Ask the Nerds: Grab Bag Edition

[@laurenlovesstories]

On combining categories, I had a category for food delivery and eating out but realized having that category just allowed me to spend so much on delivery when I wanted to cook a lot more at home. Deleting it and just running those expenses through my free money category has really forced me to pause and consider what else I’m giving up when I spend that money on delivery, and my spending on food delivery has dropped since then.

[@dawnkoplitz1825]

Anything I tend to buy at the grocery store goes under groceries. Shampoo, TP, and groceries are all groceries because it doesn’t matter to me how much I spend on shampoo.

[@mscandyclash]

Same. I am going to buy TP no matter what and I buy at the grocery store. If get specialty "home stuff" like bins at the container store etc that is my home supplies. Similarly, if I get a fancy shampoo or something similar it is in a "health and grooming category". Basically I want to do as little receipt review and split transactions as possible haha

[@jennivanhart3016]

Ben's little throw away comment about a "Launch" account made me immediately change the name of my two categories I am filling for our two daughters. My plan is when they are 25 they will have $10k from us, to use for whatever they wish, they were previously named House/Wedding but who am I to label the cash, it will be given without restriction. It is separate from their post-secondary education funds.

[@YNABofficial]

It really does feel like the perfect name! 🙌~BenB

[@emilyspalding2982]

Hannah's video about groceries helped solve something that had been driving me crazy. We have several CDs. That money needs a job & I need to know those jobs are taken care of. So I made category groups for each CD and then fully funded goals (or parts of goals) in each category. I no longer need to stress about things that I won't need to do for a long time, like replace appliances, but I have accounted for those true expenses. So I guess I'm kinda playing matchy-matchy, but with a purpose.

[@yarnstead]

another good episode, thank you! I have individual categories for monthly and annual expenses because if they change (for example, increase in annual car registration amount), it's quick and easy to adjust the target for that. Also I can review each expense is so I can consider if it's something I want to keep paying for (streaming services, memberships, etc.). I keep the category groups closed most of the time so my budget doesn't have those categories all visible when I open it.

[@valerieproctor517]

I literally posted in the fan group about going from a category for each individual bill to one 'monthly bill' category. Its great so far!

[@sherrydiddle]

I do this & I love it. I am never tempted to WAM from this category.

[@amandabender7216]

For me more categories are more helpful. I have all my annual subscriptions as their own category so I don't forget a bill is coming due and accidently WAM myself into a corner. The notes section doesn't always help because in the mobile app it's not right in my face.

[@JK13A]

I'm with you here. I need to know what the money is for on a lot of this stuff or I'll forget and spend that money.

[@YKKY]

Guys, I just finished our reconciliation and I have to share a YNAB win with you. And it is a weird one. We got to 48 days age of money and it feels good but not as good as learning the lesson of reconciling monthly without fail! I had to make so many adjustments and jump through so many hoops today just to get us back on track and I did not want to do a fresh start as I want the data, I really want to see how we are doing overall, in say six months or so. But we missed over 10 days of transactions so no more avoiding it, I sat down and did it today and boy does it feel good to know that you might have screwed up but not as badly as you thought and in fact, you are doing rather well and all you need to do is to stay consistent.... Thank you so much for all you are doing, you are changing our finances and lives with every episode.

[@jennw6809]

I have my own business and need to start actually saving for quarterly taxes. I get a majority of my income through Square. I just realized I could a Square savings account to help me save a percentage of money out of each purchase. Not to mention it's high yield. I heard a suggestion (on a blog entry, I think) you could take out a percentage of each sale, but that seemed quite cumbersome -- until I realized I could do it automatically! So in my mind that is a good reason to have a separate savings account.

[@dancoways]

Can you perhaps get your product team to add bank sync in Australia. We are paying the same price as everyone else who is able to use it, especially after your price increases. Sure manual input and 3rd party sync is a thing, but I feel like not adding it in Australia but still putting our price up is just really taking the Aussie customers for a ride, especially since there isn't really any alternative. I've asked time and time again along with many other Aussie users for the past few years now, it's getting to be a bit of a joke tbh. The responses are usually just excuse after excuse when really you guys could do it very easily, especially with open banking.

[@nralaniz6024]

Having separate accounts can be necessary when you have multiple account holders that are not on the YNAB train. Also, if there is an option for more benefits at different banks, why not? Love the optimization, Ernie. YNAB has helped us get to a point where we can start thinking of HYSAs, etc.

[@oldmaninthemirror]

Not really sure what matchy matchy means but ynab lumps assets into one blob but when time comes to pay say a credit card bill best be sure the funds are in the paying account and not scattered here and there

[@yarnstead]

I'm so glad YNAB makes keeping track of credit card expenses so easy!

[@raynebair]

My daughter is starting her senior year of high school. So I created a whole category group just for her. It has all the expenses that I anticipate I will need senior year: clothing, school supplies, sports, AP exam fees, field trips, graduation expenses, etc. I also have one for upcoming college expenses that I plan to start funding now so I have something saved for dorm/moving expenses, etc. There is also a category for her "allowance", which is her gas money and spending money. But after watching this, I feel I need to add a "Life Launch" category as well. ha!

[@YNABofficial]

Love it! So glad you've looked ahead and are getting ready now. It will help you focus on spending precious time with her next summer rather than worrying about money. ~BenB

[@teaisfortania]

Ynab WIN: "When those windfalls can actually be windfalls" - yes! Because of Ynab, I'm off the float and have $30k in the checking account. In 2022 before I started Ynab, on a trip to my hometown on Vancouver Island, I saw a painting that pulled my heartstrings (it depicts the west coast rain forest). It was too expensive, we'd spent our checking account balance on the flights for this trip. This year, when I got my bonus, my partner and I didn't know what we wanted to spend it on. We jokingly created a "hookers and blow" category for these funds (picking the right emoji for that was fun) and it made me laugh every time I opened the app. When my mind inevitably wandered back to that painting, as it does when I'm homesick, I realized what that money was for. I've ordered the painting and I'm anxiously awaiting its arrival when it will go over the mantelpiece!

[@lizp.9513]

As someone who loves playing the matchy matchy game in YNAB, I'm ok with it not being necessary. My brain loves it though, so I do it otherwise it would drive me nuts!! 😂

[@YNABofficial]

Hey if it brings you joy, have at it. I won't yuck your yum. ~BenB

[@libbysworld7649]

I'm the same way. I see zero issue with matchy matchy! LOL I love that for over 2 years now, I've been consistently responsible with money.

[@zazizouz]

I loved this episode ! It's nice to see that other people are having the same thoughts/questions as me :)

[@beckybarrett7452]

I like keeping my beauty and health separate from my groceries. I buy higher end shampoo and order vitamins online. So I know if I can buy it now or try and squeeze the last of it out of the bottle. 😂 I keep my prescriptions and co pay in a medical category. I like the monthly spending report.

[@WyvernAbraxos]

For tracking investments, I keep them as a tracking account in my main budget, and then I have a whole second budget where I give those dollars jobs. I wouldn't want the money in my investments to mix in with the rest of my more easily accessible money, I like the separation. But this way I get to give them jobs as well!

[@kpouteaux]

New Kids Category Alert! 🚀 | Launch Brilliant!! 👏👏👏

[@YNABofficial]

I kind of love the intentionality behind this! ~BenB

[@melanieshipley3133]

Talk about all stages of kids! I have a son about to turn 16 and driving and then one in elementary school, one preschooler and a 2 year old! It gets complicated and kids get more expensive the older they get!

[@YNABofficial]

Way more expensive the older they get 😭 ~Ernie

[@fsmoura]

@@YNABofficial Just you wait until they're 60! Crazy medical bills! ( oДo)

[@laurenlovesstories]

I had separate savings accounts for my sinking funds when I started using YNAB and I initially wasn’t going to combine them but then I did! Because it was just too much to manage four different savings accounts in real life and in YNAB. Now I have an emergency fund account and a sinking funds account and it’s so much easier.

[@stephaniegaddis1716]

We also have a checking account and 2 savings accounts. I am the YNAB nerd, but my husband has a hard time wrapping his brain around YNAB. I found it helped him to see our emergency fund categories in one savings account and our sinking fund categories in another savings account. It's not any extra work for me since we rarely spend from the emergency account.

[@trackchik6]

I liked this episode and combining a few questions that might not warrant a whole episode alone. I had a comment on YNAB and the changing needs of kids. I have 3 kids ages 14, 12, and 9, and have been YNABing for 1.5 years. What has been working for me, is if I know I have a kid expense, I have a category for it. However, I found a lot of “unknown” kid expenses pop up for me, so I have a kids’ sinking fund that I contribute to monthly for those type of things. For example, if one of my kids comes home from school and says he wants to join chess club (but that was not on my radar previously), I can pull from the “kids general fund” for the registration fee. If it becomes more than a one time thing, I’ll try to make its own category for it in the future. I also currently have an unfunded “SAT and driving course” category line to remind me of those new to me expenses coming up!! Not immediate, but I want to remember that as things change in my budget, I eventually want to use any newly freed up money to start funding those.

[@rachelfairholm764]

I keep an emergency account + category as my savings account gives you better interest rates if you don't make withdrawals in a specific amount of time. I need to make sure I don't need to transfer out of this account to pay for other budget items. Otherwise, everything else is just budgeted/separated in categories rather than accounts

[@DannyDaCat]

Here's a question: I have a HYSA where I auto-deposit my paycheck, and I am already 2 months ahead. I usually get enough in the month to continue to fund for categories in future months, is there anything wrong to keep using the additional money that gets deposited to get myself 3 months, 4 months, 6 months, 12 months ahead within the app? That 12 month buffer in app would be my "emergency fund" and each month I use will just get replenished at the back end 11 months from now within the app, and it is in an account that I am comfortable holding that kind of liquidity. Thoughts?

[@Abbyyena]

I don’t think it’s a problem as long as you find it easy to manage it. What’s nice about the HYSA is the interest earned.

[@YNABofficial]

You can get yourself as far ahead as you want! And you can do it however you want-either by funding the future month or just keeping it in a holding category. ~Ernie

[@jennw6809]

I have a couple silly questions. 1. What's the origin of "You are not alone" at the beginning of every podcast? 2. I know it's Hannah's voice saying "It was all in your mind...." in the theme music. Also wondering about the context of that!

[@YNABofficial]

Hey! Good questions! "You are not alone" comes from a comment on (I think) the very first episode of Budget Nerds. Someone was so excited to see there were other people who loved nerding out about YNAB. She commented "I am not alone!" We loved it so much we incorporated it in the intro from then on. It totally sounds like Hannah's voice saying "It was all in your mind" but it's actually not! That song comes from some stock music one of our designers, Tristan, purchased and used for the intro. It is highly edited from the original. It's supposed to evoke nerdiness, but mostly he just thought it sounded cool. There's not a larger meaning behind it, really! 😝 Though I guess it could apply to my principle that I repeated here that budgets are all made up. haha! ~BenB

[@ErickLuzong-kq1nr]

@@YNABofficial I thought it was because the product is called You Need A Budget and because I need a budget too, you are not alone LOLOL

[@jennw6809]

@@YNABofficial Thanks! So funny that it sounds so much like Hannah🤣 Edit: wait, your internet is $8???

[@YNABofficial]

@@jennw6809 Haha, $80. I've been a little mumbly lately. ~BenB

[@JK13A]

I can't imagine paying for YNAB and then trying to match it with your bank accounts. It's the whole reason to pay for an application as powerful as YNAB. Also Ernie, if your kid has a job make him do his own finances! You're setting him up to fail when he really moves out.

[@fsmoura]

True, but then again, I pay for EVE Online just to spend the entire month doing _Spreadsheets in Space,_ so I guess in the end maybe "it's all in your mind," indeed... At least if Jesse would add some Steam/Xbox-style "achievements" to YNAB, maybe I'd get hooked on the matchy-matchy game after all! ( o.o)

[@erinkerbs6789]

Unexpected job loss could also be loss of building due to fire or flood. What if a natural disaster stops business in your whole area? We had two huge fires in our area last year and three towns burned almost all the way down. No way would I have all of that money invested. Maybe some, but not all.

[@erinkerbs6789]

12 hours, or even a week to wait for it is fine, but not something that is highly penalized or taxed .

[@lindaholobovich1888]

I need help breaking free from the matchy match game! Do you have some baby steps? Should I just put some saving money in my bank accounts so I never get too low on my balances?

[@YNABofficial]

Just create a transfer in YNAB. Move some money from savings to checking. Or from one savings account to another (without actually making the transfer at your bank). When you do this in YNAB, you get to see how changing the location of your money (the accounts) doesn't change the job (the categories). And then when you're done delete those transfers so your budget goes back to the way it was. This is what I did to break the matchy matchy game. Hope it helps! ~Ernie

[@fsmoura]

Baby Steps Plan to break free from the clutches of the matchy-matchy addiction: Step 1: Stop matching Step 2: Realize you never had to match in the first place Step 3: Resist the urge to start matching again Step 4: Play Hanna's cameo in the show's intro _"It was all in your mind..."_ in repeat 500 times when falling sleep at night Step 5: Enjoy sanity 👍

[@arambladen3087]

Love the episode!! I have a question, what type of account would you put reloadable gift cards under? Would it be a tracking account or a budgeting account? OR you don't count it within the budget at all? 🤔🤔

[@YNABofficial]

Good question! If it's just like a generic Visa gift card, I'd add it to YNAB as a checking account (cause that's really what it effectively is!) If it's a gift card to a specific store, you might want to just leave it off YNAB and track the outflow in a category when you refill it. There are exceptions though. We have a good guide on this! support.ynab.com/en_us/handling-gift-cards-in-ynab-an-overview-BJq6JW_05

[@arambladen3087]

@@YNABofficial Thank you for replying!! 🤗🤗

[@fsmoura]

7:55 _"Now, if you wanna keep doing it, it's fine. We're not gonna get mad at you."_ I will! Stop it with the *Matchy-Matchy Madness* !!! ReeeEEEEEEEEE RAWRAWRAWRAWRAWR ( oДo)