Whew!

After days of working through all of the awesome success story submissions, we finally, finally have the winners!

We’ll building out a lot of these success stories to feature over the coming weeks (years — there are a ton and they will blow your mind, and make you cry.) Without further ado, here are the winners with a quick photo, and a highlight from their success story:

Amazon Kindle (2)

Diane Simmler & Family (Maine)
Here I am having used YNAB for four years (48 months) and I’m so excited!! In 2007 we paid off our vehicle loans. Then by September of this year we paid off the last of our $32,000 in credit card debt! We have $1000 emergency fund, and $3000 saved toward renovating our kitchen. After getting out of debt, our first goal was to save for matching furniture for the living room; it was going to be a while. On a drop-off visit to Salvation Army, however, I saw a couch and loveseat that almost exactly matched what I was planning to buy! I snatched them up for $250 and started saving for the kitchen.

I’m excited about what this next year is going to bring….financially and otherwise!

Brian Cassin (Massachusetts)
Feelings…. At first I was in shock. Once I got how it worked and was following the principles I realized how serious my overspending was. I wanted to stick my head back in the sand. But I kept going. I started to see areas were I wasn’t being disciplined enough in my spending. I also felt mad at first because I had to put limits on my spending habits. It felt constraining, then as I got more into it, I started to feel relief, because I knew EXACTLY where my money was going. I felt more relaxed because I am now in control of what my money does.

Apple iPad (3)

Jeremy and Diana Ashley (Minnesota)
When we first heard about YNAB we were in desperate need of some financial organization. We had about $33,000 in debt not including our mortgage. We were in the middle of the adoption process for our daughter, which would be adding upwards of $20,000 to debt. Jeremy was in school, completing his Master’s Degree, struggling to pay tuition without accruing any new debt…

…After nearly 2 years of using YNAB, we have been able to pay our adoption expenses without accruing any debt, as well as reduce our debt by over $20,000. We were able to completely pay Jeremy’s tuition and he earned his Master’s Degree without taking out any student loans.

Ruben and Wanda Romero (Pennsylvania)
Once we had a plan in place, we knew what we had to do and we could see the light at the end of the tunnel. We sat down several times a month and talked about how much money was coming in and how it was being spent. We decided together how every dollar would be spent. We stopped pointing the finger at the other person and talked about real and perceived problems. We started managing our money instead of it managing our relationship. We started to trust each other and rekindle those feelings we had for each other when we fell in love 44 years ago. We started using envelopes to manage our cash. We stopped using charge cards.

To help get us out of the financial hole we were in and to allow Ruben to contribute more to his retirement plan, we started delivering two early morning newspapers routes. Our youngest son earned his spending money helping us to deliver papers. Once he went off to college, the paper route money helped to pay his college tuition. We knew it wouldn’t be forever, but YNAB allowed us to see clearly what we needed to do.

Charlie Butter and Family (Minnesota)
Before YNAB I lived in the “paycheck to paycheck” world… always worried about the next payment due and wondering if I had enough to avoid another overdraft. I wasn’t sure what my balance was and worried that I might get caught in the “overdraft snowball” that swallows you up and buries you deeper and deeper in debt and frustration…

Almost one year to the day since starting YNAB, I’m happy to say that we were able to stop the foreclosure and get back on top of our mortgage. We also started paying down some pesky debt (totaling between $10-12,000) which will be completely gone by June, 2011. We are one month from having our full buffer in place at which time we feel we’ll have come full circle and be in complete control of our finances.

Apple Macbook Air

And now, for the grand prize…

the winner of the brand new Macbook Air…

Angela DeMoura (California)
Without the clear picture that YNAB has provided, this period of unemployment could have been devastating. What is it? 70% of all marriages that fail cite finances as the number one cause of stress? Or maybe the percentage is even higher – but honestly, thanks to YNAB, we have been able to weather this storm. We know what we have, we are not surprised by our bills, we know when we can say yes and when we need to say no. We have had more real living in the past year than we ever have with trips to South Dakota, Magic Mountain, even Disneyland, because we know what the decisions to spend will mean to our overall financial picture. YNAB has truly given us freedom.

Now for some housekeeping…

Contest winners, congratulations! Please contact anne [at] youneedabudget [dot] com so she can coordinate getting your prize to you!

To everyone: Thank you so much for submitting all of your amazing success stories. They were an absolute pleasure to read — some of them simply unbelievable.

We received this email from Elizabeth and it was too great not to share!

YNAB has totally changed my life! Budgeting and money management used to reduce me to tears and cause me and my husband to argue. Not any more! We’ve been able to build up a healthy buffer and pay down some debts as well as start to plan for larger expenditures like a new mattress and new computers. Going into the new year I feel confident about money in a way I never have before in my LIFE. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Best wishes for 2011, and keep doing what you all do so very well.

I’ve been using it for a little over 2 years now. Before YNAB I never
knew how much money I had coming in or going out. I lived paycheck to
paycheck and would operate off of whatever my current balance was for
that day. I’d go online and check my account, and then decide what
bills I could pay. I suffered from constant overdraft fees and poor
planning. I also learned the hard way that credit cards are terrible
things to get wrapped up in.

Because of YNAB, I wanted to share with you my recent (and upcoming)
accomplishments.

As of today, my balances are the lowest they have been in 3 or 4 years
because I followed the YNAB philosophy to the letter.

I’m on track to have eliminated all my debt by July of this year.

So within 13 months, I will have slashed over $12,000 in credit card
debt and will be credit card free!

Its an understatement to say that this program has changed my life.

I’m 24 years old. I’ve worked hard at changing my spending habits.
This incredible software and your spending philosophy worked for me -
even on a college student’s budget.

Just working the system — even on a college student’s budget :)

Ed sent this to me a few days ago:

In the 80′s some years before financial programs hit the consumer market I have had the yearn to use a system to manage finances. I started with spreadsheets 1st paper then computer. When Quicken came out I became an avid user. After several years I began to realize that Quicken was really only good at telling me what happened and not good at budgeting and managing. I began a thorough search and tried no less that 10 other programs.

It was not till I found YNAB that I really thought that it did everything I wanted. It still has some growth possibilities especially in the reporting area, but it is actually exactly what I needed to take control of my money and has made me capable of preparing for emergencies before they happen. It has also allowed me to help others that are not as financially prepared. Thanks for your software. I am looking forward to 3.0.

Karen wrote in a bit ago with the following fantastic story:

My family has been using YNAB for the last 3 months and the changes we’ve seen are phenomenal! I thought it would just help us to get on track and save some money. I never thought it would be such a wonderful tool for teaching our children the true value of stewardship. Our family budget is known and understood by all 6 family members- mom, dad, and four girls ranging in age from 16 to 8. We go over everything with the children so they understand how much there is to start with and where it all goes. I wanted to share with you some of the fruits of that…

1. The kids wanted to donate to the [removed] fund and chose to take 20% from our “fun money” in the budget. (a movie ticket)

2. All four girls gave up their allowances for one week to give to the [remove] research fund. (not a lot of money but a lot of sacrifice)

3. Each of my girls has a budget of 50.00 for new clothing this fall. We live in an area where most of the kids are wearing sweatshirts from the mall that cost that much! My girls scoured for the best deals and focused on needs as opposed to wants. My 8 year old made it to the checkout and was 12.00 over budget and promptly stopped the clerk and asked if she could remove some items. She then turned to me with a great big smile and said, “I did it mom! $48.48! I’m under budget!” The clerk was hugely impressed.

As am I!

Just imagine how this education will pay off for the kids down the road.

I thought I’d share this — keeping it anonymous though:

Things couldn’t be better. One billion tons of stress has been lifted off my shoulders…thanks to this program…I no longer worry about money…every dollar has a job…still have some tweeking to do to get things adjusted….food is a difficult one with 6 boys to feed…..you just never know how much they are going to eat….you do know they will eat…so with that I just input a set amount and KNOW I will have to adjust….so I don’t freak out when I need to adjust it’s a given….this is the first program that addressed that….NO your not a complete failure if you need to adjust….it’s life….once agian thanks for the support and this program…..I am NOT rich my any means nor will I ever be but this programs gives me a sense of accomplishment….work with what you have and be greatful….this program allows me the ability to see how greatful I SHOULD be….all my dollars have a job and all the bills are paid….thank you.

Very cool stuff.

I received a fantastic email from Sharon, a great mom (wow, upside down, right?) that managed to get her 18-year old son to start budgeting. Notice how she didn’t demand the world of him…just let the budget show him what could happen…

Our 18 year old son has a full-time job. I told him he needed to learn to budget his money so he could start saving to purchase a home. He wanted noting to do with budgeting. I think the word “budget” scared him. He told me I could be his personal money manager. I was using YNAB to budet his money for him. Well one payday I was not home and he wanted his money budgeted right then and there. I talked him through YNAB over the telephone and since then he has been doing YNAB on his own. He learned how easy it was to give every dollar a job.

Before we had him start using YNAB his checkbook balance would always be around $10. Now that he uses YNAB, his balance is always over $700. I am glad I found YNAB, thank you for such a great program.

Updated: Sharon has her own business up and running, which you may want to check out as well.