It clicked - or I understand it finally. Whatever...big win!
I started using YNAB a few days into October. Only a few weeks ago. I obsessively took in as much info as I could and started testing my own budget. I have a fairly good handle on it now. I am actually thinking about spending with purpose already. As an aside - I balked at those who say to manually enter transactions, but I was wrong. Outside of scheduled transactions, I enter everything else manually as they happen, then download the QFX file to make sure I haven't missed anything. Sort of a hybrid I guess.
Anyway - I was reconciling this morning. Weird that I wake up excited to do it. I know. And thinking about a big insurance payment that is due on the 22nd - traditionally a pain point. I might add that it is budgeted and a scheduled transaction. Stressful nonetheless. Then - this is where everything clicked - like an AHA! moment. I changed the date on the transaction to today and it entered it into my budget to see the effect...and saw that nothing changed other than I could see it in the activity column in the budget. Then I actually paid it (2 days ahead of due date) from my bank account - without shuffling funds from a savings account or LOC!!
If I wasn't before - which I was - I am completely in.
YNAB is a game changer.
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Welcome!
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Welcome and absolutely. The first few times you can pay bills without stressing out or shuffling funds or when getting to the next income date without being broke (even if you're YNAB broke) is amazing.
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Welcome to YNAB and the Forum! I'm glad you've joined us, Paul . It sounds like you've explored different resources. Do you have favorite you'd recommend to folks starting out?
And don't worry, being excited about reconciling is not uncommon here! 😉-
Thanks Nicole ! The site is designed really well and the part of it that got me into it was reading through each of the 4 rules under the learn to budget tab. I can't put my finger on why, but the "Life with/without Rule #X" were really helpful to get my head around it. From there, I found the video courses and went through them over a few days. Concise and easy to digest - they are very helpful. I tuned in to a few of the workshops which are helpful too. The YouTube channel has great videos as well. If I could give a shout out to someone not affiliated (I don't think) with YNAB, its Nick True. The video below really sealed the deal for me. YNAB is truly a game changer. I look forward to seeing how it will (further) uncover misconceptions I've had about my finances over the years. I think the first thing I noticed once I understood the system is how much more mindful I am - and how quickly that happened - about spending decisions we make as a family.
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