"Reduce Overfunding"
I played around with the reduce overfunding function yesterday, and thought I understood how it works. But now the month has rolled over and I'm confused.
I have a goal for my rent to budget the monthly amount by the 27th of the month. The rent pays out on the first. So this morning, YNAB records the money going out, and I budgeted the full amount I need for next month. Now my "reduce overspending" wants to remove the entire amount I need for my next rent payment. Why? How do I fix this so that YNAB recognizes the amount there as being for next month?
(Having a similar issue with other monthly funding goals.)
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Is this a Needed for Spending goal? If so, YNAB believes you already funded the goal for the month with the money that rolled over from March.
I'd change the goal type to Monthly Savings Builder. This type of goal wants to see you budget the full amount each month, regardless of how much rolled over from the previous month. Once you update the goal type, Reducing Overfunding should show zero...
...but this is a brand-new feature, so please let me know if it doesn't. :)
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I made that change for the categories where I want to continue accumulating excess from month to month (e.g., my electric bill varies from month to month by season, so I want to carry over the amount from low months so I have them in high months). Things like my rent don't do that, although occasionally I'll have a discount. I'd like to just budget up to the amount needed for spending each month, inclusive of the amount left over from the previous month's charge.
Reducing Overfunding is showing zero for the accounts that are monthly savings builders (e.g., the electric bill one I mentioned).
I will just have to remember to reduce overfunding on my needed for spending categories by hand, then. That makes it much less useful of a tool.
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Fuzzball Meows You need to make the target date for a Needed For Funding Goal match when you actually spend the money. If the money is still in the category after that date has passed and it's a recurring goal, the system uses what's still in the category toward the goal.
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nolesrule So if the date I set is "end of the month" and the money doesn't come out until the first of the following month, because it wasn't spent on the last day of the month, YNAB considers the category fully funded for the new month? That doesn't make sense to me.
What do you suggest for bills that come out on variable dates? E.g., my internet bill gets auto paid anywhere from the 28th of the month to the 2nd of the next month. Since it's autopay, I don't have control over the date it is paid. I still need the money there for spending before the bill gets paid at then end of the month, even when the end of the previous month is actually the first or second of the current month.
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Fuzzball Meows personally, I would set up a recurring scheduled transaction for the earliest date it might post and keep the funding and the spending in the same month.
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Fuzzball Meows said:
That doesn't make sense to me.I know it's confusing. But that's the inherent behavior with a recurring needed for spending goal. The premise is that if you spend less than the amount you have accumulated by the end of the cycle, that the next cycle you only need to top up the category back to the target amount. If the balance is already at the full amount, there's nothing to top up.
I would say that if it's a fixed bill that more or less happens monthly, then I would just use a goal that has me budget the same amount to the category every month. If the bill is variable, then there really isn't agood solution that uses goals.Honestly, I rarely use goals. Instead I put funding amount and target reminders in the category name. It's a carryover from before goals were a thing, and while it's not mindless it works rather well.
