YNAB You Need A Budget

[TLBauer]

February 12, 2010 was freedom day for my wife and I! We made the last payment on the last of our old credit card debt! Except for our mortgage and car payment, we now owe NO ONE for ANYTHING that is not a part of our monthly budget! It feels wonderful!

After two years of continually monitoring our budget -- practically daily -- we have retired $30,000 in credit card debt, put away more money in savings that we have ever seen in our 23 years of marriage, paid for a 3-week trip to Australia last fall, and have already paid (no CC debt) for a weekend jaunt to the coast coming in May AND for a 2-week trip to Alaska this fall .... all paid for ... no debt ... no worries!

As of the March 2010 budget, all that "snowball" money starts getting assigned to new jobs. It's like getting a HUMONGOUS pay raise!!

In this same forum, user Slash said: "I am a YNAB Militant!" I had never thought of myself as being militant about anything. But, as I think about it, YNAB is more than just a budget program: it represents a change in lifestyle! And, you simply must adopt a militant attitude in your determination to change your spending habits, or, neither YNAB nor any other program will be of any value to you!

I am free of credit card debt (what a wonderful feeling!), and with the continued use of YNAB, I plan on staying that way! I am a militant YNAB'er for life!

Thanks Jesse, Taylor, and crew for all your hard work in making YNAB the terrific tool that it has become! And, thanks to all of your other militant YNABer's, whose support and encouragement has been invaluable over the last two years!

[malisab]

Congratulations Terry! What tremendous accomplishments.

And a special thank you because you show that everyone does it in their own way. You've traveled. You've saved. AND you've retired your debt.

I've retired about $12k CC debt in the last 9 months. I've also restructured my remaining CC debt (most of the remaining debt is now on a new, lower interest card with CU instead of with evil Chase). I'm taking a 'jaunt' away from throwing everything at debt to do some home improvement. And I'm feeling guilty. I still have a good chunk of CC debt, but with my remaining interest getting cut in half and a deteriorating home that I feel I can't let a soul into...I feel I need to redirect my energies a bit with my 'extra' cash for a bit.

I'm still YNABing. I'm still planning to retire the CC debt in the next couple years. But I need to maintain/improve my largest asset. I need to make it so that I WANT to spend time here. We're re-directing travel funds into home improvement for a bit. We're changing our focus for a bit. But we're still doing it within the structure of YNAB.

I look forward to the day that they're gone. You should be glowing for a while. Great job.

[Trevor]

Another awesome tale of success. More inspiration to stick with it and follow in your footsteps.

[Mudie]

Woot! Woot!

I knew there was a reason I keep stopping by the forums! It's for stories like this.

Good job Terry, Congratulations!!

[jjsouth]

That is so wonderful! I was so inspired by your post "One Year with YNAB Pro"

post30084.html#p30084

Now I can add this new post to my "inspiring posts" list.

Congratulations!!!

Joyce

[DadOfTwins]

Congrats Terry!!
Your story is yet another affirmation that the YNAB way works!
I hope to be writing a story very similar to this in a year or so
Again, congrats..you militant

[mealmond]

Well done Terry, another great story to inspire people who pass by and just need a push to try the program.

I always tell people how much of a life changer the program is, but I think a lot of people assume it is just a sales spin.

Well done again.



Martin

[rollercoaster]

Awesome! Congratulations!!

[JeffS]

Congratulations Terry! What an awesome accomplishment.

All these positive results truly can a change a person’s life.

[macduncan]

Well played Terry! Well played!

[yaszmin]

Congratulations!!! This is a wonderful testimony and a very encouraging one, too!

[MIDAM5]

Congratulations!!! I am so excited for you and can't wait to get to where you are now someday. I read your post to DH and he said, "Hurry up and pay off our debt so we can say that too."

[MALMomma]

Terry, I just saw this. HOW EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am SOOOO happy for you two!!!!!!!! So exciting to follow your progress since I started YNAB in Aug '08 - and now to see THIS post?? THRILLING! HURRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy the "pay raise"!!!!!!!!!

[woodnboats]

A wonderful story, Terry. Not unlike mine, and I am sure many others, although with bigger numbers.

The interesting thing about it, at least to me, is that you never had to be in that place at all, any more than I did. You obviously had an income that didn't REQUIRE living hand to mouth, paycheck to paycheck. That the discipline of The YNAB Way made it possible to reverse your situation shows that you never had to be in that situation in the first place.

It's not the use of credit cards that causes us to get into these predicaments; it's the IRRESPONSIBLE use.

It's an insidious trap that is too easy to ignore, until like a dinosaur in La Brea, we've taken one step too many into the tar. My wife and I, in almost forty years of marriage, have run up five-figure CC debts at least four times, paid them off with a refi or some such, and turned around and done it again. Now, thanks to the discipline of following YNAB, I say on this Passover, in the words of Moshe Dayan, "Never again!". Slavery is slavery, whether in ancient Egypt or modern America, and in this case we have enslaved ourselves.

We still use credit cards, for specific purposes and usually to get some benefit, such as rebates, or for the convenience of acceptance anywhere in the country. As an example, we recently opened a new Buy.com account for my wife, in order to take advantage of a 30% rebate on an Ooma, but that was paid off immediately, and the likelihood of the card ever being used again is small. But the purchases we make on any card are ALREADY IN THE BUDGET, and covered by the buffer. There is never a balance past the payment due date.

Now that you are there, YNAB has given you the insight never to allow you to go back.

Congratulations,

Kirk