Reply to YNAB - how long does it take to set up?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm intrigued by the idea of having a better sense of where my money is going.  We live within our means and have a variety of retirement accounts including pensions but I'd love to cut down on the small expenses that I know eat into what we could be saving.  How much time should I assume it'll take to get my account up and running?  Can someone explain to me how you allocate spending when a credit card bills to something general, like Amazon or Target?  Should I plan on spending a couple of hours pouring over our recent bills to really get an accurate assessment?  I'm basically just wondering if this is a lunch break activity or I need to carve out a weekend afternoon.

Thanks.[/quote]

It takes a bit to get the hang of it. I’ve tried budgeting for the last 20 years and nothing sticked.

It does take a few glasses of wine to get everything set up and the account imports set up, but once you dedicate the time to get it rolling it’s all automatic. You can add categories as you go, and credit cards don’t make sense until you see it in action for a few months (at least for me).

In its basic form, a budget just drives behavior. As you said, the small expenses make themselves known with YNAB.

For example, if I have $100 left in the eating out budget, I’m not going to get a $30 lunch on Thursday when the kids have a 3 day weekend.

What I like about YNAB is it’s an envelope system. When you get paid, you put the money in categories, or “envelopes.”

You do have to be a month ahead. So if you’re like me and pay your credit cards at the end of the month, you will have to take money out of savings to fund your envelopes.

I have had nothing but positive experiences with YNAB. It has change our behavior in a very positive way. 
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