We believe that Plan to Eat and You Need a Budget work really well together, especially if spending less on groceries helps you meet your financial goals. YNAB calculated how much I would need to put toward my credit card balance each month to stay on track and pay off my debt. I also liked being able to add in my credit card balance as a category and then selecting a goal “pay off” date. I also created a category for things that don’t have a specific date, and might come out of my bank account at any time, like groceries and gas. This was an easy way for me to wrap my head around the organization of my money for each pay period. In the item description, I also added what date those bills usually come out of my account via auto-debit, as a reminder. I get paid 2x per month, so I created different categories based on what I’m paying for with each paycheck. Roni: I decided to organize my budget by pay cycle. While I haven’t reached an old age for my money yet, I love that the program tracks it and it gives me another goal within my budgeting. Over time, the program automatically gives your money an age, based on how quickly you spend what you are making. One of the pillars of YNAB is to age your money and stop living paycheck to paycheck. It helps you see how far you are to the goal, how much money you need to fulfill it and you can even give yourself a deadline! I have used this for bigger purchases, so I am ready to make the purchase without having to put it on a credit card to pay off later.Īnother feature that I found really useful was learning how old your money is. This feature allows you to set goals for a particular category and you can add into it over time, so you meet your goal. Riley: I really appreciated the goals feature. The YNAB method has proven effective, but it took a bit of time for us to adjust to the new way of budgeting. Other programs feel more like reactive budgeting: You look at your previous spending and adjust how you’re going to spend money based on previous transactions. Then you make further transactions based on the “jobs” you gave your money. YNAB is proactive budgeting: You take the money you have now and give each dollar a place in your budget. For two people who have experience with QuickBooks and Quicken, this budgeting format was a bit of a learning curve. You Need A Budget is a different format than either of us have used before for budgeting. Remember, this is based on your current bank balance, not on your month as a whole. Then create and reorder the categories to fit your lifestyle and enter in how much you need and want to budget for each category. Making the budget is simple, you can either connect a bank account or input your current bank balance to know what money you’re starting with. You start with the money you have right now and give it a “job,” no need to start with your next paycheck to get started budgeting.
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