
How far back do I go?
Hello! I am just starting YNAB, and my OCD is already taking over. I've entered May transactions, but now I'm wondering, should I go back and enter what I have from the rest of the year? I have all of my bank statements and could enter those transactions, as well as credit card stuff. Or do I just start at May 1 and go from there?
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I started on the 20th of the month and didn't bother to try and fill in the beginning part of the month. It gave me enough time to get the hang of using YNAB and to make changes to my budget so then when the 1st of the next month came around, I was ready to begin in earnest. I didn't plan it that way, but it worked out well.
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Good advice! I started tinkering with one of my accounts just to see how it would work. I keep a small checking account for PayPal purchases. It gets used mostly for loading my Starbucks card and an occasional online purchase. I have fewer than 20 transactions since Jan 1 and I've been loading those, just to see, right? Now I know for sure I don't want to go backwards!
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Your transaction history is useful for helping setup your categories and making more realistic budget allocations.
When I first started out, I skimmed my previous 12 months of history and tried to ensure that I had categories setup in YNAB that would fit all of those transactions. It also helped give me a more realistic sense of how much I spend on (say) "Home Maintenance" in a given year, so I could start budgeting an appropriate amount instead of making a wild guess (which would probably be too low, if I'm being honest.)
That said, the beauty of the YNAB system is that you're expected to make changes to your budget as time goes on. So even if your initial allocations are way off, or you forget to setup categories for expenses that arise, it's easy to Roll With the Punches and re-adjust / create new categories on-the-fly. That's really the whole point of using YNAB: You're supposed to engage with it and become more aware (and more thoughtful) about how you spend your money. It's not Mint.com , where you passively setup a budget and sit back and watch.
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Coming from Quicken, the two hardest habits for me to break were forecasting instead of budgeting and trying to have too much detail. The more I use yNAB, the more I want to simplify tracking my ordinary expenses and instead focus on either a) items I want to come under better control or b) treat myself to with longer term planning. If you want to forecast or have greater control, take it outside of yNAB into Google Sheets or a similar spreadsheet. Shrink your time horizon for dealing with income, and only plan out True Expenses and Wish List items. Wash, rinse, repeat. YMMV.