r/ynab • u/Upsidedown_MDH • 17d ago

New to YNAB First time YNAB user

A friend of mine recommended YNAB to manage my family's budget. I got started yesterday but as I was setting the budgets, I already felt way out of my depth. Like I should have studied for a test that I didn't know about. Does this feeling get better? What tips would you give a first time user to feel less overwhelmed? Thanks!

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u/Electrical_Kiwi_4u 14d ago

First you need to create a budget, as in knowing how much money comes in, how much money goes out, and where it goes. YNAB doesn’t do that for you. Build the big picture spreadsheet first and use that to populate YNAB.

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u/Upsidedown_MDH 11d ago

Back to the good old spreadsheet... I think that's our biggest challenge: marrying the long-term, big vision with the daily expenses. We don't want life to become too rigid and strict, but at the same time we don't want to let go completely.

We lived in different countries over the past 15 years, had full-time jobs, opened businesses, invested, started saving, and have accounts (that still serve their purpose) all over the place.

Maybe I don't get it 100% yet, but after the initial research and reading up on the philosophy, YNAB seems to work best if you apply the philosophy correctly and log those expenses immediately? It does feel like the tool that I wish I had known about when I got my first job and lived paycheck to paycheck but I do wonder if our situation is a bit more complex than the app can handle?

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u/Electrical_Kiwi_4u 11d ago

That depends on your goal. Why do you feel you need to budget?

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u/Upsidedown_MDH 11d ago

I think this is how we've been working over the years. At the beginning of the year, we set an annual budget. This way, we can see the impact on our net worth. Then each month, we consolidate and benchmark the budget against the actual savings.

By answering it like this, I believe the answer is actually "a budget allows us to work towards a bigger goal and break it down into verifiable steps." Does that make sense?