I have done 2/3 of these ways and the last one is what I stick with to this day! Anything I pull out for cash gets categorized as a withdrawal and from the category I am putting it toward! Great video!

15:35 Teach it with just $1. Love it! I heard it here first! 🤩 Thanks for sharing that nugget of wisdom!

Hot tip: Just start. You *can’t* iron out ‘your kinks’ until you do. Now if you are a type A person (like I was) then know that you can start anywhere in the month - Truly you can! YNAB is built for starting (or re-starting) *at any time* - now, tomorrow, end of month, beginning of tax year, start of a new job, celebration of Monday (or … Tuesday, or Wednesday), birthday milestones, weekend knock off, etc …. You get my drift. Also, YNAB software can handle you giving it small, medium or large commitment of your time; it is flexibility enough (self correcting of balances) until you have built up all the basic skills. You set the pace; it is not an app will fail if you don’t adhere to a certain pace. But be warned (so you are forearmed) ….. when you “start” you should COMMIT to entering transactions DAILY (and I mean DAILY). Practice that as your *first skill* with real GRIT; the rest will come “with time”. Now you get to ‘play with your money’. Explore! Did you know that there can be two “starts”? Curious? If so, read ahead …… Cheat code for Type A person (aka “the perfectionist”) (anything to remove the friction to start): - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1. Begin your YNAB free trial TODAY, 2. add only ONE bank account, and ENTER a nil balance, then spend SOME TIME (until midnight) adding/refining your categories (amounts, due date, cadence) in YNAB (under the “budget” menu). 3. Make it YOUR mission to do that by the end of the month (since you are likely to already be “budgeter of sorts” elsewhere). That’s the advantage of being Type A - harness that obsessive energy! You should be able to do this quicker than most. 3. Then, you’ve NOW prepped yourself up to “start” assigning money at the beginning of the NEXT month (because we know you are *NOT* want to be willing to take the advice of “starting today” 🙄 that’s why your Type A!). 4. So on the last day of the month (that is a Friday in the case of 31st Jan 2025) - knowing how to now enter transaction competently - you can a) adjust your bank balance(s) in YNAB to the true end of month values and b) On that same day you can assign out ALL your monies to your neatly listed categories (which will be that “ugly” month of chunky allocations - just like Ben said). Note: These allocations are guesses and guessed can be changed at anytime (in YNAB). c) If you miss allocating money on the 31st then do it on the 1st. You’re off the races - the 31st or the 1st - it’s all the same. You’ve started (you did that back on, well TODAY AS IT HAPPENS 🤣), you have your hashed out (not perfect) categories and you have the beginning of a budget! Now you get to gamify everything. It is life changing. 💕 Trust the process; you’ll wish you started sooner! Now I’ll be checking and if you haven’t started with a bank account adjustment come the last day of THIS MONTH. If you haven’t then you can be officially anointed “Type A and a procrastinator”. Not a rare comorbidity if you are Type A. All jokes aside, “the fun” is in the learning; it’s all about ‘making new decision’ going forward and building your spending plan lets you SEE THAT PLAN unfold on the paper (😆in the slick software that is). Good luck Newbies. Come and be a YNAB’er! The community here is wonderful and everyone, EVERYONE is welcome. 💕

Try not to laugh at Ernie's answers. They're valid answers and laughing could make someone feel ashamed or not confident going forward. Thanks Ernie for your encouragement to those who feel like they are struggling and can fresh start anytime 100/100 times!

I prefer to just hold on YNAB until I get the option to add a transaction, which auto-fills where I am along with the typical category.

Ben learning a new fear. 😅 Yes, water heaters can explode and go through the roof - they are very, very dangerous if not maintained properly. Mythbusters did a whole episode on if you want to look it up and see what it looks like when they rupture. Modern water heaters have a pressure relief valve, so it is less common than before that was code, but can still happen if the pressure relief valve fails. Make sure to get your water heater serviced regularly and there should be no issue.

how do you have it so next to each category it shows you how much money is needed by when? for example, next to eating out it says '$300 needed by the 31st'. I can only see my amount needed if I actually click on the category (so I can only see them one by one instead of having it all laid out)

😂 I've lived in TX and PNW, and grown okra, it does better in heat, died laughing! Go check your water heater now, our upstairs one decided to split at the rusted-out seam and leaked through to the garage ceiling, could have been much worse! The new one is now in the garage.

Oh thanks for the Amazon Order History link. GAME CHANGER!!! I usually ignore categorizing at the time due to the issue of looking this up to determine the split. This is AWESOME! Yea YNAB!

This was soooo good!! When Hannah talked about her shoes, I literally realized my little ring on cell phone case fell off (because I went cheap) and I have had the pricier one on my wish list. Going to buy it now without guilt!! lol Thanks!!

This was a good video, that I sent to my friends in real life (even non YNABers) when telling them something we did together was at the top of my list! I couldn’t narrow it down to top 5 like you guys, but I think this was a really worthwhile reflection exercise! For me, my top buckets were travel & experiences with family & friends, health / wellness / beauty, and home. It also made me realize in terms of travel, that I enjoyed warm weather trips more than cold weather trips. 😛

Okras are pretty impressive too, but more of a Southern thing. 😂😂😂

Here's a reason to not wait for any specific date to start YNAB that I think you missed mentioning: If you are human, you probably are already spending money, and probably on a credit card. If you start YNAB on the 1st, my guess is that there will be transactions you made before that date that will still need to be dealt-with. Either bring them into YNAB or delete them, but then adjust your starting balance accordingly. MOST people aren't going to go a week without any spending just to make sure Day 1 of YNAB is perfect and pristine...I'm guessing. :) My point is that this is going to be the case on the 1st or 7th or 33rd date of the month, so why wait? Just start. :) Great podcast as usual, guys!! Can't wait for your next "All YNAB Wins" episode!

Fun to listen to you Hannah. In addition to a few random tips, I think most of the allure is your humor and feeling the camaraderie. I spent hours today reconciling all those credit cards that crept up and up while my husband looked for a new job. Now that he thankfully has one, I want those balances down and the sooner the better gone. Even linked accounts don't always stay updated so while I have had a close eye on my checking it's been a long time since I reconciled credit card accounts. Not fun seeing the real balance of debt increase but peaceful knowing I am now working with real numbers. Happy New Year. xx Karen

Loading messages! I never knew what they are called. I LOVE those! I think it would be great if YNAB would call on their YNABers to come up with some. Maybe the Facebook group or the Reddit group or ask everyone who attends Fanfest. Just a thought.

My husband's wedding ring was from Etsy too!

We splurged on getting a 3D printer this year. It was a fabulous purchase for us!

Not related but I am so excited for FanFest in Minneapolis. Hoping we can get a Budget Nerds live or semi-live.

This is my YNAB win: I started YNAB in the middle of February 2024 so I could narrow down on exactly how much money I could use to pay off credit cards. I've paid off all of my credit cards and moved on to saving an emergency fund. By the time I'll hit my one year anniversary with YNAB, I'll have three months of expenses saved! YNAB has really helped me control my impulse purchases because I know exactly what I'm giving up when I spend on anything.

Yo, that intro was fire 🔥 love the inspiration. Yes, those reasons are valid because I'm a Virgo, so perfectionism is a part of it, lol. I believe the reason could be the accountability of where the money went, and the impulse spending then starts to hit hard😅. Get started with YNAB. It's life-changing; even though I may be broke, you might not be lol😅😂

The best thing about starting on any day for me is a fresh start. I thought I knew how I spent my money, where it was going. Using YNAB was a great reality check. I became more aware of the real choices and decisions to make. Anxiety was reduced when dealing with facts, not fiction. Don't worry about getting the dollar jobs wrong. Think of it like a positive learning curve. Money priorities change, and YNAB makes it easy to do reality checks.

I get why people delay starting using YNAB. I did it too when i first bought YNAB. I started the free trial in January 2024 when my daughter was just 10 days old. I set up all the categories, linked accounts, set up targets…and thats where it ended 😂 post-partum life really threw me for a loop and I couldn’t even fathom budgeting or even opening the YNAB mobile app. Then in August 2024 i decided enough was enough and I needed clarity on our finances. I did a fresh start mid-August and have been using YNAB consistently since then. In those 4 full months, we have gotten off the credit float, paid the ~$1500 taxes that we owed, and now we are *very* close to getting one month ahead.

When I started YNAB in 2023, I absolutely went back and added my mortgage payments since 2020 (only the mortgage payments and sufficient funding for them, nothing else). I would do it again because I want the pie Chart in the account to be correct - except if you would add a true/historic starting value for loans as a feature 😘

😮 I literally have never met another person who mists their popcorn before applying seasoning. I came up with that technique while in college and have never met anyone else who does anything similar!

Filling the weekly targets should turn the available bubble green! Pleeeesaaaaase. 😂 unless I’m doing something wrong? It’s not happy & stays yellow until the monthly targets are hit even when I’ve set a weekly target amount bc we get paid weekly. I need the green bubbles haha.

So what if I have my Verizon Visa linked that’a the way I pay my phone bill. Do I still need a “Phone” category when all I’m doing is paying the card off? Or do I keep both Verizon Visa link as well as have a category for phone and I still somehow tracked those together?

I don't have credit card debt this time around using YNAB so I did not add my credit cards. I have a bill category for credit cards payments and allocate money to that. The first time I used YNAB, figuring out how to use the credit card function was very confusing and frustrating. I saw a Reddit tip not to add them as you get used to the system so I actually never added them or my loans. They all just have a bill category. This works for me.

Most money isn't real, either, it's just digital numbers we assign value to

What’s wrong with credit cards?! We have been using them exclusively for like 25 years to get points and cash back!

Rainy day, live on last month income....a blast fron the past. RIP 4 rules 😢 we'll miss you...but the questions are great

I started YNAB toward the end of the month. I just assumed that month wouldn't be accurate, and that the first 3 months were just for learning how to use YNAB. When I look at reports I exclude those first months.

Tim's YNAB-Win really resonated with me - I'm in the same boat. I struggle to spend money on myself. Fun money has allowed me allocate to my personal priorities - lunch with friends, hair cut, gardening, and just because. My fun money is a category group - a budget within a budget if you will. Some categories build up, others get used monthly. I have a category that is "Something Nice" where I put my birthday/Christmas money.... it's adding up! I'm the budget nerd in the relationship - hubby just has a single line (he has no issue spending his money 😉). My money journey has been a long one, I'm better than I was at spending money - YNAB helps me be okay with spending for the family, etc. It's just for me now that I need to work on!

Ben, you should schedule the water heater replacement before there is a leak that causes more issues. Bite the bullet and do your water heater maintenance. Leaks always come at inconvenient times. I know I have been through it.

Welp, I'm one of those perfectionists, which has stopped me for far too long starting YNAB. Longer than I care to say. I have been a paying member since 2021 but I started doing it with gusto just this year (2025). Part of my issue was I began in the middle of the month and my pseudo-perfectionist tendency stopped me from starting in the middle of the month, I had a wedding to pay for in 2021, which I fell way off budget and instead of tracking all of that, I just threw the towel in and stopped. I know I know, that point is when I needed YNAB the most. Another issue is that I am an Olympic-level procrastinator. Par Excellence. Hey, ya gotta be good at something, at least it is not Olympic-level breakdancing. And I was having issues getting on the same page as my wife. What I realized is I lost a ton of good data by not hammering through those sparse years. I would likely have made different decisions on my purchases if I had been doing YNAB all along. I saw a video by Nick with Maped Out Money, in which he said to start simple. That was another problem of mine, I wanted to do it all, set up the Credit Cards and track all the expenses. Now, I have categories for my paid-off monthly credit cards and those I am debt snowballing. I track the interest in the debt snowball credit cards, the goal is to not any credit cards in the debt snowball category, but that will take a while. Tracking the cc interest will give me a dose of negative reinforcement the next time I want to buy something on credit instead of waiting till I have the money. What I've discovered is that it is ok if the first month or so is messy and you play catch-up. Some bills I know are coming up and I budget them, others I enter as they come through the bank account. The key for me is getting that category built so that I can prepare for it in the upcoming months. I'll crawl out of this hole I've made, as it is said, if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. I threw the shovel aside.

It's true, "you will become a nerd". It happened to me. Just start now, anyway! I have done two fresh starts, had help with a third budget, & tracked the many $20+ DoorDash ice cream purchases at 11pm that took me over budget. I have still never paid so much attention to my money & bills, and I find it fun to do. Worth every hilarious Canadian dollar that I spent on the membership!

I recommend YNAB to my friends in real life, but I’m honest with them that I think there’s a bit of a learning curve when you first start. I joined at the end of April 2023, and I think it helped to start at the end of the month so I could start figuring out how things worked a bit better before the start of the next full month. I also found it really helpful to join a free live getting started workshop when I first joined.

As a serial fresh-starter, my favourite time to start is right before my paycheck comes in, so I can focus on what really has to be funded but at the same time I know there's a bunch of money coming within a few days 😌 It's like a fabricated scarcity that gives me clarity about what I could do without if needs be!

Mine: - Zojirushi rice cooker...life-changing. - Season tickets for the Professional Women's Hockey League

Thanks for the great content I’ve been a YNAB user since 2018 and it changed my life financially but I had to remove my credit cards because it was too confusing for me when I was just starting out with budgeting in general. Now I’m so comfortable with my financial literacy and responsibility that I want to take advantage of my credit card benefits while also keeping the balances low, so I’ve found myself here learning how to do it before pulling the trigger on importing those credit cards. I was a bit trepidatious at first but this walkthrough put me at ease and made sense it of it all for me. Thank you! The fact that YNAB is putting out high quality customer success oriented content is part of what makes the subscription price worth it. Keep it coming!

Please do more more team ups like this! So fun. ❤

Ben, Premium is life changing, I honestly can’t believe you weren’t on that train before !

Omg this is my story! 😢 thank you for your transparency and for sharing your story. I’m back on YNAB and I’m determined to improve my financial situation. ❤

Amazing, thanks fellas! Got some inspiration.

29:29 "You are fully funded on the first" (40:03) 52:48 niiice 57:14 Spendfulness 58:45 hahahaaha 👍🏻👍🏻 btw, why i was smiling during all this video? haha it was fun. Good vid

20:20 drop you favorite brands! I want quality stuff…

I thought Ben said he's a "pot head" at first! 🤣

Hannah's note about using her money in ways that connect her more with her family...I teared up, so lovely!

I like my Mephistos better than Birkenstocks, more comfy and last forever!

🤯Siblings!!!!! So the KZbin skills are genetic?? Were you both genetically engineered to be on camera?

This not being on the main Videos page is hilarious. Totally missed this until someone mentioned it in their youtube video while using YNAB. Seems like kind of an important one to get out there to people! Also, thank goodness you're getting rid of True Expenses. Always had a problem with how the words don't mean anything and weren't descriptive. It's not helpful to have a name for something you have to explain every time anyway!