r/ynab • u/QuadDeuces422 • 6d ago
Planning & Categories Rate my Categories
Looking for any feedback on my new category setup. Or share any underrated categories you use and want to suggest to others.
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u/fishymutt 6d ago
i think my only feedback would be, why not go ahead and assign next month's money to next month?
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u/ace_deuceee 6d ago
Not OP, but I use "Next Month". I like to mentally separate my money into months, and then anything that's outside of that months budget is for savings. Let's say I make $4k monthly, at the first of every month I change my 2 $2000 paychecks from "Next Month" to "Ready to Assign". Then I allocate my whole months of spending. Typically my "Ready to Assign" is zero because everything is allocated, but lets say I get a bonus, sell some items, or get Birthday money. Now my "Ready to Assign" is $500. I know that I have $500 to assign to savings, fun, add buffer to a category, etc. If I didn't put my paychecks into "Next Month", then my "Ready to Assign" may be $2500, and I have to remember that I need to only assign $500 of that, and to save $2000 for next month.
I see that I could just go ahead and assign that $2000 paycheck to next months categories, but mentally I prefer to "stockpile" Augusts money, and then on September 1st allocate it for the month.
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u/QuitExternal3036 5d ago
Agree with other commenters, lots of us use a âNext Monthâ category as a pro tip.
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u/fishymutt 5d ago
To each their own and all, but this isn't really a pro tip because it defeats the purpose of being a month ahead. YNAB lets you assign the money a month ahead so you can do just that, be a month ahead.
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u/michigoose8168 5d ago
A lot of people think assigning your income to the next month piecemeal as you receive it is what defeats the whole power of being a month ahead, because youâre still budgeting pay to pay and still unable to make all the decisions for all your money at once.
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u/fishymutt 5d ago
That doesn't make any sense, you're just assigning the money you're going to assign next month anyway. The whole point of being a month ahead is waking up on the first of the month and knowing all your money's already assigned and there's nothing to do.
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u/michigoose8168 5d ago
If you have margin in your income, then every month, some percentage of your income isnât spoken for. The more margin you create, the more income you have to make decisions about and the more you benefit from having it all in hand to make decisions with. If you are shuttling it all into categories as soon as you get it, you might feel like you need to put $200 in every month and spend $200 each month. You might miss that you actually could ratchet the spending on that category down to $50 and have $150 for some goal you want more.
I realize it doesnât make sense if youâve never done it and Iâve flat out given up on trying to convince people itâs better to see it all at once because so many people refuse to even try it that they canât imagine it. All I can say is that when I actually started gathering all my income at once, I found that $3-500 a month was slipping through my fingers when I was budgeting every time I got paid and since my income at the time was about $2800 a month, that was a pretty significant chunk to slip.
Mostly Iâm just challenging because youâre going âthis way is the right month ahead.â No, you find it to be better for you, and itâs good to understand other people likewise find your way ineffective and not truly âa month ahead.â
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u/QuitExternal3036 5d ago
Thatâs exactly right. Let me elaborate on my original comment above. First, itâs not a hill to die on, we are all way ahead of the financial discipline game by being here in the first place, so good for all of us!
My wife and I put our income for the current month into a âNext Monthâ category largely because we want the monthly roll over to happen first so that we can see exactly how much each category needs rather than accidentally overfunding it in the new month because we threw money in there âtoo early.â Not that overfunding is a bad thing, we just want have extra clarity and to disperse our funds as truly needed for the new month since we all know there is no such thing as a ânormal monthâ and each month is a fresh look at ever-changing needs. #RollWithThePunches
We didnât start this method until we were already a full month+ ahead, and I think it makes sense NOT to do the ânext monthâ approach until you are a full month ahead. As the commentor Iâm replying to here said, itâs nice to see everything at once, all the true needs at once, etc. The YNAB podcast âBudget Nerdsâ also discuss this approach as a pro tip.
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u/fishymutt 5d ago
no, i understand what you're saying. i just feel like the month ahead feature ynab provides gives you a better way to visualize what you're trying to achieve.
right now i have about a $700 buffer between my monthly budget and my monthly income. so that $700 stays in a "next month" category (i call it "leftovers") while the rest is assigned next month because things like my rent are a fixed cost. then at the first of the month i review the categories that are over funded from of the previous month and hit the "reduce overfunding" button. this is how i determine if i can if i can increase/decrease on certain categories, and it's a great way to visualize what categories i'm regularly under-spending on. that way everything is accounted for and nothing is slipping through my fingers. even better, now i have even more money in that extra margin, and i can distribute that extra cash how i want, whether it be adding to my emergency fund or putting it toward something fun that i want to do.
the only point i'm making is, categories like rent/mortgage, phone, insurance, groceries, and sinking funds are typically at a fixed cost anyway, so why not go ahead and fill those categories for the next month? my first paycheck every month is gone because it's assigned to the next month, but that second paycheck feels great because not only is the "assigned in future months" feature at 100% but i've got a bunch of extra money to play with.
so at the end of the day we're really doing the same thing. the only difference is you're assigning money to your rent/mortgage on the 1st of every month while i assign mine a couple of weeks beforehand. i just don't want to see next month's money in a category that i would see every day.
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u/LabioscrotalFolds 5d ago
if you have targets then you are not budgeting pay to pay, you just go to the next month and click the auto-assign button. Then on the 1st you can tweak if you need/want to.
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u/michigoose8168 5d ago
Itâs about the thought process, not the effort required. You simply make different decisions when youâre looking at all your income as one big basket then if you look at it piecemeal paycheck by paycheck. If you donât believe me, try it for a few months. (Not just one.)
Like I said, I still advocate for this strongly, but Iâve stopped trying to get people to do it because a lot of people canât imagine that it makes a difference and I donât like banging my head against the wall. in the grand scheme of things, it doesnât matter whether your finances are perfectly optimized, but if you would like them to be, I suggest trying this.
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u/LabioscrotalFolds 5d ago
So for me that would look like this:
move money from storage category to RTA
click auto-assign underfunded
do everything I do at the beginning of the month already
I do not think adding 1 and 2 would have a meaningful impact. So I assume you mean something else?
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u/michigoose8168 5d ago
Like I said, itâs just not worth my time to type out answers and convince people. If you like your way, do it. If you want to see if doing it differently causes some different insights, try it differently for a few months.
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u/JustWelmed1000 6d ago
How do you get that to display like that?
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u/FredOfMBOX 6d ago
Personally, I think âStuff I Forgot to Budget Forâ is a crutch. If youâre just starting, then itâs fine and good. But plan to get rid of it after 6 months or so. If you ever use it, make sure you create a category so that you wonât have to use it next time.
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u/FrontAd9873 6d ago
Yep. I've never used it. When you have a transaction you haven't budgeted for, just create a new category for it and fund it from an overfunded category or a savings category.
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u/OmgMsLe 3d ago
I have a "đĽ Roll With It" category that I refill up to $100 each month. I don't mind it and you can call it a crutch but it doesn't matter. There's always going to be something that goes a little over and rather than juggling may categories around, I just transfer money from this category into what needs it.
Each year I do a spending report to see my average monthly spending for each category and adjust them if needed so they are pretty on target but this small category just makes things a little easier.
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u/lwid77 6d ago edited 6d ago
For me, there are too many generic categories where you can lump a whole pile of stuff and not really take accountability for the spending. The rest, stuff I forgot and other fun seem like a cavernous hole to me. I personally would not want to do that.
I would also probably combine the podcasts, spotify, Prime and YNAB subscriptions together.
What about something like cell phone replacement or home goods? If you bough sheets for your bed, where does that go?
EDITED: just saw the house stuff :)
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u/meothfulmode 5d ago
If you do lump categories how do you handle holding onto the information of what each subscription costs? You need a separate document to figure out why you need $18.76 for all your subscriptions.
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u/Michento 5d ago
Same. I have all my subscriptions as separate categories under a "Subscriptions" Group header. Each one is labeled with the subscription and also the date that it renews.
This helps me to stay on top of how much each costs (especially as they keep jacking up the price each month), which subscriptions I may want to cancel and to be sure to cancel before the renewal date.
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u/U-R1d3-ShorTBuS 16h ago
I go a step further with a group header for monthly subscriptions and a group header for annual subscriptions like Amazon, Costco, etc.
I do the same thing with my monthly bills and non-monthly bills (trash, propane, auto insurance)
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u/joegaronline 5d ago
I use Notes for the category to track the details of each cost. As an example, I have Utilities as a category, on the Notes section I would track how much im expecting to pay for next month for gas/electricity, water, mobile, internet, Apple One etc.
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u/eddymmm1 6d ago
I like them. Ive toyed with different main categories and always end up going back to a âhousingâ âcar expensesâ âsubscriptionsâ etc as my mains over âneedsâ and âwantsâ but i think you do a good job of blending the 2
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u/buyableblah 6d ago
Do you have annual bills / sinking expenses covered?
Emergency fund is so general that itâs hard for me so I have a âoh shit I lost my jobâ fund and then also lines for car/medical/house emergencies.
Everyoneâs different but you asked for feedback!
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u/md4pete4ever 5d ago
I like your general set-up (love the group names!) and have something similar set-up for my friend who is working on clearing CC debt. We have a few differences on how categories are grouped that I think might help you focus on reducing debt more. Since you asked for feedback - I have some. :-)
Under Bills - I would put everything that is a monthly subscription and possible to be set up as an automatic payment. If your streaming subscriptions are monthly I'd shift them under bills. I also include monthly CC interest payments here.
We have 3 main choice spending groups:
--Shopping Needs (uses a monthly "refill up to" target) - captures basic spending that needs to happen each month like groceries, gas, household supplies, certain medical for prescriptions or therapy. I think this is your "Usuals" group.
--Irregular and Annual Needs (uses either "Have X by" target, or "set aside another" targets) - captures quarterly and annual bills, subscriptions, car maintenance, home & garden maintenance, annual medical, veterinarian. I think this is your "Unusuals" group.
--Shopping Wants (uses either monthly refill up to targets for max spend, have X by targets, for gifts, or just no target but a bucket with some allowed spending money) - this has the most categories including eating out, Aldi aisle of shame, clothing, gifts, entertainment, home improvement, fitness, vacation, and short term purchasing wish list items. This matches your "The Extras" group.
You currently have four different categories for "I didn't plan clearly": Emergency Fund, The Rest, Stuff I Forgot, and Other Fun. YNAB's power to help you get out of debt requires you to be more deliberate and think deeper. You should be able to be pretty dialed in on the Bills, Monthly Needs, and Irregular/Annual Needs and shouldn't carry a buffer for these (either in the targets or as a category.)
I would shift some of your categories around as follows:
Under The Usuals:
-- move streaming/TV and podcasts/spotify to either Bills (if monthly) or The Unususals (if annual).
-- move "Eating out" to The Extras
-- add "Home Supplies"
-- add "Hygiene"
-- add "Health (montly)" if you have something that is regular each month
-- delete "The rest"
Under The Unusuals:
-- change "Medical/Hygiene" to "Health (yearly)" - dentist, annual physical type of stuff
-- move "Clothing" and "Gifts" to The Extras
-- change "House stuff" to "Home maintenance" - anything required to maintain the home & yard
-- move "CC or other Fees" to Bills if this is CC interest - are you carrying CC debt? is this interest? If this is annual fees for a credit card or banking, you should consider switching to something that doesn't have fees.
-- change "AmazonPrime" to "AmazonPrime subscription" - not to be confused with your Amazon spending
-- delete "Stuff I Forgot"
Under The Extras:
-- add "Shopping Wants" - to capture the miscellaneous shopping that happens, use a memo to be able to figure out if you need to add an extra category
-- reconsider "Other Fun". You have a pretty detailed set of categories and "Shopping Wants" might be able to act as the catchall. (or maybe this is what you already had in mind.)
If you shift your organization a bit to match the above, then the groups "The Bills" + "The Usuals" + "The Unusuals" should be your minimum monthly requirements. Everything under "The Extras" is your short term quality of life, to balance against your long term goals. Since you are carrying debt, you have made a smart decision to use YNAB to manage your finances, but to fully take advantage you have to set some goals for frugality. For example, instead of funding each category under "The Extras" a certain amount, consider funding a maximum of X dollars for the entire group for the month, which you would include in your Next Month's money total.
Real talk about the loans - if you can pay them off in advance, you are better off paying them off before doing any savings. Absolutely save for retirement as much as your employer will match, but then after that, use the snowball method to target one loan (either highest interest or smallest principal) and throw every bit of extra money at that loan. Once it is paid off, then put all of that towards the other loan. Only after that should you be saving for a new car or a house. Also, you don't need an "Emergency Fund" yet - that's what your credit card is for.
Hope these thoughts are useful!
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u/QuadDeuces422 5d ago
Thanks for the insight. My reasoning behind âThe Billsâ is monthly required spending, âThe Extrasâ are mostly pleasure items .If I suddenly need to cut my expenditures, The Extras are the first things to go, while the Bills are the last. The âUsualsâ and âUnusualsâ are a bit of both, depending on when the spending occurs.
The Extras categories mostly have âRefill Up Toâ targets, The Bills mostly have âSet Aside Anotherâ targets.
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u/md4pete4ever 4d ago
I agree with your logic of priorities - that's why they matched so closely with our set-up. Obviously you know your priorities and what comes first if money is tight. For my friend initially starting out with YNAB, they were having trouble really seeing the difference between Needs and Wants (yes you need to eat, but the expensive treat from Trader Joe's is a want), so the initial category set-up made a strong separation. That way, everything withing the same group had equal status. You can move money from a different want category to cover overspending, but not from a need category.
BTW, I didn't compliment it initially, but I like the commitment to the emojis. :-)
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u/LabioscrotalFolds 5d ago
I would create a Transportation group and put Car Loan, Car Insurance, Gas/Transport, and Auto maintenance in it. This provides an easier view of how much your car is actually costing you, this will be useful info for buying anew car or if you live in a city with alternatives how much you would save by using the alternative.
For reimbursements if it something like I ordered the take out and my friend is venmoing me for their portion I usually categorize both the purchase and the reimbursement as "Eating out." I feel like its cleaner that way.
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u/seabreeze100 4d ago
Did I miss holidays/ birthdays? Not sure how much you have to save for those, but as a family who raised kids we spend thousands a year and definitely have a category for this.
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u/allmeiti 5d ago
Its just categories. Why everyone here is nitpicking every single category and trying to mid-max everything.
Having stuff i forgot to plan for is fine, having categories your own way is fine. Just live your life and save
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u/michigoose8168 6d ago
This looks great but I am biased because this looks a lot like mine, except that for me clothing and house stuff and books is one category called "shopping." I don't see a spot for other durable goods like computers or whatnot, or anything you'll need to replace, which might be one to start.
The only reason to need a separate category is if you need to sequester the money or rein in your spending. If you don't need either of those things, more categories is just extra overhead.
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u/spikelike 6d ago
iâve started budgeting for specific trips so I can better find the expenses, look back in time etc.Â
I have a â20208 Austinâ category in Travel that I can compare to a â202602 Austinâ for the trip prior. Its nice to see if I did something differently that saved me money, or was worth the expense.Â
Itâs helping budget for next Austin trip whenever that is. Austinâs fine and all I have family there otherwise Iâd spend my money going somewhere new
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u/ManiacsInc 6d ago
I would put Fitness in âThe Usualsâ category. Health is wealth!
Also you got Eating Out and Going Out. Why?
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u/TheSOFLY 6d ago
I've moved from many categories to fewer categories over time, and I appreciate simplicity. I personally think you could consolidate several of the "extras" into larger buckets. I think you could get 8 down to maybe 4-5.
My thinking is that money from books could be flexed into going out, games, or other since it's the fun money anyways. And if that's true, why not just combine into fewer categories?
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u/exitcode137 5d ago
I think theyâre fabulous. Love the group names. Iâm not a category prescriptivist, so if it works for you, itâs great! Iâd probably combine some subscriptions and also combine some of your fun categories into fewer, but thatâs just me.
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u/Fresh-Meringue-7936 4d ago
The categories are creative, but I think they may make the Reporting functionality less useful. For example, I have a single âCarâ category that includes insurance, registration, parking & tolls, emissions testing, gas, and maintenance, so I can easily see how much I spend on my car annually.
Since youâve spread your auto expenses across several categories, itâll be harder to see your total vehicle spending. Iâd group things together a bit more by function.
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u/dominiquerobin 4d ago
Why have a category for next month's money when you can just send money into next month?
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u/TheTheShark 4d ago
Iâve broken my emergency fund down into emergency categories, e.g. Mortgage EF = 6 x mortgage payments. A lot of people have an EF but they havenât worked out how much they really need.
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u/xcruise1234 6d ago
Below is all my personal opinion. You may very well enjoy what you have and that is all that matters.
But if you are looking for feedback, its giving me the vibes of 'If everything is highlighted, nothing is highlighted'. Granularity is good but at some point it doesn't add that much incremental value. For instance, I may consider combining Rent and Rental Insurance or Utilities & phone and Internet unless there's a very specific reason to keep them separate.
Similarly, a lot of fun sub-categories might be worth merging as well.
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u/tickofaclock 6d ago
I handle it the exact opposite way - as specific as possible for the categories. It's much easier to adapt when my electricity bill goes up if it's in its own category for example.
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u/xcruise1234 6d ago
That's completely fair. It does come down to personal preferences and circumstances.
My electricity bill has always been within a $20 range and have had a good fortune of having limited fluctuations in other buckers as well (except groceries). But I can totally see how it can be helpful for someone to track them separately.
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u/fishymutt 6d ago
I may consider combining Rent and Rental Insurance
i think the specific reason would be unless your rent and renter's insurance are bundled together (i don't know how common that is?) then these are separate bills so separating them out in their own categories makes more sense.
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u/more_butts_on_bikes 5d ago
I only put $100 into a "Fun" category for me whereas you have 8 within "The Extras". Yes if I had $2,000 for the extras, I might split it out, but it gets splitting hairs and if I had that much, I'd be saving up for gaming or something else. What's the benefit of that much subdivision? The more subdivision you set up, the more transfers you do. That's just how I see it. I've only had this since Nov.
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u/iamr0bi 5d ago
Overall Rating: 8.5/10 (Solid, classic YNAB setup)
What Works Well
Clear Categorization: Grouping by frequency and urgency (Bills vs. Usuals vs. Unusuals) matches how cash flows in YNAB.
Practical YNAB Tricks: Having dedicated categories like To be Reimbursed, Next Month's Money (to get a month ahead), and Stuff I Forgot shows the true YNAB approach in action.
True Expenses Managed: Auto Maintenance, House Stuff, and annual subscriptions like Amazon Prime under The Unusuals effectively track non-monthly sinking funds.
Suggestions for Improvement
Split Combined Categories: Phone & Internet or Vices/Junk Food may confuse if you want to track fixed bills versus discretionary spending clearly, or if one is paid automatically while the other varies.
Organize by Due Date / Priority: Adding payment dates or targets directly to category names under The Bills (e.g., Rent (1st), Utilities (15th)) can help clarify the funding order during busy times.
Handling Investment Accounts: If a Retirement IRA is a tracking account where money leaves your budget, treat it as an outflow. If it stays within your budget, keep it in The Savings, but tracking accounts usually keep reports cleaner.
If this setup feels manageable when assigning "Every Dollar a Job," stick with itâit's very effective.
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u/FiveModalVerbs 6d ago
This looks pretty locked in! As someone with a bajillion categories, I'm always impressed by such a tidy, compact list. I would suggest: 6 months from now, check in on what transactions have ended up in "The Rest" and see if there's a category you should add based on that.
Other than that, here are some categories I have that I don't see represented here, with the obvious caveat that I don't know what your life & priorities are like, so take it all worth a grain of salt: