7 thoughts on “All About the Scheduler (Whiteboard Wednesday)”

1. Great job! This is an area of YNAB that has caused me some confusion, so I’m glad you brought it up.

   You mentioned the name of it, so I thought I’d share my thoughts. I think calling it something like “Planned Future Transactions” would make more sense. In YNAB 3 it was a separate thing and called something by more of a technical term (i.e., what it does, rather than how a user would approach it). Right now, it’s a part of the transaction screen and “Scheduler” doesn’t really convey why I would use it.

   Also, if that section is only for “Planned Future Transactions”, why wouldn’t I just enter them in the register? Is the scheduler simply to ease manual entry and help in planning? In the training I was told that _no_ future transactions should be put in the register; that would throw off any balance reconciliation that was attempted between the budget accounts and the budget. I didn’t really understand that, but it would be nice to have some clarification on that.

   Thanks again, and looking forward to the iPhone app. Just to let you know, I would have paid $30 for it, so I’m happy for the discount.

   Reply ↓

2. @Jesse – Thanks for covering this Jesse! Much appreciated.

   @Michael – You are correct not to enter future transaction in the register, but that’s the great thing about the scheduler! You are entering them in the scheduler – which is really a holding area. The scheduler and the register, though they look the same, are two different things. As Jesse pointed out, the scheduler will send it to the register on the date that you determine. And yes, the scheduler is designed to ease manual entry. :)

   Reply ↓

3. Hello.
   Well, the Scheduler is a great thing, but in some cases it is not very comfortable. Now it is binded to every single account, so if you are paying the same bills from different accounts (sometimes it happens), then you must duplicate the same scheduled record. I imagine, that it could be more comfortable to work with, if it was a separate tab (like accounts, budget or reports) with all scheduled bills from different accounts in one place (easier to track all bills), or even stay like now with only one difference – additional ability to choose/change an account to pay from…
   And one more suggestion. As I remember, MS Money scheduler had ability to choose frequency like “Every first Monday of month” or “Every second tuesday of month”. It was quiet usefull, becouse some times scheduled time to pay bill of is weekend, and you may be late…
   Sorry for my mistakes.Thanks and good luck…

   Reply ↓

4. I use the scheduler function in YNAB 3 and Quicken 2009 Premier and gnuCash and, most important in the Excel/Calc ResourceAllocationPlanning spreadsheet (my RAP sheet) that tells me how much to specifically set aside for the non-monthly expenses that are coming as much as 12 months from now. I have 79 separate scheduled financial events that vary in frequency weekly, monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, semiannually, or annually. I effect I am able to not only balance my monthly cash flow but doing it while taking into account the expenses that are coming up to 12 months in the future. I do a monthly evaluation and correction(s) but I do not have big surprises. Cash Flow planning is looking ahead not looking at what you have done but looking at what you “know” will be coming, like Christmas, Birthdays, Anniversaries, Property Taxes, Fire Insurance, etc…Planning takes the bumps out of the financial road ahead.

   Reply ↓

5. Thanks for reminding me of the scheduler. It’s not something I really notice hiding all the way down there!

   Since your post I’ve started to use the scheduler for my minimum credit card repayments. I allocate a lot of cash towards reducing my credit card debt each month, but if I pay it off the credit card too early in the month the minimum payment gets automatically taken out on top of what I pay. I don’t want that, because I budget a set amount each month, minimum payment included.

   So with the scheduler, I put in what the minimum payment is and when it’ll be deducted from my account. Once I see its cleared, I can then go ahead and transfer the balance of my monthly allocation without having to worry about any more being taken.

   Reply ↓

6. Thanks, Jesse for clarification on the scheduler feature!

   I am a big fan of your idea of making the scheduler in a calendar format. While I am working towards my buffer I find that I am using a separate calendar template to see the bigger picture (ie expenses that occur at the end of the month that I don’t have $ available to “budget” yet).

   Perhaps, as Mindaugas suggested, you could schedule the transactions below the register in a each account, and a separate “calendar tab” would show all scheduled transactions for all of your accounts.

   Kudos on the iPhone app release!

   Reply ↓

7. A “Calendar” for the scheduler would be huge. It’s the only reason I’m still using Quicken. We’re not to the point of having one month’s pay built up, so seeing what expenses are coming up before the next paycheck is crucial.

   The Calendar in Quicken shows what transactions are happening one each date, plus there is a running total at the bottom of each day. So if you start with $100, have a $50 expense, a $15 expense, and a $25 income, all you see is the total at the bottom: $60. More importantly – when you’re OVEREXTENDING yourself you see the dreaded RED totals.

   Also, in Quicken you can choose which accounts are included in the Calendar (similar to YNAB’s on-budget/off-budget terminology).

   Until we get to one month’s pay in the bank we have to live and die by the bill calendar. It’s the reality check my wife and I need to keep us on track.

   Please make a Calendar in YNAB so I can once and for all be done with Quicken. :)

   Reply ↓