YNAB You Need A Budget

[lang510]

My son is going to a local community college in 1 1/2 years. Our plans are to pay as much as we can and hopefully get a student loan for the rest. At this point, I don't know if he will work or get any type of scholarship/grant while he is in school. If he doesn't work, that means I need to give him money for books, food, gas, etc. and have him responsible for paying these bills. He has been given an allowance since first grade so he has learned how to handle money well but now, detailed budgeting will be required. Knowing my son, he will probably not be interested in YNAB yet but I will certainly try to work with him on establishing some sort of budget.

I would like to hear what others have done as far as having your son/daughter handle money while he/she is at school and what I might do to prepare him during his senior year. Thanks.

[sarahspangles]

I would like to hear what others have done as far as having your son/daughter handle money while he/she is at school and what I might do to prepare him during his senior year.

Does he get an allowance now? My daughter gets a little fun money, tied to chores, a clothes allowance and a lunch/bus money allowance. The first two are monthly, lunch money is per half term. It's a way to help her learn to budget it and make choices about how she spends.

[lang510]

Yes, he gets a monthly allowance for fun and extra snacks and is a great saver.

[sarahspangles]

Maybe get him to work out how much he will need for the expenses when he's away, he might want to save towards them from his current allowance.

[J.Mann]

My son is going to a local community college in 1 1/2 years. Our plans are to pay as much as we can and hopefully get a student loan for the rest. At this point, I don't know if he will work or get any type of scholarship/grant while he is in school. If he doesn't work, that means I need to give him money for books, food, gas, etc. and have him responsible for paying these bills. He has been given an allowance since first grade so he has learned how to handle money well but now, detailed budgeting will be required. Knowing my son, he will probably not be interested in YNAB yet but I will certainly try to work with him on establishing some sort of budget.

I would like to hear what others have done as far as having your son/daughter handle money while he/she is at school and what I might do to prepare him during his senior year. Thanks.

I'm going to suggest making him get a summer job.

I may have some bias here, but for me, it was never an option to not work while going to school. I was able to live in my parents house for free (initially), but i needed a job to be able to pay for tuition, and all the other expenses. I haven't been able to have the full fun college experience that a kid who does not have to work has. However, I am extremely thankful that my parents did make me work. The first summer job i had (the summer before my senior year of high school) was on a local dairy for crappy pay and doing a crappy job, and lets just say an experience like that will definately help motivate a kid to work hard in his classes.

It allowed me to pay for the bills associated with taking care of yourself, and also gave me an appreciation for hard work, and motivation to do really good in school so that i dont get stuck with a crappy job like that!

That's the only way for a kid to become good at managing his/her money, is when they actually earn it. It's too easy to spend someone else's money!

[lang510]

I am not sure if that will be possible but we will see. He is going to summer school and running for the cross country team during the summer. It all depends on the timing of his summer school course. However, we will look into it.

I am lucky that my son has a definate understanding of the value of a dollar. He is always conscious of how much something costs whether it is his money or ours. Even during lunch (which we pay for), he watches what he spends and mentions that he would have liked to get an item but it was not worth the price.

[J.Mann]

I am not sure if that will be possible but we will see. He is going to summer school and running for the cross country team during the summer. It all depends on the timing of his summer school course. However, we will look into it.

I am lucky that my son has a definate understanding of the value of a dollar. He is always conscious of how much something costs whether it is his money or ours. Even during lunch (which we pay for), he watches what he spends and mentions that he would have liked to get an item but it was not worth the price.

It sounds like he might not need too much help then if he is already conscious of his spending! That is a very good thing.

[lang510]

I guess what I am really looking for are suggestions on what is the best way to handle giving him cash. Should he have a credit card, debit card, etc. What have others used and found what was best for their child. When I was in college, all I had was a checking account. Back in those days, writing checks was acceptable but today, there seems to be more options.

[Ambar]

The only thing I can't readily do with my debit card (with a Mastercard logo) is rent a car. Assuming he won't be doing much of that I would suggest he set up a checking/savings account at a bank which offers that kind of debit card, and leave the perils of the credit card for later (if ever). Perhaps also present him with his own copy of YNAB and step back.

[blarg]

My parents used to help me out at uni by giving me money once a term for books etc.

I had a checking account and they just wrote me a check. Of course now you could do direct deposit, but I don't see any reason he needs a credit card to automatically beam expenses into your life.

If he needs more he can ask you for it.

[WairereRose]

My son at 16 has just 'left home'. I have pointed him in the direction of YNAB Pro on my old laptop which he 'inherited', and told him to start using it. I am paying his board, and that covers his breakfast, dinner, roof, heat, power, water, and washing. Everything else, lunch, toiletries, travel costs, clothing, shoes, etc he has to cover himself from the 'allowance' that I give him. He is still in full-time school at this point and it was only my recent move to somewhere so far away from his social life that had him move out at all. He said he had been considering leaving home around the end of next year anyway, so this has just brought his plans forward a little and he has the opportunity to practice with his budgeting etc before he's far enough away from home for it to be too scary.

We're still in the first month, but I spoke to him the other day and instructed him on how to open YNAB and that he should start setting it up and playing with it. He wanted to get a rail pass as well as his bus one, and there was going to be an initial outlay so I told him to see what he has and what he might need in the next little while to decide if he had enough to do it. I asked if the money had gone into his account okay. His response: "Oh, I haven't looked yet because I haven't needed any money yet." Probably because before I left him there I made sure he was well stocked on lunch supplies and many toiletries as well as new shoes.

Like your son, mine has an idea what money is worth. He's always been good at saving for things, and is doing some occasional work that sometimes he gets paid for, and sometimes the group he does it with gets paid for and is able to buy equipment etc.

I guess it really depends on your son whether he gets any use out of YNAB or not (same for mine, he's watched me use it for years, but it's my daughter that really wants to play with it rather than him) - he says he's never had the need for it yet, so I'm hoping that the current situation will give him a need so he's not stepping out into the world unprepared.

[blarg]

If your son is anything like me, he's going to have to learn to manage money for himself. I didn't actually need a budget for a long time through Uni. I could have made better choices than I did but I wasn't overdrafting or anything. He'll find a system that works for him, and that might be YNAB or it might not. As long as it works.

[lang510]

I will probably handle the money like WairereRose is doing. I have a feeling that my son won't use YNAB either but he might surprise me. I think the hardest part for me is trying to figure out what he is going to need. Can anyone give me an idea how much I can expect books to be? He will be living with us for the first year or two until he transfers to a 4-year college so we don't have to worry about room and board. We also plan to buy him a car so he becomes independent and doesn't have depend on Mom for a ride.

[Patzer]

Can anyone give me an idea how much I can expect books to be?

Books will vary depending on what courses he takes. Math and science books will be expensive. English books will be cheaper, but a lot more of them will be required. A few years ago I was spending $300 to $350 per semester for books for my daughter as a full time student at a local community college; when I ask current students that I prepare tax returns for, the answers range from $400 to $800 per semester for a full time student.

There is little that can be done in the way of economizing on textbooks. There's typically only one practical place to get required textbooks, and your choices are new or used. There will always be a course or two that doesn't have used books available because this is the first semester the current textbook is required. Sometimes used books are theoretically available, but you can't find any that aren't highlighted so heavily as to be unusable by the next student.

Patzer

[J.Mann]

Can anyone give me an idea how much I can expect books to be?

Books will vary depending on what courses he takes. Math and science books will be expensive. English books will be cheaper, but a lot more of them will be required. A few years ago I was spending $300 to $350 per semester for books for my daughter as a full time student at a local community college; when I ask current students that I prepare tax returns for, the answers range from $400 to $800 per semester for a full time student.

There is little that can be done in the way of economizing on textbooks. There's typically only one practical place to get required textbooks, and your choices are new or used. There will always be a course or two that doesn't have used books available because this is the first semester the current textbook is required. Sometimes used books are theoretically available, but you can't find any that aren't highlighted so heavily as to be unusable by the next student.

Patzer

Textbooks can be purchased for dirt cheap.

The secret is to know what books will be needed for your classes well in advance. For example, you know your spring classes and books during the fall semester. The best time is to purchase them through amazon and half.com during the end of the fall semester.. and then you can sell your fall books at the start of the spring semester.

In the past three years, I have spent very little in books because of this.