Get a Month Ahead of Your Bills! (Step by Step)

[@sillyellie296]

Added this to my goals for 2025 just last week, perfect timing!

[@Justinphilip24]

100% agree. Doing this changed my life.

[@stephaniegaddis1716]

1 month ahead takes a lot of the stress out of managing our money!

[@StefanBocken]

Love the fresh take on the 4 rules. Great explanation!

[@KimberlyR-st1dl]

This is a really great explanation, thanks!

[@heatherwalker6470]

LOVE index cards in this vid! Going to move over to this instead of spreadsheets for my budget now. Reminds me of Sidetracked Home Executives house cleaning/care index card system. Helps that it's more tactile and fun I think!

[@annafoster4544]

Might be preference but would you work towards saving emergency fund and getting a month ahead congruently? Or as two separate goals? ie I have one month emergency fund saved so far. Once I get to say two months saved should I allocate those funds to next months expenses? Or leave them as allocated to emergency fund.

[@itsallperfectlynormal9805]

This hack might help. I count my one month ahead as one month of emergency fund. This way, my primary account always has the bill money waiting to be paid out. The current monthly fundings will pay next month's bills. I use a primary (bill pay) & secondary ("spending account" = gas, groceries, household) checking + savings accounts for emergency and sinking funds. Basically, one month emergency fund lives in primary checking instead of savings (the rest is in high interest savings). This way, your one month ahead is part of your emergency fund and not extra money you're holding onto. I should specify that my one month ahead in checking covers only my bills, not my additional monthly expenses, so it's really a partial month ensuring that no matter the date a bill pays out, the funds are always available. Hope this makes sense!

[@jenniferajello8820]

So incredibly helpful! Thank you!

[@daisylua]

Other than your videos being really educational, I just wanted to say how funny I think you guys are 😂 It's my second time watching this video now, and I'm still laughing with these silly jokes hehe

[@dollr67]

Do you include credit card and loan payments in this breakdown?

[@YNABofficial]

Yes! If it's something that's causing money to leave your bank account every month, then it's part of your CTBY. - Ben M 🤓

[@BudgetingOver40]

Wow! This video is right on time.

[@pciacka]

What’s the difference, in your opinion, between saving one month ahead and building an emergency fund? For example, my goal is to have a 12-month emergency fund so I can live worry-free for a year if anything happens. To me, it seems simpler to focus on one savings category that I budget for every month, instead of planning months ahead. Am I missing something here? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[@YNABofficial]

Great question! If you know your CTBY and you have an emergency fund total that equals your CTBY x 12, then that's basically the same as being 12 months ahead. It's just semantics at that point. The reason we stress being a month ahead over building an emergency fund (although we support that too!) is to give people more direction with their savings. A lot of people just shoot for some arbitrary number so they can "have savings"... but we find that being able to say, "I have a whole month of expenses covered" gives people far more clarity about exactly what their savings is doing. (My next video is actually going to be addressing this exact issue.) Not to mention, a lot of YNABers like to include their emergency fund contributions in their CTBY - so they're actually saving an emergency fund ON TOP OF being a month ahead. 🤩 And to your point on simplicity, a lot of YNABers like to literally go into future months and fund stuff category by category when they get a paycheck - I used to do that. But I've actually moved to just putting all of my "next month" money into a single category. Like you, I like the simplicity. But it really just depends on what jives better with your brain! - Ben M 🤓

[@DavidKotschessa]

The Budget nerds did a whole episode on this! The main points they made are 1) It's a matter of preference 2) There are pros and cons in YNAB to each (and they go through each). Awesome episode kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJfXiWqBip2Wb8U

[@mirla838]

05:40 I felt that was a direct assault though!! 😂😂

[@trecinac4820]

Can I use my average spending in ynab to use a my CTBY?

[@YNABofficial]

That's a quick way to do it! I'd give your plan a once-over to make sure it's fully representing all your priorities, but otherwise, that's a good way to make sure your CTBY is actually grounded in reality. 🙂 - Ben M 🤓

[@jennw6809]

Your first mistake is assuming I have savings 🤣 This is much harder when you have variable income that doesn't come in paychecks (I'm self employed as a massage therapist) but I still appreciate this step by step process!

[@lisaroper421]

That's a tough spot! I hear actually being a month ahead really helps keep the ups and downs more manageable. Good luck with the process 😅

[@jennw6809]

@@lisaroper421 YNAB is certainly helping! Thanks for the well wishes!

[@NanetteLoves2Budget]

Been there, done that! Not the Therapist part, but the variable income part. 😂 Climbing the hill to get a month ahead IS harder, but all the more important to ride the ups and downs. Wishing you more than luck to get there. Massage therapy brings so much peace into your client’s lives. Hoping it translates into peace in your finances for you.

[@rebobness]

I'm not a month ahead yet, but all the more reason to get clear on your ctby numbers! I started using YNAB for my personal budget and separated out my business budget and I already have a couple hundred more dollars hanging out then I did when I started in October. Just gotta work the steps and roll with the punches. You can do it! (Also a massage therapist and I've never had a savings either!😅)

[@rebobness]

Also, none of the numbers in these examples ever look as small as mine 🥴

[@lisaroper421]

Tim Allen became Santa Clause, so it sounds legit to me!

[@YNABofficial]

Oh gosh, I would prefer not to accidentally kill anybody, though... 😬 - Ben M 🤓

[@RondaFouch]

Perfect timing

[@noodlerama-md]

Quick question: Are you Hannah‘s brother?

[@NanetteLoves2Budget]

@@noodlerama-md well spotted!

[@A.M.Independent.Consultant]

Cost To Be You (C.T.B.Y.)