amystylin 

In the thrill of signing up for your first debt smackdown, you may not have noticed that there are both ID #s and the line #s.  The top five lines are for the headers and totals, so the two columns of numbers don't match.  You are still listed as being on #145, so the 145th person to sign up, but ID # 145 is on line # 150 of the spreadsheet.

HappyDance Got it!  I think yesterday when I looked the page was "scrolled" over a bit and the 145 wasn't showing. 🤦‍♀️

Hi Silver Inspector !

When you're starting out, you only need to add your username in the 1st column, the type of debt you plan to pay off in the 3rd column, select your currency in the 4th column (if you aren't using USD) and enter your goal in the 5th column.

Each month, you'll enter the total amount of debt you paid off. So in the January column you'll enter how much you paid off in January, in February you'll enter the amount paid off in February, and so forth. (You'll skip the "formula" boxes, as the spreadsheet calculates those for you automatically.)

Silver Inspector 

Yikes.  I can't imagine trying to update the spreadsheet on my phone. I even find doing it on my iPad an annoyance and give up in frustration. You really need to use a desktop or laptop to work in the spreadsheet.

Faness I don't see a reason to cry but a reason to celebrate:) You are getting on top of your debt and that is fantastic!!! Just keep your eyes on the road and see that finish line of no longer having to pay this loan, imagine the freedom!!  Well done, you've got this!!!!!

Faness Congratulations!! It is sad to see money go, but that's x amount less that you now owe!!! That's got to feel pretty darn good!

auntdar After just that one payment, I'm definitely looking forward to the day I never have to pay it again. Thank you!

Stacy C Thank you! I was so used to ignoring my student loans that this payment was the moment it truly sank in that I'm tackling them. I didn't think they'd be so heavy, but it feels a little better with them being a little lighter. :)

Faness Hooray for being under 40k! It's a lot of money at once, but less interest paid over time—which was a motivator for me. Especially if you compare to the "If you pay this off in 30 years... you pay X in interest". 😂

Faness That's a huge win! Celebrate!!!

Faness Congratulations. When i feel like crying i come here and read other people's comments and i tell myself "see, no one is saying it's going to be easy breezy, you are not alone" and other positive stuff and i perk myself right up. 😄 

Nicole Those numbers give me nightmares! 😣

Purple Foal Thank you! :)

Tomato Moose I'm adding that as a cheer - tactic. Thank you! :)

Faness Woohoo!! That's so exciting! I'm a day late to your update here (thanks for all your replies earlier!), how does it feel now that it's had a day to sink in? Cheers and keep up the great work and inspiring us all here!

Spider Plant I purposefully didn't enter the payment so that I could watch it import and see the balance turn to zero. 😆 

I love seeing everyone tackle the same villain here. In less than a month there's already been so much progress!

I have 10 separate loans (9 now!!), and I'm enjoying seeing that one $0.00. Here's to the next one! :)

Faness Awesome! I enter everything manually, but I can definitely relate to the excitement of watching that number turn to $0.00!

Faness 

Just think of all the interest you won't have to pay on the chunk of that 3K that went to principal!  All those extra dollars means that your money going forward will be able to pay more to principal every month!

It's not a lot, but every month I'm paying $3 and change more to principal than the month before on my mortgage.  $3 isn't a lot but it all adds up!

Technicolor Cheetah I calculated the interest saved thanks to a push from Spider Plant 's breakdown, but not the overall savings from the domino effect of making increased principal payments. I know it's all for the better, but I want to send past me an angry letter for taking out so many loans.

GalleYNAB welcome to the crowd! You're in good company! It's wise to start conservative until you have a handle on how YNAB works for you, the learning curve is roughly 3-6 months, with a full year being the time when you can really dig in and use it to your best advantage. Feel free to message me if you have any funky questions, I've gone through lots of learning curves and have quite a few tricks that can save time and effort for someone else.

GalleYNAB Seeing the "big picture" can take a few re-adjustments of the lens, and it's great you're making debt a priority in that picture! 

'm happy you're joining us! :)

DontSpeakDefeat Sometimes you gotta do what you need to do. If running is your jam, then investing in good running shoes is worth it. Running in bad shoes can lead to injury, which means you can't run and it costs you money. Some investments are worth it, even if they aren't as funded as you'd like in the moment. (I work in barns, and the $80 I stretched myself to spend for rubber boots recently was WELL worth the stretch of having to scrounge up the funds. Sometimes you just gotta do it!)

DontSpeakDefeat History tells me that Varying Terrain + Bad Running Shoes = Shin Splints (if not worse). It's a win to take care of yourself without taking on new debt! :)

Faness farfromtheusual thank you both!  I have suffered with posterior tibial tendinitis for a while now and I finally found shoes that keep it under control, they just aren't cheap.  

DontSpeakDefeat I've got orthopedic foot challenges that mean I really need 2 different size shoes to be close to comfortable... so yeah, I feel your pain!! Sometimes there are things that you just have to do in order to be well and functional, and at that point debt, or not debt, it doesn't matter.

farfromtheusual That's a nice added chunk! Good going! :)

Faness Thanks! I was trying to figure out why my numbers didn't match... I forgot I stuck that there!

Turquoise Wildebeest Welcome aboard - joining definitely counts as a win! Glad you're joining us! :)

Turquoise Wildebeest 

PS: in January I paid a total of $775 on these. It's really cool to see the spreadsheet calculate that as 8% of my total. That's really encouraging.

Turquoise Wildebeest and, btw, 8.33% is the exact amount you need to pay each month to stay on track and meet the goal by December 🙂 (In case you were wondering..... LOL)

Hot Pink Beat Thanks for joining us!

Quantum Jump Yay for staying on schedule! Managing to put half of your paycheck towards debt is a huge feat! Looking forward to see how your numbers line up at the end of this month! :)

Got a late cheque from my grandparents for christmas, combined with some extra money I'd set aside to go towards my stretch goal, totalling to £500!

Current status:

• Rent arrears: £1,013/£4,788.35
• Other debt: £500/£8,724.00

Orchid Display Hooray! Congrats on paying off card #3.

Gfamily46 Welcome. The best time to start on this is right now, and I'm excited to see your progress (and everyone else's!).

Matthew Thanks!  Okay, I totally forgot to add a couple of credit cards to the mix here that I should (hopefully) have paid off by March.  I'll update my line here shortly.  Definitely want to include these in my progress.

• 3. Visa 1 for $267.46.  This will definitely be paid off by the end of January.
• 4. Visa 2 for $1349.56.  I have a bonus coming up at the beginning of March that should erradicate this one. 

Gfamily46 That's just more headway for you to make this year! Excited to see you knock those out, too! :)

Faness Me too, thanks! :)

Ica Paige 

Awesome!  I think this may be the fastest debt smackdown 100% complete I've seen.  The best part about getting these marvelous windfalls and gifts after getting into the habit of budgeting is being able to execute on a longer-term plan and not wasting a precious dollar.  Go you!

Ica Paige Well done!!!!!!

Ica Paige Amazing! And without the mindset you have, that $7k would be blown. Am I right?? Maybe start saving for your student loan now so you will have a chunk to pay off the principal off that bat. :)

Purple Foal 
That's the goal!
I still have one more semester ending in December and then repayment doesn't start until 6 months after. I am really hoping to have at least 1/2 of my student loan saved up and ready. (Approx 20k in student loans)

Ica Paige Good for you! You are well ahead of so many others with student debt! :)

Ica Paige Yoohooo AWESOME!!!

Ica Paige wahoo! Congrats!!!!!

Ica Paige WAHOO!!!

Ica Paige Congratulations!! 🎉🎉

We're still in January, so I'm counting this as one of the best ways I've seen to start off the year - with a debt-free bang! :)

Ica Paige Congratulations! What an amazing way to start off the new decade. 🎉

Cyan Wizard I love big goals! Shoot for the moon - even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. I'm looking forward to your updates! :)

Grey Tux I hope your husband is settling in nicely to his new job! That's a good chunk thrown at those debts! :)

Coral Mare Preventing future debt is an important part of tackling current debt. Slow and steady wins the race. :)

Faness I certainly hope so.  Slow and Steady are abundant!

By the way, today I learned that I can smoke a turkey at home.  WaHOO!!

Coral Mare My husband is a huge smoker (the food kind) and it's always delicious. Smoked turkey sounds amazing! Did you use a grill or buy a smoker?

Coral Mare Faness

My husband smoked a duck for Thanksgiving last year.  It was so.so.good.  Bonus - the wood for smoking (cherry, FWIW) was free since I told him to scavenge any usable wood from the neighbor's cherry tree branch that fell onto our fence last spring.

Faness We had "new pellet grill" in our budget.  It was partially funded.  A friend had a garage sale, so I was able to raid the grill savings line and give her grill a new home.  It was both a YNAB win and a new hobby!

Technicolor Cheetah He has never roasted a duck and I'm now putting that on his list of things to feed me. 😂

Coral Mare Smoked meat tends to go further in our household - either as leftovers or used in another meal. Maybe this new hobby can even stretch your Groceries category. :)

Coral Mare  we asked for a pellet grill as a Christmas gift, it's amazing!

Lavender Dragon Also adding I did pay off a student Hecs loan of $25000 in 3.5 years so this had been eating away at our income as well

Lavender Dragon Hello from Bootcamp to Smackdown!  I, too, am in both.  Let's crush this!

Lavender Dragon Your forum name sounds perfect for demolishing that debt! :)

Great job on how far you've come, and here's to how far you'll go! 🎉

Steel Blue Screwdiver (e62dac0d365b) You can do it! 🎉I've found this challenge to be a great motivator. Hope you find the same!

Matthew Hayes 

Debt smackdown is not always a steady, predictable monthly rate.  Every step forward is equal in effort regardless of the amount.  Nice start to your 2020.

Matthew Hayes Not adding debt despite your limited funding is a WIN!!!

Lavender Dragon 

Entirely up to you.  I didn't bother separating interest from principle and just reported total paid to debtors, You could always do a hybrid, too.  Report the total on the spreadsheet and break it down when you post in the thread.  No rules here other than those you set for yourself.

Lavender Dragon On the spreadsheet, I enter the amount that my total balance went down during the month. So, my amount reflects payments made and interest applied. FOR ME, this gives the most accurate representation of my progress. I've got a couple of stupid-high interest loans and just entering the amounts which I paid would give me a false sense of progress. 

As HappyDance said, there are no rules here.  Figure out works best for YOU and rock with it. 

MoneyMonster Nicely done! Paying off debt while still setting aside funds to prevent future debt is tackling debt from both ends!

Hi PeculiarBella !

Congratulations on your new little one! :)

Are you riding the credit card float? If so, getting off the float is a great first step in making sure that debt is being paid off. If not, then watching those balances decrease each month should be a downward slide towards debt freedom. 

PeculiarBella this is tough when you are using a credit card that is carrying debt all at once.
My solution is to make 2 accounts - One that is CC Debt, and the other that is CC Purchases. You'll need to start using this only at the point when you have paid whatever is outstanding on the card currently. Whatever is left is what you've been floating. Use the CC Purchases account for any purchases that are budgeted. This should get paid to zero every month (or every payment if you like paying things more frequently). At any given point in time you should be able to add the total of the two accounts and come to the total balance on the account itself. This has dramatically helped me manage my budget and not have things get too messy. Each month, you can easily add funds to the CC Debt account and watch that number go down. It's given me a much greater sense of my progress, and kept me from over spending on my every day purchases (or not funding them enough).
If this doesn't make sense, message me and I'll be happy to explain further.

farfromtheusual I want to make sure I'm understanding your set up. You split your one credit card into two credit card accounts in the budget - one account with the balance from before YNAB and another to track the balance after starting YNAB, is that right? 

A Credit Card Goal is meant to have that same effect (helping YNABers pay down previous balances while budgeting for current spending) without splitting the account, so there's less math between split accounts to follow.

Faness Yes, I did split them. I actually don't use goals because they irritate me. There is no way to tell YNAB that there is a date I will be able to fund them, so they sit there unfunded and that annoys me because it feels like I didn't do enough soon enough. I would rather be able to tell it the date that I want to fund it because I almost always know the next date that the money is coming in on. And some things I split up, so I fund half at a certain time and the other half the next time I get paid.

I would also rather clearly SEE the amount that is debt specifically vs funded spending. YNAB doesn't break this apart, and that has frustrated me for a long time. It's great if you can stop using a card and leave the debt as debt, but sometimes on the float that would actually cost more money or there may not be an additional card available to use. This way I can see the amount that is debt clearly and still use the card with a quick check of the math. Use of a spreadsheet will even do the math automatically for me. :)

I might be strange, but this is what I need in order to keep a handle on things easily. I would love it if YNAB would come up with a better way to keep an eye on what is debt vs what is funded spending, but until then, this works for me.

farfromtheusual Thank you for sharing this! We want YNAB to be flexible enough to work in different scenarios and it's helpful to know exactly why credit card goals don't hit that mark for you. We have a number of things planned to improve goals, so I'm going to take this feedback to the team. I definitely agree that a breakdown of past vs. present for credit cards would be helpful! The goal outlines how much needs to be budgeted but having a clearer break down might add an extra push for knocking down those balances or jumping off the float. 

Faness thanks, I'm glad you're able to pass it along. The separation of standing debt vs funded spending (and the transition from spending to over spending) would be helpful if it were more clearly defined. I don't entirely have an answer for what would help me visually, I know that having 2 separate numbers (even if I have to add them together to get my balance) helps me to really know what my float is (or was). For some people it doesn't benefit to stop using an account because the float isn't costing them anything, and I've seen so many people struggle to figure out what their float is. It sounds silly, or too simple, but it's not nearly as clear as it should be.

farfromtheusual That's an interesting way of doing it. How do you start? This month I am short on my payment, would I take the amount I have and create a separate account? Also, are your accounts linked or just manually entered. I am interested in making this easier to keep track of. Already since I added my debt I have about 125 more than I started with. My husband and I are in a weird time right now where we're having to spend money to make money (my husband is in school and I'm about to transition to working from home). It seems like we'll never make more than we spend. 

PeculiarBella you have to wait until you get to a point where you've made a payment to sort of create a break, and start from zero in the account you're going to use as the "working" account. I keep all my accounts unlinked, and I don't think you could do this the same way if they were linked. I'll shoot you a message with some more details that might help you.

Turquoise Vacuum Welcome to YNAB, the Support Forum, and the Debt Smackdown! I'm glad you're joining us! :)

Turquoise Vacuum welcome to the YNAB family! Give yourself some time to get used to the system. It takes about 3 months to get a loose handle on things, then about another 6 months to figure out if you're doing what you really need to be doing, and a full year to have a real handle on what your actual expenses really are (reports are SO much fun at this point!). So be gentle with yourself, and don't hesitate to reach out to folks if you are feeling stuck or confused!

Duke and Duchess Congrats on your progress from last year! Other than the mortgage, student loans are my biggest balance to tackle, too! If you're snowballing the car loan payment and the payment for the high interest loan towards the rest of that debt, those balances are going downhill fast. :)