The post in which I get nerdy.

** this post will seem like a plug because I am loving YNAB so much - but its not - there is not a single incentive for me to write this - promise.

You guys know my love for all things related to frugality. And you probably remember that we were kicking some major tail on the Dave Ramsey plan.

We we are still working the babysteps, but stamina and endurance was drifting. We were getting a little sleepy at the wheel. A few things happened in the budgeting department that were like a swift kick in the gut - our air conditioner died, we had a baby (that's a good thing, but it still included a hefty bill), and then somewhere in the middle our bank moved.

That was actually the hardest - our Texans Credit Union branch moved from right here on Va. Parkway to way the crap down El Dorado.

ugh.

It seriously hampered my cash envelope system. It was hard to be pregnant/nursing a newborn and drive 20 minutes out of my way to get my cash envelopes on.

so we were more and more back on the debit card.

and there is a lot less responsibility to the card.

Last week I was very discouraged and trying to plan Christmas down to the last penny when I came across a post about YNAB in the babycenter "we're debt free" forum that I frequent for frugal inspiration.

Now our usual budgeting involves 2 checking accounts, Microsoft money software, and three homemade spreadsheets. It is a little time consuming. Worth it in my opinion, but time consuming.

but.. enter YNAB and just a few days later its all beginning to be streamlined.

YNAB has a little bit different methodology than Dave Ramsey. The premise of YNAB is to pay the currents months bills and living expenses off of LAST month's income - so you basically have a one month "buffer" as it is referred to in the software. Here are the four official rules of YNAB:

Give Every Dollar a Job

Save for a Rainy Day

Roll with the Punches

Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck

You can still use the software without the buffer and since we only work with one mortgage payment as a buffer - our full buffer will take time. But that is ok I am still in love with using it.

Everything else is in line with Dave Ramsey, zero based budgeting, give every dollar a job, and be accountable to the budget.

The biggest thing I like is that the main page is your budget. So often I pay more attention to what exactly is in the bank instead of how my budget is breaking down. Not so with this software. Before I could look at the bank balance online, double check that with Microsoft money and choose to ignore our budgeting spreadsheet if I want.

YNAB the two talk to each other, when I put something in the account register it subtracts it from the category in my budget. And a really cool feature that I am LOVING is you can do split transactions in your account register. So if you spent 200 at walmart and 120 was groceries and 80 were Christmas gifts you can split the transaction and it will appropriately deduct in the budget categories. So nice because before I could "sneak" things in the grocery category.

so my breakdown:

Pros:

• The budget is the priority
• streamlined process
• if you add all accounts you have including mortgage and retirement, it tracks your overall net worth for you (or net debt if you are us)
• split transactions - woo-hoo
• pretty easy set up - instant download
• accountability - but this is good, I am getting excited about entering receipts
• there is a uncleared/cleared check box next to each transaction in your account register, so when things clear the bank you can just check the box and it keeps track of your balance minus uncleared transactions, equals your working balance - its much faster than Microsoft money which I organized by dates.
• once you do have a full buffer you could in theory sit and pay all your bills for the month in one fell swoop in a few minutes - then touch up your budget and all you would have to do after that is stay up on transactions in your account register.
• If you are and iphone person which I am not YNAB does have an app for that.

cons

• its not free - its $60 - I got had a coupon that I can no longer seem to find online and got it for $35, for a $12 off coupon go here: https://secure.youneedabudget.com/checkout/singleLoad.do?r=1290005609920&merchantId=YNAB

• Its software downloaded to you computer, you can pay $10 extra and get a dvd copy of the system so you can add it to other computers
• - if you wanted a system that was could be accessed via internet you would need to go with myvelopes.com - but its a subscription service and very expensive - I think $50/ quarter or like 180 for 2 years.
• there is a slight learning curve, since I am totally jazzed I sat and read up on it before I started, and I listed to the tutorial videos while folding clothes - but If you just jumped right in I don't think it would throw off the flux capacitor because the software is straightforward. I just like to read the directions.
• you have to do a download for it to talk to your bank and I don't know how to do that yet - but I don't mind I like to enter things in the register myself