I have quite a few Taylor Swift songs for categories. Getaway Car for the car payment, Cruel Summer for what I need to save when I don’t work over the summer, I Forgot That You Existed for stuffI forgot to budget for, ‘tis the damn season for holiday spending, etc. Budgeting should be fun! 💃🏼
I was today years old when I learnt that if I mark my inflow to go straight to a category instead of Ready to Assign it'll even out the spending. That's so useful!
I started with ynab back in October of last year. My goal was to figure out a way to easily track my true expenses. Before ynab i was doing pen and paper and going through my bank statements to see how much money i was spending eating out and impulse spending. Ynab has made me aware that I can't afford to spend money on things i want because that money is already allocated for things i need. It also allowed me to come to terms with what I truly valued. I couldn't spend on items i didn't plan for because I valued increasing my retirement contributions even more. It has saved me much more money than I thought it would all while also giving me peace of mind.
I love the phrase "I can save for my property taxes better than the bank can". That was exactly why I took our mortgage off escrow as soon as we were eligible 😅
Love the video! "Job Loss" is very bleak and I would hate to have to look at this phrase every day. I call this category "Rainy Day". Slightly less ominous :)
Here's a true expense that I've not seen mentioned: health insurance deductible. If anyone in the family has a serious medical emergency and you have to pay the full deductible (which can be quite large) it helps to have this amount already set aside so you don't have added stress trying to role with the punches for such a large amount.
Yes, yes, yes!!! I have a category group named “Sh*t Happens” and it has our Health, Cars, and House sub categories. They were life savers when my husband spent a couple of days in the hospital, our A/C needed replacing, and my car needed a new muffler (not all at the same time, fortunately). But if we hadn’t had those categories fully funded all of those expenses would’ve landed on a credit card. Yikes!
I’ve been listening on Spotify, but Ernie inspired me to go ahead and change some category names & groupings about 10 mins in. I had to stop listening and go do it immediately. 😂
I love the alphabetical order idea! This episode inspired me to par down my groups, alphabetize them, and put the categories within in alphabetical order. I also added emojees -- ONLY on the group! First time using the emojees in the budget. And, I am going to try the Rule 4 Holding category to fund the next month. Thank you for the great ideas. I LOVE YNAB!
I work for Chase. I haven’t taken a close look at the Hyatt rewards structure but if it were me I would get rid of both Hyatt cards and get a sapphire preferred card(95 annual fee). It is a great travel card that is sooo much more flexible than the Hyatt card. You can convert your points earned on the Sapphire card to any rewards point system program you like with a 1:1 transfer; Hyatt, Southwest etc. Which makes it where you don’t have to marry yourself to one travel vender. If you really want to get crafty, get the freedom unlimited(no annual fee) to replace the discover card(unless discover offers better rewards structure) and transfer points earned on that card to your sapphire card, where they are more valuable when used for travel. One of the Financial Advisors I know paid for a trip to France using this method.
I'm with Ben on the lack of refund category. Another reason I like categorizing everything is because if the refund falls through for some reason, I don't have to re-fill a holding category.
Like Ben I assign right into the category that I had spent from & I flag all reimbursements w/ "Yellow" so I can easily find any reimbursements if needed.
I have a catagory called 'Appointments'. Inside it out has "eye", "dental", "medical", and "hair". The first three are broken into 2 categories, one for my and one for my husband. Medical for that would be doctors appointments, medicine because of the doctor appointments, or ER visits. Eyes are the appointment themselves, glasses or contacts, and if one of us gets laser eye surgery, we would have a group to save for it, then after the surgery, we would delete it and move the actual cost to eye. Dental is appointments and I'm paying for wisdom teeth removal in a couple months. Then for hair, I get my hair cut and dyed fun colors every couple months. Nothing mandatory, but it makes me happy. My husband might also regularly dye his hair. He hasn't decided yet though
Reharding ordering, for my equivalent of the bills category I find it important to order by when they are paid chronologically. I even put when it is paid in the name. Before getting to being a month ahead it is important yo have them in that order to fund them in order
RE Reimbursements: I put those "payback" things back into the category. Because in the end it doesn't matter and I'm trying to track what *I* spend, not the bill itself. That's tracked by the bill or the account register. Significantly less category sprawl this way.
Ive added a TV category because of this and starting to think of how to break up the huge category of 'flexible' I have. Would love a video (if it hasnt been done already) on your journey's to aging your money to be a full month ahead. Ups and downs, how you approached it based on personal situations.
I have received no snow but it was ninety degrees yesterday in southern VA. My husband have been sketching out ripping out more grass to minimize the japanese beetles making winter homes in the grass.
We have. Our neighbors have one, and it works well. We're just not convinced Ridge would stay inside of it all the time. I definitely like the idea of invisible fences! ~Ernie
Our dog's medical categories are listed as vet and meds, our medical categories are: health (for preventative things like massage, chiropractor, vitamins/supplements, etc) and medical, for actual medical bills/prescriptions
Here we simply include toilet paper, paper towels and cleaning products with groceries. The amount we pay for these is pretty stable year long and it makes it a lot simpler when importing groceries from Walmart. No need for splitting just put it all in groceries.
I would not remove Charlie from the budget, but would keep the categories as gifts (which could include paying for the subscription), wedding, and grandchildren and travel so he can come home to visit you or you can go visit him. You might think of these as future expenses, but his dishwasher job is not going to pay much ***and *** .
I made a reimbursement group and put a single reimbursement category in it. That way, when I look at the reports, it’s it’s own thing. It lives alone and I like it.
Reimbursements. I simply add them within same category that I expensed the payment from, e.g. med refund or dental refund or eyecare refund and each debit and refund shows family member it was for [mum, dad, c1, puppy, c3 etc.] C1 for 1st kid etc. Helps to follow when some refunds are split and covered via 2 plans or from our budget if not fully covered.
OMG alphabetical categories would drive me nuts! I have to do them by date (bills) or by "theme" (for example, in our fun money group, our joint categories are first, then his, then mine).
can you show us your screen more often, maybe like a live screen of the budget on the side in addition to your faces? it helps us follow what you're talking about better
I don’t have enough self control to have a holding category for next month lol. One I have it budgeted out for next month, it’s out of my mind and reach and I also have peace of mind that I have next month budgeted for.
LMAO, I can't breathe. I have a miniature poodle, but if I had my mother-in-law's chihuahua, I'd rename the category to Demonic Offerings. This is hilarious!
I like to order my categories by Assigned Amount. I find it helpful when I'm digging through things, going "where the heck is all the money going and how do can we pare back"?
The key is to only reconcile cleared transactions from the bank. Don't worry about the pending or uncleared transactions at your bank. This guide shows you step-by-step support.ynab.com/en_us/reconciling-accounts-a-guide-BJFE3fHys#process ~Ernie
Ernie, you can't say "Elite Grass Seed" and not say what you purchased... I need to know.... What type of seed did you purchase. I am in zone 4 with you. (Minnesota) I need the seed! :)😀
Category Question: The hubs and I like to have our own eating out budget, preferably cash. This category has been hard for us to manage in YNAB bc of that. I've considered lump sum withdrawals that I "assign" to these categories and then using the old-school envelope method. What have you guys done to best track use of cash in YNAB? Or have you opted to go "all in" on charges for reconcile efficiency/simplicity?
I have cash as an account, like another bank account. For example if I withdraw £50 from the bank, I move £50 from that bank account to the Cash account. If I spent £20 in cash on a meal out, I would record that against the relevant category (eg Eating Out) and out of the Cash account. When I reconcile accounts I count how much cash I actually have and check it against what’s showing in the Cash account. Hopefully with this example I would have £30 in my wallet and £30 in the Cash account. Perhaps you could have two Cash accounts, one for you and one for your husband? Does that make sense? I hope I haven’t misunderstood what you said.
@@DWXY thanks so much for sharing! that's a great suggestion as i'm really struggling with the cash items in my budget, like paying the gardener. i just paid him two months in advance and i'm trying to figure out how that can be entered since this month it appears I overspent in the category. i'm a real newbie.
@@hsoldonia I'm with Dimitri-I utilize a cash account. That way I can spend from any category using debit, credit, or cash. If you're looking for some more advice support.ynab.com/en_us/handling-cash-in-ynab-a-guide-BJVYYkXR9 ~Ernie
Re: Charlie in the budget - any thoughts about encouraging retirement savings by contributing money to a Roth IRA? Now that he has income he can start his retirement savings! Could either just put the $20 there straight off or as a % match to what he may contribute.
Instead of encouraging, I'm enforcing retirement savings! 🤣 I just opened a Roth IRA for him and told him that he needs to contribute at least $50/mo while employed and living at home. The rules are the rules! ~Ernie
Earnie, is there a reason you do not use a “kids’ extracurriculars” category? I noticed those expenses fall under a couple of different categories for you.
Probably because I've never thought much about it! 🤣 I think I've had just one "Boys" category since the beginning and never felt like it wasn't working. ~Ernie
It's the category I use to stay a month ahead. I put the current month's paychecks there until I assign them to next month's plan. You can find more info here support.ynab.com/en_us/assigning-money-in-future-months-a-guide-HJidy13C5#incomecategory ~Ernie
Very nice video. However, I’ve two kind of subscriptions. Monthly and yearly. The latter all have different due dates. Does this mean I have to integrate them all individually in my budget?
@@bosmanka In those situations, I add up all the yearly costs, divide that total by 12, and then create a Monthly Savings Builder target for that amount. Depending when the bills are due, you may need to frontload the category so there's enough. ~Ernie
Reimbursements... isn't that more like an account? You're playing bank to other people, or other people are giving you a temporary loan? You could make an account for each person who regularly owes you money (or you regularly owe to), or you could lump them all together.
I love you guys... but you really have got to show the things you are talking about as you are discussing them. There is no point in seeing your faces when you are reading off your categories. Would be much more helpful to hear you as we can look at your categories. Would increase usefulness 100% immediately!
Sorry about that JTI! I thought having the screenshot at the beginning of each group for 7-10 seconds would suffice. Next time I'll see what else I can do to make it more useful. ~Ernie
I have quite a few Taylor Swift songs for categories. Getaway Car for the car payment, Cruel Summer for what I need to save when I don’t work over the summer, I Forgot That You Existed for stuffI forgot to budget for, ‘tis the damn season for holiday spending, etc. Budgeting should be fun! 💃🏼
This is the coolest thing I've ever heard about categories, and in my Wildest Dreams I do something similar in my budget! ~Ernie
That is very fun
I was today years old when I learnt that if I mark my inflow to go straight to a category instead of Ready to Assign it'll even out the spending. That's so useful!
Yay. New episode to crochet to.
I started with ynab back in October of last year. My goal was to figure out a way to easily track my true expenses. Before ynab i was doing pen and paper and going through my bank statements to see how much money i was spending eating out and impulse spending. Ynab has made me aware that I can't afford to spend money on things i want because that money is already allocated for things i need. It also allowed me to come to terms with what I truly valued. I couldn't spend on items i didn't plan for because I valued increasing my retirement contributions even more. It has saved me much more money than I thought it would all while also giving me peace of mind.
I love the phrase "I can save for my property taxes better than the bank can". That was exactly why I took our mortgage off escrow as soon as we were eligible 😅
Love the video! "Job Loss" is very bleak and I would hate to have to look at this phrase every day. I call this category "Rainy Day". Slightly less ominous :)
I've changed my tune on this for the same reason! Now I call that category "🤔 Options" ~Ernie
Here's a true expense that I've not seen mentioned: health insurance deductible. If anyone in the family has a serious medical emergency and you have to pay the full deductible (which can be quite large) it helps to have this amount already set aside so you don't have added stress trying to role with the punches for such a large amount.
That’s such a good point. I think this is similar to ‘excess’ and mine is close to $500 so it makes sense to save for it!
Yes, yes, yes!!! I have a category group named “Sh*t Happens” and it has our Health, Cars, and House sub categories. They were life savers when my husband spent a couple of days in the hospital, our A/C needed replacing, and my car needed a new muffler (not all at the same time, fortunately). But if we hadn’t had those categories fully funded all of those expenses would’ve landed on a credit card. Yikes!
I’ve been listening on Spotify, but Ernie inspired me to go ahead and change some category names & groupings about 10 mins in. I had to stop listening and go do it immediately. 😂
See, Ben, other YNABers also make changes right away. You can do it, too! 🤣 ~Ernie
Amazon gives back 5%, which for us happens to cover the prime fee completely. So it's free movies and shipping for using the card.
I love the alphabetical order idea! This episode inspired me to par down my groups, alphabetize them, and put the categories within in alphabetical order. I also added emojees -- ONLY on the group! First time using the emojees in the budget. And, I am going to try the Rule 4 Holding category to fund the next month. Thank you for the great ideas. I LOVE YNAB!
I work for Chase. I haven’t taken a close look at the Hyatt rewards structure but if it were me I would get rid of both Hyatt cards and get a sapphire preferred card(95 annual fee). It is a great travel card that is sooo much more flexible than the Hyatt card. You can convert your points earned on the Sapphire card to any rewards point system program you like with a 1:1 transfer; Hyatt, Southwest etc. Which makes it where you don’t have to marry yourself to one travel vender. If you really want to get crafty, get the freedom unlimited(no annual fee) to replace the discover card(unless discover offers better rewards structure) and transfer points earned on that card to your sapphire card, where they are more valuable when used for travel. One of the Financial Advisors I know paid for a trip to France using this method.
I'm with Ben on the lack of refund category. Another reason I like categorizing everything is because if the refund falls through for some reason, I don't have to re-fill a holding category.
Big fan of the lights on the wall behind Ben!
Like Ben I assign right into the category that I had spent from & I flag all reimbursements w/ "Yellow" so I can easily find any reimbursements if needed.
I have a catagory called 'Appointments'. Inside it out has "eye", "dental", "medical", and "hair". The first three are broken into 2 categories, one for my and one for my husband. Medical for that would be doctors appointments, medicine because of the doctor appointments, or ER visits. Eyes are the appointment themselves, glasses or contacts, and if one of us gets laser eye surgery, we would have a group to save for it, then after the surgery, we would delete it and move the actual cost to eye. Dental is appointments and I'm paying for wisdom teeth removal in a couple months. Then for hair, I get my hair cut and dyed fun colors every couple months. Nothing mandatory, but it makes me happy. My husband might also regularly dye his hair. He hasn't decided yet though
Reharding ordering, for my equivalent of the bills category I find it important to order by when they are paid chronologically. I even put when it is paid in the name. Before getting to being a month ahead it is important yo have them in that order to fund them in order
RE Reimbursements: I put those "payback" things back into the category. Because in the end it doesn't matter and I'm trying to track what *I* spend, not the bill itself. That's tracked by the bill or the account register. Significantly less category sprawl this way.
Ive added a TV category because of this and starting to think of how to break up the huge category of 'flexible' I have. Would love a video (if it hasnt been done already) on your journey's to aging your money to be a full month ahead. Ups and downs, how you approached it based on personal situations.
We did an episode a couple years ago on getting a month ahead ua-cam.com/video/2ygVh7scHS0/v-deo.html Hope that helps! ~Ernie
Putting mileage toward a new vehicle fund is genius!! It makes so much obvious sense.
I have received no snow but it was ninety degrees yesterday in southern VA. My husband have been sketching out ripping out more grass to minimize the japanese beetles making winter homes in the grass.
Great podcast! I'm in the 2nd day of my trial, this is really helpful.
Have you thought of getting an invisible fence for your dog? They work well.
We have. Our neighbors have one, and it works well. We're just not convinced Ridge would stay inside of it all the time. I definitely like the idea of invisible fences! ~Ernie
YNAB stands for You're Not Alone, Budgeters!
lol I haven't thought of that. I love it! ~Ernie
thanks for the alphabetical categories suggestion. so much easier to find them!
Our dog's medical categories are listed as vet and meds, our medical categories are: health (for preventative things like massage, chiropractor, vitamins/supplements, etc) and medical, for actual medical bills/prescriptions
Here we simply include toilet paper, paper towels and cleaning products with groceries. The amount we pay for these is pretty stable year long and it makes it a lot simpler when importing groceries from Walmart. No need for splitting just put it all in groceries.
Using this layout now, making more sense thanks 👍🏼
LOVE Budget Nerds! Any chance you could start doing weekly episodes??
I would not remove Charlie from the budget, but would keep the categories as gifts (which could include paying for the subscription), wedding, and grandchildren and travel so he can come home to visit you or you can go visit him. You might think of these as future expenses, but his dishwasher job is not going to pay much ***and *** .
It sounds like he’s only removing him when it comes to his spending money since he has a job now which makes sense
This would be a lot easier to follow if you were sharing your screen. Thanks!
I made a reimbursement group and put a single reimbursement category in it. That way, when I look at the reports, it’s it’s own thing. It lives alone and I like it.
Now a hard core nerd would have a category for driver's license renewal
I do 😂
Omg thanks I’ll add this now too hahahah
I just love how nice you are to each other
Reimbursements. I simply add them within same category that I expensed the payment from, e.g. med refund or dental refund or eyecare refund and each debit and refund shows family member it was for [mum, dad, c1, puppy, c3 etc.] C1 for 1st kid etc. Helps to follow when some refunds are split and covered via 2 plans or from our budget if not fully covered.
Suggestion: keep the budget on the screen. I know it might be a little crowded!
OMG alphabetical categories would drive me nuts! I have to do them by date (bills) or by "theme" (for example, in our fun money group, our joint categories are first, then his, then mine).
can you show us your screen more often, maybe like a live screen of the budget on the side in addition to your faces? it helps us follow what you're talking about better
i have to keep pausing the video going back to the picture to refer what you're talking about.
24 category groups and 127 categories
I don’t have enough self control to have a holding category for next month lol. One I have it budgeted out for next month, it’s out of my mind and reach and I also have peace of mind that I have next month budgeted for.
My dog category is demonic offerings
LMAO, I can't breathe. I have a miniature poodle, but if I had my mother-in-law's chihuahua, I'd rename the category to Demonic Offerings. This is hilarious!
I like to order my categories by Assigned Amount. I find it helpful when I'm digging through things, going "where the heck is all the money going and how do can we pare back"?
Would large vacuum bags that you would use to store clothing or bedding in fall under consumables or durables?
That's a durable in my book. But the great thing is it really doesn't matter! ~Ernie
How do I reconcile checking account without messing up the budget?😊
The key is to only reconcile cleared transactions from the bank. Don't worry about the pending or uncleared transactions at your bank. This guide shows you step-by-step support.ynab.com/en_us/reconciling-accounts-a-guide-BJFE3fHys#process ~Ernie
Ernie, you can't say "Elite Grass Seed" and not say what you purchased... I need to know.... What type of seed did you purchase. I am in zone 4 with you. (Minnesota) I need the seed! :)😀
Here you go Tracy! ryanknorrlawncare.com/product-category/grass-seed/ ~Ernie
I'd keep giving my kid the money if he budgets for that month. A small incentive for him, and peace of mind for me 😜
Category Question: The hubs and I like to have our own eating out budget, preferably cash. This category has been hard for us to manage in YNAB bc of that. I've considered lump sum withdrawals that I "assign" to these categories and then using the old-school envelope method. What have you guys done to best track use of cash in YNAB? Or have you opted to go "all in" on charges for reconcile efficiency/simplicity?
I have cash as an account, like another bank account. For example if I withdraw £50 from the bank, I move £50 from that bank account to the Cash account. If I spent £20 in cash on a meal out, I would record that against the relevant category (eg Eating Out) and out of the Cash account. When I reconcile accounts I count how much cash I actually have and check it against what’s showing in the Cash account. Hopefully with this example I would have £30 in my wallet and £30 in the Cash account. Perhaps you could have two Cash accounts, one for you and one for your husband? Does that make sense? I hope I haven’t misunderstood what you said.
@@DWXY thanks so much for sharing! that's a great suggestion as i'm really struggling with the cash items in my budget, like paying the gardener. i just paid him two months in advance and i'm trying to figure out how that can be entered since this month it appears I overspent in the category. i'm a real newbie.
@@hsoldonia I'm with Dimitri-I utilize a cash account. That way I can spend from any category using debit, credit, or cash. If you're looking for some more advice support.ynab.com/en_us/handling-cash-in-ynab-a-guide-BJVYYkXR9 ~Ernie
Seems like you are using your True Expenses group as a catch all.
Re: Charlie in the budget - any thoughts about encouraging retirement savings by contributing money to a Roth IRA? Now that he has income he can start his retirement savings! Could either just put the $20 there straight off or as a % match to what he may contribute.
Instead of encouraging, I'm enforcing retirement savings! 🤣 I just opened a Roth IRA for him and told him that he needs to contribute at least $50/mo while employed and living at home. The rules are the rules! ~Ernie
@@YNABofficial YES! Great job!
Earnie, is there a reason you do not use a “kids’ extracurriculars” category? I noticed those expenses fall under a couple of different categories for you.
Probably because I've never thought much about it! 🤣 I think I've had just one "Boys" category since the beginning and never felt like it wasn't working. ~Ernie
Wait, what’s the “Rule 4 💰” category?? Where do I learn more about this??
It's the category I use to stay a month ahead. I put the current month's paychecks there until I assign them to next month's plan. You can find more info here support.ynab.com/en_us/assigning-money-in-future-months-a-guide-HJidy13C5#incomecategory ~Ernie
boys are taking "insanely long showers" .... been there 😂
Must be nice to have a regular water bill again :) ~Ernie
Very nice video. However, I’ve two kind of subscriptions. Monthly and yearly. The latter all have different due dates. Does this mean I have to integrate them all individually in my budget?
Not at all. If it'd be easier to group all your yearly subs into one category, do that! ~Ernie
@@YNABofficial Problem with that is that due to different due dates I don’t know how to save for each of them.
@@bosmanka In those situations, I add up all the yearly costs, divide that total by 12, and then create a Monthly Savings Builder target for that amount. Depending when the bills are due, you may need to frontload the category so there's enough. ~Ernie
Reimbursements... isn't that more like an account? You're playing bank to other people, or other people are giving you a temporary loan? You could make an account for each person who regularly owes you money (or you regularly owe to), or you could lump them all together.
#YNABhelp How do you know how many categories you have? Do you manually count, or does the system tell you somewhere?
Nvm I just figured it out 😅
Vehicle Registration sounds like cousin to a personal property tax in a true expense group, but you do you, Ernie.
By due date
Infrequent Groceries
I love you guys... but you really have got to show the things you are talking about as you are discussing them. There is no point in seeing your faces when you are reading off your categories. Would be much more helpful to hear you as we can look at your categories. Would increase usefulness 100% immediately!
Sorry about that JTI! I thought having the screenshot at the beginning of each group for 7-10 seconds would suffice. Next time I'll see what else I can do to make it more useful. ~Ernie
Too much talking! Our time is worth more than idle talk. Please get to the points that matter.