YNAB You Need A Budget

[bomberman]

In the short time I've been "back" to YNAB (I first bought the software last year, but ran into a couple roadblocks and essentially left it alone until last week—forum members, details are in my Journal if interested), I've been incredibly impressed with the sheer amount of control and awareness it's given me over our family finances. However, though it would be impossible to list just one factor that got me to use the program again (and, for the first time, really use it seriously), I believe that my adoption of it is, at least in part, due to some more wider-ranging lifestyle changes I've been making over the past several months.

You see, I am (or at least I was) one of the most disorganized people I've ever met. If I had something I needed to do, I would alternately write it down on a sticky note and put it somewhere I'd likely never find, write it down in one of several notebooks (no reason for having several notebooks for this task, of course, except that I'd frequently misplace one or more of them), email it to myself (and usually not read it), or just tell myself rather sternly that I need to remember to do this Very Important Thing (and then forget a few minutes later).

Interestingly enough, I have a buddy at work/Church who was much like the person described in the above paragraph about five years ago, but is his very polar opposite today. The turning point came for him when, five years back, he and his wife got fed up with feeling like they were coasting along in life without any idea of where they were going, like they had no direction or purpose or control. They sat down and they developed a system of writing out their goals (to a very specific level), being sure to re-evaluate them and update them on a weekly basis. These goals ranged from the minor (e.g., buy some nachos before the game on Saturday) to the major (e.g., finish this research project) to the "life" goals (e.g., be out of debt with $100K in aggressive stocks by 2008). More on my buddy in a bit.

I didn't know any of this about him yet, but I was quickly getting to the same "fed up" point in my life. Unfortunately for me, I simply wasn't organized or smart enough to develop my own system of writing down my goals and getting them accomplished (see two paragraphs up for what happened whenever I tried). Nevertheless, I still NEEDED to be organized. I NEEDED a system. Otherwise, I'd just continue coasting along as well.

In my opinion, YNAB's strongest asset is its incorporation of a solid budgeting methodology ("The Rules"). It's not just a clever bit of budgeting software; rather, it's a clever bit of budgeting software built on a simple, powerful plan for saving. Moreover, it's completely inseparable from the methodology. To use the program effectively, you must adhere to The Rules, and both the documentation and the program itself encourages this. Use the program while living by The Rules and you achieve a certain harmony. Incorporating a complementary personal finance system such as Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover (TMMO) takes this to the next level—but more on that in a bit.

What I needed for my own organization and productivity was that realm's answer to YNAB: software built around a solid methodology. I found that in a program called OmniFocus and in a book (which, I admit, I am still reading) called Getting Things Done by David Allen.

OmniFocus is an extremely powerful productivity application that centers on philosophies in Getting Things Done (hereby shortened to "GTD," as it appears on most of the Inter Web). I spent a lot of time reading the manual and viewing various video tutorials for the program. It does have a learning curve as it allows you to get incredibly detailed and customized (if you want to), and it requires you to wrap your mind around a way of thinking about accomplishing all your goals that you may have never considered before. Nevertheless, I thoroughly ENJOYED reading the manual and watching those videos (and that is not typical for me!)

I Googled GTD and got the book. I started using the program while I began reading. The more I dove into the material, the more I realized the massive potential that existed with this system. It would be impossible for me to explain exactly why this works so well because there's so much to it, but here's a fairly adequate summary: in line with ideas espoused in GTD, OmniFocus becomes a "Trusted System" in which the user dumps all ideas he or she wants to work on. With very little exception, everything you want to do from getting the milk to composing a sonata goes into the system. If you truly embrace it in that way, you'll eventually KNOW that everything you want to do is there, and this eliminates any need for your mind to fret about what you're supposed to do next (just check OmniFocus). And, without having to worry about what you're supposed to do, you start coming up with new things to do (or new ways to get tasks done), which then get entered in OmniFocus as well. The process keeps repeating, your creative juices constantly being stimulated and your ideas constantly being captured.

OmniFocus is primarily a Mac application, but it's also available as a very powerful stand-alone iPhone/iPod Touch app. If you have both, you can sync over the Internet via MobileMe. That's the route I took, and it really allows me to take this system just about anywhere.

I was talking to my buddy at work about Macs (he was thinking about getting one, and I had purchased mine recently), and that led to my telling him all about OmniFocus and GTD. He then congratulated me on the journey to productivity I was taking and told me how he had developed a similar, paper-based system about five years earlier. After having lived by that system for the past five years, he says he and his wife are amazed by what they've gotten done. Their long-term "life" goals are, for the most part, all completed (earlier than expected), and they're looking at setting new ones. Moreover, getting organized allowed them to save and make more money than they'd ever dreamed possible. He told me with a straight face that at the age of 29, with a wife and newborn daughter at home, if he continued at his current rate, in 15 years max he wouldn't have to work another day in his life unless he wanted to.

At the time, I hadn't seen the entire connection between getting organized and building wealth. Of course, I wasn't nearly as good as my buddy at using mere paper and pencil to keep track of everything (one of the reasons why I needed software like YNAB and OmniFocus). I also hadn't done much reading on personal finance. Now, however, I can see that fusing YNAB, OmniFocus and the TMMO method is an incredibly powerful, life-altering combination.

Here's an example:

I initially built my budget in YNAB to mainly reflect short-term goals. With a buffer already in place, I was mainly concerned with "giving every dollar a job." To find out what those jobs should be, I started reading TMMO. It seemed to me that YNAB's buffer was equivalent to the Small Emergency Fund in Ramsey's Baby Step 1, so I moved on to Baby Step 2, the Debt Snowball. I read through the rest of the book, though, to make sure I knew where this road was going. I didn't want to get rid of all my debt and then not know where to go from there!

Next, I made a folder in OmniFocus called "My Total Money Makeover." Inside it are projects reflecting Baby Steps 2 and 3 (I'll be entering the rest shortly). I also have a project called "YNAB Budgeteering." In my Baby Step 2 folder (entitled, "Step 2: Debt Conquest"), I listed out each debt I needed to take care of in the order that they should be eliminated along with any additional steps I needed to take (e.g., call the bank for a payoff figure).

Going back to YNAB, I ran the numbers so that my primary focus was the first two debts (both of which will eliminated this month) while still taking care of other financial obligations for the next month.

Later, after waking from a pathetically small amount of sleep (insomnia has been hitting me hard lately), I lie in bed and thought that I should budget out things like next year's Christmas fund, my daughter's birthday gift (March), our LifeLock dues (May), and so on. Right next to my bed was my iPod Touch, so I turned it on, opened up OmniFocus and threw all of those into YNAB Budgeteering. While I was at it, I decided to tweak my other Baby Step projects a bit. Then I tried to go back to sleep (and, for what it's worth, I failed).

Later in the day I updated YNAB according to the To Dos I've listed in OmniFocus. My budget now reflects and anticipates certain expenses out to a full year from now. In my TMMO, I'll have two debts destroyed this month and another gone within the two or three months that follow. Pretty good progress, if you ask me, and I've only been doing this for about a week.

Dave Ramsey states in TMMO how important it is to have a written plan in order to succeed. In combining YNAB, OmniFocus and TMMO, I've been able to create a detailed, living plan that becomes more refined by the day, and I've been amazed at how quickly some of my goals are being accomplished (please see my Journal for details).

In closing, I was tempted to say "I wonder what I'll have accomplished in five years?" I realized rather quickly, however, that such a statement would ignore the power of this system. Rather than wonder aloud where I'll be in five years, just give me a little time and I'll know. It'll be written down.

[malisab]

I've been running in the same circles. The only piece of my puzzle that's missing from yours if FlyLady (which others here know of). FlyLady is about productivity for the home.

I found OmniFocus on some Mac blog. I hadn't heard of GTD. I started with OF in August or September of '08. That's about the same time as I found FlyLady too. I still had my head in the sand budget-wise, though I had projects etc. in OF that were finance-oriented.I'm a teacher, and trying to start all the new stuff at the start of the school year overwhelmed me. I dropped it all. I bought and read GTD.

I picked them all up again, to a greater or lesser degree last summer. I started a new OF file. I revamped my FL lists. I re-read GTD. Again, I think I did too much at once. What always overwhelmed me in OF were maintenance type things. I tried setting them up a bunch of different ways, they always taunted me. I dropped all/most again.

However, in that round, I realized that I needed to get a handle on our finances. Really. I found YNAB. YNAB is the one thing that has stuck (mostly). I've started over a few times, but I have a plan and am definitely moving in the right direction with it.

A month or two ago I got David Allen's new book, Making It All Work. It came just at the right time for me. It helped me pull things together. I like the way that it integrates the 'higher elevations'. It's helped me focus on the big picture much better, which in turn brings me back to YNAB.

I re-built a GTD system, but I've realized that I needed 'baby steps' and when I used OF I felt that I had to jump in too deep, too fast. I've built a paper system this time and it's going well. I've built it bit by bit on an as-needed basis. So far, so good. I have to say that right now I'm feeling the most 'in control' I have in YEARS too.

I just think it's fascinating that many people find these same 'systems'.

[Trevor]

I think my discovery of GTD took place about two years before YNAB. I switch between Mac and PC and Linux constantly so I opted for a web based program instead of OmniFoucs. I was using RememberTheMilk for about a year, but then switched to Toodledo. OmniFocus is probably way more sophisticated. I read "Gettings Things Done", but I still haven't read "Making it All Work". It's probably time to add it to my someday list.

[jesse]

I have OmniFocus on right now -- all the time actually. It's been a life saver.

I guess I need to read Allen's new book though

[bomberman]

Malisa and Trevor,

It's good to hear that each of you also has a system that helps you stay organized and boosts your productivity. Although my personal preference is OmniFocus, as my testimony about my buddy at work makes clear, what really matters is that you have a system that works for you, whatever that system may be.

Malisa, since you actually own OmniFocus, you may want to take a look at it again someday. I'll be the first one to admit that there's so much in that program that it might feel overwhelming (although for me, that was one of the things that interested me most about the program, and as much as I enjoy using it, I sometimes wish it had even more functionality), however, most of the options can be hidden, and you certainly don't need to use them all.

On the other hand, I'm not a big fan of investing in one productivity system after another after another after another, ad nauseum. If you have something that works, and it doesn't feel constraining, you might just want to stick with it. To do otherwise might be, ah, counterproductive.

[bomberman]

I have OmniFocus on right now -- all the time actually. It's been a life saver.

I find that I work the same way. Whenever the iMac back home is turned on, OmniFocus is open. Unfortunately, I don't own a Macbook, so when I'm "on the road" like I am at present, I use a Windows-based laptop. I've still got OmniFocus on the iPod Touch, but I've seriously considered getting a Macbook (or, more likely, a Macbook Pro). I pretty much assumed that I'd be getting at least one Macbook for the family when I bought OmniFocus, which prompted me to go for the Family License 5-pack. While I don't know if I'm ready to start budgeting for one just yet, I'm pretty sure I can see one in my future.

This is a little off topic, but since I now know that you're an avid OmniFocus user, what are the chances that we might see syncing capability in YNAB 3 along the lines of what OmniFocus offers? Example: if I had a Macbook, I could push my To Dos to the Cloud via a middleman like MobileMe, making it available to my wife if she were to log on to our iMac. Likewise, she could enter To Dos for me to handle (and vice versa), and we'd be updated with each other's inputs once as long as we're connected to the Internet. It seems to me this would be a great feature for YNAB 3 for anyone who might be interested in doing a family budget while one or more members of the family are away from home.

That reminds me: I've got to budget out my annual MobileMe subscription. Think I'll just knock that one out real quick rather than put it in OmniFocus for later...

[Trevor]

That reminds me: I've got to budget out my annual MobileMe subscription. Think I'll just knock that one out real quick rather than put it in OmniFocus for later...

[/quote]

A bit off topic for the thread, but not for the forum...

I recently realized that I hadn't budgeted for an annual MobileMe subscription. The auto renewal was set on my account and I saw that it was $99 bucks. I was able to order it online for $69.

[malisab]

Malisa, since you actually own OmniFocus, you may want to take a look at it again someday. I'll be the first one to admit that there's so much in that program that it might feel overwhelming (although for me, that was one of the things that interested me most about the program, and as much as I enjoy using it, I sometimes wish it had even more functionality), however, most of the options can be hidden, and you certainly don't need to use them all.

On the other hand, I'm not a big fan of investing in one productivity system after another after another after another, ad nauseum. If you have something that works, and it doesn't feel constraining, you might just want to stick with it. To do otherwise might be, ah, counterproductive.

Yeah, that's what I spent the better part of last year doing, worrying about the system more than actually getting things done. As I said, the things that always got in the way were the daily/weekly/monthly recurring things. I spent more time re-vamping and re-vamping the system to include them, not include them, have them recur automatically on completion, each day, etc. etc. Some of those are the most important things for me to get done, yet my 'trusted system' was making me either resent them or ignore them. While other things that should have been a lower priority would get done one a regular basis. (Usually something in the Errands context that involved shopping/spending money. )

So I had to go back to focus on what's really, really important. There are maintenance things that have been overlooked around my house and there are projects that were put off, partially because I was busy doing things that were less important, partially because I was spending money on the things that would let me 'check things off my list' easily. Hence the realization that I Need A Budget.

I'm committed to sticking with my paper system until: a) I'm happy with my maintenance routine, b) I complete some key projects, c) my trusted system is to a point that it's rolling along at home and at work (all inboxes emptied/processed on a regular basis, reviews on a regular basis, etc.) for at least six months. Then, I'll only switch over one piece at a time.

That reminds me: I've got to budget out my annual MobileMe subscription. Think I'll just knock that one out real quick rather than put it in OmniFocus for later...

A bit off topic for the thread, but not for the forum...

I recently realized that I hadn't budgeted for an annual MobileMe subscription. The auto renewal was set on my account and I saw that it was $99 bucks. I was able to order it online for $69.

Thanks for that tip Trevor! Mine renews in January. Was there any trick to ordering it online and getting it to 'apply' to your existing account? OF is one of the big reasons I've kept mine. One of my projects is to determine if I want to renew Mobile Me (research email alternatives, research online storage alternatives, etc.).

Related question...

I never used the clip-o-tron in OF, but I'm finding myself emailing myself actions (mostly home to work and work to home). Part of that research about email alternatives is to see if I want to use the rules within Mail to help me sort through those things or if another email service would be a better alternative than the mobile me mail. For example, I think from within gmail you can send things to different addresses (something dot something) and get it to send it to different folders. I think it's just a different way to do what you do with rules within Mail. Is this making any sense? Anyone here have any tips?

[bomberman]

I've been doing more thinking about OmniFocus and GTD lately, so I thought it might be a good idea to update this thread with a great link I found:

http://downloads.omnigroup.com/software/MacOSX/Extras/OmniFocus/GTDandOmniFocus.pdf

This will take you to a quick, no-nonsense guide that outlines every step of the GTD process that OmniFocus fits into, and it explains how you can use it for each one of those steps. For the couple of steps that require you to step outside of OmniFocus (e.g., placing things into a reference system), the guide recommends a couple other systems that fit the bill nicely.

The included GTD diagram alone makes a it a great primer for anyone who's interested in GTD. If you're an OmniFocus user as well, the guide is definitely worth a look.

[virago317]

I am reading Getting Things Done right now and am very excited about getting more organized and being more productive. I recently started my first management-level job and it has been kind of overwhelming, with projects coming thick and fast and few models to follow from my past employment history. Bomberman, I think I may have heard of GTD from you, so thank you for that... and thanks for mentioning that OmniFocus is available for iPod Touch; I may need to acquire both of those (after fitting them into my budget, of course). I'm a PC person and am not interested in buying a Mac (and was disappointed to find that OF is Mac-only), but now that my husband just won $1,000 in an art competition, I may be able to justify an iPod Touch as a PDA for my birthday (so I can become more productive at work, right? )

[bomberman]

I'm glad that GTD is helping you out with your new position!

As far as the iPod Touch goes, it's the absolute best PDA I've ever used (by a huge margin), bar none. After we got our first Mac in August, I started reading more about the iPod Touch, the App Store and how our Mac and the Touch could interact with each other. I had a hunch that the Touch would make a great PDA (music playing, video watching, etc. were all of secondary interest to me), and after comparing it to some of the other offerings in the PDA realm, it looked like it was the most functional and affordable one available.

OmniFocus for the iPod Touch is an outstanding app that truly stands alone on its own worth. It also just got a major update in the last few days which adds even more functionality to the core app. That said, one of its biggest appeals to me is its ability to sync with its desktop counterpart (I really have been missing OmniFocus for Mac these last few months!)

Since a Mac is probably not going to be in your future, you may want to see what else is out there before you commit to OmniFocus for the iPod Touch. Once you really get your GTD mojo humming, you may find yourself wanting a desktop companion application.

If you do decide upon OmniFocus for the iPod Touch, however, there's at least one trick you can use to get stuff to your Inbox from your PC: if you're sitting at your computer and you find yourself wanting to type (rather than tap) some stuff into your system, you could email all the information to an email address your Touch can access. Next time your Touch is within Wi-Fi range, check your email and then copy and paste the information into the relevant folders, projects and/or actions.

One last suggestion: if you do decide to get an iPod Touch and are interested in a protective case, I highly recommend the OtterBox Defender. It's not a perfect case; two downsides to it are that some third-party devices may not be able to connect to your iPod Touch while in the case (only device I have for mine is a wall charger, and it connects fine), and Auto Brightness won't work with the case on. In exchange for those two inconveniences, though, you get a multilayer case that protects every square millimeter of your iPod Touch (to include the screen) from bumps, drops and the like.

Good luck, and I can't wait to hear what you decide to do!

[Ambar]

Glad to meet some kindred souls. I have used Omnifocus in the past, but switched to Things (from Cultured Code) about 3 months ago. Something about the Omnifocus interface made me keep twiddling it instead of just punching down my list of widgets. Things, I just use, instead of twiddling and fiddling and failing to review...

[jesse]

My biggest problem with GTD is the "review" part. Always doing, never reviewing...

[Ambar]

And yet reviewing is the part that lets you *relax*. People are funny, aren't we?

[MALMomma]

My curiosity is peeked, but I'm a PC user. Is there something like OmniFocus for us PC users? I am not an organized person by nature (too much an artist, I suppose!) I've been using Motivated Moms (not FlyLady) for things around the home. I LOVE it. Keeps me on track. Now if I could just find something like it to help keep other aspects of my life on track, I'd be a happy camper.

Hmm... If you were to do a paper system, what would that involve?