
Budgeting half a budget
My partner is not ready to YNAB yet. His income varies a lot because he is a freelancer. I don't know his income and don't have access to his accounts either - so I don't have a clue as to how much he spends on what categories. But we have a shared account for the biggest of our shared obligations. Can I still make a budget that makes sense? What is the best way to take this into account?
For now I have turned his different accounts into spending categories, (I call it The Dark Side because I don't have access to it).
What is your experience and advice on this subject?
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You can YNAB on your own. It will probably be better, since you have no insight into your partner's finances, to just leave their spending categories out of the budget entirely. When your partner puts money into the shared account, record it as income TBB with a payee that indicates it's from your partner, and then budget it to the relevant categories.
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Hi Spring Green Admiral !
If that shared account is only for the big expenses, you shouldn't have any trouble keeping track of it in YNAB. You'll categorize everything as normal, but only budget those funds towards your shared expenses. If you put $500 in the account and your partner puts $500 in the account, they should both be categorized as Inflow: To Be Budgeted. You can then budget the full $1,000 towards Rent (or any other shared expense) and once you pay the expense, categorize it to that category. :)