Tag Archives: YNAB

Frugal Friday

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I made my food only budget $500 this month. There are 5 days left and I still need a few things. I’m at @ $475. So I may come in a little over. But this doesn’t include cat food for our 2 cats, one of which is in decline and probably has either a thyroid or diabetic issue as it’s eating lots of food. But this cat, Ollie, is my daughter’s love, so we buy food. I’m at @ 100 for the month. We alternate who buys so my part is probably @ $45.  Then there’s wine/beer( for hubs, I don’t drink beer) is at @ $60.

So overall, I’m pretty happy with the numbers but I think I can get just food down to $400. I’ll track in February again.

Our electric bill came in great at $237. That’s half what it was last year at this time.  So I’m thrilled.

I just canceled the phone insurance on my sons’ phone so that will drop the bill by another $13. Then next month I’m planning to pay off his phone so that will drop the Verizon bill even more. By about $30 more dollars. I know he should be paying it off but right now he’s starting CSU Sacramento and taking a full load 18 units and his gas /food bill is going way up. We’re probably way too giving to him as we paid his parking pass and will pay this semester’s tuition.  I know, I know, he should be figuring it out himself but we feel responsible.  We’re making a monthly payment so I’m hoping B’s next bonus gives us boost.

My gas in the VW runs $25 every 3 weeks , so pretty good.

With my SS checks coming in we’re able to save for our annual bills and I think that will make a big difference.

I’m still using YNAB. I like it for the most part and I think when we get annual bill categories funded it’ll be even better.

That’s about it for this week.

Homemade pizza tonight.

 

My world on Friday

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Well, I got up at 5am. Actually, I think it was 4:53

Emptied the dishwasher, clean the few stray dishes and had coffee.

I went out to walk at 5:25 am.

I came back, got the pizza dough going for Friday night pizza.  Then from the comment yesterday, I got out the oxo and put it in my Le Creuset and simmered and scrubbed and voila, it worked pretty darn good. Thank you for that tip. It’s not back to white, but looking at the other one, I don’t think it was white white, more of a tannish white. But not sure. Anyway, it looks lots better.

Last night I ended up making scrambled tofu with celery, carrots, onions, pumpkin seeds and, a sprinkling of cheese.

I swished and swiped the bathroom, my daughter vacuumed and I tidied the kitchen. So far 2 small loads of laundry done.

I went to the gym and it was crazy busy so I didn’t do a whole lot. All the machines were constantly being used. Too many people for this introvert.

It’s a cloudy day and it may rain. I’m going to go read.

Update on YNAB. So far I’m liking it. One difference from last time I used it is I’m not linking my bank accounts because the total would get all messed up and I spent more time reconciling accounts than not. Last time since the accounts were linked, I’d put in the amount and then Ynab put it in from the linked account and it was not working for me. I like to put it in manually. So for instance, I spent $ 37 at Safeway Wednesday, but I put in $40 for groceries. Since I am always doing bank updates in by bullet planner, I know where our account is daily. So that makes it easier for me to keep things straight. I like the categories for annual bills and that will prove useful once we have money in those accounts. So far my assessment is that I will pay for the subscription when the 30 days is over.

 

Pizza is just cheese and ? tonight. I’m thinking for winter to switch up Friday night pizza to Italian Friday. That way we can do some other things on Friday night. Or any ideas?? What do you do for a weekly theme? It does really help me stay on track with meal planning ( unless I’m too lazy).

 

Going back to YNAB

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I decided to try another month free of YNAB to see if I wanted to use it again.

Originally, I bought the program when you could do that but now it is really all revamped and it’s a monthly subscription. Generally, I do all my budgeting with paper and pen, but I thought maybe I’d give this another try.

I started yesterday and the trial goes for a month. I like the visuals of the new program and it is very user-friendly. I put in all my line items for the month but one thing they want you to do is not put in future pay days as that is money not yet received. I always budget paychecks( several times actually) to see where the money is going.  But I put in the amounts and just not the check yet. I’ll have to wait and see if this gets confusing.

My main goal is to have enough money in our checking account to be one month ahead. That really has never happened so YNAB really promotes this idea and so I’m going to give their budgeting approach a try.

Right now toward the end of the year, our budget starts to include lots of annual bills, property tax, Allstate, house insurance, so that’s an area I want to change for next year and have all the money in accounts for that ahead of time. In the past, its always been we’ve relied on B’s bonuses to pay that stuff.

So, I’ll give an update in a week or so. ( Next payday is next week, so that’ll go into YNAB and we’ll see how it looks. Since I have the whole month of bills in already, that check won’t cover it all so I’m not sure if that will help or confuse me.  But I like trying new things or at least revisiting this again. BTW, I think it’s $5.00 for the monthly subscription. Also, right now I don’t have bank accounts linked but if I join I will.

Dinner is pumpkin pancakes, bacon and maybe scrambled eggs.

 

Back home for a day.

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I got back home Friday and then today I’m leaving for Tahoe again. It’s my son’s 22 birthday. Not doing anything special since this camping trip has added up. We did get him and REI gift card, a backpack stove, and $100 cash, so I think that’s plenty. I’m not sure what he wants as his special dinner or cake. it may have to wait till we’re all home.

I’ve been non-stop trying to keep up on things. I changed the pool filter but the water is still green. I guess it’ll have to wait till B’s home. Plus laundry, cleaning, going over to take care of the neighbor’s cat….  that’s another story in itself.

 

Well, my daughter will be driving home with the dogs today.She is probably going to hit serious traffic. I’ll probably be okay as most people will be driving the opposite way. Except for near Sand Harbor Beach where the traffic to get in was backed up for miles. I’m guessing I will be in that till it clears. But I hope not.

I’m getting stuff out to the car and should be ready to roll by 10am. I think.

On another note, I’m having the worst time with Ynab. I guess I’m going to cancel for next month. It seems everything is balanced and then its way off from what I have. Budget wise it is not helping since I’m just frustrated trying to figure out what their  amounts are doing and how that’s not matching what I have.  yesterday it was all balanced to zero. today its like off by -$1600 . So that’s not good nor accurate.  Well, I’ve had it so, It’s not easy to cancel, as you’ve got to email them.  But I’m better with just paper and pencil. it’s only $5 a month but if I can’t figure out the errors , it’s not worth it.

Using YNAB and budgeting

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I bought one of the first YNAB’s when it was still just a simple budgeting program. I liked it well enough but after a year or so I stopped using it. I always budget daily with a notebook and pencil. SoI know exactly where money is going and when. I find using a notebook is easy and I like the physical act of jotting things down.But I’m always on the look out for an online budget. I’ve used Mint and that does quite work for me, I’ve used Dave Ramsey’s budget and that was good but got too expensive. I’ve also used his free one recently and that’s okay. So when I saw the new YNAB earlier this yea, I thought about it but didn’t do it. then about a week ago I looked again and decided I’d do the $5.00 subscription for a month and check it out.  So I had it figured out to a 0 balance and then when the paycheck hit direct deposit, it kept saying I still had $xxx to budget but I didn’t. I have tried everything to figure out where this error is and the only thing I can come up with is its an error in the program somewhere. So I have this $xxx  sitting in a category of ‘ this is not real money’…..If I believed what the program is telling me to budget we’d be quite over drawn.  So, I spent over 5 hours off and on going over this. Still, nothing jives.  I may just wait till August or all the bills are out and then clear it and start with a new budget. It is frustrating since the amount in the checking area is correct but not this other amount.  Any ideas anyone??? why would this discrepancy be there.

Anyway, I’m home all day today just tidying up, making pizza  dough, and some decluttering.

 

Middle of the week…

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Wednesday… Hurray…I don’t go to Sacramento this morning. After 7 months of going almost every week for Velcade, it’s kinda weird not to. But hey, I’ll take it. I think my body is still getting rid of drugs and I’m not sleeping great and don’t seem to have a lot of energy. Enough to get things done but I’d like to feel a little more energetic. I’m upping my walking to 30 minutes. I think that’s a good place as long as I’m not on dex or whatever.  My eyes are still watering a lot so I hope that improves in the next few weeks.

I signed up for the new YNAB program which has been redesigned. I used the original YNAB  for quite a while but it neve quite helped with the visuals of budgeting. The new one has taken a few days to learn but I really really like it so far.  It has very good visuals for the budget and keeps it simple too. I’ve learned a few new things in the last few days about budgeting from reading their booklets. So sit is $5.00 a month as opposed to buying the program like before. If you sign up for the year the cost goes down to 4.00.  I’m going to stay with the monthly for a bit till I decide to keep it or not.

I’m home today although I was going to go to the thrift store to look for some jeans but with the new dogs, I’m not sure about leaving them for too long alone. They’re very good dogs, mellow and well trained but still it’s been less than a week here so I’ll wait to go to the thrift store. I’ll post some pictures so. Older border collies that are named Bonnie and Rocky.

Tonight is salmon cooked in parchment, couscous and a cucumber (home grown)salad with dill and homemade yogurt.

 

Thursday budget and other stuff.

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Heres a few pictures of the trees.image image imageThe front of the house looks so different. Its amazing what money can do..(ha Ha)! But it was worth every penny. I’m hoping to start next years tree fund and do 3 more trees next october, unless we win the lottery, and can do it sooner.

I’m cleaning around the house and doing a few extra things to get ready for my sister coming in from connecticut.  She won’t  be here till evening but still i want to have most things organized. I’ve got at least 3 meals planned. Taco bar, roast chicken/tofu, and a potato bar night with salad.

I’ve been working with YNAB pretty consistently on the budget and it’s helped look at the month a head. This month, though ,we’ve got our annual house insurance, then next month, property taxes. So, they’ll have to be squeezed in. So that mean no savings but hopefully nothing out of EF. This month was the first higher mortgage payment and it does make a difference. Once, the last medical payment is done, I can use that to boost the dollars for the extra mortgage. I’m going to call and check on the credit were suppose to recieve as a result of the modification.  I don’t think we can do another modification though.

Costco was a bit expensive(400), but this included some Christmas stuff and extras for when my sister is here.

I hope I don’t need to go the store too much.

our weather is suppose to be great. Very fall like, warms in the day, cool at night.

Fall Equinox

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Well, almost equal sunrise and sunset. We walked pretty late for us 6:15 or so. Sunrise is 6:52 Sunset 7 pm. so a difference of 8 minutes. Im going to watch and see what day is actually equal.

Beautiful fall weather though. Warm days, cool nights.

Went over to work on Friends of library books for our upcoming annual sale. After that, I won t really do anything for the library.

Tomorrow, I’m driving up to Truckee with my daughter. She has a meeting and then we’ll do lunch. Its a beautiful drive in the sierras.

I’ve been using YNAB a lot to do budget numbers and it’s going well. I have October all into the budget including the cost of the 2 trees we’re having removed on October 6. Tree removal is very expensive and these trees require a crane to come in. Believe me, I’m leaving at the first sound of the trucks. I’m just too nervous to watch. Ive got my day lined up. Starbucks, then maybe Walmart and then hang some more till I figure ,1 pm when most of it should be over. (maybe)

Back to the library!

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I’m working the afternoon shift, which usually doesn’t work for me as I like to lay down @ 3pm. But, it’s ok to mix it up once in a while. We’re having a BBQ tonight. I think turkey burgers. I might or might not make a side. A salad?

our weather is suppose to be warm this week and it should be really nice.

Still working on May ‘s budget, and I’m going to set up a strict budget for my son who thinks money grows in trees. He does work at Kmart and is full time in school, but he still just piddle so away money on lots of little things. So this month I’m going to help him really plan a budget for eating out, fun $ ,gas, his rent to us and whatever else I can think of. 

Our budget is tight as we have had all those extra bills ,but I think my main goal is to get our zero balance in the checking up. It’s a cushion we need. I may go back and use my YNAB , but usually I’m a paper and pencil budgeter. (Is that a word?).

So off for the day, hope it’s a good one too!

Budget 2014

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imageI’m pretty close to our budget for 2014. The thing that we need to do is be sure to budget in for home repairs and maintenance and non food items. That’s where we tend to over spend. Most of our bills are fixed so I know those amounts. Our monthly out go is still too high for retirement. Not sure how this will play out in the next five years. I may or may not be here. But with the new drugs that are out, I’m hoping to be. I would love to pay off our second and then work on the first mortgage. But, thats not happening anytime soon. I guess we’ll have to make decisions on those in the next few years.

Im going to use cash envelopes for a few months till were back on track with some areas, such as clothing. Usually I just sort of fit clothing in. We don’t buy a lot of clothes, but when we do it’s easy to spend $100 or more. So I’m budgeting for that. Also, we have car tags in January.

I’m using my YNAB budget again too. Since I can’t use it on my iPad, I have to use my daughters netbook . I’m going to see if I can buy it from her so I have it up when I need it. She has 2 other computers so she doesn’t use it. It’s an okay program. I’m more of a pencil and paper budgeter( is that a word)???.

so, I work today and I’m sure it will be slow. Also, I need to call optumrx  for my revlimid refill.

So have a great day! How’s your budget looking for 2014?