Category: Best Practices
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Does your spending plan tell your story?
In my YNAB coaching training (or perhaps it was at the YNAB Fan Fest) I heard someone suggest that an individual YNAB user’s spending plan ought to reveal something about the user. I love the idea that I can tell what my priorities are (or what a coaching client’s priorities are) by glancing at a…
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Do these five things for stress-free YNABing
It took me a few years to get so comfortable with YNAB it didn’t spark a little stress or overwhelm. Now, seven years into my YNAB journey I experience no stress with it and in fact really enjoy my daily YNAB routine. I actually check my budget several times a day but the morning check-in…
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Use that memo field!
When you’re in the flow of approving transactions, it can be easy to not take the time to make a note in the memo field about that transaction. But in my opinion, it’s worth the time. Many transactions don’t merit a memo. The monthly electric bill, for example, might be completely obvious. But for most…
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The Five Questions
Late last year, the YNAB method changed. Instead of four rules, we now have just one, Give Every Dollar A Job. And we now have five questions to support that rule. I blogged about this in December after the announcement came out. When I first heard about this shift, I was thrilled. And now, four…
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Keep an eye on last month
I’m writing this on April 2. When I did my daily YNAB check-in this morning, I saw that some transactions dated March 31 had imported overnight, which created some overspending on my March budget. This is why it’s so important in a new YNAB month to go back to the prior month budget screen at…
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Handling Venmo in YNAB
There’s a reason why Venmo is so popular. It’s a simple and convenient way to pay someone. If you use both Venmo and YNAB here are some things to keep in mind: YNAB considers Venmo a bank, so if you add it to YNAB, it will show up in the Cash area of your Accounts…
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Tracking hobby spending
Sometimes I think the most fun part of starting a new hobby is acquiring all the things you need to do the hobby. At least that was the case for me when I started knitting 20 years ago. Or coloring ten years ago, which morphed into hand lettering seven years ago and became Bullet Journaling…
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Treat your credit card like a debit card
One of the genius things about YNAB is the way it handles credit cards. Let’s say you spend $50 on food at the grocery store. In the credit card account, you categorize that $50 into the groceries category. Assuming you have the money in your groceries category, YNAB will move $50 from your groceries category…
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Be careful when approving transactions
Once you’ve been using YNAB for a little while (if you use direct import), YNAB might suggest a category for each transaction. It’s basing the suggestion on past transactions from the same payee. I want to urge you to take a moment to consider YNAB’s suggestion before clicking Approve. If you approve blindly, you may…
