WordTenor I actually find that I like the manual budgeting I do on the last day of the month for the following month. I just budgeted all of July by hand in under 5 minutes. I guess I like seeing where my money is going every month rather than having it done automatically. 

I do have some goals set up for things that are the same month in and month out but I still like doing them individually. 

WordTenor I hadn't thought of using scheduled expenses in certain categories in place of goals. I was one that was trying to have a goal in every category. Like Green Mixer  is alluding to, I may be overdoing it a bit on goals myself.

dakinemaui I am a month ahead as well and use a deferred income category instead of budgeting into the next month. Would your method work for me as well, utilizing next month's budget as a kind of template?

Sky Blue Tugboat NM... you answered my question further in the discussion.

Sky Blue Tugboat Using next month's budget as the template rather requires that you defer income to next month. 🙂 More details are here.

Owlette yes, next month's TBB is negative.

jenmas  this wouldnt work for me... I have goals, but I always end up WAMing (rarely in the same direction twice, else I'd adjust my goals) so my "budgeted last month" changes from month to month

Mx Emmin If you're WAMing often, then it is worth exploring why you are constantly needing to move money around. I used to do this, too, until I started working with the reports and examining the average spending for various categories. It was to total game changer when I began working from the averages instead of attempting to covering things month to month. My power bill is always fully funded now, regardless of the time of year, and my grocery and gas categories almost never need WAMing, either.
Once you have longevity under your belt with YNAB and have the history of transactions, it is really useful to explore the information that YNAB contains to see what is really going on.

farfromtheusual  I am working on it but I've been with YNAB less than a year so I dont have much history to work from and the last few months have done a real number on my spending patterns 

Mx Emmin If you're getting close to a year then you can begin to use the averages. Every little bit helps, and you can double check it each month just to see if it has shifted, too. Be patient with yourself, the longer you use it the easier it gets, and the more knowledge you have about how to work your money to your advantage so that you don't need to WAM anymore.

farfromtheusual The less obvious, negative aspect about funding discretionary categories at levels that avoid WAMing is that you spend more. It's human nature to "spend to the line", so I intentionally set my nominal values low. Toward the end of the month, it's somewhat of a "first-come, first-serve" among the pool of discretionary categories. There's just not a lot of difference in priority at that stage for me. We tend to dig through the freezer as well, which is another good thing.

dakinemaui I think that depends on your approach. I've kept my grocery budget at the average for a long time (more than a year, and even though the pandemic "stocking up" phase), so nothing has changed. And periodically I won't spend all of the money in the category, I leave it there, and then buy some things to bulk up. So I don't necessarily think that line of thinking is absolute. If you want to trim a category, then yes, you need to do something different, but using the reports for an average (especially if you are looking at a long term year + average number) shouldn't cause you to spend any more than what you have already been spending.

farfromtheusual I would then guess that you are not a procrastinator, as that's the same phenomenon at work. 🙂 

dakinemaui well, not with this situation anyway... I'm not sure why procrastination would lead you to not work within the averages, anyway.

farfromtheusual Thinking about this further... We do the average+rollover in many categories (e.g., gas, kids activities, or utility bills), but we don't really rely on the category balance for spending guidance for those things. If the Grocery budget were set at the average, there would naturally be a surplus toward the end of the month from time to time. Unfortunately, we would see those available funds and go buy crab legs. 😆 

So for us, it's not really cutting spending, but avoiding growth. I suppose, though, after a year of end-of-month crab legs, the funding would be increased to where we could have crab legs *and* have a surplus. Then we'd probably just add scallops, LOL.

farfromtheusual said:
I'm not sure why procrastination would lead you to not work within the averages

Procrastination is essentially using the full amount of planned time. IMO, using the full amount of planned spending seems like a very similar thing. Thus, I was hypothesizing that you may have a personality that doesn't feel the need to take the full amount of time (or money).

Also related, almost no one stops their car with their bumper at the stop sign -- they invariably go past it, as that line is the target. Not to mention, have you ever seen a ticking time bomb stop with 2 minutes to spare?? "Going to the line" is nearly a universal truth. 😉

dakinemaui I'm not buying your procrastination/spending to the line theory, dak. I've been a master procrastinator at times in my life but I never have an issue where I feel like I have to spend to the line. OTOH, I'm not making oft used categories like Groceries/Restaurants super tight either but if they are tight, there's nothing wrong with spending to the line. I often have left over groceries or restaurant funds. I'm also not afraid to WAM between these two categories either so that makes it an even bigger pool between the two. I don't know. I just never have the urge to spend to the line in ANY category. The whole thing is a balancing act as we all know.

Due to the pandemic, my Auto:Gas category is piling up. I've even had to reduce my monthly funding. In fact, just looked at it and it's huge! I either need to move funds from it or quit funding it at all until it starts getting significant use again.

ETA: Speaking of which, I wish there was a Pause you could do on goals. Instead, I had to delete my Gas goal and then I'll have to re-add at a later date when things get back to normal.

dakinemaui I see your point, but by the same token, I don't have any problem with my power bill and working with the averages. If what you say is true, then I would find a way to use more power so that I went "to the line" as well. If I had leftover restaurant funds, then maybe I would splurge, but by the same token, if I know my BF's birthday is coming up, I'd save so that we could go somewhere fancier next month with the extra funds.

You can validate almost anything in your head, so if "spending to the line" is something that you choose to validate, then you'll do it, and push your averages up over time. But you can also exercise self control where you wish to do so. That's all a choice.

And to me, procrastination is different than this. Procrastination is using up the allotted amount of time - yes, but it is also avoiding doing anything until the last minute. So zero usage for 29 days, 100% usage in the last day. Per that theory I wouldn't grocery shop at all for the first 3 weeks of the month and do all my purchases the last day. There's really no connection between the two.

How you work your budget works for you, and that's what's awesome about YNAB. It's flexible enough that we can each make it work for how our brain thinks and processes things (for the most part....).

Superbone I used the surplus to finally put a $100 cushion in that category and now have one of the new spending goals set on it for $100 + usual monthly amount. It's resulting in me quickbudgeting what I spent last month. 

farfromtheusual said:
by the same token, I don't have any problem with my power bill and working with the averages.

Different token. You don't make spending decisions based on the Power category balance.

I appreciate everyone's take on the matter, and I totally agree it's going to vary. In fact, I may try increasing Groceries to the average. Upon further reflection, the main reason it goes over is because my spouse doesn't look at it. 🤔

Superbone said:
Due to the pandemic, my Auto:Gas category is piling up.

I tend to just reallocate when I see a surplus and change the contribution then and there. After all, if you knew back in Feb that you'd be driving less, you would have put it elsewhere anyway.

A pause on a goal seems like an unnecessary complication. It's also what WordTenor has effectively implemented.

dakinemaui Sort of. It's almost the opposite action each month. I keep an eye on the power bill when it comes in, and make sure that the amount I set aside covers it. Generally it's covered at least one pay check prior to the bill being due.

But I do the same thing for the grocery budget. I keep an eye on the balance, and go shop for what I need. Generally, the pay check comes in ahead of when I've maxed out the category. Very rarely I go over. I don't have to think about it or fret about it, I just shop for what I need.

If you're working off the actual average, then it should even out in the wash, especially if your spouse isn't looking at category balance because spending habits are habits, and that's where you get the average from. (my partner doesn't look at YNAB at all... so I have to roll with the punches with him constantly.)

PhysicsGal said:
I just ignore [the complaining color].  It's not as pretty, but that's really ok.

For anyone who really dislikes the complaining color, one trick is to re-establish the goal in next month's area. However, do not do this with a Spend By Date goal, as it resets the beginning of the spend window.

I use the Toolkit option to turn any underfunded goals to blue. That way any orange goals are credit overspending.

Not technically necessary because it's really clear which orange cells are underfunded and which are overspent - there's a minus sign in the latter. I do understand why orange for deliberate decisions bothers people though.

monkeyhanger dakinemaui  I changed my credit card accounts to checking accounts which results in all overspending being red and under funding being orange.  I did not like the way YNAB handled credit cards anyway.  At the beginning of the month I fund all categories and everything is green.  The orange lets me know which categories I WAM'ed from.

ynaber2613 Interesting how we're all different. I'm fine with the CC handling but I understand why some people want to change it.