Author Topic: Thinking of putting stopping YNAB... how do you "budget"?  (Read 3107 times)

FuckRx

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Thinking of putting stopping YNAB... how do you "budget"?
« on: January 18, 2015, 01:13:30 PM »

I've had YNAB for 2-3 years and loved it!! It totally transformed my financial life. I never did rule 4 because I always had a large buffer in my account.
I have a student loan for like 90k at a really low interest rate so for now I'm paying minimum on that.
I pay $800/mo rent.
I don't own a car.
I have occasional due for licensing and material I need to do my work.
I have basic utilities, internet, food expenses. No healthcare expenses.
Groceries in the past been around $250 (used to be $400)
Entertainment around $400 (used to be $1,500)
Eating out about $400 (used ot be $600)

With budgeting the mindset is (or my mindset at least) "I will spend up to this budget that I set, I will try my best not to go over this amount". However, 90% of the months I have failed, usually I go over in entertainment and groceries.
But my intention is to just not spend on anything unless I absolutely need it. If I can do that then I don't have to budget right?

how do you guys do your budgeting/spending?
I'm thinking of just stopping YNAB for a few months and see how this method goes.

Rezdent

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Re: Thinking of putting stopping YNAB... how do you "budget"?
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2015, 01:37:44 PM »
I don't really budget so much as track what I spent last month using old - fashion pen and paper.
Seems like I spent more when I allocated it in advance.  I would plan to spend XX for groceries or whatever and - yup. I always spent it.  My expenses have been dropping anyway so I can't say for certain that it is due to my change in methods.

FuckRx

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Re: Thinking of putting stopping YNAB... how do you "budget"?
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2015, 01:52:50 PM »
I think I'm getting the same feeling about spending. When I budget I sort of spend more.

Zikoris

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Re: Thinking of putting stopping YNAB... how do you "budget"?
« Reply #3 on: January 18, 2015, 01:57:23 PM »
"Don't spend" is a good system. Also, when we're considering buying something, Step 1 is to look for alternatives. Recent example - our bread machine crapped out and we were considering buying either a new one or a stand-alone mixer with a dough attachment. The obvious alternative was making dough by hand, so we went with that. I was also thinking of buying a container to put vegetable scraps in for composting when we started that up last fall, but found a pitcher with a very tight-fitting lid in my cupboard that serves very well.

We do budget for groceries because we've found a dollar amount there that gets us all the things we enjoy without spending a crazy amount ($230), and I wouldn't want to go either a lot higher or lower, because both would impact us negatively - though we'll see how much produce we can manage to grow this year.

FuckRx

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Re: Thinking of putting stopping YNAB... how do you "budget"?
« Reply #4 on: January 18, 2015, 02:32:44 PM »
I'm hijacking my own post but the entertainment budget... so yea work in progress:
-eating out with friends, dinner, drinks, appetizers, tip split between everyone, $30-50
-going to a bar with friends, $10-20
-taking a yoga class, rock climbing class, tennis lesson, windsurfing lesson $20-150
-sitting at a cafe to read, get dessert coffee $5-10
-watch movie, $4-10
-museum, $5-20

these are the ones I'm

FuckRx

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Re: Thinking of putting stopping YNAB... how do you "budget"?
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2015, 03:27:24 PM »

it would be, sadly I repeat the above expenses a few times a month :)

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!