YNAB You Need A Budget

[Mudie]

Hey Steve, on the bottom of the cheat sheet how come you switch YNAB into "buffer" mode with such a convoluted method. Instead you can just decrement the buffer in the month you decide to switch over.

Example:
June is still check by check but buffer reaches one months income ($2500)
July checks get marked primary and in July budget the buffer $-2500 making it available.

Both work, and both have their advantages.

Indeed. You are very right.

Take note folks, this method will work just fine albeit different in how YNAB displays it.

Thanks PK.

~Steve

[Quilb]

So if you added Dick and Janes checks to the schedule it just means they would automatically get added to the register when the scheduled time comes around instead of you having to manually enter it?

[mike]

that is correct. They would also appear in italics so you would know that they came from the scheduler.

[luxuryoption]

I have had this product about 1.5 months and cannot reach a zero balance. I do not have funds for the one [1] month buffer, but was under the impression that it was not required.

I attempted to download the 'dick & jane' example but the save function does not allow me to change the extension to ynab.

Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated. I don't want to request a refund, but will have to if I can't get this to function properly.

Thanks in advance

[Kristen]

I have had this product about 1.5 months and cannot reach a zero balance. I do not have funds for the one [1] month buffer, but was under the impression that it was not required.

Hi Luxury,

Not really sure what you mean by can't reach a zero balance. It's not something that happens on it's own, it's the direct result of you assigning all of your income to your categories. When you enter your income, it appears centered at the top of the three columns for the month (above Budgeted/Spent/Balance) in the Available cell. From there, all you do is assign your money into categories in the budget column until your Available reads 0. That's all. I'm thinking perhaps you are thinking your balance column should be zeroed, but it's the AVAILABLE number that should read zero.

If that doesn't help clarify, post back and try to be a little bit more specific about what's not working out for you. We're all here to help. Don't give up, I'm confident that the great folks here at the forum will help you get up and running.

[Mudie]

I agree with Kristen Luxury. If you'd like I can e-mail you the YNAB file directly. You can also download a zip file that contains it here. Just unzip it and then open it with YNAB. It will have the right file name, I promise.

~Steve

[luxuryoption]

I have had this product about 1.5 months and cannot reach a zero balance. I do not have funds for the one [1] month buffer, but was under the impression that it was not required.

Hi Luxury,

Not really sure what you mean by can't reach a zero balance. It's not something that happens on it's own, it's the direct result of you assigning all of your income to your categories. When you enter your income, it appears centered at the top of the three columns for the month (above Budgeted/Spent/Balance) in the Available cell. From there, all you do is assign your money into categories in the budget column until your Available reads 0. That's all. I'm thinking perhaps you are thinking your balance column should be zeroed, but it's the AVAILABLE number that should read zero.

If that doesn't help clarify, post back and try to be a little bit more specific about what's not working out for you. We're all here to help. Don't give up, I'm confident that the great folks here at the forum will help you get up and running.

===============================================

My problems include the following:

1. I purchased this product in August 2007. The software has never reflected my correct income, which I enter into the supplemental field since I do not have a one [1] month buffer.

2. I realize that the 'zero' balance is the available cell. Using my previously existing budget and known income, I have always assigned each dollar a 'job'. So I'm confident there of my 'zero balance budget. However, I can't get the YNAB Pro to reflect this reality. This is the essence of my problem.

3. I suspect there is some problem with my initial entry of my available cash, so any advice on how to enter these 'set up' numbers is greatly appreciated. When the tutorial notes advise to use [enter] all available cash including savings, emergency funds etc. - this is not what I would consider 'available money'. Money used for monthly expenses is income based, not savings, retirement etc. Am I correct in this assumption?

4. I buy most of my monthly provisions using cash. Think of the cash envelope system. How do I account for this with the registry? So far, I've totalled the receipts an entered a total for 'food', ' fun money', 'gas' etc. Most of my standard expenses are paid via check or internet - eg: rent, heat, water, internet, gym etc.

All of your advise is greatly appreciated. Sorry for the late post, but you know about a busy life!!

Thanks in advance,

luxuryoption

[luxuryoption]

I don't know what happened to my reply post of 10/3/07

1. How do I enter my income for the 1st month I use YNAB? I do not have a buffer saved. Is this contributing to my inability to 'zero out' on the available funds?

2. I use an excel spreadsheet to budget and know that I 'zero out' each paycheck. I am unable to transfer this data to YNAB. Any advice.

3. I get paid on the 15th and last day of each month. Does this require any special entry?

I have many more questions, but they seem pointless since I can't even get the basic functions of the software set up correctly.

Thanks in advance

[luxuryoption]

If I make budget entries in the initial month of setup, am I required to make these same entries every month? Does the software allow for the entries to transfer to the next month automatically?

[Mudie]

1. How do I enter my income for the 1st month I use YNAB? I do not have a buffer saved. Is this contributing to my inability to 'zero out' on the available funds?

Download my cheat sheet here and follow the steps it describes.

Also take a minute and read this wiki post. It describes how to back away from the "month" view of your budget when you are just starting out.

2. I use an excel spreadsheet to budget and know that I 'zero out' each paycheck. I am unable to transfer this data to YNAB. Any advice.

By "transfer" you don't mean import do you? If you are merely attempting to take what you have been doing right along and transfer your methods to YNAB you need to be aware that YNAB may handle things entirely different than what you are used to. You need to understand the differences between Primary income (tagged for next month) and Supplementary income (Available this month) as well as other points. Points that are explained via Kristen's Library in my signature below.

3. I get paid on the 15th and last day of each month. Does this require any special entry?

Once you have a full buffer in place then it makes no difference when you get paid. Until that happens you need to use YNAB on a paycheck-to-paycheck basis all the while saving for a buffer. There's more about this in the links above.

If I make budget entries in the initial month of setup, am I required to make these same entries every month?

You can do whatever you'd like with your budget. Change entries, delete them entirely, whatever and whenever. Your only "requirement" is to pay attention to your plan.

Does the software allow for the entries to transfer to the next month automatically?

No, not automatically, but if you right click on an empty budget cell in next month you will have a choice to repeat the same amount or fill out the entire budget based on last month.

I have many more questions, but they seem pointless since I can't even get the basic functions of the software set up correctly.

Read the cheat sheet and take it slow. YNAB is very powerful but has been designed to make things easier not more difficult. You will get it soon enough and until then feel free to ask as many questions as you'd like. We are more than glad to help.

~Steve

[veperez]

Thank You for putting this up... I have a couple of questions. I have my regular checking account at Wells Fargo -- I currently have $126.26 in there and put this as my starting supplemental income for day zero as suggested by the sample Dick & Jane budget. We also have an ING checking account where I have $227.99. What do I do? I want to used the ING checking account for my various savings accounts. Do I transfer the ING money to my primary Wells Fargo checking or leave it in there and track it in a Savings Register in the YNAB Pro.

This is a bit confusin, but I don't want to give up on this yet because it complements the envelope system that I like.

I'm also getting paid tomorrow -- that would go in as a supplemental income, right?

Thanks!

[Mudie]

Hi veperez, Welcome to YNAB and the forums.

YNAB is a plan for all of your money regardless of where it resides. If you haven't yet, take a look at the guide in my signature below as it will get you started in easy steps.

To answer your question about your pay tomorrow, yes, if you do not have a buffer yet just put it in as Supplemental which makes it available this month to budget. Just make sure that you budget it all away soon as it's almost February.

Steve

[WairereRose]

Just make sure that you budget it all away soon as it's almost February.

That's budget it all away - doesn't mean it all has to be spent. This is a great time to start because you will see that 'roll-over' for the end of the month in your categories which is when YNAB 'clicks' for a lot of people.

[Cylesta]

I tried the suggestions but I still can't get Dick and Jane's budjet to go back to Aug 2007 so that I can try it . Can anyone help me?

[WairereRose]

I'm assuming you've had no trouble opening it.

Once you have it open, then click 'budget' down the bottom left, this will take you to the budget part of the file.

Now look at the top of the screen, the line says 'Budget' and then to the right of the screen is a left arrow (gold coloured) and a small icon of a calendar, then a right arrow (also gold coloured - you could be forgiven for mistaking these for triangles). Then a box with the current month in it.

There are two ways to access the budget. The first is to click the left arrow till the months scroll back far enough. The second is to click the down arrow to the right of the box with this month in it on that top line, and then select August 2007 from the drop down menu.

I do not think this should be related to dates within your current files, as my existing YNAB file goes back only to November 07, and I have newly downloaded Dick and Jane to test this now before posting.

Please post back if this still does not work, and let us know what you are getting when you try it.

Rose