Five Life-Changing Ways to Think About Money

I love YNAB! I’ve tried every other budgeting tool out there, and YNAB is the only method that works for my brain. I’ve paid off about $2,000 in debt since starting in July simply by being more mindful–I didn’t make major changes to the amounts I was paying, I just paid better attention. In 2020, I will become debt-free with YNAB’s help!

We started using YNAB about a year ago and it’s dramatically reduced the stress around money in our household. My husband and I sit down every 2 weeks (after our biweekly paychecks come in) and go through the line items in our YNAB budget. We give ourselves “allowances” so when we want to buy something for ourselves it doesn’t have to be a discussion or a secret and no one has to feel guilty about spending more than the other person. We also have line items for gifts, charities, concert tickets, etc. in addition to all the regular bills. It takes a couple of cycles to get it started and established but it’s been a lifesaver!

How about a post about teaching your kids about money and talking with them about it as well. Growing up it wasn’t something comfortable to talk about and I would love some suggestions from this great community!

I will forever be indebted to CoJ for bringing YNAB into my life! It has made a huge impact on my finances. Related: I wanted to pop in and see if Ask Paco would be returning to the blog? I found that series super compelling and loved Paco’s approachable…approach. Ha.

This is going to be slightly left-field in a post about budgeting – but I have always had the slightly bonkers philosophy: “You’re never too poor to go on holiday”! Meaning not that you should max out your credit card and skip on rent, but that experiences are so valuable, and don’t cost very much!

My best friend and I used to get cheap tickets to a sunny destination in Europe, then just live off 50 cent baguettes and cheap wine. Our “holidays” cost peanuts – because we lived on peanuts! They weren’t the stuff of glossy vacation magazines but man, did we have a great time.

In a (pea)nutshell, budgeting is super important. But all things in moderation, sometimes just roll with the hard times!

Thanks for your awesome blog!

My husband and I made two huge (for us) financial changes on Jan 1.
1) No food delivery for the year
2) No drinking for 6 months
We are fairly frugal, and kept wondering where our money seemed to be going. After talking it out, we realized a huge amount of our money was going to alcohol and to delivery on those nights when we “didn’t feel like cooking.” I can’t wait to funnel all that money to our savings account. Bonus: we feel so much healthier.

100% agree! Started YNAB 6 months ago, and while the set-up was a little intimidating, it has been a lifesaver!

Long-time YNAB user here. This is a life-changing piece of software/service, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. As I write this, I actually have another tab open to check my YNAB budget! Plus, their social media pages and helpful newsletters are legitimately entertaining.

While I usually dont read sponsored posts (because I used to sell them and read them in a different way), I actually just signed up for the free trial for this one because of the comments. Me and my husband talk about our spending often and use excel sheets, but I feel like maybe you never know if a new method will work better if youd dont try it? Thanks for the recommendations and hopefully it helps us save for our house!!!

My husband and I have recently started giving the weekly board meetings a shot, to discuss our finances, chore goals, meal planning, and other grown up things in a more formal setting to keep us accountable. In that meeting, we propose purchases that we’d like to make. If it’s a necessity (new leash for the dog, new phone charger) we’ll approve the purchase. For fun non-essentials, we’re using them as rewards for accomplishing a set goal. For example, if we can stay under this month’s grocery budget, we get to buy a board game we’ve been wanting. When I reach a certain weight loss target, I’ll get to buy a video game I’ve been dying to play. This way, we have extra motivation for working towards our goals AND we curb impulse buys.

Young and newly married, my husband and I had numerous disagreements about money. He was a saver and I was a spender.
After a particularly epic argument, my husband asked me, “What do you want our money to do for us?”
I had never thought of money in this way before. Over the years, we slowly incorporated our financial goals into our lives.
Today, after 38 years and nearing retirement, I’m so glad my husband didn’t give up on our marriage. We’ve had a good life, we’re financially stable and looking forward to spending more time together doing the things that matter to us.
It all started with one question. “What do you want our money to do for us?”

so excited to see that you guys are shouting out the amazing ynab! we’ve been using it for about a year, and I fully credit it with the fact that we were able to pay for our entire wedding with cash — despite only having a nine month engagement! love love love ynab.

I feel like trying to get out of debt is a lot like trying to lose weight… some people can read a book or sign up for an app and accomplish their goals, others need to work with a personal trainer or accountability partner.

I’m lucky, my husband is a money coach and is basically a personal trainer for your money :) A lot of people don’t know that money coaches exist, so that’s something to look into if you need some help sticking to your budget (OR, having a neutral party when talking money with your partner)

I started using this app in December to prep for full use in January. So far so good. I definitely interact with my budget more than I ever did with my spreadsheet.

An app I have used is called “Budget Envelopes” – basically the cash/envelope system but it’s virtual. You make up what your “envelopes” are and the amounts. It doesn’t link to anything so you do have to enter each transaction manually. So basically an accountability tool more than anything. No monthly fee, I believe there is a fee for the initial app purchase.

It’s a pretty glib remark to just say “But you are separate from your money. Your financial situation is flexible. (And you have the power to change it.).” While I understand the meaning is to validate our self-worth as separate from our bank account/credit scores/what-have-you, this throwaway remark negates the fact that if you’re suffering from crushing poverty, it’s very hard to see your situation as merely “flexible.”

I have a little budgeting “tip” that might help some. I created a monthly calendar and I gave myself a sticker for all days where I spend $0 – with ONE exception – GROCERIES (note: I also make exceptions for medical emergencies/needs and gifts, which I consider “unavoidable”).

I find that if I give myself an unlimited budget at the grocery store, I end up spending less overall for a few reasons:
1. Cooking at home saves me money – I bring lunch and breakfast to work, and eat dinner at home.
2. If I spend a lot on groceries, I get sticker shock when I think about ordering lunch or ordering in – so it prevents me further (I can’t bring myself to spend $25 on takeout when I’ve just spent $125 on groceries, for example)
3. Cooking at home usually takes time. If a friend asks to make plans, I tell them I’m happy to cook for them and that’s usually our plan for the evening.
4. Because I cook so frequently, I typically end up making mostly easy, basic meals that are often cheaper anyway: pasta with veggies, simple salads, soups that I freeze that end up lasting for a while, etc.

I’ve also made rules like giving myself a “spending day” or relegating all extra spending to a weekend – just one day where I can online shop, go out to dinner, etc. It works for me! I am very responsive to sticker charts and daily goals :)

I also highly recommend the suggestion of avoiding tech & social media to help you budget. I’ve gotten really into going to the library lately, and reading keeps me occupied, focused, grounded, entertained, and is completely free.

For anyone commenting about how pre-programmed tools like YNAB or Mint don’t work for them, I will throw out a recommendation: Tiller!

Tiller ports all of your financial transactions into a Google Sheet template that you design and makes it so easy to categorize/track expenses in one place.

I just wanted a simple tool to see my financial life in one place without all the bells and whistles, and Tiller fit the bill. Just giving them a shout out!

I see a lot of couples posting here as if their finances are 100% transparent and joined with their spouse’s. Is that the case for everyone? My wife and I have a joint bank account, a couple savings accounts, and credit card, but we both maintain our own credit card, savings account, and checking account. I put most of my income into the joint account, but that is exclusively used for things the whole family benefits from like bills or for our daughter. When I needed a new car I took the money out of my personal account. When I was buying clothes for a vacation I put my daughter’s on the family credit card and my clothes on my personal card. My wife and I couldn’t agree on how to budget for personal expenses because we prioritize different things so anything non-family is up to the individual. It’s working so far. I can’t imagine having to justify a purchase to her or question anything she did. The only real conversation about money is what to spend on household expenses or our daughter. I had considerably more savings and better credit and I purchased the house on my own before we got married. She paid the mortgage until we broke even and now it comes out of the joint account.

I currently use Every Dollar, and I really like it. Does anyone know what the difference(s) are between the apps that makes YNAB worth the cost? I know the cost is pretty negligible, but I’m still curious.

I tried YNAB, but it didn’t work well for me. IIRC, a lot of this had to do with the fact that, as a freelancer, I get paid in irregular amounts at irregular intervals. It seemed to be based in cycles. And to some extent, I WANTED a monthly budget. I would’ve been happy to expand beyond that, but the inability to even set a monthly budget as a base really frustrated me.

Military Families! FYI: Guess that? They offer another 3 free months after the free month. Hooray! :)

YNAB has been amazing for myself and my husband. I’m a financial advisor, and thought I had everything under control with an obsessive multi-tab spreadsheet. He thought he had everything under control with good ol’ pen and paper. We tried YNAB, and found that it was the perfect go-between to help us truly speak the same language and move towards the same financial goals. We are currently an entire year ahead of schedule of paying off debt, and we look forward to budgeting conversations–a far cry from how we used to feel about money together.

WORTH IT!

My spouse and I appreciate YNAB. Not only has it helped my spending habits (if only it would lock you out of your bank account once you had spent your allotted amount), but it’s helped my spouse take risks/adventures with our money because you don’t have to be nervous about spending money when you know exactly how much you have. Because of YNAB we have big trips we are saving for (which calms my patience knowing that trips are happening, but in a way that won’t lead to regret after the money is spent), we are saving for retirement, kiddos college, etc. . . And it takes the worry and unkown out of it all. Plan for life so that you can be impulsive/adventurous! (That contradiction was on purpose)

I am obsessed with YNAB! It has really changed my whole financial life. As others have mentioned, the learning curve can be steep- it took me several fresh starts to get my budgets set up in the best way for me. But so worth it!