was the first time that I had everything assigned  where it needed to go.  I am on Version 4 which is the version right before the one they just released. I plan not to upgrade at this point since it is working well.

[Tabitha]

I started using it about two years ago and it instantly gave me total control over my money. I respect those on here who do not need to budget their money but for me it was the first time that I had everything assigned  where it needed to go. .

I'm not the OP but I'd appreciate if you'd elaborate. I use Quicken to track all of our income and expenses, and our variations from our financial plan, but I don't feel we have total control. Total knowledge post-facto yes, but not control. I gather Mint is like quicken, Is YNAB different?

[bmiles62]

I think that is the difference. I feel like with Quicken you see were your money went but you do not tell it where to go. With YNAB it makes you give every dollar a job so at the beginning of your pay period you assign all of the dollars you will spend including savings, investments and sinking funds. (Sinking funds have really helped me the most.) Before YNAB I did not really save for things like property taxes, biyearly car insurance etc.  I know that was stupid but this software just made me look at differently. It is kind of an electronic envelope system. I also like the ability to input purchases from my phone. After I started using it I found extra money because I would no longer lose money due to not watching it. It also made me look at each category and try to reduce the cost if I could. Now if I need more money in a certain category I may take it from another category but I never spend more than I have and I do not borrow from savings unless it is a true emergency. For some reason that automatic financial muscle that everyones else seems to have on this site to manage their money does not exist for me. YNAB gave it to me. Using YNAB and changing my mind set due to reading MMM has given me the ability to pay off my debt and finally starting this year I will be able to max out my 401K and IRA.

[neo von retorch]

Does anyone know if there's a way to get a "classic" license? At this point, it seems like your only option is to pay $5/month into the future, forever. The old "pay $60 once" (or when it was on sale, $15) for the software no longer seems like an option.

[terran]

I started using it about two years ago and it instantly gave me total control over my money. I respect those on here who do not need to budget their money but for me it was the first time that I had everything assigned  where it needed to go. .

I'm not the OP but I'd appreciate if you'd elaborate. I use Quicken to track all of our income and expenses, and our variations from our financial plan, but I don't feel we have total control. Total knowledge post-facto yes, but not control. I gather Mint is like quicken, Is YNAB different?

YNAB is at it's core an envelope budgeting system. So while it does track where your money goes (like quicken or mint), the real point is planning where you want your money to go before hand by assigning money to different categories (planning), then spending money from those categories (tracking).

Does anyone know if there's a way to get a "classic" license? At this point, it seems like your only option is to pay $5/month into the future, forever. The old "pay $60 once" (or when it was on sale, $15) for the software no longer seems like an option.

I goolgle "how to buy ynab 4" and found this, so you could give it a shot: https://purchase.youneedabudget.com/

[catccc]

I really like YNAB, and I'm sad they've moved to this subscription model.  If you buy classic, please be aware that at some point in the future it will become abandonware, unless the company changes their plans.  I have researched alternatives that give me the control the YNAB does, and I'm kinda striking out.

I was never a budgeter before YNAB- I did a lot of look back analysis, and I saved a lot of my income (near half), but like others have said, YNAB gives me better control of my money.  The forward looking nature of the app has given me the info I need to modify spending when called for so I can reach goals  It also gives me the info I need so I can splurge.  I love it.  I also agree that the use of sinking funds has helped a lot.  I was already doing this to a limited extent, but YNAB kicked it up a notch for me.  I used to keep my checking balance quite low, throw everything else in savings, and then transfer back to checking when there was an intermittent bill (or vacation, or whatever.)  And I'd do these cash balance projections- okay, plane tickets for vacation are on the next CC bill, that's due on such and such date, payday is next Friday, and these other regular bills are coming out... so I have to transfer over an extra $300 for the tickets.   I have not done a cash balance projection to cover a bill since starting YNAB. 

While I agree at it's core it's an envelope system, there's more to it than that.  Because it's basis is double entry bookkeeping, it provides another level of assurance in that you cannot budget outside of the confines of the account balances.  This sounds stupid, but it's a basic thing that a lot of budgeting tools I've seen miss.

As an accountant, I love it. 

I don't want to, but I may shell out the dough for the annual subscription if push comes to shove.  When it goes unsupported and stops working, and I can't find an alternative...

[WingsFan4Life]

I read about it on reddit and decided to buy it for $15 on the perfect day to start a budget -  Jan. 1st, 2014, during a winter sale on Steam. As and accountant, I knew I could build a spreadsheet to do everything that YNAB does, but $15 is more than worth the time to build a spreadsheet that does everything. Not only that, it comes with an app where you can input transactions away from your computer. I hope they continue to support the mobile app for a long time, but I am sure at some point they will stop updating it to work with dropbox. At that point, I guess I will have to save my receipts until I get home.

[beantown]

I just started using YNAB 2 months ago. Unfortunately I only signed up for the trial in December, not realizing they were switching to a SAAS model. I've decided to keep paying the $5 a month charge, at least until I have a good sense of how much I'm spending and where it's going.

I turned to YNAB because I honestly had no idea where my money was going. My company expenses that were reimbursable were getting mixed up with my personal spending, and I was frustrated by the fact that I literally did not know how much I was spending per month. In the two months that I've used YNAB, my discretionary spending has decreased by around 15% and I hope to decrease it by another 5% in the next couple of months.

I like that with YNAB you can keep it at manual entry. It helps me evaluate whether a purchase was worth it, and keep notes on why I spent money in a certain way (example, I spent a lot of money at the beginning of January, but that was because family was visiting and I wanted to treat them). I feel like programs like Mint, while great in its own way, really doesn't create the connection between what I'm spending at the current moment and my month-end results. I hope that through using YNAB, I'll learn not only about where and how I spend money, but WHY.