YNAB You Need A Budget

[dorothyc]

I sync mine every day also - using an iPod touch. I like the new interface since moving up to i5 OS - I often go into the budget area and check on stuff like, when did I last pay that bill, or what did we categorize under miscellaneous this month. The new cleared toggle for transactions you enter in the app is handy, although it is a bit of an oversight that already synced transactions don't show whether they are cleared or not. I'm getting round it right now by using the colored flag feature to mark uncleared transactions red for the time being. Maybe that is something that Taylor has in the pipeline.

My husband also has the app on his iPod touch, but I don't sync his as often - it is more usual that I just push the latest numbers out to his file when I do the budget, then ask him for his receipts and I enter them in my iPod - I'm the numbers geek in the relationship.

One thing I did to make syncing to two iPods a little less cumbersome is that I went into my router settings and set fixed IP addresses for each iPod - then when I'm syncing back and forth, I only have to change the last number of the IP address and the passcode.

[ajallen]

What I find invaluable with the iPhone app is the way that I can keep track of my expenditure using cash. Previously, once I broke into a note, that was it, effectively gone. Coins just disappeared.

Whereas now, it is an easy process of logging purchases as they happen, or going through the receipts when having a coffee stop (at least one in every trip into town - I have a special "coffee" category set up just for this!). It means that I have a log down to the penny of everything spent and no more chasing my tail wondering where that spare fiver went, or what happened to that £20 I broke into?

I agree that wi-fi syncing would be great, although I don't have a problem with the way it is set up at present, as I tend to sync every night anyway. And syncing every night also means that not being able to alter synced transactions on the iPhone isn't a massive problem for me (although I appreciate that not everyone has the inclination to reconcile every night - I probably need therapy! )

All in all, invaluable to my YNAB experience.

[stephaniesherie]

I just got mine and haven't entered anything yet.
But - I was using The Birdy website to track spending so I had gotten really used to inputting things on the go. I really love it.

The fact I can enter something in the check register and it (poof) shows up on the budget screen is awesome!

[snayes]

I used the app once, and then never again. Having to manually sync is a deal breaker in this day and age. It's a pain in the neck, expecially if you travel a lot and use an Ipad as your computer. There are several cloud based finance app in the app store as we speak. I'm looking into them now, and if I can find one similar to YNAB, I will be stop using YNAB all together.

[Turf_Hacker]

If you like YNAB otherwise, patience may pay off for you. Cloud sync for the iPhone (would include those using the app on iPod Touch or iPad) and Android mobile apps is under development now. Given the somewhat small size of our development staff, I don't know when this will be available but it should be out in the near future.

[shelleyb57]

Ok, I'm a pretty new iPhone user so you'll need to help me out here. I'm interested in downloading the YNAB app but I have no idea how to sync it. I still haven't figured out how to sync my email either.

And can I respond to the post about "cloud" software? Since I've been working with accounting programs for over 20 years, I was pretty pumped when I heard about some websites that were offering accounting software *in the cloud*. Until I started working for a software company that is. Letting someone else have your data means one thing. As long as you continue to pay them a monthly or yearly fee, you have access to your data. But if you decide to leave for greener pastures, you are given a file. That's it. Now from a accounting stand point, try giving your local IRS or CRA a data file when they come to audit you. You better be prepared to pay some extra taxes.

Personally, I will always prefer software that I purchase and it resides on my own computer. Just saying.

[kathrynindc]

I use it mostly to enter transactions. I don't actually keep receipts -- I enter them every day or every couple of days from Mint.com.

The app doesn't show what was originally budgeted. It does show transactions in each category, and it does show amount remaining in each category. So it's a good way to have a quick reference on how much I can spend.

[HAFMAC]

I like the iPhone app a lot. It allows both my wife and I to enter transactions. The syncing is ok (better than moneydance as far as reliability) but I'm really looking forward to the cloud sync. When both of us can enter transactions on our phones and have it included in the desktop file when we open that would be great. Looking forward to a progress report on the cloud / dropbox sync options.

[HAFMAC]

One other thing that I'd like to see changed. I set up an account for business reimbursable travel expenses. I first used a budget category, but if you need to get a print out of the expenses it is an export to excel chore. If you have an account, you can simply print it. The downside of the separate account is that the GPS autofill doesn't work. The payee in all these places is Transfer:Business Reimbursable. And you have to add the payee info in the memo field. The other issue - and the one that could be changed, when I enter a transaction like this it is a transfer. I then have to accept both sides of the transaction after syncing. That's annoying. If I accepted the one side (and it shows the transfer) why do I have to accept the other side.

[extracrispy]

I think the YNAB mobile app is very functional. It's fairly intuitive and easy to enter transaction data. And it is easy to edit later on (before syncing, if needed--but you do need to do some searching). My wife and I really only use it a tool to capture/record transactions to be later synced with the desktop software. The UI of the mobile app is a bit too big/clunky to effectively use it to manage our spending/budget. We have a good amount of categories and we need to do a lot of scrolling to see the whole financial picture (categories with zero balances still show). Cloud syncing will be a MAJOR improvement as transaction data (for family members) will be close to real time.

I don't sync every night. If you can, more power to you. And I understand the need to approve transactions. My wife, daughter and I went to NY for a long weekend and we did not bring a laptop. After 3 days and no ability to sync, we became a little "out of sync" as a family, financially speaking.

*********After I wrote the post, I realized I should have searched for Lemon. Now I see that it has been discussed a lot on here before. But I will leave my discussion about it on this thread because I directly relates to my experience with the mobile YNAB app**************

Is the YNAB team familiar with the Lemon iPhone app? It is an incredible piece of mobile software that allows one (or a group) to easily and efficiently track spending. First, it's FREE for individual users (there is a $3/month family plan). It has a beautiful UI and transaction data entry/editing is very easy. The app uses the iPhone's camera to scan sales receipts which (after a few minutes) automatically processes and displays the transaction date, payee, value amount (it even reads handwriting!) and the spending category. It's not perfect--it operates at about 98% accuracy. I scanned about a dozen receipts and only had to change 1 value (it didn't catch the tip I left) one 1 receipt and it didn't categorize another. It was very easy edit. All pictures of the receipts are saved with each transaction. I even liked the categories it chooses (and these are editable, too)--we ended up changing some of our YNAB categories because of this.

I hope YNAB's solution to it's mobile platform moves in this direction. Or that YNAB and Lemon partners up--you would have beautiful babies!!!!!!!

As of now, the wife and I will be using Lemon daily to record, track and monitor our spending. On the weekends, we use this information and put it in YNAB. What's nice about this process is that it makes us talk/listen to each other about finances. So maybe this is good for the user.

[Malisa]

As of now, the wife and I will be using Lemon daily to record, track and monitor our spending. On the weekends, we use this information and put it in YNAB. What's nice about this process is that it makes us talk/listen to each other about finances. So maybe this is good for the user.

Sounds interesting. Will you be importing to YNAB or re-entering from some kind of central report?

I know another user TLBauer uses his NeatReceipts scanner to get things into YNAB. The way I understands it he scans and it creates something that's import-able to YNAB.

[jesse]

Hi Martinewski,
It worked that way for our first pass because it made it possible to avoid sync conflicts. Once we introduce cloud sync, that problem will be moot, because we handle the conflicts, and you'll be able to edit any txn you'd like. There won't be a "synced/not synced" status. Things will just...sync.

[HAFMAC]

Jesse,
Any update on the cloud sync feature. Also, I noticed your blog post on putting YNAB on YNAB. Two questions - first, you state you are on version 3.6.4 but when I try to find updates, it tells me I'm up to date with 3.6.0.5. What gives? Are you using secret beta software? Also, you talk about controlling YNAB spending by having access on your phone. How did you manage two budgets (home and work) on the iPhone?
Thanks,

Harry

[polymers]

Harry,

Are you on a Mac or Windows? I'm on Windows and my version is 3.6.3 (updater reports it as the latest). I figure Jesse has an "in" to the next version..

Count me in on cloud syncing as well. Absolutely love the iPhone app but syncing two phones kinda drags me down a bit..

Robert

[litterbug]

Xtracrispy (mm, makes me hungry!), thanks for the review of Lemon. I'd prefer something that just lived on my phone's memory card, but it's the kind of thing I'm looking for to store my medical receipts.