The Other Little Habits of Successful YNABers

[@monicaa78]

Been using YNAB for a few months. Extreme learning curve. Watching tons of videos and making plenty of mistakes with the interface, but it is the best tool ever. I just went from free spirit to total budget nerd. 🤓

[@christystewart5880]

I reconcile everyday when I wake up before I get out of bed. It takes me 5 min, usually less, because I don’t spend much. It helps remind me of my financial goals first thing in the morning and helps me stay on track with long term goals.

[@nicolagerry1204]

My supermarket trick with my pre-schooler is to ask him if it's on the list, then if he insists on the non-list item, ask if that is going to be his one treat. If he asks for something else later like a pack of Oreos, I can ask if he wants to swap his corn chips with the Oreos as we only get one treat per shop.

[@elizabaum]

For me, there's no such thing as overspending a category - there is only needing to revise the budget based on my actual spending needs. Which, yes, is the same thing as covering an overspend, but a totally different mindset. YNAB (and budgeting) really clicked for me at the moment I *truly* grasped that my budget was a living thing that could change whenever I needed it to.

[@YNABofficial]

Agreed, it needs to be framed as a mindset shift! And I ❤the way you phrased it, "needing to revise the budget based on my actual spending needs" ~Ernie

[@gingerbuckendahl3070]

My little hack is rounding my on-the-fly transactions to even dollars (if I don't remember the exact amount) and then flagging them with a purple flag. It keeps me on track and I fix it later. I just discovered the widget and it makes a huge difference to be able to see my top spending categories at a glance.

[@bcase5328]

For the kids: I would suggest labeled jars rather than envelopes. Jars are better for coins, clear so visible, more fun to dump out and count.

[@YNABofficial]

Agreed! We used jars until recently. It's especially good for very young kids who can't count the money. You can say when the jar fills up they get a toy or something. ~BenB

[@petrina1026]

As a adult I was thinking of jars too

[@jennivanhart3016]

maybe instead of having cash, use your many poker chips Ben! You have plenty lying around, and then you could exchange them for cash when your kids want to buy something!

[@Whtimiswhtugt]

I work in a grocery store, I’m always telling people that coupons do not benefit the consumer 🤦‍♀️ lol. But there’s absolutely things that you can do to win the game. 🥳 good job!

[@mamasquid1401]

1. I reconcile monthly, to my bank statement. Hardcore! 2. For anyone looking for an easy meal and grocery planner, I recommend the (paid) app Plan to Eat. You can clip recipes from anywhere on the Internet, schedule them on a calendar and then print a grocery list every week. There's even a handy cooking mode where it won't close the app on you in the middle of cooking. Try it out! 3. YNAB wins? We just budgeted out three months for the first time, fully funded our emergency fund (another three months' expenses) and thanks to Hannah's video about the costs of buying a home, I set up a new master category for a home purchase with all the necessary expense categories. We're on track to buy our first home in about three years! 4. Congrats on your new fridge! I have fridge envy. One of the conditions of the new house is one of those fridges with an ice machine in it. I am specifically earmarking funds for that!

[@Green0Photon]

Freezer is on top because traditionally fridges were simpler and just had one condenser portion up top. Cold air falls, so it would circulate to the fridge part on the bottom. So things that needed to be frozen would be near the cold element and things that needed to be kept above freezing could be kept further away.

[@YNABofficial]

The more you know 🌈 ⭐️ Thank you! ~Ernie

[@jennivanhart3016]

Love these little habits. I always go through the Publix & CVS apps and I add ALL the coupons. We've also started lists for the markets and grocery stores we frequent for certain items and because my husband, me, and my (driving) teen have iphones, we can share the lists, add to them. These lists are where we note things that need to be picked up the next time someone is in the particular market's area of town - we have separate lists for Aldi, Publix, our favorite Indian food store, our favorite Asian food store, and our favorite Greek food store. We also maintain a list for our Farmer's market. This means if one of us is near a store and they have the time and we have money in the budget for groceries, they can pop in and grab (ONLY) what's on the list. Saves gas and time! If there is a deal/coupon on something, I'll add it to the list so the buyer knows to look for that, no deal no buy ;-). Ernie - I shop CVS like you shop Target - coupons, money back, my husband jokes CVS pays me to shop with them (almost true).

[@YNABofficial]

I love how dialed-in your system is! ~Ernie

[@kristencurtis7410]

I’m so happy you are getting a new fridge Ben! Your stories about the old one were so funny. I have a freezer on bottom too and it’s great!

[@elizabeth1234..]

My husband and I rolled into Costco (I'm on a scooter) and his first words as he stops in the middle of the entrance hallway was 'did you clip coupons?!'. I laugh and say yes I have the app and I clipped but I can clip as we go. He also loves target for the manufacturer coupons and store coupons (in the app) plus screenshots or pictures of lower prices on app AND price matching. We've also gotten into the habit of breaking apart our order if we're getting a gift card so we can use it on the next purchase. Now let me mention that we usually go when it's not busy because social Anxiety sucks so we're not blocking anyone. But I'm so proud of all that I've taught him.

[@YNABofficial]

Have you taught your husband so much that he'd say he's a budget nerd?!! 🤞 ~Ernie

[@elizabeth1234..]

@@YNABofficial absolutely not. He looks at the back account and sees a hunk of money and wants to spend it without realizing what it's for

[@jennivanhart3016]

@@elizabeth1234.. I have one of those too! YNAB protects us from spouses like that ;)

[@elizabeth1234..]

@@jennivanhart3016 sorta. I think my siren screams are a better deterrent

[@jennivanhart3016]

@@elizabeth1234.. 22 years of being together is also a good deterrent, he has learned to avoid my wrath (mostly) ;)

[@midnightbudgets]

I'm on my 4th budget iteration rn and am really finding value in keeping it simple like the guys say. I feel the constraints allow for a more focused state of mind, and have been working on simplicity, at least for now.

[@msmariasolis1]

Thank you for addressing the overspending. This is giving me confidence to look a my budget again and address my spending. I knew listening to y'all would pay off! 😂

[@dawnkoplitz1825]

Teaching your kids how to count money, coins and bills, is very valuable. I teach high school students in a summer program. This past summer I decided to add a money unit. I was surprised by the number of students that struggled to count out the amount of (Monopoly) money I requested from them. Some struggled with coins too. 😢

[@octarinecx]

Ever since I found out about YNAB I've notice I spend less eating out! Keep it up I love these very informative videos!

[@matthewou]

Fun episode. I too like freezers on the bottom, but I think the reason they were originally on the top is that cold air sinks. So they essentially made a freezer with a side effect that they could have a less cool area as well.

[@lynnem8991]

I still reconcile once a month - which is when I feed my categories, 11.5 yrs on, have always manually enter transactions, from Australia so this was originally our only option anyway plus I prefer to continue this way. Thankfully, its very rare that my working and credit card accounts dont reconcile straight up. I will search and destroy if its out UNTIL I find the hiccup 😁 Transactions are mainly entered on the day or purchase or next day - bank > budget balances are checked weekly…all seems to flow well this way for me Have always said YNAB is our financial bible, now years down the track its also proven to be our financial freedom, so grateful 🥰

[@midoctober76]

I love listening to you both. Is it possible to ever show what your budget looks like vs just talking about it. Maybe a fake account so we don't see your personal finances but seeing how you have it set up would be great for the visual learner.

[@YNABofficial]

I think we've shared screenshots of our budgets in the past, and I'm sure the time will come where we do it again! ~Ernie

[@amycreagh3108]

Thanks so much This is exactly the habits I'm trying to put in place to really have clarity about where I'm at financially

[@Emseebee123]

The past few days starting YNAB I have been changing my budget for the better with every video I watch. Before YNAB I had a good system in place but it’s wasn’t reaching its potential. I actually have 9 checking accounts for each category of my sinking funds which also includes a CC payment holding account and a bills account. I was able to get my YNAB budget to be identical to my bank account with all my checking savings account. But I actually only am active in 2 a checking accounts. The bills account that bills that don’t accept my CC as payment such as my mortage pull from. And then my CC payment holding account. I pay everything with my CC (with the exception of the bills that I can’t use a CC). So just like the YNAB cc feature anytime I I use my Cc. I take the money from whatever fund I’m spending from and transfer it to that CCpayment holding act. I’m just so happy I found a budgeting program that allows me to customize my categories. I feel so much more in control more than ever with my money and a miracle that I have not spent any money in the last 4 days! I’m notorious for spending for things we don’t really need.

[@samwalker5748]

Fully agree Ben! Having the freezer up top is criminal!

[@davidk7des76]

I totally agree about the bottom freezer being life changing, I actually have dripped over 50 pounds since we got our bottom freezer fridge! (although I cant really say it was the fridge that did it)

[@mariog7682]

The Chase offers are awesome. I combine them with Rakuten and I usually end up saving 10% +. Especially at Sam's, Rakuten gives 2 or 3% extra cash back.

[@clarkeeclark]

The freezer on top never made sense to me since heat rises. I'm no scientist or engineer, but it has to be more efficient to keep the freezer at the bottom!

[@Green0Photon]

It's actually exactly the point. Heat rises, so on old units, you could get away with having only a single cold element up top. Have the hot air rise and cold air fall, and the cold air could circulate downwards. Nowadays that it's cheap enough to have multiple cooling elements, it's fine and easy to have it on the bottom. The drawer is also particularly efficient because then no cold air spills out, unlike the traditional top door swing and vertical split door swing fridges.

[@jordanwilliams24]

I never had a bottom drawer freezer fridge until I bought my first fridge a couple years ago. TOTAL game-changer 💯

[@Loosgroov10]

I have a question for you guys. I have an unnatural fear of YNAB going down, or my local internet going down, or some other catastrophic internet debacle and then I won’t be able to see my category balances, etc. is there a way to like maybe monthly print something out as a back up? Or maybe to save a file weekly? Or something along those lines? Mostly just to get this worry out of my head.

[@YNABofficial]

Do you use the mobile app? You can access your balances even if you have bad cell reception or the WiFi is out. You could also take screenshots of those balances from your phone. If you're fully web-based, I think taking screenshots is probably the best way to go. Hope that helps! ~Ernie

[@Loosgroov10]

@@YNABofficial I use both. Thank you! Screen shot is a great idea that I didn’t think of.

[@vincentapa1376]

I am having a heart attack! The frig is coming. What is next? An ice maker?

[@dawnkoplitz1825]

😂😂😂

[@SarahEmelia-d4q]

A little late, but I automated my city bills by paying the company a year's worth of bill money based on last year's bills. I didn't want the electric company to "even out" my bill for me, so I guestimated how much each bill will be based on the highest balance and paid a year of that amount. Now I check my balance monthly and meanwhile I am saving for next year's electric in cash. It is keeping me aware of my usage, but not in a "frick I won't be able to afford my bill" way. Water and sewer is included in my rent but when I need to pay those I'll probably do the same.

[@thebluebell89]

Late to the party but at least I made it. I think the reason the freezers are on the top is because in the first few iterations they probably weren't so efficient, and cold air drops, so I'd theorise the cold from the freezer would assist in keeping the fridge cold too.... (I am not in any way smart enough to know for sure but it sounds good)

[@hostadaze]

Awesome tips! Yes, freezer on the bottom. Mine is on the bottom and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

[@YNABofficial]

I actually can't wait! ~BenB

[@mrrobinson10]

Which episode are y'all referring to about the tips for restaurants transactions? For when the pending transaction does not include the tip.. what do u do then?

[@YNABofficial]

I always enter the transaction myself with the full tip amount. It will match up when it imports. I don't remember which episode it was when we talked about it and I'm having some trouble finding it. Maybe Ernie remembers. ;) ~BenB

[@YNABofficial]

I think it's this episode! kzbin.info/www/bejne/b2Omkox5oayEi8U ~Ernie

[@dawnkoplitz1825]

Ben! Yay!🎉 A new frig!! You’ll love it!

[@petrina1026]

Hi guys.i tried ynab 2xs. Would it make sense to enter the money that I want to watch. Making the process simple, Example. After I pay my major bills I have a catalog for miscellaneous so these funds can be entered in ynab then I can break them down. Because all my bills on ynab is too much for me.

[@stephaniegaddis1716]

It's one year later... I'm wondering if the handle on Ben's "new" fridge for the freezer is still attached. We had a bottom freezer with a houseful of little kids, so did a friend, and both of us had the handles break off because our small kids used it as a stool to get into the fridge part. Kids - why we don't have nice things. 😂

[@YNABofficial]

Haha! Oh no. The handles survive ... for now. 😅 ~BenB

[@Klw376]

Also from Lynchburg! 🙋🏻‍♀️

[@Cclaudia228]

FINALLY Ben!!!! But, I need to see a photo of the fridge installed to believe it.

[@bcase5328]

They put the freezer on top because they use the cold air from the freezer to take heat from the refrigerator section. Cold air sinks easily. (Hot air raises easily.)

[@YNABofficial]

@@bcase5328 See, I knew there had to be some kind of reason! Thanks. I guess the engineers figured out another way to do it now. :) ~BenB

[@YNABofficial]

I don't have the fridge yet! 😩We had a customer service debacle - I'll talk about it in a future episode. BUT it's supposed to be coming today, within a couple hours in fact! 😊 ~BenB Edit: It's in the house, but not in our kitchen. It's a long story, but it should be resolved this weekend. 🤞

[@TwoPlusTwoEqualsFive32]

I found setting up my bank app to give me notifications for every transaction, that way whenever I purchase something I get a little popup saying the company and the amount and can just add it straight into YNAB. Reconciling my account is mostly just about the transactions I have missed or that are still pending in my account.

[@Tiredmum]

Freezer is routinely on the bottom in the UK

[@Natazavrik]

Gosh, it’s hard not to reconcile sometime by the end of the episode! 😂

[@YNABofficial]

🤣 ~Ernie

[@Baoran]

I have had ynab budget since 2015 and I have never had an error. When I reconcile it has always matched the actual account balance. That is why it has felt like it does not matter how often I reconcile and it has been rather random. Sometimes once a month sometime there has been 2-3 months between. Is my situation really that strange? If you are diligent with the transactions it removes the need to reconcile that often so if you would not be diligent it feels like it would just feel like you would be moving things you need to do to when you reconcile.

[@jomar9024]

I agree with the other commenters. I would get some small mason jars that cost $1 each. This way, they visually see what they are saving. also I didn't finish the video but you're $25 savings from Target, did you transfer out into a coupon section the $25 savings?? Otherwise your budget's won't be a really true reflection of your spending.

[@Zeitlerchasedbybear]

Are you excited as Bo Hanson?

[@virginiapricemomma]

Ben’s new fridge!!! I literally clapped 😂 👏🏼 way to go Ben!!! I am completely with you on the freezer on top thing. My husband and I’s first two apartments has freezer on top fridges and its so impractical! #stopthebending 😅😂

[@petrina1026]

Update.since ynab is a helpful tracker I'll use paper and pen until I can try ynab again.

[@Freeber0436]

You have to try Trader Joe’s Rocket Crackers. Goldfish-like, taste better AND affordable (in comparison)!

[@camillaavila324]

What money app do you use

[@quirkyblackenby]

You need a budget. That’s what YNAB is

[@YarnFolk]

Ben!! Has your doggo video-bombed in other episodes? I usually listen to the podcast, 🐶

[@hierarchyfinancebureau1369]

I always keep 1 active line of revenue and 1 non active line of revenue hence forecasting future months in extension to diversifying my accounts to ensure my financial reports are precisely in alignment with any activity occurring throughout the hour day week month quarter and year.

[@Daliferrio]

I hate coupons !!!

[@dorvaan]

"If I need to go to the bank and take out a bunch of $1 bills...." I wonder what category THAT falls under? Entertainment? :P

[@YNABofficial]

Nooooo not like that! 😂 It's for my kids' allowances, so like the exact opposite. haha! Turns out asking for 200 $1 bills at the bank is no big deal at all. Who knew? ~BenB

[@zilazilazila]

I reconcile a lot too. I didn't understand the point until someone compared it to video games and save states. Once it clicked, that's when I transitioned to a YNABer. I wish I could explain this to 2018 me, but it's better now than never :) Reddit is such a wonderful place for YNAB questions and just rooting other people on with their journeys. Without the subreddit, I think I would have given up again!

[@YNABofficial]

Oh, I like that video games and save states analogy for reconciling! ~Ernie

[@emilycrowe4625]

I was actually eating goldfish while watching the video.. yes I'm over 30 and they were leftover from a vacation we took with family that included our young nephew. Hah! Your videos always encourage me to stay engaged with the budget!

[@dlbrowning9221]

We’ve used a great app called iAllowance to track our kids’ money since they were little. I have it set up to ‘deposit’ their allowances once a week - the get 50 cents per year per week. (So my 14 yo gets $7/week.) I’ve set it up so that the app divides it by percentage into spending, savings, and charity. But now that my oldest is driving, and making some money, we had to get him a checking account to make it easier for him to buy gas. I’m planning on getting him set up with YNAB this weekend!