Author Topic: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?  (Read 18906 times)

Exhale

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Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« on: February 14, 2015, 08:46:33 AM »
Hello fellow MMMs,

Do you find that YNAB is worth the fee to use it? If not, what's your frugal option for charting expenses? I know some folks use Excel spreadsheets (if you'd be willing to share you categories that be much appreciated!).

Thanks!
Exhale

lizzzi

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2015, 09:29:47 AM »
I got it on a sale at Steam (thanks, whoever posted about that and made us aware), for $14.99. I was just getting ready to set up a paper and pencil method for 2015. I use YNAB to track my spending and to keep my day-to-day budget, and like it very much for that. But I keep my overall net worth in a speckled college composition book, and update it weekly. The emergency fund, the Vanguard account, the cash I have on hand in the house…are all tracked in my speckled notebook. So I'm using a self-designed hybrid method. What I like about YNAB is that you have to be very mindful of the day-to-day spending. This morning I'm paying the cell phone bill and I put $2.99 on my Amazon Prime for a summary of that "Retire Wild and Free" book that RebelSpy liked. So I'll have to open YNAB and manually enter both those expenses. It keeps me focused and mindful about what I'm spending and on what…doesn't let me get carried away with mindless online shopping…which I'm quite capable of doing. (Oh look! This Valentino scarf on sale from $355 to $129.99! I must have it!) (Yeah, right.) Anyway, I would not have spent $60, but $14.99 was a no-brainer.

minority_finance_mo

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #2 on: February 14, 2015, 09:43:08 AM »
I got the student version for free, but will definitely be paying for full access when I graduate. It's made me much more disciplined with my discretionary spending (especially food).

ShoulderThingThatGoesUp

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #3 on: February 14, 2015, 09:56:29 AM »
Just Mint and Personal Capital. I'm not sure what advantages people see in YNAB over that.

minority_finance_mo

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #4 on: February 14, 2015, 10:02:58 AM »
Just Mint and Personal Capital. I'm not sure what advantages people see in YNAB over that.

I use both of those for reporting how things went, but they don't have very UI-friendly budgeting features. I know for myself, if I have to click through 3-4 different steps to get to how much I have left in my food budget on my phone, I'll do it once or twice and never again. With YNAB, the app opens straight to my balance for each category. If I go over anything any month, I don't kick myself, I just shift budget from another variable category. This way I always hit my saving goals.

BooksAreNerdy

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #5 on: February 14, 2015, 10:27:00 AM »
YNAB allows you to plan ahead by rolling over balances in categories. So, you can set aside $25/mo and pay for something annually.

It is also a great forecasting tool. I have my budget lined out about a year in advance, figure in extra paycheck months, bonuses, etc. I have a line item in YNAB for vanguard investments and the forecasting is awfully fun.

2Birds1Stone

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #6 on: February 14, 2015, 10:33:54 AM »
I have a self made spreadsheet, that not only tracks net worth month to month, but monthly expenses, and spits out an average for the year as well in each category. Very useful.

nobody123

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #7 on: February 14, 2015, 11:09:54 AM »
We use Excel with around a dozen budget categories.  I am too paranoid to use anything that automagically ties my financial accounts together.  We charge as much of our expenses as humanly possible for the reward points, and we sit down once or twice a month to go over the credit card statements to allocate things to our budget buckets.  It takes maybe an hour.  We've never had a spending problem to get under control and agree on our family financial goals, so it works for us.  My wife is definitely not a down-and-dirty, budget to the penny, type person, so I think if we tried to do anything more complex, she'd be more likely to disengage from the process.

Marian

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #8 on: February 14, 2015, 12:09:05 PM »
I've gone ahead and paid for YNAB.  For me, it's so much easier to see exactly what all my dollars are doing and make sure none of my purchases are "forgotten".  The app is probably my favorite part of it- see exactly what's available to me when I'm out and about, and enter purchases as I make them, so I don't forget about them! 

All in all, the best thing I have gotten from YNAB is learning to look at what's available in my various categories rather than using my account balance as a measurement for whether I can afford something.

terran

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #9 on: February 14, 2015, 12:12:58 PM »
I think it is. You can use it for 30 days for free, so you can give it a shot and see what you think

johnny847

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #10 on: February 14, 2015, 12:26:43 PM »
I'm a student so I got it for free. I'm too vested into YNAB now to not pay it when I graduate.

I really like it. I have 103 accounts in YNAB now (30 something are "closed" accounts). I doubt I could keep all this straight in Excel.

AllieVaulter

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #11 on: February 14, 2015, 12:34:39 PM »
I just use a spreadsheet.  I've been using two category columns:  main (groceries) and a sub category (dairy).  But that's just because I was curious about how our grocery budget broke down.

Here's the categories I've got:
Groceries
Auto
Books
Clothes
Electronics
Entertainment (movies & music)
Fuel
Gifts
Home Improvement
Business Venture
Medical
Mortgage
Parking
Restaurants
Dog
Social
Tithes & Offerings
Hobbies
Transportation
Utilities (sub categories for Electric, gas, internet, cell phones)

Most of these categories are pretty small (parking, books, clothes, electronics, entertainment... to name just a few).  I chose to make our tracking pretty detailed because we've only been on MMM for about 6 months.  I want to track at least a year's worth of expenses closely and see if there are any big surprises.  (it's pretty arbitrary.  I just thought a year would cover all our sneaky spending like holidays and presents.)

It seems like a lot of work entering the values in by hand, but it's really not.  Just about every purchase you make gives you a receipt.  So I just keep the receipt and enter it when I get home.  Sometimes I might save them up for a week.  But once you start focusing on reducing your spending you'll find that it takes less time to enter your purchases because you're purchasing less!

BooksAreNerdy

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #12 on: February 14, 2015, 12:49:52 PM »
I have found that the newer to budgeting someone is, the more detailed the budget/more categories they have.

We have used YNAB for just over 3 years now. We have really pared down our categories.

They are-
Housing-
-mortgage
-utilities/internet/phone
-groceries
-misc

Transportation-
-gas
-insurance/taxes
-maintenance

Personal-
-gym/shoes
-clothes/hair
-kids
-dog
-entertainment
-gifts

Savings-
-emergency fund
-vanguard
(For these, I budget money into the categories, then when I make the transfer to vanguard, I enter it as an outflow in the budget so that the category balance is always zero at the end of the month)




gecko10x

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #13 on: February 14, 2015, 01:54:12 PM »
For us, the best $60 ever spent.

ender

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #14 on: February 14, 2015, 02:06:42 PM »
Didn't realize there was a free student version!

My wife and I are using it, we like it.

Student version would let us take advantage of a steam sale hopefully too :)

johnny847

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #15 on: February 14, 2015, 02:19:41 PM »
Didn't realize there was a free student version!

My wife and I are using it, we like it.

Student version would let us take advantage of a steam sale hopefully too :)
It's the same as the regular version. You just need to email them verification of student status, and they'll email you back a code good for one year

Exhale

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #16 on: February 14, 2015, 08:01:23 PM »
Thank you everyone for the helpful replies. I see that YNAB is going to be great for my brother who is ready to embark on his MMM journey and has a lot of work to do on his finances/budget (an added benefit will be, as Marian says, being able to look at "what's available in my various categories" to know if a purchase is affordable or not). Thanks BooksAreNerdy for the YNAB categories - I'll use those with my brother to set up his YNAB.

For me, because I'm a super bare bones minimalist, Excel is likely to be plenty (thank you AllieVaulter for the categories - I'll use that as my template).

Medeine

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #17 on: February 15, 2015, 02:34:27 PM »
As a newbie to budgeting and living within my means, let alone paying down debt and starting some actual savings, YNAB has absolutely changed my life.  If you're already on your way and just looking for where to further cut spending, IMHO there's nothing better to keep you accountable and find any "wasted" money.  It's also great for planning for irregular bills and dealing with irregular or uneven paychecks.

Steam does do sales - I missed the 75% off one-day sale, but still got it for 50% off right around New Year's (just in time to get started on my budgeting resolution).  They also offer a 34-day free demo and free classes that you can attend online - at the end of every class they give away a free copy.  So you could presumably just work your way through the classes until you won a copy!

-M

LadyStache in Baja

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #18 on: February 15, 2015, 03:01:24 PM »
So worth it!  It has helped me allocate my money.  Otherwise if I have a big bank balance, I used to think, "oh. Yippee, we can afford it lets go out to eat".  Now I know that even though it seems big, it's all allocated to essentials (car repairs, groceries, utility bills...) so I don't spend more than I should.  It's really revolutionized my finances. 

Runge

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #19 on: February 15, 2015, 03:02:17 PM »
I've used YNAB for over 2 years now, and it has been a fantastic tool to help me keep a hold of my finances. I still believe it's the best $60 I spent, and highly recommend it to those who are wanting to get their finances under control.

However, I do think there are diminishing returns the more financially adept a new YNAB user is. For those who are up to their eyeballs in debt, YNAB is an excellent tool to help you find out where you currently are with your finances, and will guide you day by day to a much more financially stable life. For those who already have their frugality muscles nice and toned, there still is some benefit that could be found, but it's likely not as life-changing.

Autodidact

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #20 on: February 15, 2015, 04:52:54 PM »
I tried the free trial, but quite simply did not understand YNAB.

I do all my accounts in 2 account books.

My daily book I write everything I spend for a given week (my week runs wed-tues) I write the date, how much, where and what. I do this daily after tea at the kitchen table whilst hubby and kids do the dish washing.

Once a week, Wednesday morning, I do the weekly round up. I have a second book and everything in the daily book gets transferred in categories. These are pretty wide catagories, as I have the daily book if I need to check. At this time I also add any online automatic payments, eg insurance etc.

I then look at what is left owing in the account...we have a line of credit mortgage which runs like a ruddy great overdraft....and mark it on a chart. Then we have a great visual of how our hard work is clawing our way up out of the hole and back into fresh air!

So all done on paper and I love it this way!


BrickByBrick

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #21 on: February 15, 2015, 05:04:08 PM »
I too have recently started using YNAB after seeing previous rave reviews here.  I emailed them for the free student license and barely 30 minutes later they emailed me back the one-year license key.  There was a bit of a learning curve for me but their online videos are great, and after a week or two I got it down.  I love it now, and have told all my friends about it especially if they're students.  During the next steam sale I will probably just go ahead and buy it.

Peony

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #22 on: February 15, 2015, 08:53:51 PM »

RecoveringCarClown

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #23 on: February 15, 2015, 09:24:56 PM »
Mint is free and really found I don't need anything more.  I used to use Excel prior and keeping it updated was a pain.  Since Mint is free, why not try it first?

votu

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #24 on: February 15, 2015, 09:31:29 PM »
I use Money Manager Ex.

ender

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #25 on: February 16, 2015, 06:29:55 AM »
Mint is free and really found I don't need anything more.  I used to use Excel prior and keeping it updated was a pain.  Since Mint is free, why not try it first?

Mint is reactive, not proactive.

It's good for "end of month, how was the month" type of planning.

YNAB is better for the "start of a month, how should this go" side.

aj_yooper

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #26 on: February 16, 2015, 07:12:47 AM »
I never tried Mint as I am unwilling to share my passwords.  We have used YNAB for about 2 years now and feel we have made gains in efficiency and focus by using it.  Buy it on sale or through the YNAB thread and save some money.   

I am hoping to get our son to use it too. 

tarheeldan

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #27 on: February 16, 2015, 07:13:51 AM »
I use Quicken, because it does a lot (batch transaction downloads, budgeting, balance projections, tax estimation, retirement plan, investments) and allows for a level of manual control and detail you don't get on Mint. It also produces great customizable reports. Can't say how it compares to YNAB as I dont have experience with it but thought I'd throw out another option.

FOBStash

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #28 on: February 16, 2015, 07:43:01 AM »
Mint + Excel

I track our networth and cash flow statement in Excel. Every month I download our expense from Mint to plug in the expense section of the cash flow statement. At month end we review Excel and see what can be optimized. Method works and helped bumped up our savings to +50%. Tried ynab but didn't get it plus hubby doesn't want to proactively budget (he's naturally mustachian so non-issue).

Exhale

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #29 on: February 16, 2015, 08:12:25 AM »

Mint is reactive, not proactive.

It's good for "end of month, how was the month" type of planning.

YNAB is better for the "start of a month, how should this go" side.

Very helpful distinction - thanks Enderland. As a MMM newbie, my brother will definitely need the  "start of a month, how should this go." The challenge is that he's a couple years into being a single parent (widower) and, understandably, feels overwhelmed by everything. So I'm trying to find a gentle effective system that I can set up for him. Ideally he'd manage it, but maybe I should do it with him.

Señora Savings

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #30 on: February 16, 2015, 08:37:04 AM »
I used a free app called Goodbudget for a while.  It's your basic manually entered envelop system.  It gives you all the categories on the front page, etc.  Once I fixed my spending problem I went to two budget categories, money spent and money saved.  I'd check out free options before shelling over cash. 

JLee

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #31 on: February 16, 2015, 09:14:35 AM »
I like YNAB - picked it up on sale for $14.99. I've used Mint on and off for years, but YNAB is much more flexible.

malligator

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #32 on: February 16, 2015, 10:22:15 AM »
YNAB changed my life. Best money I've ever spent. I've used Excel, Quicken, Mint, and still use Personal Capital, but none of those do what YNAB does.

wintersun

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #33 on: February 16, 2015, 10:24:19 AM »
I love YNAB.  I have not longterm used other money software so have no comparison but there is something about this that is addictive to me.  I love having the app on my phone, I love seeing how much money is left in a category that month, I am astonished at what I am learning about what we spend and it has completely made us rethink spending and our lifestyle. 

I do find the reports weak.  But I am in love with the rest of it.

I recently added investment accounts to it so I could have a whole picture but now that I have the phone app I feel nervous about someone seeing them so I may shift things a bit. 

I used to use a lined notebook but it would get super messy and was not great for changing info and comparing info.  Now I can immediately find out if I missed that insurance payment. 

I had a query from a small business lately about whether I was up to date with bill payments. YNAB helps me to look back and see dates bills have been paid, accounts used, etc in seconds. 

 Yes, I LOVE it.

sbdebeste

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #34 on: February 16, 2015, 10:33:40 AM »
GoogleDocs spreadsheet!

My categories last year, sorted by amount (rent/utils not included)

Health
Grocery
Restaurant
Transportation
Vacation
Technology (electronics/support)
Hobbies/Entertainment
Gym
Clothing
Alcohol
Laundry
Gambling
Kitchen/Bathroom
"Misc"
Grooming
Coffee
Business
Hardware

aj_yooper

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #35 on: February 16, 2015, 11:25:35 AM »
I do find the reports weak.  But I am in love with the rest of it.

I recently added investment accounts to it so I could have a whole picture but now that I have the phone app I feel nervous about someone seeing them so I may shift things a bit. 

You can lock the YNAB on your phone in addition to locking your phone.  That works for me.

I have my investment accounts off budget on YNAB and update them more or less monthly so I have a regular net worth summary.  I use the Income/Expense report as it yields, for me, a nearly 2 year history of spending, which is all documented. 

boognish

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #36 on: February 16, 2015, 12:01:42 PM »
I'm a big fan of YNAB, it's worked well for me. The app is great too, I enter all transactions on the go. Give the free trial a whirl if you're curious.

$60 every two years for a great product from (what appears to be) an ethical small company is very fair imo.

That said, Excel, Mint, or Personal Capital are all less expensive / free alternatives.

eyePod

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #37 on: February 16, 2015, 12:14:25 PM »
First, I think YNAB flourishes with couples. It's fantastic as an electronic envelope method. We do all manual entry too. I prefer it. Planning ahead $100 at a time is fantastic too. Oh, we have a wedding in a year? Let's start putting away $25 a month so we can cover all of the costs!

Huge believers in it. The syncing between devices is awesome and the graphical interfaces are really cool too. We do an end of year "holy crap we spent a lot here" meeting to find extra money to spread around.

We bought it full price, and it was absolutely worth it.

eyePod

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #38 on: February 16, 2015, 12:15:49 PM »
I do find the reports weak.  But I am in love with the rest of it.

I recently added investment accounts to it so I could have a whole picture but now that I have the phone app I feel nervous about someone seeing them so I may shift things a bit. 

You can lock the YNAB on your phone in addition to locking your phone.  That works for me.

I have my investment accounts off budget on YNAB and update them more or less monthly so I have a regular net worth summary.  I use the Income/Expense report as it yields, for me, a nearly 2 year history of spending, which is all documented.

I don't like having investments on YNAB since it kind of defeats the purpose. You're not allocating the money at all, so where is the benefit? Plus it fluctuates without you doing anything. I keep my investments in a spreadsheet and use YNAB for planning and then tracking my spending.

boognish

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #39 on: February 16, 2015, 12:20:29 PM »
I don't like having investments on YNAB since it kind of defeats the purpose. You're not allocating the money at all, so where is the benefit? Plus it fluctuates without you doing anything. I keep my investments in a spreadsheet and use YNAB for planning and then tracking my spending.
You can budget for investments, and transfer funds into your off-budget investment accounts. It allows for a more accurate net worth. Whatever works for you tho.

johnny847

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #40 on: February 16, 2015, 12:26:17 PM »
I don't like having investments on YNAB since it kind of defeats the purpose. You're not allocating the money at all, so where is the benefit? Plus it fluctuates without you doing anything. I keep my investments in a spreadsheet and use YNAB for planning and then tracking my spending.
You can budget for investments, and transfer funds into your off-budget investment accounts. It allows for a more accurate net worth. Whatever works for you tho.
I also like to look at the data on how much I invest. So long as I am still a ways away from FIRE, what's more important to me is contribution rate as opposed to my net worth. Net worth is affected by stock market crashes. My contribution rate is not. I want to make sure I"m contributing as much as I can to my investments.

staceydee

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #41 on: February 16, 2015, 07:48:35 PM »
Ynab is actually life saving tool...at least from a financial standpoint in my life... i seriously even with using mint for 4 plus years didnt realize that i was spending more than i make a month SMH....Until i started using mint here to help you save you can use my referal code to get $6 off the purchase price  http://ynab.refr.cc/NPKFKVC

good luck with your financial lifestyle

JLee

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #42 on: February 16, 2015, 08:54:01 PM »
I do find the reports weak.  But I am in love with the rest of it.

I recently added investment accounts to it so I could have a whole picture but now that I have the phone app I feel nervous about someone seeing them so I may shift things a bit. 

You can lock the YNAB on your phone in addition to locking your phone.  That works for me.

I have my investment accounts off budget on YNAB and update them more or less monthly so I have a regular net worth summary.  I use the Income/Expense report as it yields, for me, a nearly 2 year history of spending, which is all documented.

I don't like having investments on YNAB since it kind of defeats the purpose. You're not allocating the money at all, so where is the benefit? Plus it fluctuates without you doing anything. I keep my investments in a spreadsheet and use YNAB for planning and then tracking my spending.
I keep them there because I can get NW at a glance. I don't micromanage it, though - I just try to update my 401k / ESP once every pay period with whatever the new balance is. I don't track contributions specifically; I just do balance adjustments.

minority_finance_mo

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #43 on: February 17, 2015, 04:45:35 AM »
Just remembered one extra thing I love about YNAB that mint doesn't have: cash accounts! One of my side-gigs pays in cash, so before YNAB I saw that cash as "pocket/spending" money, since it didn't show up on Mint. It was definitely a psychological shift once I was accountable for that money too.

pancakes

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #44 on: February 17, 2015, 06:31:00 AM »
I use a google docs spreadsheet which I set up and find brilliant. I love that it easily allows multiple members of the household to add to it.

We have a sheet for each month where expenses are tracked and we also have an overall sheet where we tally up our net worth each month by noting the balances of our bank accounts, how much cash we are carrying and the value of any investments.

Our categories are:
Public Transport
Car
Grocery
Dining out
Work Lunch
Entertainment
Cafe
Work Coffee/cafe
Alcohol
Gifts/charity
Clothing
Cat
Hair/grooming
Medical
Misc
Utilities
Rent

johnny847

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #45 on: February 17, 2015, 08:02:50 AM »
I love YNAB, and am eagerly awaiting the online version. :D
I would despise the online version if it actually came into being! Part of the reason I use YNAB is I'm paranoid about security, and I don't want this kind of data floating around online, even if it is encrypted and behind all sorts of firewalls.

As you could guess, I do not sync my YNAB over Dropbox or something other service to my phone.

catccc

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #46 on: February 17, 2015, 02:07:43 PM »
I was the one that posted the last link for the steam sale... I got it 1/2 of during the 2013 black friday sale, and I've found that it has been well worth the cost.  And I had previously used excel, yodlee, and mint, all of which I liked, but not as advantageous as YNAB, IMO.

During the last steam sale, I actually bought a copy for my sister.  She's trying it out but hasn't come back to me raving about it.

I have also noted that had I used it for the 30-some day trial, I probably would not have purchased it.  It took me a couple months to learn and love it.

I continue to watch for sales because I really think the software is great and would recommend it to anyone trying to improve their finances.  And I bought it when we were already at a 50% savings rate, so it can help people in all sorts of financial situations.

If you can't seem to wait for a sale, others have mentioned you can get $6 off using a referral link.  There are plenty of them out there.  And there's another thread in "reader recommendations" where people post their referral codes ("I used Bob's, here's mine.")  It is likely if you post there someone will pick it up and that will be a $6 "rebate" on your purchase.

Quinny

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #47 on: April 01, 2015, 12:49:06 PM »
For those of you that use Ynab, if you're somewhat near Fi, how did you set up the money available in the budget when you first started?  I'Ve got a good buffer in my checking account, but I want to hide it from myself (essentially). Start with income for the month already available and put this month's income in as available for next month? Sorry if this has been asked elsewhere...I'm new to the forums and signed up specifically to ask this question! I won ynab yesterday at one of their webinars...as I see it, it's already saved me $60! :) thanks!

dorothyc

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #48 on: April 01, 2015, 01:49:35 PM »
Make a category called something like FI savings, then budget whatever you don't want to appear for regular expenses to that category. When you first start off, ALL of the money in your current on budget accounts gets allocated to various categories, and then those unspent category balances will roll forward into the following months.

If you want, you can also hide the FI savings category in the budget page, once you've budgeted money to it.

Quinny

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Re: Is YNAB worth the fee? If not, what do you use?
« Reply #49 on: April 01, 2015, 06:07:25 PM »
Exactly the advice I was looking for dorthyc, thank you!