How to Create a Budget

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > How to Create a Budget

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tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

I recommend mint with some sort of alert set so that you make sure you don't spend too much. But YNAB is really great if you're open to trying a new approach that's a bit more conservative and more focused on reducing the stress of personal finances.

# ¿ Dec 13, 2013 23:51

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# ¿ May 12, 2024 03:56

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

crimedog posted:

I'm a YNAB newbie, but I keep the emergency fund off budget. I've never seen anyone mention this: a transaction can have both a payee to an off budget account and a budget category.

Then if you need to tap into your emergency fund, you can set up a transfer to your checking account and classify it as this or next month's income.

E: combat pretzel's solution works too.

Yes a transfer to an off-budget account is just an expense. That's how I do retirement accounts and my car payment.

A transfer to an on-budget account like a credit card is a transfer and can't have a category.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2013 23:26

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

PhantomOfTheCopier posted:

I'm a strong advocate of keeping emergency funds within the appropriate accounts, which seems to be a good idea for most that have trouble keeping around large chunks of unallocated money. That is, the first goal is getting one month ahead, then, as often mentioned, six months ahead, and so forth, but storing the extra months in each account as it steadily grows. If you can get a report of how many months ahead you are in each account, it helps to create a monthly budget that is balanced with regards to current needs and long-term savings.

Can one do that easily in YNAB, or would you have to create separate things for each savings category?

You would have line categories for each goal and have to learn to ignore your chequing or savings account balances. Each month you'd just categorize the amount you want into each line until the category balance reached your goal.

It's the same thing, really, just categories instead of accounts.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2013 03:18

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

PhantomOfTheCopier posted:

I guess I find this to be... slightly disingenuous maybe. I believe it does make a difference where the money is recorded, solely on the grounds that I know more people that will flippantly spend from the "giant pool" than I do that can save that way. It seems like more would be successful with savings goals if they put, say, $650 toward rent each month even though rent was only $600. I'd much rather know that "rent and groceries" are six months ahead than seeing that I have "about 2.5 times my monthly income sitting in a pool".

It sounds like tracking this per account requires a second set of external things, plus an extra step for each of them. I guess I say "thing" because... well, to be frank, when I read YNAB stuff I really have no idea what they mean when they use the word 'budget' as they seem to use it to mean pretty much anything and everything. They got a little "budget" happy.

It's a bit confusing but requires you to shift from viewing money in your bank account as available for spending to money in categories as available. You may have 25k in your account, but if you've internalized the categorization of your balances you'll see that nearly all of that is earmarked for emergencies and bills.

You could earmark the money using a million different bank accounts or use categories or a cash envelope system if you have to. All these methods are just virtual envelopes.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2013 17:46

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

crimedog posted:

ascetically pleasing view of my spending.

I too have a budget line for "living naked in the forest with a big beard like a Greek sage" ($115)

# ¿ Dec 22, 2013 22:41

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

YNAB is not like Mint. Mint is a financial tracker with budgeting tools tacked on. YNAB is a planning tool. Use both, since they're both good tools for the jobs they do.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2014 01:06

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Dango Bango posted:

I started using YNAB about 1/3 of the way into December and it was my first time setting up a budget. I've tried looking in the program and online, but haven't been able to find anything on this -- do you have to re-enter monthly bills in the budget section each month? How can I set it to carry that amount over each month? For example, having my budgeted amount for rent carry over.

Or is this me using YNAB/budgeting incorrectly?

I don't have a computer handy but there's a little drop down button or something on each line item in the budget column that gives you auto-entry options like average of last three months, balance to zero, last month's output/budget and so on.

You can also use the lightning bolt button in the "available to budget" box for batch filling the whole month's lines.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2014 23:42

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Dango Bango posted:

Thanks for the help and advice guys! That lightning bolt is tough to see if you aren't looking for it.

I'm pretty sure they go over it in a couple of webinars, which I found really helpful especially for credit card management. You should check one out if you have an hour to spare.

# ¿ Jan 5, 2014 18:31

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Cranbe posted:

Question about YNAB and budgeting in general: I'm a contractor, and I submit my invoices twice a month, with payment coming 6 weeks after payment (like clockwork). My monthly income averages out to $12,500, but in actuality ranges anywhere from $10,000 to $14,000 in any given month.

My expenses are pretty stable--my income greatly outpaces my spending (otherwise I would have bigger problems). Anything I don't spend just goes into various savings funds (quarterly tax payments, retirement, other investments, etc.), but that amount ranges for the reasons above. I'm fine with the excess just going into a specific savings fund every month, but I'd kind of like to make budget/savings projections a few months in advance. How do I account for this in my budget on YNAB? Do I just let the negative "Overbudgeted" bit sit near $12,500 for months that are more than 6-weeks out, or is there a more elegant way of handling this?

Honestly, YNAB isn't really designed for that kind of forecasting. It's explicitly budgeting with money that you actually have in hand. A much better solution would be a simple google drive spreadsheet for your forecasting.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2014 13:28

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

PhantomOfTheCopier posted:

My question is why you are not presently doing this? A quick search suggests several possible ways to fake out the system to create sub-accounts, and it seems newer versions support "Savings Goals" that may help in this direction. I suspect you won't find the muddling and tomfoolery to be any bit reduced with YNAB; it just occurs at a different part of the budgeting/tracking workflow.

I just find it fundamentally amusing that people think they need to buy a specific piece of software to "discover" the notion that a single chunk of money, as recorded on a piece of paper/spreadsheet/X, can be allocated to a number of purposes. It's getting to the point where I'm going to have to ask if you get credits selling the software to other people for a slightly higher price, and they in turn the same thing, and on up the pyramid.

I think the developers just stumbled upon the sweet spot of digitizing the envelope system while clarifying the workflow/goals of sound personal finances like "save for a rainy day", "don't live paycheque to paycheque", while minimizing the confusing side of forecasting and the decision paralysis of some tracking tools like Mint (gah, why can't I stop spending $640 on booze and overdrafting my account?!?!).

And the interesting part is that it seems much more straighforward to say "Get YNAB" and people will work out all the practices themselves, rather than "Get google drive, do XYZ, maintain your spreadsheet like this..." and so on.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2014 15:31

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

thegasman2000 posted:

I need help goons!

My financial situation is pretty crappy and we are about to get a new house, rented from the council, so need to get budgeting. I looked at ynab but it's complicated as my partner gets paid weekly and the amount changes on her hours which change weekly too. Benefits are paid both weekly and biweekly. Is there anything that will help other than my outgoings and Income spreadsheet?

First, start tracking expenses with Mint.com, find out where all your money goes and categorize those things. You could do percentage budgeting on a spreadsheet or with a ledger/notebook and calculator. This is what Phantom of the Copier recommends.

For every $100, decide how each dollar will be spent. Like, $20 to savings (retirement), $30 to fun (beer and long term big purchases like vacations), $50 to bills. (extend this to every dollar of income as percentages. So 20% savings, 30% fun, 50% bills)

So if your partner gets paid $500 this week, you'd put 100 in savings, reserve 150 for discretionary purchases, and 250 for all your bills. You can set this up with literal envelopes or jars, multiple bank accounts accounts from/to which you transfer money, or just lines in a notebook.

You can also use YNAB which will simulate virtual envelopes. Mint will help you figure out your expenses from the past few months and show you averages from which you can fill out the lines of your budget. The first month or so will be pretty haggard, but irregular and changing pays should have no impact on the effectiveness of sound budgeting practices, regardless of software. In fact, if you successfully produce a buffer equal to the sum of all of your monthly expenses (live a month ahead), then the amount or regularity of your paycheques won't really matter anymore and you'll be able to reduce a lot of the stress of financial management.

Some goals you should work toward:

saving an emergency fund ($1000 is a nice round starting figure)
saving a one-month expense buffer
expanding your emergency fund to six months of expenses
saving for nice stuff like TVs and vacations
funding your retirement

# ¿ Jan 29, 2014 17:01

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

thegasman2000 posted:

Thanks for that. I think ynab is too unwieldy for me at the moment and jars will work great. I can use a credit card for online payments and have a credit card payment jar to keep stuff organised. My main issue with ynab is a negative starting balance, due to the time of the week we get paid, and the complication of transfers... I tried adding a weekly and bi weekly one covering incomes but it still says February is over budgeted... Meh jars are easier. Cash burns a hole in my pocket but the mrs is pretty good with it all.

Oh and for UK goons Mint is useless but moneydashboard.com works great at tracking spending. That alone is going to help me out.

If you're really interested in YNAB for some reason, or you try some other methods and don't like them, the intro videos and webinars for YNAB are excellent and clear up its weirdness and methodology. It's clearly worth the effort for a lot of people in this thread and I personally* can't recommend it enough. But it's not a panacea.

If you're using it correctly, a negative starting balance in YNAB can mean that you're spending money that you don't have, which can quickly lead to debt. If it's just budget line items that are generating a negative balance (say you're planning 1000 for rent due on the 15th and budget it on the tenth before you get paid) then you're not using the program correctly because you're planning to spend money that you don't yet have. Wait until the pay comes in and parcel out the money based on obligations and goals.

* Been using it for a year, paid off ~60k in debt in 2.5 years. Have absolutely no conflicts with my shared-finances partner over money.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2014 17:49

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

SoleilEquil posted:

I've been interested in trying YNAB for awhile now, but I've been using Mint for the past two years. I may be overlooking something completely obvious, but is there any way to more easily move information from one to another?

No, a big part of YNAB is manual entry to build consciousness and letting the past go.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2014 18:09

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

How should I budget for my next car? This current one that I just paid off last month is almost four years old (with 153 000 kilometers :gonk:

). I think I can expect another 2-4 years out of it at least.

I have a pretty good idea what the next car I'll want to buy is. Like, a used 2014 that will be purchased in 2016-17. Is there any way to calculate what one of those currently-new cars will cost in two or three years so that I can amortize the payments and figure out if it fits in the budget?

The big project is separating long-term savings goals (5+ years) from short term goals so we know where to hold the money.

# ¿ Feb 2, 2014 16:21

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Combat Pretzel posted:

Start setting aside as much money every month as you think/expect the monthly rate to be, and build up a reserve to be used as deposit. If you have spare money in other categories that aren't life dependent, consider moving part or all of it into that new car category (either now or close to buying it). Once you bought the car, continue using that or a new category for the payments. Unless you saved enough to pay it all at once.

Personally, I went with this way, in YNAB: Saved up money in a savings category, close to buying it, created an off-budget virtual debt account from which I transferred the credit amount straight into that category, paid for the car, and am now budgeting the monthy rates, which I'll transfer back into that virtual account. Behind the scenes, my parents lent me the money at no interest, thinking themselves of being Richie Riches after selling their house, and the transfers to the virtual account essentially mirrors paying them off. The virtual account also happens to let me track remaining debt. I figure with an interest loan, you transfer the net amount into the budget and the calculated interest into off-budget nirvana.

Get a car loan again? Hahahaha!

I have been considering just saving the old payment amount until I need it, so it's like the car payment never stopped but now it makes me more wealthy, in a way!

# ¿ Feb 2, 2014 21:27

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Henrik Zetterberg posted:

I think I'll give the free trial a shot and see how it goes. Thanks for the responses so far.

When I started using YNAB I was actively using about 16 accounts a month and it didn't really seem that big of a deal to enter transactions manually.

The program did help me analyze that administrative overhead and I've brought the active accounts down to three if you include cash.

# ¿ Feb 10, 2014 22:18

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Kenny Rogers posted:

Don't listen to the knuckleheads that are telling you YNAB is an all manual process, it's for getting a better handle on your money, etc.
Like Sigma_X said, YNAB can ingest several types of financial data.
I download QFX files from my bank twice a week (Tuesdays and Fridays) and reconcile, and from my other accounts monthly. I have the YNAB application on my phone, but even entering transactions in that is frequently (but not always!) more overhead than I have time for when I'm not home. I *do* open the app to remind myself what my approximate budget in this category is for the next few days (from Tuesday to Friday, or vice versa) so my budget is in the forefront of my mind, but I only enter what is convenient for me, and let the next QFX download catch the rest.

Whatever works man, but the manual entry is an explicit part of their method. That's all we're saying.

YNAB Hisself posted:

Here�s the deal: YNAB prefers manual transaction entry. Why? Because it keeps you close to your budget � allowing you to own every purchase as you record it.

# ¿ Feb 11, 2014 03:17

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

So what's the difference between the envelope method and a percentage-based method (if that is your preferred methodology).

I don't think anyone budgets without considering percentages. Like, 20% savings, 50% bills, 30% discretionary. But then those categories get split into envelopes based on actual dollars rather than percentages, at which point you can shuffle money around within envelopes a la "rolling with the punches". I guess I see the envelope method as derivative of the percentage method. Is it not?

Here, tuyop data:

All values are CAD monthly.

Take-home Income: 6922.27
Rent + parking: 1685*
Bills (Netflix, power, heating, phones): 289.09
Food (regular): 350
Food (meat from farmer - 500/year amortized): 41.67
Food (supplements): 50
Discretionary misc (paper towels, Tylenol, and poo poo): 74.46
Insurance (home): 26
Insurance (life): 12
Insurance (health/dental): 21.78
Auto fuel: 115
Auto insurance: 199.14
Auto Tire savings: 71.43
Auto Maintenance savings: 115
Fun money (incl amortized memberships and stuff): 400

Balance: 3551.70

* plan is to get a roommate but a loving recurring sewer problem has kept that from happening. We may have to move if it doesn't stop.

I need to figure out, in the next week, how to balance the excess into:

Full emergency fund
Retirement savings
Kids savings (to college or not to college)
Vacation savings
Friend weddings
Gifts
Charity
Useless plastic noisemakers (e.g. A laptop)
New car savings (will probably equal ~400/month)
Bicycle savings
Professional clothing fund

# ¿ Feb 15, 2014 18:55

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

PhantomOfTheCopier posted:

It seems to me that, in most cases, any allocation technique can be coupled to any technique for book-keeping.

Yeah that's what I meant by "derivative". I'll mull over the difference between allocation and book-keeping as they apply to our own finances for awhile, though. Because for some reason it's a bit :psyduck:

for me.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2014 04:52

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

EN Bullshit posted:

I make $1800 after taxes, every two weeks. I have to spend $180/mo on car insurance and $310/mo on my student loans. With my weight-gaining goals, $300/mo is fine for groceries, and I own my car.

I currently live at home and pay a small amount of rent of rent equal to about $370/mo, but I need to be out within a month.

My job sucks so I'm applying at other jobs far away and want to move ASAP, but I don't know if I might get an offer in three weeks or in three months. In the mean time, it looks like I can find 2br apartments located near groceries and a gym for ~$1100 - $1200/mo, or, for more like $900, 1BR apartments nearer to "fun" stuff (my city sucks) but less near groceries and a gym. So, assuming I can find a place that will lease on a monthly basis, I can expect to pay <=$1200/mo in rent for now.

Usually I pack lunch and eat breakfast and lunch at home, but if I have to spend a lot of time at work for a week or two, I'll up eating out three times a workday and spending ~$20/day to do it. That's happened about three times in the six months I've been here, for about two weeks each time, so I'll say that's 14 * 3 * $20 = $840 overall and $840 / 6 = $140 as a monthly expense.

I also have some weird stuff like a $25/mo codeschool subscription and a $12/mo supernews subscription for MY ANIMES. I'll call this "fun" and budget $200/mo for it. Other "fun" stuff will be fun stuff like eating out with coworkers, video games, watches, etc., if I feel like doing that.

Projected monthly income/outgo:
In after taxes:
$3900 - job

Out:
$310 - student loans
$300 - groceries
$200 - fun
$180 - car insurance
$150 - gas
$140 - excessive eating-out
$1300 - conservative estimate of rent once I move out while living in this area

Total expenses: $2580/mo

Income minus out-go: $1320 to accumulate in my checking account. Currently, I have $5500 sitting there.

Sound good? Am I done budgeting?

You should probably consider being a roommate or at least getting roommates since you're not budgeting for all the costs associated with furnishing your own place. Is that what 5500 is for?

Also, no health line, no emergency fund, no maintenance or car tire savings, etc. a good budget has those things explicitly tracked rather than under some umbrella slush fund of more or less appropriate size.

Just check out Phantom of the Copier's or my budget a few posts up from yours. Those have a more appropriate set of line items with value tracked.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2014 12:14

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Would you pay someone $1950 to save you from making a post in a classified or from searching in a classified?

# ¿ Feb 23, 2014 23:42

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

App13 posted:

So I'm in pretty desperate need of budget advice. I recently got a student key for YNAB and really like the look of the program, but I'm really having trouble with figuring out what amount of money should go where.

My average month looks like this:

Income:
Gi Bill: $1900
Part-time Job: $800

Bills:
Insurance/rent (paid to my dad): $300
Car payment: $300 ($9k left)
Gas: $120
Food: $200 (that's with eating out a lot)
Netflix, Spotify etc: $20

I have $500 in the bank as I type this right now (just paid off all my credit cards, which was about $1200 total), with $2100 coming in this afternoon. The car payment is really killing me, but I need my car to get to school and work. I'd like to move out on my own at some point, but seeing as how the absolute cheapest apartment in this area is $800 a month, that may not be possible. My spending habits have been out of control recently, and I'd really like to reel them in, I fell hard for the "hey, I have $1k in my bank account, I'm flush with cash!" trap.

How much more should I be allocating towards my car, saving, spending etc? I'm sure from the outside this will seem like a very simple situation to work out, but I'm just having trouble getting started.

Do some research to get an appropriate estimate of the costs and add like 10% to be conservative. Figure out the time until you want that thing, divide amount by time to figure out savings amount.

So you want to move out. You'll need 800 for security deposit, 800 for rent, and like 300 for basic home supples. 1900, add 10%. 2090.

Figure out when you want to move out, divide the amount needed by the total time in months or pay days. So if six months away, save ~350/month.

Repeat for other mid/long term goals.

# ¿ Mar 28, 2014 17:20

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Guni posted:

Haha no, it's $6840 a month combined (well, every 4 weeks), $3480 a month each (we both earn about the same).

E: we just graduated uni - living in Perth, Australia.

Well, it's very strange that you guys do that. Are those monthly expenses or biweekly?

# ¿ Apr 6, 2014 14:30

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Hey Hand of the King, make a thread. Your finances are pretty bad.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2014 15:59

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

I recommend a thread title of Hand of the Market: King of debt.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2014 17:52

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

signalnoise posted:

How do I cultivate good spending habits?

Stop buying things.

Quick answer is to read some of the logs around here. Zaurg, Cornholio, mine, Slow Motion, others? That question is answered many times at length in all those threads.

The long answer is to start changing your habits. Cutting spending is nearly identical to dieting for weight loss in terms of the self talk and strategies you'll have to do. The steps I took as I see them are:

1. Analysis. Track everything, you've got this.
2. Motivation. Calculate freedom that you've lost and what you could have. Make that poo poo your mantra.
3. Habit formation. Figure out your "triggers" for spending and design your lifestyle around ways that make those inconvenient compared to poo poo you find valuable regardless. If there is no poo poo that you find cheap and valuable, find some of that poo poo. Start jogging, whatever. This takes work and reflection and is honestly the hardest part of the process.*
4. Return to step one. Every time you make a change, evaluate the effects on your finances and happiness. It makes no sense to cut out a line like squash (the sport) if your squash expenses are 5% of your income per month but make up 30% of your recreational life. However, chances are you don't get the same amount of recreation from, say, coffee but it makes up a much more significant expense, especially relative to its intrinsic value to you. These two examples could be reversed and you love coffee but are meh about squash, it doesn't matter. Just do the evaluation. Don't kill yourself by crash budgeting and living in a forest because you'll just take the next windfall and go to Dubai for ~reasons~.

*For this I recommend you check out Mr. Money Mustache and read the books he recommends. I really benefited from Your Money or Your Life and A Guide to the Good Life.

# ¿ Apr 14, 2014 20:42

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

signalnoise posted:

I don't think the problem is that I'm buying a lot of video games. I think it's that I'm buying video games before I'm done with the ones I already have. That's what I am seeing as I think about this more. If I had an unlimited budget for gaming but I was only allowed to buy a new toy when I was finished with the last one I bought, the amount I spend on games would decrease dramatically. That's all it is, I'm just wasting my money.

I followed up on Mr. Money Mustache and the latest link he posted talked pretty directly to the problem I'm seeing here. It's a blog post called How To Make Money Buy Happiness. The gist of it is that I'm not spending money on things that make me happy, I'm spending money on the promise of being happy if I buy the thing. This is a cyclical problem of buying poo poo because I dream of being the person who is happy using the thing I bought, and then not using it, so I buy another thing. If it's possible to be addicted to buying poo poo I think that's what I have.

At least if I was spending the money on food I'd use the hell of out it

Check out How to Make Trillions of Dollars by the Raptitude guy as well. I like the Raptitude guy.

# ¿ Apr 15, 2014 03:35

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Sockser posted:

Alright, so first off, , you're getting way up in arms about some dude on the internet spending money recklessly.

I'm working on formulating a plan vis a vis the house stuff, hence me coming up with a budget and figuring out how to squirrel away money to get a down payment squared away. This is like, step 1 in the grand scheme of me buying a house.

And when I say I'm never in danger of running out of money, I don't mean that literally, loving obviously. I mean that with my monthly expenses, even given my awful spending habits, I've been net positive every month (though I went loving nuts this month I'll admit)

I've got compulsive tendencies which I'm trying to work on. Hence the 'maybe this time.' I'm trying to fix things and you're jumping down my throat here. I obviously recognize that I have a problem, and I'm trying to sort out ways to keep future me from loving this up.

I've never tried to justify me being a dumbass. I've clearly stated that I'm a dumbass, and I'm trying to rectify it, not justify it.

In conclusion, jesus christ loving calm down, dude.

e: I'm a year out of college with $20k in student debt at a low interest rate. That's pretty solid, based on my peers.

Dude, you're saying exactly the same poo poo I was saying in 2010.

Then I bought a car, and went on ...some vacations, and ate out and drank until I had run out of money! Like, all my money plus 62k of other people's money! The only difference seems to be in the substance of your spending, and once you have enough plastic noisemakers, you'll probably graduate to more expensive noisemakers like cars and vacations because you can never run out of money! :pcgaming:

I did what you did with my bank account, spending to basically zero until some expenses I had lost track of overdrafted that account, then I spent to my line of credit and credit card limits, because I had THOUSANDS there and a raise and huge windfall was just around the corner. Then none of that came and I couldn't get anymore credit so something had to give.

Please stop now and take some steps to change your relationship with money. Check my post history in this thread for a few steps I gave someone else.

# ¿ Apr 23, 2014 13:41

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

spwrozek posted:

I am glad this works for you but drat that sounds annoying as hell.

I just use one account, have a spreadsheet to track it.

It's kind of the same deal as YNAB, you just have to move from the mentality of chequing balance = spending money to category balance = spending money.

I agree that he administrative burden on that setup is a bit crazy compared to how it could be, but $400 extra a month kicks rear end so.

# ¿ Apr 24, 2014 01:30

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Veskit posted:

Comedy forum blah blah blah

Hah links broken. I LEARNED NOTHING.

I'm sorry.

You should send him regionally specific candies with a passive-aggressive note to make amends.

# ¿ Apr 24, 2014 16:31

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Gonna go against the grain here and say that I don't really have or want an emergency fund, but I really think this is about personal risk tolerance. I have no problem living with the slim possibility of all of these things happening at once:

Bank closes my line of credit; and
I experience an extended period of financial hardship; and
I find myself unable to find another line of credit; and
I can't sell any property or assets, possibly for the same reason as 1.

They're all semi-related, but the odds of all happening at once are pretty slim.

And so I think it's fine to have a one-month buffer and skip the whole emergency fund thing. The most likely bad scenario is that I pay 7% on my LoC for six months after a few years of earning ~7% on the invested cash that would have been an emergency fund. The risk is vulnerability to the worst case, which is like a 10-30 year depression and some kind of brain injury precluding any sort of work. I'm not convinced that either a LoC or a huge e-fund protect you from the worst case, so it makes sense to take the risk and maximize return.

Crossposting from Canadian finance thread. :toot:

# ¿ Apr 26, 2014 12:56

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

What is a BGE? Is he saving for almost a year and a half to buy Baldurs Gate?

# ¿ May 7, 2014 13:41

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Want that rent. :stare:

You should immediately cancel all savings and charity and crush that credit card before you get hit with the interest.

# ¿ May 8, 2014 18:15

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

100 HOGS AGREE posted:

Mine's 275/mo

My rent in Fredericton was 165/month.

Now it's 1685 :negative:

# ¿ May 8, 2014 19:11

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

22 Eargesplitten posted:

1/3 of a cheap 2 bedroom. It is a really good deal, though. I guess you're right about savings and charity, if I drop the 215 and 100 I can kill the CC in 5 months. It might take a bit longer depending on what rent becomes after august. Or did you mean to cancel the discretionary too? I might have titled that poorly, I meant for that to be for stuff that I don't strictly need, but that will last for a long time. Like a new motherboard that has fully functioning ram slots, where discretionary spendings is meals out and alcohol, consumable stuff.

Basically you should minimize all expenses that can be minimized so that you can destroy that CC before you get nailed with the interest.

Like, even gas and groceries. Carpool.

# ¿ May 8, 2014 20:02

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

xie posted:

I have, there's nothing. Nothing changed with online banking that I can tell.

Happened to me awhile ago when PC changed their authentication process. I made a support request to mint and sent an email to PC to tell them that I cared a lot that they worked well with Mint and it was fixed in two weeks. :iiam:

# ¿ Jun 10, 2014 17:20

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Crossposting from BFC general thread and YNAB thread:

You guys knew it was coming: :siren:

YNAB for $15 on Steam :siren:

.

And yeah, you can just download the standalone version from the YNAB website and plug in your product key. There is no need to run the program through Steam.

# ¿ Jun 26, 2014 18:08

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# ¿ May 12, 2024 03:56

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Happiness Commando posted:

I'm seeing $15 off, for a price of $45.

It was a flash sale. It'll probably come up again for $15, just stay tuned.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2014 18:12

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > How to Create a Budget

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