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Irritated Goat posted:My only thing with Mint is there's no way to cut out some shared accounts I have that don't count towards my funds. I'm leaning towards Mint if I can get that fixed. Assigning categories is no big deal. Mint is an awful budgeting tool, but you can hide any account by going to Accounts -> Hide (top right) and select to either hide from Budget and Trends or Everywhere.
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Jan 9, 2016 23:21
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There is nothing to stop you using both tools. If your problem with YNAB is actually entering all the transactions, then you could use Mint as a way to back-check things you have missed and add them to YNAB later. You can also use Mint to try and assemble a historical picture of your spending in way that you can't with YNAB. It's not going to be perfect because things may not categorize properly, but it will do stuff like show that you have been spending tons of money at lunches or something like that. Also, if you mess up and don't track everything, don't throw it all out. You aren't going to do it perfectly from the start, so just keep working on it and use the data you have (even if its not perfect). 'Starting fresh' over and over seems like a way to avoid having to deal with the situation, it's not really productive.
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Jan 10, 2016 14:27
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Ashcans posted:Also, if you mess up and don't track everything, don't throw it all out. You aren't going to do it perfectly from the start, so just keep working on it and use the data you have (even if its not perfect). 'Starting fresh' over and over seems like a way to avoid having to deal with the situation, it's not really productive. Yeah, you're shooting yourself in the foot by making all these fresh starts. YNAB will eventually work just fine if you stick with it through the first couple months and get some good data--you're repeating the part that's most confusing and prone to error. You will inevitably miss a fair number of transactions, at least until it becomes second nature to track everything. That's what importing is for. (If you miss cash transactions, you may want to create a budget line for pocket money and not track that--I would consider it an unacceptable loss of control for myself, since I budget to the penny, but it works for others.)
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Jan 10, 2016 18:04
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Irritated Goat posted:I realize the point of YNAB is to stop you from just going Why do you feel that software is the solution to your issues here? What is it that you want the software to do for you, and why did you believe that either Mint or YNAB could have done it? Repeatedly starting afresh is definitely some manner of an Eeyore Syndrome ("I knew it wouldn't work"); when it comes to money, there will always be the unexpected. One goal of proper budgeting is to reduce the overall scope of the unexpected transactions. Instead of having an entire paycheck with no idea where it's going to go, the goal is to reduce the unknowns to successively smaller categories until you have mostly stable expenses covered by mostly stable income. Being left with an "allowance" category means that you can reduce the random, minor purchases to a small, controlled category. Based on your mis-entry comment, were I forced to guess, I would suspect that you're over-engineering your tracking. Asking for software to help with your finances might seem reasonable, but these applications could make the situation worse until the more fundamental concerns are addressed. It might well be advisable to drop all the electronic gadgets and application fads and return to basic receipts; once you get a handle on your major categories for transactions, you'll be in a better position to consider improvements to tracking and reporting. To get started, there are basic budget ledgers / budget books available at office supply stores and online that already contain major expense categories. I'm saddened that many of the repondents are continuing their "YNAB!!! :seigheil" despite you specifically indicating that it's not working. Sheesh guys, you could put in a little bit more effort.
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Jan 11, 2016 14:43
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with your money but gently caress, it hasn't stopped me. I need recommendations on software more than anything.
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PhantomOfTheCopier posted:That's not really the point of YNAB, but this does lead to some questions that might help address your underlying needs. Why, do you believe, YNAB is failing for your needs? Is it only because you miss one entry, or are there other issues? You indicate having used Mint, but having no issues with it, but for some undisclosed reason you decided to drop Mint and switch to YNAB; why did you do that? What was missing from Mint? At the time I switched, Mint wasn't as full featured and didn't really stop me from just spending because I didn't think about it. Now, there's more with the budgeting side. My issue with YNAB is always "my budget gets out of balance". This happens to points where it is nearly impossible for me to figure out where I missed an entry, even after doing line by line with my bank account. I feel as though correcting it with a reconcile amount is almost defeating the purpose as much as starting over does. I like the structure of YNAB but I do agree that restarting over and over does nothing for my long term information.
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Jan 11, 2016 19:30
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Irritated Goat posted:At the time I switched, Mint wasn't as full featured and didn't really stop me from just spending because I didn't think about it. Now, there's more with the budgeting side. My issue with YNAB is always "my budget gets out of balance". This happens to points where it is nearly impossible for me to figure out where I missed an entry, even after doing line by line with my bank account. I feel as though correcting it with a reconcile amount is almost defeating the purpose as much as starting over does. I like the structure of YNAB but I do agree that restarting over and over does nothing for my long term information. Sounds like the real problem is spending more money than you budget. No app can fix that. BTDT, it's a pain and takes personal self control.
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Jan 11, 2016 19:55
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Irritated Goat posted:At the time I switched, Mint wasn't as full featured and didn't really stop me from just spending because I didn't think about it. Now, there's more with the budgeting side. My issue with YNAB is always "my budget gets out of balance". This happens to points where it is nearly impossible for me to figure out where I missed an entry, even after doing line by line with my bank account. I feel as though correcting it with a reconcile amount is almost defeating the purpose as much as starting over does. I like the structure of YNAB but I do agree that restarting over and over does nothing for my long term information. I still feel you are dancing around what your problem is. What is your experience using YNAB or Mint and why is it not working? Maybe Dave Ramsey is appropriate here. Dave's advice is to go all cash/debit transactions so you can't float any of your expenses.
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Jan 11, 2016 20:06
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gariig posted:I still feel you are dancing around what your problem is. What is your experience using YNAB or Mint and why is it not working? Maybe Dave Ramsey is appropriate here. Dave's advice is to go all cash/debit transactions so you can't float any of your expenses. This isn't a 100% possible due to the way some bills work. My car insurance was due yesterday as an example. It still isn't out today. It probably won't be out for another 2-3 days. I don't really float anything. If I can add it\remember to add it, I will and consider it spent. Mint may work better now but when I left, it was just barely starting the whole budgeting section. I'm not saying it wouldn't work now. I'm basing on previous experience. YNAB works but almost feels like information overload and it's very easy for me to miss a transaction. My bank only allows me to go back 30 days online so if my discrepancy is beyond that, I'm taking time out of work to go to the bank for a hunt. There are things I love about YNAB like scheduled transactions. I just don't feel 100% sure it's what I need.
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Jan 11, 2016 20:18
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Irritated Goat posted:This isn't a 100% possible due to the way some bills work. My car insurance was due yesterday as an example. It still isn't out today. It probably won't be out for another 2-3 days. I don't really float anything. If I can add it\remember to add it, I will and consider it spent. Sounds like (at least with YNAB) if you were to export your bank transactions on a frequent basis (at least a few times a week) and go back as far as you can and import those, you would close the gaps. The nice thing about transaction imports is that it will skip any you've already imported/matched. So you can cast a wider net with your exports. Fundamentally, you need to get a handle on what you are spending money on, by whatever mechanism makes sense. You can't budget effectively if you don't even know what you are currently spending your money on
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Jan 11, 2016 20:37
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Am I to understand that YNAB doesn't permit entry of uncleared transactions, so that you can start with the previous balance and clear line by line to ensure you're always in balance with the bank statement?
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Jan 11, 2016 23:34
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Ynab won't import cleared transactions but nothing's stopping you from entering them (and you should enter them as soon as they happen, not when they clear)
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Jan 11, 2016 23:37
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Irritated Goat posted:YNAB works but almost feels like information overload and it's very easy for me to miss a transaction. My bank only allows me to go back 30 days online so if my discrepancy is beyond that, I'm taking time out of work to go to the bank for a hunt. There are things I love about YNAB like scheduled transactions. I just don't feel 100% sure it's what I need. A 30-day limit shouldn't matter if you're reconciling monthly (or more often, as you should be doing to avoid missing transactions). I'm not sure you can blame a system for failing you when you don't appear to be putting in any particular effort to keep it current. If you're not current with your budget, you're not going to make good spending decisions whatever tool you use.
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Jan 12, 2016 00:22
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epenthesis posted:A 30-day limit shouldn't matter if you're reconciling monthly (or more often, as you should be doing to avoid missing transactions). I do put effort into keeping it up. Am I always on top of it? No but the fact I'm trying to figure out what works for me would mean I'm trying to rectify that. Mass imports are kind of weird for some reason. They import as vendor numbers and I have to match it up. They show right on the site too. With that said, even when I match it all up, I'm sometimes off and have no idea why. I'm trying both right now to see what feels like I'm going to get the best information from. I'm pretty solid on not restarting YNAB if it gets out of sync with my bank. So right now, it's got a good chance as Mint doesn't update immediately and knowing that helps on some occasions.
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Jan 12, 2016 01:26
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If you're only out of sync by a few bucks, do a balance adjustment and call it a poor planning tax or something. If you're seriously out of sync, you definitely just need to get a lot better at keeping on top of things. Start doing reconciliations every day if you have to (new ynab makes this pretty easy)
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Jan 12, 2016 02:08
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PhantomOfTheCopier posted:Am I to understand that YNAB doesn't permit entry of uncleared transactions, so that you can start with the previous balance and clear line by line to ensure you're always in balance with the bank statement? Issue is, you have to proactively reconcile. Sometimes you'll have imported a transaction and accidentally deleted it, and YNAB (and Quicken etc) won't re import that transaction. I compare to my bank balances weekly or twice a week (depending on activity), and I mark everything as reconciled about once a month. I also nearly strictly import, it's easier. Also, I think QW's (Quicken) budgeting has gotten a lot better. I may start using it over YNAB. I just set it up clean for January and I will see how it goes.
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Jan 12, 2016 02:31
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SiGmA_X posted:I also nearly strictly import, it's easier. Please tell me you're not saying you don't enter transactions by hand.
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Jan 12, 2016 04:03
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Irritated Goat posted:I do put effort into keeping it up. Am I always on top of it? No but the fact I'm trying to figure out what works for me would mean I'm trying to rectify that. Do or do not. There is no try. You clearly want to be doing it right, but there are some steps in between here and there that you're just not keen on doing--routinely entering your transactions, routinely reconciling with your banks' information, sticking with your current attempt at a budget even when it's frustrating you. If you want to get some results, you can't do this poo poo half-assed and expect YNAB to pick up the slack. Missing a transaction is a really common occurrence even if you're pretty diligent, and not all that hard to deal with once you're used to it. But you have to get used to it.
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Jan 12, 2016 04:21
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Irritated Goat posted:Mass imports are kind of weird for some reason. They import as vendor numbers and I have to match it up. They show right on the site too. You've made several comments about this "point in time", irrefutable account balance reporting mechanism. It doesn't exist, is not reconcilable with good budgeting practices, and will undermine and defeat your savings and expense goals. You could effectively get this with a personal accountant, but they won't tell you exactly how much money you have until you liquidate, and that will take several months. Banks and credit card companies tend to enter transactions when they arrive but report them to you based on the transaction date. A bank statement might show a balance today that changes retroactively when another transaction appears. This will give the appearance of a balance mismatch. The easiest approach is to find the difference between the expected and actual balance, and find the transaction that matches that amount. If this is happening fairly frequently and you can't find the transactions that total that offset, you're doing something wrong or making improper assumptions. It's probable that you're checking too often, or have so many transactions that you're trying to balance "too early". You shouldn't have to do this to pay your bills and enjoy your entertainments, however. The question that has yet to be answered here is how you're failing to make progress with your savings goals. There are various techniques one could employee to end a month with a greater net worth than the previous month. Which ones are you trying, and why aren't they working? "Shuffling money arbitrarily" is not a savings technique, nor is "creating 987234 categories so I know how I'm spending my money (scratch that, can mask my actual expenses)". Have you read the first dozen pages of the thread? They're loaded with ideas and many approaches to budgeting that have nothing to do with clicky buttons and dragging dollars all over creation.
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Jan 12, 2016 06:03
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I'm trying to set up what is basically my first budget, and I really want to set up a system where I don't have to think too much about it after it's set because it's all organized properly. I started out by listing my monthly expenses in a spreadsheet, dividing any expenses I foresee for the year into monthly chunks if necessary. A lot of these values are best guesses since I haven't been tracking very well, but I think I rounded up fairly effectively. quote:World of Warcraft - $14 Then I made a separate sheet that shows all the money I currently have in my checkings and savings accounts (spendable money). Beneath that value, I added a row for each expense I foresee this month, including the regular items listed above. Next to those items I put an "envelope amount", the amount of my spendable money reserved for those items. In theory, when I make a relevant transaction, I would remove the amount from my spendable money as well as the relevant envelope item. As a side note, I added an additional envelope item "Rainy Day." I have arbitrarily put 10% of my monthly expenses into this envelope with the hope of eventually having enough saved to single-handedly cover my expenses for a month. Failing that, it would be an emergency fund. I get paid twice a month; I get paid once in the middle of the month and once at the end of the month. My monthly expenses are sufficiently lower than my monthly income, so that's no problem. However, they *are* greater than a single paycheck. If I want to front-load my payout to my envelopes with my end-of-month paycheck, I would not have enough in that paycheck. The reason I want to front-load the payout to envelopes is so I won't have to sweat the expenses over the course of the month, regardless of when bills fall. It will also hopefully reduce temptation to spend money that would go into long-term envelopes like my vacation fund or my gift fund. I guess what I'm saying is I'm not sure how to set discretionary spending (which, all things being equal, I would have just set at the rest of my income for the month) and make sure I'm covered for the following months expenses/savings. As long as I'm expressing my simple-minded confusion here, I guess I'll also add that I would eventually like to figure paying the car off faster into my plan.
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Jan 12, 2016 20:35
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You should fund next month's expenditures with January's income. That means in January you are living on your savings. Theoretically, when 2/1 comes all of your February spending is funded and your February paychecks go to fund March spending. If you look into You Need A Budget (YNAB) this is called "Rule 4".
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Jan 12, 2016 20:59
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That makes a lot more sense. However, the bad news for me is that my spendable money plus my middle-of-the-month paycheck are not sufficient to cover my remaining January expenses and my upcoming February expenses. Is this something YNAB can help me sort out? 
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Jan 12, 2016 21:03
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You just need to continue saving until you have enough to cover a full month ahead. YNAB is just a budgeting tool that would replace your spreadsheet.
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Jan 12, 2016 21:20
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How much do you have to put towards February? Is it half of your expenses? A third? 5%? Put that into an arbitrary category and then do that again next month and the month after if necessary. Eventually you'll have enough money budgeted to that category that it's now enough to cover next months expenses. And then every month after that, your income goes to next month.
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Jan 12, 2016 21:21
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For some reason I'm having trouble wrapping my head around this. So as I attempt to break the income/bill cycle, I would pay off all my expenses this month and save as much as possible for my February expenses in the meantime. Then, when 2/1 hits, I'd front-load as much as I could out of my spendable money and my savings, in theory being able to leave more behind in savings by the end of February. Wash/Rinse/Repeat until my savings are greater than my monthly expenses? I haven't really struggled with money in a long time, but now that I'm actually doing the numbers instead of winging it, I'm kind of amazed that I've been coasting as well as I have. Despite the fact that I would double check my balance frequently, it seems like once I lay it all out that I don't actually have any money at all!
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Jan 12, 2016 21:36
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GlitchThief, one approach recommended at the start of the thread would be to build up reserves per category. This ultimately depends on the answer to Sockser's question, namely just how much spare is available. Put simply, whatever money you have leftover after basic expenses is what you can use to build up reserves, but that leftover also determines how long it will take to build up a reserve equivalent to one month's expenses, assuming nothing changes. As you haven't provided an income, I will suppose it is $3500/mo, or $1750 bimonthly. With expenses at $2584, your monthly spare would be $916. If you saved all of that, it would take three months (2584/916) to accumulate enough money to make up a reserve enough to cover all your expenses for a month. Given that you'll have discretionary expenses and other unforeseen items in the interim, setting a more reasonable goal of six months or twelve months would be ideal. If you track reserves per category, you can concentrate your additional savings in the most important categories, effectively "making the biggest dent" earlier. Everything can be done with simple percentages. For example, let's consider 10% of your rent, or $87. If you save $87 each month beyond your $870 rent/utilities bills, it will take 10 months to accumulate one month in reserve. If you want to "get ahead" in that category in only six months, it will take an additional $145 (that's 870/6) each month; that may not be possible if you don't have enough spare after your paychecks. On the other hand, you could build up a one-month reserve of gas in six months on only $10/mo. What you'll need to do is determine your discretionary expense amount, and then take the leftover and divide it up to your categories in an effort to build up these reserves. Continuing with the previous numbers, let's suppose you have a general Rainy Fund at $258/mo, along with PlayMoney/Allowance/whatever at $350/mo. Your monthly spare is now $308/mo. That's 12% of your monthly expenses (308/2584). Start with 12% added to each category; for example, instead of putting $870 toward rent each month, save an additional 12%*870=$104, or a total of $974. That means each month you save $974 from your paychecks for rent, but only spend $870; after paying rent, you'll see that envelope steadily going from $0 to $104 to $208 as the months go by. Eventually you'll pay rent and the envelope will still have $936 leftover, and you'll be one month ahead! In fact, you should skip saving extra in some of the categories because they aren't essential (wow, vacation, gifts), and your expenses would really only be $1698 without them. Here's what it would look like if you put an additional 18% on the important categories (simply take your expense amount and multiply by 1.18): code:One more thing to keep in mind: It's okay for a category to go negative on your spreadsheet, as long as your total is positive and you know you have enough money from your paychecks to cover your bills. As long as you don't overspend on play money, this should not be a problem, and presumably you already know how to be responsible or you'd be here talking about debt. On the other hand, something like 'groceries' should not be going negative because it means you're overspending (anything over $250). For most of your categories, it should be impossible to overspend (rent, car payment, insurance, phone, gym).
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Jan 13, 2016 06:47
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Goddamn, I really had to be walked through it, but it all makes sense now. I'm glad I have relatively simple expenses, because I was already wondering how I would organize this mess. Thank you for explaining it to me so thoroughly; I know it's kind of a pain, but it's a huge help. On a whim, I am trying YNAB, which like asur indicated is really just an interface to manage the principles y'all are explaining to me. I find it kind of pleasing to use so I may stick with it, but even if it turns out to be redundant I'm glad I get the idea enough now to employ it independently. I'm also going to read the OP again now that I have a clearer idea about how prioritization and budgeting ahead can work effectively. Again, much thanks!
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Jan 13, 2016 07:08
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GlitchThief posted:Wash/Rinse/Repeat until my savings are greater than my monthly expenses?
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Jan 13, 2016 16:46
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Irritated Goat posted:I do put effort into keeping it up. Am I always on top of it? No but the fact I'm trying to figure out what works for me would mean I'm trying to rectify that. Any transactions with a debitor must be entered and routinely compared; they become harder to reconcile as time goes by. As one builds buffer, however, there's the unfortunate realization that some entries can be significantly delayed. I've entered some receipts nearly a year after the transaction occurred. 
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Jan 16, 2016 00:02
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Has anyone else had issues with Mint loving up on tracking their goals? I have a Mint goal set up for a future house downpayment and despite being able to toss twice my budgeted amount at it this month it hasn't tracked anything since a few months ago and is all pissy that I'm behind when I'm actually ahead. All my accounts are up to date and the rest of my budgets are accurate so it's not a matter of it just not having synced in a while. Is there any way to fix this?
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Jan 24, 2016 21:59
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My question is more about mentality and balance-- I'm currently beating myself up over spending $200 on a new jacket and maybe overspending ~$150 on my girlfriend's birthday, but at the same time I have significant savings where it seems silly to beat myself up over $200. I save about 40% of my net income for the month-- investments, general savings, future car savings/large repairs, big travel. I encountered a $1k car repair bill this month in a month where I planned to spend on a few indulgences. By my plan, I should pull the $1,000 from my car savings. Yet, I keep on trying to shave the money out of my monthly budget and not touch the car savings account. Because I should just not spend the money! That would be the responsible thing to do! So, this stress is self-inflicted and dumb. But I also feel that this pressure to make the fiscally conservative choice is important because that builds good long-term habits and mentality. I should emotionally just let this spend go, pull the $1k from savings, and be done with it. But, if I let this one go, I feel like I'll be opening the door to more hand-waving of luxury spends. Blinkman987 fucked around with this message at 21:07 on Jan 29, 2016 |
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Jan 29, 2016 21:04
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I deal with that by having a secondary savings account earmarked for dumb splurges that I put a little money into every month, but not too much, and the deal is that I can spend it any time guiltfree.
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Jan 29, 2016 21:09
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You have healthy savings and you have to remember that life is meant for living. If you can't do something nice for you and your girl when you are winning at the financial game then you are never going to live. I say go for it since it doesn't sound like it will become a habit.
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Jan 29, 2016 21:14
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As you are saving ahead and building buffers, you should have several accounts that are months ahead at this point. For example, "six months ahead" in all expense categories is a common goal. That being the case, and given that having $1k on a credit card is dumb, you should construct a loan into the auto maintenance account to cover the expense. Use a little bit from savings, some from car savings, maybe even a bit from food and rent. Then adjust your monthly into the auto maintenance category so you can pay off the loan in the next twelve months.
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Jan 30, 2016 00:13
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Are people actually using YNAB still with their cloud move? I'm really disappointed with the change.
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Feb 21, 2016 22:33
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Mad Wack posted:Are people actually using YNAB still with their cloud move? I'm really disappointed with the change. I'm just sticking with YNAB4. It's kinda slow (stupid Adobe AIR), but it still does what I want it to. I'll continue using it until it breaks probably.
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Feb 22, 2016 00:17
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Mad Wack posted:Are people actually using YNAB still with their cloud move? I'm really disappointed with the change. I'm using nYNAB, I'm lazy as gently caress and our finances are pretty solid so it's fine for us.
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Feb 22, 2016 00:36
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Mad Wack posted:Are people actually using YNAB still with their cloud move? I'm really disappointed with the change. There's an extension called YNAB Toolkit available on Chrome and Firefox that fixes some of the issues.
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Mar 1, 2016 22:52
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Mad Wack posted:Are people actually using YNAB still with their cloud move? I'm really disappointed with the change. I'm actually using YNAB more now. I can easily bring up my budget at work now and spend a few minutes during lunch making sure I've entered all transactions.
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Mar 2, 2016 16:21
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 Dear goons. Please critique me. This is the budget that I'm going to run with when I move into a new place next week. Paychecks and rent/expenses are calculated fortnightly because  . Also, rent is $texas because . (It's a nice little 2-bedroom unit about 15 minutes bus ride from the city. I will be living alone.)Briefly: Rent is obviously an exact value. Contents insurance is a bit of a ballpark as I'm still shopping for a better deal before I purchase, however that's the max it'll be. Private Medical Insurance (BUPA) is an exact value. Registration as a psychologist (nonpracticing as I'm not currently working in my field) is an exact value. Ditto car Insurance and Registration. Car maintenance is based on an annual service +expenses for oil change/coolant. I drive a 1995 shitbox Nissan Pulsar which I only really use on the weekends and for shopping, and which is surprisingly mechanically sound given its age. In the event of a major mechanical failure, I will be purchasing a new car as while it's served me well it's not worth throwing substantial amounts of money into. I have significant savings that would allow me to buy a new car outright with cash and have in fact saved the requisite portion of savings with this in mind over the years, and am simply waiting for this car to die before pulling the trigger. RAA is an exact value. (Royal Automobile Association i.e. roadside assistance/servicing). Utilities is not an exact value, but is the cost that the previous tenants were paying. This was for two people, I'm going to be living alone, so it's a conservative estimate. Mobile is an exact value. Internet is an exact value. Ditto bus tickets, union dues. Medical expenses is essentially self-directed savings to allow me to meet any potential minor ailments/illnesses and to afford medication. Given that health care in Australia is very good (trip to the doctor will be $35 out of pocket expense), and that my dental expenses are covered by the fact that my dentist is a family friend who bulk-bills everything I do with him so that there's no out of pocket, and that I have no ongoing medical expenses/medication needs, this should cover me for the times I get a cold/flu/random lurgie. Savings will be 10% of net income. This is money I am putting away to deal with unforeseen emergencies, and also to add to my existing home deposit savings amount. This is more of a nice bonus than an absolute requirement, as my savings are very substantial. But I don't want to get out of the habit of increasing my nest egg. Grocery, Fuel and Consumables covers day-to-day expenses such as supermarket shopping, fuel for my car, cleaning products, essentially all of the basic living expenses that aren't covered by the long-term or recurring expenses listed above. Any of this that I don't spend I'll sock straight into savings as if it was additional long-term saving. Discretionary spending is essentially fun money. This includes any leisure activity, as well as any and all food not prepared by myself i.e. eating out. Any of this that I don't spend I put into savings to benefit from the interest, but I essentially write myself an IOU for the amount that accumulates which is then used for major purchases and Christmas. (This has worked for me extremely well in the past, One year I was able to save up so much that when my computer unexpectedly died straight after I'd finished my Christmas shopping I still had enough left in discretionary to buy a new one without touching my emergency fund). With regards to fortnightly allotments: I receive my pay every second Thursday, which happens also to be the Thursday that my rent transfer is due. I'll have an automatic transfer set up that deposits my rent that afternoon. The $555.40 amount is essentially the sum of the fortnightly amounts for rows 3-16 i.e. recurring and long-term expenses. I will automatically transfer THAT into my long-term savings account and forget it exists, so that whenever such a bill comes due I just pay it. The remaining $540 stays in my easy-access account, and covers me for living expenses and fun money for the fortnight. I think I've got this locked down pretty well, but would appreciate an outside perspective and comments on how I'm organising this. Let me know if I'm missing the glaringly obvious, please!
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Mar 6, 2016 14:14
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| # ? May 13, 2024 19:58 |
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Can you not get a cheaper apartment? You seem to be making it work, but spending over a third of your income on a 2 bedroom apartment when you live alone seems like a gigantic waste. Your combined category of groceries, fuel, and consumables doesn't really make sense. Not sure what you expect under the consumable category, but I would put fuel as a separate category under car. Not sure if it's intentional, but your conversion from both quarterly and monthly to fortnight aren't correct.
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Mar 6, 2016 17:10
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