Category: Best Practices
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The YNAB Memo Field: Why It’s Worth Using (and How It Helps Later)
When you’re in the flow of approving transactions in YNAB, it’s so easy to skip the YNAB memo field. But that little field is one of the simplest ways to make your budget clearer—both now and later. To be clear: not every transaction needs a memo. Your monthly electric bill probably speaks for itself. But for many day-to-day purchases, a…
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Why You Should Categorize Inflows as Ready to Assign in YNAB
I’ve noticed that some new Peace of Mind Spending clients have a tendency to categorize some inflows directly to the category they plan to spend the money on. I can see how that makes sense to them…why not skip the middleman (Ready to Assign) and go directly to the category? There’s a good reason: It…
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Next Month Category vs. Assigning Into the Future in YNAB
In YNAB, getting a month ahead is the goal. When you are spending money this month that you earned last month, you have created financial peace of mind. I’m a month ahead in both my business and personal budgets and I can tell you with certainty that it has brought much ease to my financial…
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How to Categorize ATM Withdrawals in YNAB (3 Simple Options)
Cash is no longer king, but sometimes you still need to hit the ATM. When you withdraw cash, how should you categorize an ATM withdrawal in YNAB? There’s no one right way to do it, but here are a few solid options: Create an “ATM Withdrawal” (or “Cash”) Category You could just have an ATM…
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How YNAB Makes Profit First Easier: My Simple Deposit Allocation Workflow
I love the Profit First methodology to help small businesses be more profitable. I first read the book Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine, by Mike Michaelowicz in 2015 and shortly thereafter started using it for my organizing business. It revolutionized how I think about my business’s money—and a…
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PSA: Open your mail!
I wrote this post for my organizing blog, but I realized it would be valuable for readers of this blog as well. Here’s a slightly edited version. Over the years, I’ve encountered many organizing clients who don’t open their postal mail. I get it. Mail can be scary. I remember back when I was dealing…
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Doing YNAB daily
As a professional organizer, I’m a huge fan of creating daily routines to keep life running easier. In fact, earlier today I re-ran a 2021 post on my organizing blog about using daily routines to add ease to your life. One of my strongest daily habits is doing my YNAB. As I’ve outlined here, every…
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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…
