YNAB You Need A Budget

[Patzer]

In January 2008, I started using YNAB Pro and posting to the forums. While I didn't have any debt, I did have a very tight income versus expense situation, and I really needed a budget to avoid destroying assets. So I found YNAB, and I've been very happy with the results. But this post isn't really about budgeting success; it's about community success.

In early 2008, YNAB Pro didn't have account-specific registers. I understand they were in beta when I started using YNAB, and they came out shortly after that. The lack of reconciliation bothered me, and I did some analysis to figure out what was going on. What I came up with later became known as "Patzer's equation."

When I started YNAB, the dominant thinking in the forum was that credit cards = debt. There was no documentation on how to deal with a credit card that you pay in full each month, which is the only kind I allow in my wallet. I did some analysis, and came up with the solution of entering my starting credit card balance as Income:Primary (now, Income:Available Next Month) as of December 31, for a January 1 budget start date.

I spent a lot of time on the forum explaining both the treatment of a responsibly used credit card and how the budget balances to the accounts. Both of these issues were implied by the budget structure Jesse had built, but were not explicitly documented before I got here. I had to figure them out on my own, and I dang well wanted other people to find the answers too.

Over time, my budget became easier to work with. I devoted more time to non-budget issues and less to the forum, because I don't need the forum as much to support me. I still stop in periodically and read recent posts. Sometimes I reply to try to help out new users with questions.

But along the way, a wonderful thing has happened. By the time I get to a new user who has a question about the credit card they pay off every month or how to reconcile their accounts or budgets, there's a good chance someone else has already replied, and that the reply is correct and clear.

That is a real success story. I don't have to do this all by myself, because the community has grown in size and expertise. So now I get to be a slacker.

Patzer

[brown685]

I started YNAB just 2 months ago, and I had very little trouble getting started in YNAB because of you and the many other helpful people on these forums.

Thank you.

James

[thefish30]

It has been amazing, in the less than a year I've been here, to go from learning to recognize the Dispensers of Wisdom, to being able to answer others' questions, to seeing new people come up behind me and grab a torch.

Helpfulness engenders helpfulness, and it is beautiful to find it happening.

[xraymd]

Helpfulness engenders helpfulness, and it is beautiful to find it happening.

Greetings, thefish30, I am thoroughly motivated by this aspect of the forums to want to come back time and again. Sometimes as a poster, regularly as a reader. I've said this before elsewhere and will say it again here: this is one of the absolute best uses of the Internet that could ever have developed - using it for good works.

Since I was a little girl, I have always been oriented towards being a go-to person to be of help in offering, or in locating, solutions to problems. It must be hard-wired in me, but it is bedrock. I did not have the imagination to fathom that once I grew up there would be this marvelous magical network stretching across the globe that stood ready to serve as the conduit for all the great impulses to be of service for anyone so inclined. And what is so deeply gratifying is the genuine inclinations I see all over this forum of people posting for the sheer satisfaction of knowing they had something to offer that could make someone else's day that much better. I know *I* have received my share of tremendous benefits when I've been stuck or puzzled, just from the clarity and kindness in the answers found here. I love it here.

I am an optimist and my hopes for humanity are realized every day when I think about what motivates the participants of this forum. Earned knowledge shared freely and respectfully just adds to the sum of the beneficence of the universe. Pretty lofty thing to say but that is how I feel, and it sure seems to be how it works. Yay!

xraymd

[J.Mann]

Patzer, you are so right. I used to read every thread
And try to help whenever I could. This summer has been a rough and busy one for me and I feel like I don't have to help out on every thread anymore. Now if they could just incorporate on/off-budget accounts and we wouldn't have to help solve problems at all!

[TLBauer]

Patzer,

Thankfully, you (as well as others) have contributed much to the success of the community of these forums. Your answers to questions are always detailed and logical, and I can't tell you how many times that I have been helped by them.

There are many times when I'll read a post and sit there thinking about how to reply. Sometimes, I'll find myself thinking: "well, better leave that one for Patzer!"

So, don't be too much of a slacker! Your input to the community is still highly valuable and much appreciated!

[malisab]

Patzer,

Thankfully, you (as well as others) have contributed much to the success of the community of these forums. Your answers to questions are always detailed and logical, and I can't tell you how many times that I have been helped by them.

There are many times when I'll read a post and sit there thinking about how to reply. Sometimes, I'll find myself thinking: "well, better leave that one for Patzer!"

So, don't be too much of a slacker! Your input to the community is still highly valuable and much appreciated!

Well said. My thanks many times over too.

I'll add that sometimes I DO respond to something and think "should have left that one for Patzer".

(or lautzu or chrish or Joel or...I'm sure I'm leaving out others I shouldn't...thanks to you all)

[Patzer]

I'll add that sometimes I DO respond to something and think "should have left that one for Patzer".

Don't sell yourself short. I've found a lot of posts where I think, "Do I have the energy to answer this . . . oh, Malisa handled it pretty well. Next post."

Patzer

[lautzu]

I'd echo Terry's comments, Patzer - don't be a slacker!

On a serious note, and to Patzer's original point, to me the great thing is that there are so many who are not only able to help out, but willing. And so it doesn't have to be all about waiting for that one person who can (or for the Intuit customer service to respond... ). Like Joel noted, he hasn't been able to be on much this summer, just like I found it hard to be "here" this spring - but there is such a great community, there is always someone who can and will be there. It's about much more than budgeting in that way.

Hope everyone's having a great summer, and thanks for the original post Patzer!

[mozzie61]

With so many of the YNAB gurus in the one post it's a great opportunity for me to also say thank you to Patzer and co for your wise and well considered contributions. The value of the forums cannot be underestimated, and as others have said it is worth more than the software itself. I found early on there's no such thing as a dumb question, but if you are being financially dumb (guilty of that) then someone will let you know, usually with the appropriate level of "butt kicking" .

The early questions asked and the prodigious reading of new and old posts certainly assisted me in ensuring that YNAB was not just another software program taking up space on my PC, but rather a new way of living that has completely changed our financial outlook and attitude to spending. There are many lessons still to be learnt, but it is reassuring as a newbie to know the assistance of fellow YNABers is just a post away. Thanks to all and enjoy the last bit of your summer (we're just waking from our winter slumber down under ).

[WairereRose]

Patzer,

Thankfully, you (as well as others) have contributed much to the success of the community of these forums. Your answers to questions are always detailed and logical, and I can't tell you how many times that I have been helped by them.

There are many times when I'll read a post and sit there thinking about how to reply. Sometimes, I'll find myself thinking: "well, better leave that one for Patzer!"

So, don't be too much of a slacker! Your input to the community is still highly valuable and much appreciated!

Well said. My thanks many times over too.

I'll add that sometimes I DO respond to something and think "should have left that one for Patzer".

(or lautzu or chrish or Joel or...I'm sure I'm leaving out others I shouldn't...thanks to you all)

You left out malisab

I'll add that sometimes I DO respond to something and think "should have left that one for Patzer".

Don't sell yourself short. I've found a lot of posts where I think, "Do I have the energy to answer this . . . oh, Malisa handled it pretty well. Next post."

Patzer

Oops, replied to the first one before reading on - Patzer beat me to it.

[Koenigcitizen]

A year ago, when I started YNAB, I had very very little trouble to learn and get my budget up and running, thanks to the forum and the community. Patzers formula was taped to my monitor for about a year, and I used it all the time.

No need for it now...

Thanks, guys!

[MacGuy]

I'd like to add my thanks to Patzer and the other gang of regulars who have answered my questions and those of so many others. I've been on many message boards, but this is the only one where I've almost never seen a single person give a snide response. What's amazing is that folks don't seem to mind answering the same questions over and over again as new users come aboard and can't locate the exact answer they need. And with nary a single rebuke. It's a beautiful thing. These forums have made my transition to YNAB immeasurably easier. Thanks, all.

[xraymd]

Wow, THANKS, MacGuy! Those sure are sweet words. And it will be an ongoing pleasure to have your own measured, insightful and valuable contributions to this fine forum continue. It is a great thing that has been built here and I think it is a corner of the webiverse that is genuinely of help to those who have found it.

xraymd