You Need A Budget.
A platform that lets you set up a budget and link in all your bank accounts via OpenBanking/whatever to make sure you're staying on track. All for a £10/month fee
A platform that lets you set up a budget and link in all your bank accounts via OpenBanking/whatever to make sure you're staying on track. All for a £10/month fee
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 21 Nov 2004
- Posts
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My budget this month - buy only essentials, cheap food, nothing else. I can’t manage it for many months, but can save a chunk when I do. I don’t need an app to tell me how to do this.
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Man of Honour
Genuinely not heard of YNAB until reading this thread.
I used to budget when I had a lower paid job and a lot of debt - but it wasn't challenging as such - just make sure that fixed expenses + likely worst case scenario variable expenses =< monthly income? Pad out variable expenses a bit too allow for bigger unexpected costs or things like holidays/consumer durables and there's your approximate budget.
I used to budget when I had a lower paid job and a lot of debt - but it wasn't challenging as such - just make sure that fixed expenses + likely worst case scenario variable expenses =< monthly income? Pad out variable expenses a bit too allow for bigger unexpected costs or things like holidays/consumer durables and there's your approximate budget.
Soldato
That got a proper laugh from me.
Soldato
Looks like GoHenry, but for adults with no self control
Yeah yeah should have made it clearer in the title
When I've used it I've found it speeds the whole process up, mobile app is useful (when I use it that's my downfall
) some great analytical and planning tooling in it too, all without the annoyance of looking at a spreadsheet and, if not skilled in the world of excel takes some risk of messing calculations up as well.
When I've used it I've found it speeds the whole process up, mobile app is useful (when I use it that's my downfall
) some great analytical and planning tooling in it too, all without the annoyance of looking at a spreadsheet and, if not skilled in the world of excel takes some risk of messing calculations up as well.
It’s sort of a genius idea… akin to pitching an invention to gamblers that may increase their chance of winning
Soldato
People need an app to budget? 
And pay for it?
And pay for it?
Commissario
Younger brother's been using it for years.Genuinely shocked if nobody here uses YNAB, it's a huge platform
He was not amused to find that the version he'd been using isn't supported any more and IIRC they wanted him to move to a sub version when he changed pc last year
(he bought it when it was a one off fee around 10 years ago).It's generally very useful as it comes with various templates for what kind of spending/saving/income and automatically works it all out, basically it makes it easy to do it all neatly and without having to do a lot of calculations yourself.People need an app to budget?
And pay for it?
I got Actual set up via Docker, had a play around, linked in two of my bank accounts via GoCardless.
Bit faffy for my liking; I'm sure if I sat down for a few hours and set everything up it might be useful for tracking things down to the nth degree. My very basic spreadsheet pidgeon-holes enough of my income into various saving pots etc that I actually don't need to care to the nth degree - I give myself a fixed amount per month for things like random coffees or lunches, and that's on its own standalone account so when it's empty, I'm done for the month etc.
I followed THE FLOWCHART to get myself in order a couple of years ago, and now I'm doing OK. I also whack a couple of summary fields on my spreadsheet so I can easily see that I'm putting over 35% of income into savings/investments etc each month.
Caporegime
Here's a stripped out version of the spreadsheet I created: Monthly Finances Shared.xlsx
(numbers in the sheet are made up)
(numbers in the sheet are made up)
Caporegime
People need an app to budget?
And pay for it?
You laugh but these grifts are everywhere. Uber Eats, Gousto etc.
They all charge you for holding your hand. People cannot do anything themselves anymore.
Soldato
I'll add that I do this. I think the biggest difference is to go through salary and outgoings and then automate as much as possible.
Rather than Starling for these pots I use 'Zopa'; you can add pots in there and each pot gains interest (currently just over 4% interest) I don't know if Starling gives interest but I used to do this with monzo until I realised I needed to be earning interest on it.
I have pots such as : Car&Motorbike fund (for insurance, tax, MOT, Service, parts etc.) Holiday funds (speaks for itself) Emergency fund, Just other Savings, House Furnish fund (once I buy a house I'd like to have a bet set aside to furnish it) and then one or two set aside for my hobbies.
I get paid on the last day of the month; on the first I have Direct debits set to invest into my ISA, The pots listed above, another to my spending debit card (cashback), and other investments(Crypto) leaving enough for my bills +10% reserve just in case.
First and foremost; record everything and try and get your bills adjusted so that they all come out just after you've been paid (my latest bill is the 7th and it's only that because I had a week-long free trial, damnit
) Essentially any money I have left over on the 9th is free to live on for the month.
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Soldato
Lol.
How much a month?!?
Just lol.
How much a month?!?
Just lol.
Soldato
Option 1
Let your wife look after your money seeing as she can budget.
Option 2
Take a look at nischa on YouTube there are others but thata the one I watch. If you're looking at controlling your spending she has some simple tips to help e.g treat your cash as 50 30 20. 50per cent of wage for day to day stuff, 30 per cent for fun stuff and 20 per cent for savings. I'm pretty sure she's had a free spreadsheet on her video / website. Also if you buy into the pay yourself first train of thought as soon as you get paid take out your savings aspect and stick that into a different account and don't touch it. It forces you into adapting to only spending what you've got left providing you don't dip into the savings account.
Ultimately though it's down to will power, if you don't stick to it then you'll be in financial bother regardless.
OK, so your mummy gave you £5....
I have been using YNAB for about a year since separating and needing to get visibility of money. Yes it costs money (I pay yearly for £90ish) but I find its features, bank linking, automation of goals and reporting to be great. The app also means I can check on the go if I want to make a purchase. I have multiple pots building for various expenses and honestly in the last 12 months I have managed to save more money than I have before despite having less income.
Yes many will balk at the cost. Many will say a spreadsheet is fine but everyone e works differently. I like it and the low cost I pay gives me the control I need to manage my budget effectively day to day.
I think I have saved far more than I spent on it by having the visibility of what goes where and many times I have made decisions on spending I wouldn’t have without it.
For context I have over 10 years of accounts in Microsoft Money. Have used spreadsheets to track major bills but the detail in YNAB beat them all and it’s a mindset shift in budgeting.
Yes many will balk at the cost. Many will say a spreadsheet is fine but everyone e works differently. I like it and the low cost I pay gives me the control I need to manage my budget effectively day to day.
I think I have saved far more than I spent on it by having the visibility of what goes where and many times I have made decisions on spending I wouldn’t have without it.
For context I have over 10 years of accounts in Microsoft Money. Have used spreadsheets to track major bills but the detail in YNAB beat them all and it’s a mindset shift in budgeting.