this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2023
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YNAB

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Welcome to YNAB! This community is dedicated to the discussion on the popular budget software You Need A Budget. We welcome any posts here regarding YNAB. Feel free to post your questions, budget strategies & advice.

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Hi all - new to YNAB - our family just got things set up. I think that we have a good grasp of the basic mechanics (we both work in jobs that interact with budgets, and just haven't applied this to our own finances rigorously before!)

But I'm wondering how you integrate YNAB into your life - what does your workflow look like? In other words: what do you do each day? With each paycheck? At the beginning of the month? How often do you sit down and review the big picture and set new goals, etc?

It would be great to hear about your rhythm and cadence for making this part of your routine, for those of us who are figuring it out for the first time!

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

One of the nice things is you can do it as often or as rarely as you feel like. I'd recommend not going more than a week without catching up on transactions because it can start to get tedious if there are a lot.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Honestly I try to categorize on the spot but reconcile at minimum once a week but often more if I have a moment to catch up

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago
  • Mostly entering transactions (I’m using a iOS shortcut 80% of the time which also enters the transaction to Splitwise)
  • Reconcile once a week (also via a shortcut on my phone to import the transactions)
  • Budget the next month whenever paycheck arrives (beginning of the month)

I haven’t really done any big re-structurings of the entire budget, it’s mostly adjusting categories here and there whenever it makes sense. During the month I occasionally move some things around when I’ve overspent.