YNAB You Need A Budget

[Mudie]

Fun with Dick and Jane

Many times here on the forum new users are trying to come to grips with how to get started. In the interests of providing them with something they can see and play with I have created a YNAB Pro budget based on the very boring lives of a young couple called Dick and Jane.

For those of you just starting out - or for anyone who wants to play along - all you need to do is download their YNAB Pro data file here (right click and then "Save as... making sure that the file saves with a "ynab" extension and not xml or txt").

Then, using the following basics as your guide you can see how they have done their first budget.

In order to illustrate how YNAB will carry over savings balances I started them out in the month of August.

EDIT: Please note that when you first open the file it will display the current month and if you are reading this past July 2007 the budget will appear blank. All you have to do is click on the arrows next to the mini calendar icon at the top of the budget screen (or chose August from the drop down list to the right of that) and move back in time to the start of their budget in August 2007. Many Thanks to niki_t_s (Niki from Australia) for pointing this goof out to me.

EDIT #2: I've updated the budget file to start in August 2007 and stretch through the fall. So just click back to August and you'll be all set!

Using my cheat sheet I entered all of the money within their control on day zero as Supplemental income. You may note that since they started their budget in the afternoon after Dick cashed his paycheck it looks as though they were swimming in money. However you will also notice that I ended the register entries by putting in Dick's paycheck for September 1st.

Since I filled out the budgets for September, October and November, new users can see the dreaded red negative "Available" amounts at the top of every month. Thanks to Dick and Jane's very predictable expenses October and November show ($2500.00) but September shows only ($1000.00). This is because of Dick's September 1st paycheck having been entered in the register already. I've flagged his paychecks red and her's green to help you pick them out easier.

A little about them:

Income:

• Dick works as a mechanic and brings home a monthly salary of $1500. He is paid once a month on the 1st.
• His wife Jane works for a law firm and is paid a salary of $250 every week on Thursday.

Total income $2500/month.

Expenses:

• A truck for Dick - $400 (due on the 20th)
• A car for Jane - $350 (due on the 6th)
• Mortgage - $750 (due on the 15th)
• Light bill - $100 (due on the 20th)
• Telephone bill - $100 (due on the 20th)
• Food - $400
• Gas - $400

On average, total expenses = $2500/month. Yes, they need help as this is far too close to the wire.

In fact in order to keep the budget window as uncluttered as possible I have trimmed the total Categories down to only 9.

Like I said, boring.

In the first month they made it through to the penny. $2500 budgeted, $2500 spent. In the following months you will see that I have budgeted lesser amounts for utilities, groceries and gas, the only 3 areas where they have some wiggle room right now. As a result of savings in those areas they were able to slide a little money into saving for a new car and to build the buffer.

You may note that they dedicated $1000 of their savings when they started out to building the buffer. That money was intended for the new car fund but they were willing to take the hit in that area to get the buffer built up ASAP.

Once you get the file downloaded you can rip it all to shred's or add/delete Categories as you see fit to mimic your own situation. By all means invent little windfalls (they held a garage sale) or unexpected expenses (a bad rainstorm knocked a tree through the front window). I would suggest though that before you do so you take some time and poke around the budget window in August letting the mouse hover over the various figures to allow YNAB to pop up the very helpful little here's-where-this-number-came-from windows.

One last thing, Dick and Jane's budget is not meant to address every scenario that has been presented to date here on the forum. It's only the very basic of examples but I think it's a good start. If you have questions about how something works using this budget then ask it here. But if D&J doesn't cover it then please ask your question in a new post where it can be addressed/answered more effectively.

Thanks.

~Steve

PS: Have fun!

[pksublime]

This will be a great reference for our new members. Wow, I don't know what else to say other than I wish I'd thought of it first.

[chloeoliverleroy]

Steve,

This is awesome! I was actually working on something similar to this right now for my sister, as I am about to train her husband and her on YNAB Pro. I was even going to send what I had to you and Mike first to see if I was accurate! This is great. I will read what you have and incorporate it into my own.

Thanks!
Kelley

[chloeoliverleroy]

Steve,
For some reason right clicking and saving isn't working for me (you didn't realize you'd have to do a guide for the guide, did you? There's ALWAYS another question to be answered when you're the smartie.) Can you help, or maybe post screen shots? (PS I tried opening it as a Pro and as an Excel file...)

Thanks,
Kelley

[mike]

just call me gilligan, Professor Steve. Well done, I have already bookmarked the thread for future reference.

[Mudie]

Steve,
For some reason right clicking and saving isn't working for me...

Umm... (scrambles for answer) Wait! I'll just respond to her question with a question!

So, which is it?

1. You aren't able to save the file at all?
2. You were able to download but can't find it?
3. You can save the file - and find it - but YNAB Pro will not open it when you are done downloading it?

(you didn't realize you'd have to do a guide for the guide, did you?)

There's one in every crowd.

Let me know Kelley.

~Steve

[chloeoliverleroy]

Steve -- The answer is "c." Thanks! Kelley

[pksublime]

Check to make sure your browser isn't adding a file extension. It should only end with .ynab.

If that's right, just make a blank budget and quit YNAB, then open that budget file in a text editor (notepad), come back to the browser and left-click the link above and replace all the text in notepad with the text from the online file.

[Mudie]

Check to make sure your browser isn't adding a file extension. It should only end with .ynab.

If that's right, just make a blank budget and quit YNAB, then open that budget file in a text editor (notepad), come back to the browser and left-click the link above and replace all the text in notepad with the text from the online file.

A little around Robin Hoods barn but that will work.

Or... You might try renaming the file in Windows explorer.

Wait, wait, I just thought of another way. I've just uploaded the same file in a ZIP. Download the zip file (right click save etc.) then unzip and the file - with the proper ext. should be fine.

~Steve

[mike]

when you click on the original save target as..., it is trying to save it as a .xml file. If you just overtype .xml with .ynab, it will work just fine.

I don't know why ie is doing that, I haven't seen that behavior before today.

By the way I like the cheat sheet Steve, much easier to find than the thread I had bookmarked several weeks ago.

[chloeoliverleroy]

Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions. Mike, I used yours and it worked fine, finally! I had saved it and changed the file extension after it was downloaded to .ynab, suspecting that was the problem, but it didn't work. However, when I did as you said and changed it at the time of download, that worked. Weird. Oh well. Glad I wasn't the only one who had an issue. Makes me feel less blonde.

[WairereRose]

Maybe Jesse could pin this topic to the top so newbies can find it quickly.

[jesse]

Maybe Jesse could pin this topic to the top so newbies can find it quickly.

Done.

Many, many thanks Steve! I never would have thought of using a demo file!

[pksublime]

And the professor earns a sticky!

[pksublime]

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.