u/JustWelmed1000

I am just now (starting about 1 week ago) working to get a month a head. (I previously was budgeting a bi-weekly schedule).

So would it be wise to zero out my available funds for non-sinking funds on September 1st, and then reassign it to September?

Moving forward, I am putting my 2nd paycheck in my "Hold for Next month" category. Eventually I would like to build it up where I have all expenses covered before the month begins.

So for example: Lets say my planned gas budget for the month is $400. But on the 1st I have $150 left (because I am just now working a monthly plan vs a bi-weekly plan). Should I move that $150 to RTA for 1 September?

I hope this question makes sense.

I worked a side hustle to cover the expenses so I could still throw my planned snowball.

The money I made from the side gig, allowed me to: A) not go into further debt, and B) allowed me to still throw my planned snowball while covering this month's much larger irregular expenses.

1. Son moving into his first off-campus College apartment this month. It was pre-furnished, but still bare. (toiletries, shower curtain/liner, mattress topper, some basic starter dishes. And some starter groceries.
2. Two other kids in school (non- college aged). I didn't "budget" for back to school clothes or school supplies. (Brain-fart) I certainly am not going into debt for it, but I also didn't want to steal from my preplanned snowball I want to throw each month.

So what did I do?

I went out and drove Uber for two weekends. Netting about $1100 after gas and taxes, covering what I needed for these irregular expenses this month.

I've had YNAB for well over a decade. I have used it to about 5% of its potential.

Here are things I have just started learning about:

- Using the Different preset Views

-Creating custom views

-Attaching additional unlinked accounts to be tracked

-Setting Targets

-Auto assign based off Targets (or based off last month)

-Month ahead concept

I am truly ready to start actually budgeting in a different way. It will be quite awhile before I can Have all the money available on the 1st to do a full month budget without waiting on paycheck to come in. I am digging myself out of debt and am currently prioritizing that over getting "a month ahead", but that priority may change.

Is a massive sea of orange expected? Even though I am 100% never late on a bill ever? It may not be "bad" to see orange, but I don't even feel like these categories even need attention in the calendar month that is orange.

Details (just one example):

-Bill due on 12th each month and is $100.

-I currently have $100 in that category that I assigned last paycheck (which was from last month)(which was 7/31)

- The Category is currently Orange saying I need to put in $100 this month

-If I Pay the bill today (early) the category will go to Zero, and still be Orange because it wants another $100 this month.

-Once I put the $100 back in out of my 8/28 paycheck. It will be green, but will turn orange again on 9/1.

I've tried to change due date to today, also to last day of month. I have changed it from Refill with $100 every month. I have also chosen to refill UPTO $100. If I do refill upto $100, I will get it to go green earlier, but then when I get paid and assign $100 again to this category (it wants me to assign it again next month).

I just don't get it.

So I do all things right, and have to stare at a sea of orange for 90% of the month?

Please be patient with me, I am still learning. :)

I just reconciled. I had three pending charges. YNAB pop-up correctly identified that my bank account matches my cleared transactions to include my manual entries. It asked me to "mark them complete" and reconcile. So I did.

Question: Will "Payee" column auto-fill in (currently blank) when it is no longer pending, or because I marked it complete and reconciled (thus getting the lock icon) will It never auto-fill in the "payee" column?

Obviously I will know for sure in a day or two, when these clear, but curious if someone new off the top of their head.

I've been using YNAB for A VERY long time, but never bothered with the month ahead assignment feature. I am starting to explore this feature, but I need help understanding its true meaning.

I get two paychecks a month (usually). I schedule my bills like this:

1st Check: Pays bills due 15th - 31st

2nd check : Pays next month's bills due 1st - 14th.

Essentially whether my 1st paycheck falls on on any date between 1st-14th, I don't "need" that money until 15th. Same rule for Paycheck two (can fall 15th - 31st).

Does this mean I am half way to being 1 month ahead? To me, I just feel like I am ensuring I pay my bills on time, I don't feel "ahead" at all? I certainly can't miss two weeks of pay and be okay. So to me, I am living paycheck to paycheck.

At the end of the calendar month, I may have ~50% of my expenses still in my categories, but that will simply carry over to next month and pay the bills that are due very soon.

First and foremost; Why percentages and not dollar amounts you may ask?

A: My income is 'Nunya'

B: People will always try to nit pick every dollar and compare their $ spent against your $ spent.

We may have similar incomes, but we may have drastically different incomes. I may be feeding a family of 8 and you may be feeding just yourself. I may have a 6 bedroom house, and you may live in a studio style condo.

So please review these and see if how these percentages match up with yours (Obviously I can't do anything about BS2 stuff except pay it off).

One big eye opener is just how much of my income I will have once I am out of BS2 debt! I am motivated and excited to see the day where I can add back ~38% of my income! :)

Areas I know I can cut back are: Food and Restaurants, but would be curious to see someone who has a moderate budget (not extreme on either end of the spectrum) for those categories what their percentages are and what Baby Step you are on.

Mortgage and HELOC DEBT (BS6 sized)	22.4%
BS2 Debts (minimums)	31.97%
BS2 Planned Snowball	6.17%
Home Expenses (Yard, HOA, Pest, Alarm)	1.71%
Utilities (includes Cellular)	5.88%
Rental Property Expenses (breaks even)	5.22%
Auto Expenses (non-debt)	7.86%
Subscriptions (Streaming, etc.)	0.97%
Pet Category (non-food expenses)	0.74%
Food and Household expenses (Pets included)	10%
Restaurants	5.94%
Medical (Great Insurances - Primary & Sec)	0%
Misc. Categories (too small to sub-list)	2.14%
Hills and Valley/ income deviations	3.51%
TOTAL	~99%

With all things considered, I've ran all the numbers, (I can nerd out and show it if need be) the net decrease in total BS2 interest would be $2506. Which for my debt pay off journey, equates to about a whopping 2 weeks early.

Would you bother doing the Refi? I mean $2500 is $2500 bucks right? No reason to give that to the bank right?

Edited to make it simpler and for corrections.

I am on a self-prescribed plan to pay debt off faster.

Should I refinance a loan ($0 fees to do so) from 12.55% (60/month) to 10.42% (48 month) to save a net savings of $2850 over the life of the loan?

The reason the savings is less than the loans fully amortized , is because I already have an accelerated debt pay back plan, so I won't realize the full savings.

I think the answer is a no-brainer at this point. Take the new loan with the $2850 savings (spread over 30 months)

Disclaimer: I am not a Pollster and no Polls were used in the creation of this message. You are not asked to vote for an option, and you are 100% free to give any advice, even if it is contrary to the options I have self- imposed upon myself. I am willing to engage in productive conversation about the issues surrounding this question within reason. Also, I have zero intentions of buying and selling Minature Ponies for a small profit to increase the rate of which I pay off this debt, so please don't offer that as a suggestion. All other suggestions will be read and given consideration (with the exception of requesting that I create a post that may be considered a poll by moderators). I will not purposely break any rules of the subreddit.

I've been playing with debt forever. I just threw my first snowball. It went to my daughters braces.

Min was $199.xx. I paid $1199.xx ($1K snowball)! Feels good.

I cut the remaining balance in half. Next month I will pay it in full. Only downside is. It is a 0% loan, so not the biggest money saver, but still smart!

HOUSE/ UTILITIES	------
Mortgage and HELOC	14.44%
HELOC	7.96%
Home other (Pest,Yard,HOA/ultities/Cell)	7.59%
Rental Property	5.22%
AUTO EXPENSES	------
Car Payments	16.32%
Auto Insurance	5.96
Fuel	1.19%
Taxes and Tags	0.71%
LOANS/DEBT	-----
Loan 1	8.03%
Loan 2	1.18%
Loan 3	1.45%
CC x 5	0.00%
Snowball (Extra Debt)	5.94%
SUBSCRIPTIONS	-----
All Monthly Subs (10 of them)	0.97%
OTHER	-----
Kid Allowances	0.95%
Medical bills (Great Insurances)	0.00%
Pet Grooming	0.74%
FOOD/ MISC	-----
Groceries	10.00%
Restuarants	5.94%
Misc	4.71%
TOTAL PERCENTAGE (rounds to 100%)	-----

This is percentages of my NET BRING HOME monthly income (after all insurances, 401K, taxes, etc.)

My Biggest focus point right now: Paying off my Consumer debts which is 32.92% of my Net income.

Question: How does this look / Stack up to your info (if you care to share)?

$1500 every two weeks!

To me, this sounds astronaumically high! We should never go over that but yet we go over ALL the time. I believe whole heartedly that this is a case of pure overspending and nothing more. But I wanted others to weigh in:

Every two weeks Budget:

Groceries/Pet Food/Household items: $900

Restuarants: $500

Misc. $100.

Yet we ALWAYS go over. It is like the words "budget" or "no" are not in our family's vocabulary. I am labeled the grumpy Father or Husband who complains all the time if I try to keep us on track.

This tool seems to have lots of options, that I just don't understand. All I really use YNAB for is to put my money into categories, and when things go red, I have to move money from other categories to cover. I aso keep an excel Spreadsheet, and I cross reference between the two to ensure they match. If they match I am confident that I've made no budgeting errors.

I've seen several screen shots on here of people with lots of over spending in multiple categories. I personally don't understand how that can be. I mean, if you have spent more than is in that section, wouldn't your checking account run the risk of being in the negative? What am I missing?

Me, I keep a $1K buffer in my checking to ensure I never go negative, but I usually move money around to make sure I have little to no red on my budget at all. But doing so, means I am constantly missing goals. If My car repair fund should grow @ $100 a paycheck,, but I constant rob Peter to pay Paul. Then car repair fund doesn't actually grow much at all. And when a repair is needed I won't have the money

Anyone got any tips? And can anyone explain why I see so many budgets that have underfunded, or overspent categories?

I'm 47 years old, and want to retire at 62 years old. Here are my details:

- (Traditional 401K) balance only: $157,000

- Investing ~$18K a year in 401k (Includes Match)

- Also Paying back a 401K loan @ $7700 a year (which I plan on continuing to contibute after loan is paid off)

According to various Investment Calculators I should end up with $1.2M to 1.6M by 62 years old.

I also have VA Tax free pay of ~$50K/ yr for life.

If I continue to earn at my current rate. My early Social Security should be ~$2700 @ 62 yrs old.

Spouse would be whatever spousal rate would be as she didn't earn much over the years.

According to various calculators and AI number crunching: If I draw $75K a year from 401K. My total annual income should be $157K w/o spousal SS. The answer seems to obviously be yes, I will be okay, but I am not fully at ease with my retirement track.

$75K a year is aggressive to draw down on 1.5M (5%), but I figure with my VA money lasting until death, I can afford the more aggressive draw down atleast at first, to live it up during my first decade of retirement before I start to slow down).

What am I missing? (Also Medical coverage will largely be covered by VA and CHAMPVA for wife, until I reach 65yrs old)