I’ve spent quite a bit of time on a new setup guide for the YNAB system and am happy to say that one is finally here. I’ve combined both YNAB and YNAB Pro into one guide, while also talking quite a bit about each of the Four Rules. My hope is that greater understanding will lead to more implementation. I also really made an effort to walk new user’s through the nitty-gritty of getting started, step by step.

Download the new Setup Guide

Thanks to Georg, Karin, and Erin for their questions and helpful comments that spurred some behind-the-scenes changes to YNAB 3.0 to bring about 3.1.

• The “Transfer” inflow has been removed. See this post over at the forums for the long answer. The short answer is that it was causing more confusion than it was worth.
• The “Date Format” option that was necessary for International users is now gone. It was annoying me from the get-go and, thanks to a few user tips, I ended up using a slicker way to get the job done. International (dd/mm/yyyy) formats (or any other date format for that matter) will be happy to know that this extra step is gone.
• An outflow category can now use amounts entered as inflows (as in the case of refunds, rebates, or reimbursements). YNAB Pro did this, and I thought it best that YNAB followed suit.
• The inflow column is now the last column in the Register. It’s basically switched places with the Outflow column. Reasoning: there are many more outflows than inflows. This will save you from having to hit an unnecessary extra tab every time you enter an Outflow.
• The percentages as calculated on the Overview sheet were only triggered with Primary income. The denominator was also Primary income as well. This dated back to when I was the sole user of YNAB (and it didn’t have a name, except for ‘the budget’ in our house); I wanted to see what percentage of my Primary income was taken by XYZ expense. This has confused a lot of users who expect the percentages to add to 100% (a fine expectation). Now the category percentages’ denominator is the total expenses.
• Those who do switch to 3.1 will notice a bit of increased Registry entry speed. I had inadvertently specified an unnecessarily large database range for the Register. It needed to be literally one fifth the size. I didn’t know this was affecting performance but it was. Lag time between Registry entries should now go *almost* undetected.
• The Income statement has now changed to a more generic “Inflows” and “Outflows” label. Doing this completely eliminated the need to mark certain categories with asterisks. The additional small bit of value added was not worth the investment on the user’s part.
• No need to mark savings categories with asterisks any more (see above).
• Printing on the budget sheet will now give you a print out of all the categories and their current balances. This will be handy for sticking the list on your fridge periodically.
• Everyone has probably noticed that the balances don’t add across until the end of the year. The reason I don’t do that is because the Budget sheet looks very, very scary when there are numbers flying everywhere. So, to that end, the original YNAB only tallied the new balance once that month had started. That is annoying. Everyone knows that a good budgeter likes to get the budget set up a few days in advance. So, the balances now tally one week prior to the new month starting.
• The prior balance column has been eliminated. It served one purpose, for one time only and wasn’t worth the hassle. From now on, if you do have balances when starting YNAB, you just enter a Supplemental inflow and budget them.
• A default category called Buffer is now included with the rest of the default categories. It will help people transition from a life without Rule #1, to one of bliss and financial peace…really.
• There’s no longer a need to enter a start date. Its sole purpose was to calculate the monthly average on the Overview sheet. The first transaction entered in the Register now determines what the denominator is for computing the average.
• I shaved two pages off the setup guide, and then decided to redo the entire thing, which added about 25 pages to it. I dig into the rules in a lot of depth, discuss savings categories to a great degree, and try and paint the picture that a life without YNAB is a life of…well…less money.
• Added another default 300 or so lines to the Register.

To grab the latest version, shoot me an email and I’ll get you a download link.

I know there are some that are visual learners. Hopefully this diagram will help you understand YNAB’s concepts a bit closer. With all the fanciness of software, it all comes down to these four principles, put into practice month after month after month.

Not only is my wife a phenomenal cook, she’s also a phenomenal grocery bargain shopper. After a lot of nagging, pushing, prodding, and begging, I finally convinced her to write a small article about how to keep your grocery bill consistently low. Her take on bargain grocery shopping:

Julie: Well, the first thing with bargain shopping is to know what groceries your family eats and enjoys. If your apples always go bad, there is no reason to buy a lot of apples just because they are on sale. You end up losing money even if they were a really good deal. So, once you have a list of things you know your family enjoys you can keep a look-out for those items in the grocery stores weekly circular.

The next step is really knowing what constitutes a “good deal.” If you have a list of those things you know you and your family enjoy and would really eat, then those are the first things you should take note of in the weekly circular. It will only take a few weeks for you to get a really good idea of what good prices in your area for the various different items you buy regularly.

Another way to save money when grocery shopping is to plan meals around those items that are on sale. Make a list of those things on sale, then go through your recipes and cookbooks to find recipes using those items. You can and should of course, stock up on those things you know you use frequently (just maybe not that week) and are on sale that week. At the same time, you should keep in mind that things will go on sale again and not to be too excessive in your stocking up.

Once you know what things you would like to buy and know what price is a good deal, you can make a comprehensive list of all those things on sale and their prices. To make things a lot easier, I generally take this list and price match everything at Wal-Mart. I know many of you may think Wal-Mart already has the absolute lowest prices on EVERYTHING, but one week of this and you will think otherwise. Wal-Mart is the cheapest on many items on my list, but I have save hundred of dollars on items where they are not the cheapest at all. Generally I have found they are the cheapest on pasta, a lot of canned goods, generic sauces, frozen fruit, cereals, and a lot of convenience items. However, a sale at another store on these same things can occasionally beat their prices. On the same token, there are still groceries at Wal-Mart that are almost always cheaper somewhere else, so you just have to be aware and learn. You can also choose to go to the stores individually that have the sale items you would like. Sometimes that might be more convenient if you live nearby several grocery stores or would prefer not to make one really long trip to Wal-Mart.

That’s pretty much bargain grocery shopping in a nutshell. Learn what you buy, figure out a “good deal” on those items, plan around the sale items, and don’t think Wal-Mart is the cheapest for everything.

My hope is to get a lot of user feedback regading the ability to print in YNAB Pro. We need to think about utility and simplicity. Join the discussion over at the forums: What Would You Like to Print in Pro?