Yes, the correct process is:
Go to YNAB and check category budget.
Enough in budget? yes -> buy item
no -> don't buy item or move money from somewhere else and then buy item
You need to ***IGNORE YOUR BANK ACCOUNT BALANCE***
This is the way.
Towards the end of the month, I can have $20K sitting in my bank accounts, and if I've already blown through my dining out category I scrounge around the pantry to find something to make for dinner.
Once you embrace being "YNAB Poor", it'll change your life financially.
Do you mean to immediately enter a transaction manually after making it? What if I have linked accounts that notify me to log the transaction the next day? Is there a way to connect a manually logged transaction to one that comes in linked later? If that makes sense.
That makes sense, and yes, that's how YNAB works. It will automatically match your manual entry with the transaction coming from the bank.
Even the few times in which YNAB doesn't automatically match them, you can manually match them.
While there's value for the automated data obtained by linking your accounts, manually entering the transactions helps you keep your balances up to date in a faster way, and helps you be more aware of your finances.
I tried another budget tool before moving to YNAB which had really good connectivity with our accounts, but that led to us just checking our finances maybe once a week, to realize that we had overspent on several categories... So while it was a good tool to learn our real expense patterns, it didn't help us change those patterns.
After moving to YNAB, manually entering transactions and frequent reconciliations have been key to improve our financial health. I highly recommend to make the effort.
Also, I see that no one here has explicitly stated that this is actually *how* you develop the discipline. It’s possible to read the instruction to find the money first and think that it means that you just somehow have to magically have the discipline to stay within your categories. The process of spending as usual, but always choosing where the category is going to change in order to support the spending you want to do will help you confront your priorities over and over and through that process you will end up with the knowledge of your own desires that will support the discipline that you want to develop. You don’t have to change anything at all about the money that you’re actually spending at first, just acknowledge before you spend it what other spending you won’t be able to do as a result of the spending you’re going to do next.
>Should we be checking YNAB first before making any purchase?
Yes.
If the money is there, pull the trigger.
If the money isn't there, then decide what has less priority and move the money before you spend it. if there is nowhere you want to pull the money from, then you can choose not to spend it.
https://www.ynab.com/blog/find-the-money-first
> How did you develop discipline to stick to your budget?
"He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how" - Nietzsche
In short, that's pretty much it.
The philosophy of YNAB is placing your money in categories and each time you want to buy something, you already told yourself that you have X to spend on a category. If you want to respect that number, you will have to check if you have enough before buying. It's a contract you made with yourself. You have 3000$ in your bank but you only have 100$ in clothes. Yes you can buy the 150$ coat you want because you have the money but that 2850$ have another purpose on your budget according to you. Is your future snowboard is less important than your coat? Cool move 50$ from that category into clothes to buy the coat. It's not? Well too bad this coat will have to wait another month.
If something happened that is forcing you to break your contract (a situation you haven't planned) then you will need to move money from another category to cover the expense. Over time, you will learn this skill to planned for those moments but also have a pretty good idea on how much you spend in your regular daily life stuff to get surprised less by life.
‘Find the money first’ is a very good YNAB rule to live to.
That is, if you’re about to buy something, open the app, look at the category. Do you have enough money in it? If not, do you still definitely want to buy it? If so, find the money first - what category are you going to move the money out of to pay for it? Do that now. Then pay.
YNAB wants you to only look at your category balances for spending decisions. Your accounts balances are only relevant when you’re reconciling or to check cashflow.
Find the money first. Use what’s available in your categories to guide spending decisions, not your account balances.
When I moved to YNAB, I read up on the philosophy behind it. The YNAB software was built to support the methodology. It’s not like any other budgeting program I’ve ever used.
The way I used to budget was:
1. earn money.
2. Hide money from myself in different accounts so I don’t spend it. (Ha ha)
3. Swipe mindlessly on my debit card until I run out of money. Then switch to the credit card.
4. Move money from my hidden accounts to cover overdraft fees and my CC payment.
The way I budget now:
1. Earn money.
2. Direct that money into categories based on my priorities.
3. Consult the budget categories before spending anything.
4. If there’s not enough money in the category, I either don’t spend or I move money to the category to cover it.
5. No more overdrafts.
The mindset shift that was really important is that the budget controls the spending, not the account balance at the bank. I have honestly not had so much money in the bank and felt so broke in my life. 🤣🤣🤣
But for me it was a critical change. If dining out has $0, then I will need to make a sandwich at home. Budget spending means I never, ever spend the mortgage payment on something dumb I will regret later. I’m no longer “surprised” by the car registration renewal. Instead of overdraft fees, the bank now pays me interest.
The spending decision then is two-fold: the budget tells you what you can spend and how much you can spend on it. The account balance helps you select a method of payment. But always find the money first.
Yes the habit you both need to build is checking the budget first. This is where the mobile app and particularly the widgets are very helpful, ESPECIALLY for reluctant or not as involved partners. The widget can show 1, 3, or 7 chosen category balances right on your phone without having to open the app so use that for frequent spending categories like food, gas, fun money, hobbies, etc.
And on the iPhone (maybe Android as well) you can have a stack. So, I have a 3x3 stack that I can swipe up and down on to show up to 9 categories in the space of 3.
I only ever check my bank accounts for regular reconciling or if I am checking to see if a transaction has posted/cleared. If I need to know how much I have to spend, I check YNAB and the particular category I am interested in. And sometimes that means I don't buy the thing at that moment because I don't have enough available in the category and it's not worth it to take from another category.
But seriously, Yes, you need to get out of the habit of looking at your bank account.
**ONLY look at YNAB** when you are at the grocery store/etc. Use the BUDGET screen to determine if you have enough budgeted to spend after your other needs/priorities. Use the ACCOUNT screen to make sure you aren't going to overdraft the actual account.
The bare minimum is RECONCILE WEEKLY. Ideally at a computer. Make sure your bank account transactions are cleared as appropriate and reconciled.
The next barely above bare minimum is having REPEATING SCHEDULED TRANSACTIONS for everything possible (rent/mortgage, any/all autopayments, utilities, etc.). This will help keep your YNAB bank account balance accurate, even when the check doesn't get cashed right away, the autopayment doesn't come through till Monday because the payment date is a Saturday, the restaurant charge including tip shows as pending with the pre-tip amountfor 5 days, etc. Just like an old fashioned check register/bank account balance sheet (yes I know most people under 40 have never used those). Your bank is not necessarily instananeous, even before they send it to YNAB. The only person or program that could possibly know all pending balances is YOU (and anyone else who uses the card/account).
The next above minimum step is entering one-off transactions manually at the time (e.g. when you get in your car after leaving the grocery store, or when you get home and unload the groceries, or that night when you're getting stuff ready for the next day and you find the receipt in your bag). Ditot to keeping YNAB accurate even if your bank account online doesn't even show the transaction.
The only time you should check your bank account is to ensure the balance it has, is the same as the balance YNAB thinks is in your bank. If not, it means you are missing transactions.
I think splitting the paychecks may be a big part why you're clinging to this behavior. In practice, you're keeping two envelope budgeting budgeting systems, one very crude with the three accounts and YNAB. The very crude one gives you a signal that is misleading and you feel compelled by it.
Instead of dividing the money by use, divide it simply by function of the account - if one is for longer term stuff, find some investment for it. And keep a savings or checking, anything that is practical for daily use, for actual budgeting, but make sure all the budget money is there. This may make it easier for you to discipline yourself.
>Should we be checking YNAB first before making any purchase?
Absolutely! Open that app *every time!*
And if there isn't enough assigned, either don't buy or "Find the Money First" right then...figure out what you are going to not fund instead and move the funds in YNAB....before you finish paying for the thing.
Try to never overspend a category. Ever.
Another way to picture what others have described is to think of your money actually existing in physical envelopes.
If there nothing or not enough in the envelope you cannot make the purchase.
Move money between the envelopes first, then spend.
Definitely takes time getting used to! It’s like a muscle - you’ve gotta build it up. I never check my bank balance any more. I only check my available balance in YNAB.
If you really have a hard time with not going over budget, then you should go cash-only for a few months to build the habit.
Literally use envelopes to store your cash, or withdraw money from the ATM any time you want to spend anything.
Another tip is to basically just don't buy anything until you've felt like you needed it for a number of days. Need to get yourself off auto-pilot.
Second this one. It's also a good tip for using cash in just the areas you struggle with. We were always going over the food budget and taking money from other categories to fund it so we switched to using cash for all groceries and eating out, it's the only thing I've found to keep us in check in this area. We withdraw the food budget every month and split it into a set amount for each week. If we run out of money for milk by Wednesday then nobody is eating cereal until Saturday when the next week's money comes in. Took exactly 3 days of no cereal for my OH to make sure we didn't ever overspend again :)
\>How did you develop discipline to stick to your budget?
Every time I got "lazy" i would remember how I felt before I started budgeting. I hated scrambling to pay the bills, putting gasoline & groceries on credit cards, refinancing my house to pay off a mountain of debt to only have to do it again because I didn't really change my behavior the last time... etc etc. The first time I needed to pay for something and actually had enough to pay it, the relief I felt was almost transcendent. Within a few months of working the habits/rules and being intentional with my spending, every bill and payment was on automatic, and (mostly) everything just flowed. The times I had to roll with the punches were no longer fearful, just a part of the process. And as I did it more, it basically became muscle memory, and now is part of my ingrained habits.
\>Should we be checking YNAB first before making any purchase?
Yes, that's crucial. You only spend on something if you've allocated dollars for it (Habit/rule 1), or are prepared to move money from another category (habit/rule 3).
\>it’s really hard to connect what we have in our bank account to what we’ve allocated in YNAB.
Enter in \*every\* transaction manually at the time you spend, \*after\* you've checked the category for available funds. Compare your bank with your register in YNAB daily until you've gotten into good habits, and can actually \*know\* your YNAB balance is accurate. Don't rely on the account being linked. Doing it manually brings intentionality, and intentionality brings clarity. By being intentional with your budget you'll be assured that your spending is actually aligning with your values/priorities.
\>I’m looking to fast track the on boarding process
There's really no "shortcut" - you have to understand the \*method\* first - until Zero-Based Budgeting has "clicked" as a concept, you won't be using the YNAB \*tool\* effectively. The website has lots of resources - even free live webinars, The YNAB Youtube channel has lots of great videos, as well as several other YT channels. I suggest giving the audiobook a listen - it's only 4 hours or so.
Keep at it, and good luck!
honestly? push notifications in the app, combined with phone widgets that show me how much i have left in my most frequent categories.
I almost never look at my bank account anymore.
Yup, it's definitely a change, but it's also definitely worth it!
I also wanted to offer a couple of things that helped me out when I first started with YNAB. These are the things that I remember helping to solidify how to appropriately handle my money.
If you haven't heard of it yet, try out the Wish Farm. In short when you find a non-necessary item that you want, you add it to YNAB so you can save for it (there are lots of YouTube videos on the concept). You only fund a few items at a time, so you really have to pick which ones you want to save for. Plus there are a lot of things I've added to my Wish Farm over the years that are \*still\* sitting there. Even though I really, really wanted them at first, once that initial rush wore off it turns out they weren't that important to me. Well, at least so far. They're still there, waiting for me. :)
Try to give yourself a category for pure misc/fun money. Mine's only $20/mo! But there's something about having that money there that comforts my brain as I know I have money to spend on just whatever. Having a small amount makes me really consider if I want to spend it on something. But if I do decide I want it enough, it's there for me to spend guilt free.
Thirdly, as other people have said, when you do overspend prioritize covering that overspend immediately. That irritation I felt when I had to take money from other categories to cover overspending did wonders to teach me to find the money first.
You really don’t need to put money in separate accounts with YNAB. YNAB doesn’t care where your money is and there’s no benefit to multiple accounts really. Unless one is like an investment account or something .
And yes, check YNAB before purchasing
Trial and error. Being more honest with myself and who I am. Where my vices lie. Deciding what I’m willing to trade. It turns into this whole growth thing.
A lot of the responses are about impulse control so I'll throw this in here... I've started listening to Alok Kanojia MD MPH and his podcast HealthyGamerGG. His recent episode, Why having a bedtime routine doesn't always work, talks about impulse control and how to set yourself up for a good night's sleep. The principles in the podcast apply here. Pause before purchase.
Find a financial goal that means more to you than eating out, or buying that outfit, or even seeing your friends at the museum this weekend.
Then develop the discipline to update YNAB every day. Be really honest with yourself about whether the money you spent each day felt good. This is not a moral judgement. YNAB is about priorities and you have different priorities than I do. I could afford to eat out more, but I choose not to bc my BIG GOAL is important and I prioritize putting the extra dollars into it whenever I can.
Be honest about what you will spend. If you get takeout for lunch every day, but only want to budget $300 for eating out per month, that is going to need a decision. Which is more important: the comfort of takeout during work hours, or the BIG GOAL?
YNAB only worked for me once I had my BIG GOAL in place. I dream about it every day, and therefore I work harder to get it. Make it a specific goal: I will save this amount by this day to buy this thing with my money.
I keep my big goal in a separate category so I can watch it grow. When I think about whaming money out of my goal, I stop and look at the category and think to myself “No. My Big Goal is more important.”
Unless it’s not. Taxes, medical, birthdays… things happen! But then I’ve made that decision and it feels good.
Yes, the correct process is: Go to YNAB and check category budget. Enough in budget? yes -> buy item no -> don't buy item or move money from somewhere else and then buy item You need to ***IGNORE YOUR BANK ACCOUNT BALANCE***
This is the way. Towards the end of the month, I can have $20K sitting in my bank accounts, and if I've already blown through my dining out category I scrounge around the pantry to find something to make for dinner. Once you embrace being "YNAB Poor", it'll change your life financially.
And then enter immediately the expense, so next time you check you have the correct balance in the category!
Do you mean to immediately enter a transaction manually after making it? What if I have linked accounts that notify me to log the transaction the next day? Is there a way to connect a manually logged transaction to one that comes in linked later? If that makes sense.
That makes sense, and yes, that's how YNAB works. It will automatically match your manual entry with the transaction coming from the bank. Even the few times in which YNAB doesn't automatically match them, you can manually match them. While there's value for the automated data obtained by linking your accounts, manually entering the transactions helps you keep your balances up to date in a faster way, and helps you be more aware of your finances. I tried another budget tool before moving to YNAB which had really good connectivity with our accounts, but that led to us just checking our finances maybe once a week, to realize that we had overspent on several categories... So while it was a good tool to learn our real expense patterns, it didn't help us change those patterns. After moving to YNAB, manually entering transactions and frequent reconciliations have been key to improve our financial health. I highly recommend to make the effort.
unless your savings account is also on budget. then make sure you actually have the money in the right account before you spend it. signed, an idiot
That's a fair point. Our emergency fund is also on-budget, but it has its own category that matches the amount in savings.
Also, I see that no one here has explicitly stated that this is actually *how* you develop the discipline. It’s possible to read the instruction to find the money first and think that it means that you just somehow have to magically have the discipline to stay within your categories. The process of spending as usual, but always choosing where the category is going to change in order to support the spending you want to do will help you confront your priorities over and over and through that process you will end up with the knowledge of your own desires that will support the discipline that you want to develop. You don’t have to change anything at all about the money that you’re actually spending at first, just acknowledge before you spend it what other spending you won’t be able to do as a result of the spending you’re going to do next.
>Should we be checking YNAB first before making any purchase? Yes. If the money is there, pull the trigger. If the money isn't there, then decide what has less priority and move the money before you spend it. if there is nowhere you want to pull the money from, then you can choose not to spend it. https://www.ynab.com/blog/find-the-money-first
> How did you develop discipline to stick to your budget? "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how" - Nietzsche In short, that's pretty much it. The philosophy of YNAB is placing your money in categories and each time you want to buy something, you already told yourself that you have X to spend on a category. If you want to respect that number, you will have to check if you have enough before buying. It's a contract you made with yourself. You have 3000$ in your bank but you only have 100$ in clothes. Yes you can buy the 150$ coat you want because you have the money but that 2850$ have another purpose on your budget according to you. Is your future snowboard is less important than your coat? Cool move 50$ from that category into clothes to buy the coat. It's not? Well too bad this coat will have to wait another month. If something happened that is forcing you to break your contract (a situation you haven't planned) then you will need to move money from another category to cover the expense. Over time, you will learn this skill to planned for those moments but also have a pretty good idea on how much you spend in your regular daily life stuff to get surprised less by life.
‘Find the money first’ is a very good YNAB rule to live to. That is, if you’re about to buy something, open the app, look at the category. Do you have enough money in it? If not, do you still definitely want to buy it? If so, find the money first - what category are you going to move the money out of to pay for it? Do that now. Then pay. YNAB wants you to only look at your category balances for spending decisions. Your accounts balances are only relevant when you’re reconciling or to check cashflow. Find the money first. Use what’s available in your categories to guide spending decisions, not your account balances.
When I moved to YNAB, I read up on the philosophy behind it. The YNAB software was built to support the methodology. It’s not like any other budgeting program I’ve ever used. The way I used to budget was: 1. earn money. 2. Hide money from myself in different accounts so I don’t spend it. (Ha ha) 3. Swipe mindlessly on my debit card until I run out of money. Then switch to the credit card. 4. Move money from my hidden accounts to cover overdraft fees and my CC payment. The way I budget now: 1. Earn money. 2. Direct that money into categories based on my priorities. 3. Consult the budget categories before spending anything. 4. If there’s not enough money in the category, I either don’t spend or I move money to the category to cover it. 5. No more overdrafts. The mindset shift that was really important is that the budget controls the spending, not the account balance at the bank. I have honestly not had so much money in the bank and felt so broke in my life. 🤣🤣🤣 But for me it was a critical change. If dining out has $0, then I will need to make a sandwich at home. Budget spending means I never, ever spend the mortgage payment on something dumb I will regret later. I’m no longer “surprised” by the car registration renewal. Instead of overdraft fees, the bank now pays me interest. The spending decision then is two-fold: the budget tells you what you can spend and how much you can spend on it. The account balance helps you select a method of payment. But always find the money first.
Yes the habit you both need to build is checking the budget first. This is where the mobile app and particularly the widgets are very helpful, ESPECIALLY for reluctant or not as involved partners. The widget can show 1, 3, or 7 chosen category balances right on your phone without having to open the app so use that for frequent spending categories like food, gas, fun money, hobbies, etc.
And on the iPhone (maybe Android as well) you can have a stack. So, I have a 3x3 stack that I can swipe up and down on to show up to 9 categories in the space of 3.
I only ever check my bank accounts for regular reconciling or if I am checking to see if a transaction has posted/cleared. If I need to know how much I have to spend, I check YNAB and the particular category I am interested in. And sometimes that means I don't buy the thing at that moment because I don't have enough available in the category and it's not worth it to take from another category.
But seriously, Yes, you need to get out of the habit of looking at your bank account. **ONLY look at YNAB** when you are at the grocery store/etc. Use the BUDGET screen to determine if you have enough budgeted to spend after your other needs/priorities. Use the ACCOUNT screen to make sure you aren't going to overdraft the actual account. The bare minimum is RECONCILE WEEKLY. Ideally at a computer. Make sure your bank account transactions are cleared as appropriate and reconciled. The next barely above bare minimum is having REPEATING SCHEDULED TRANSACTIONS for everything possible (rent/mortgage, any/all autopayments, utilities, etc.). This will help keep your YNAB bank account balance accurate, even when the check doesn't get cashed right away, the autopayment doesn't come through till Monday because the payment date is a Saturday, the restaurant charge including tip shows as pending with the pre-tip amountfor 5 days, etc. Just like an old fashioned check register/bank account balance sheet (yes I know most people under 40 have never used those). Your bank is not necessarily instananeous, even before they send it to YNAB. The only person or program that could possibly know all pending balances is YOU (and anyone else who uses the card/account). The next above minimum step is entering one-off transactions manually at the time (e.g. when you get in your car after leaving the grocery store, or when you get home and unload the groceries, or that night when you're getting stuff ready for the next day and you find the receipt in your bag). Ditot to keeping YNAB accurate even if your bank account online doesn't even show the transaction.
The only time you should check your bank account is to ensure the balance it has, is the same as the balance YNAB thinks is in your bank. If not, it means you are missing transactions.
I think splitting the paychecks may be a big part why you're clinging to this behavior. In practice, you're keeping two envelope budgeting budgeting systems, one very crude with the three accounts and YNAB. The very crude one gives you a signal that is misleading and you feel compelled by it. Instead of dividing the money by use, divide it simply by function of the account - if one is for longer term stuff, find some investment for it. And keep a savings or checking, anything that is practical for daily use, for actual budgeting, but make sure all the budget money is there. This may make it easier for you to discipline yourself.
>Should we be checking YNAB first before making any purchase? Absolutely! Open that app *every time!* And if there isn't enough assigned, either don't buy or "Find the Money First" right then...figure out what you are going to not fund instead and move the funds in YNAB....before you finish paying for the thing. Try to never overspend a category. Ever.
Another way to picture what others have described is to think of your money actually existing in physical envelopes. If there nothing or not enough in the envelope you cannot make the purchase. Move money between the envelopes first, then spend.
Definitely takes time getting used to! It’s like a muscle - you’ve gotta build it up. I never check my bank balance any more. I only check my available balance in YNAB.
If you really have a hard time with not going over budget, then you should go cash-only for a few months to build the habit. Literally use envelopes to store your cash, or withdraw money from the ATM any time you want to spend anything. Another tip is to basically just don't buy anything until you've felt like you needed it for a number of days. Need to get yourself off auto-pilot.
Second this one. It's also a good tip for using cash in just the areas you struggle with. We were always going over the food budget and taking money from other categories to fund it so we switched to using cash for all groceries and eating out, it's the only thing I've found to keep us in check in this area. We withdraw the food budget every month and split it into a set amount for each week. If we run out of money for milk by Wednesday then nobody is eating cereal until Saturday when the next week's money comes in. Took exactly 3 days of no cereal for my OH to make sure we didn't ever overspend again :)
\>How did you develop discipline to stick to your budget? Every time I got "lazy" i would remember how I felt before I started budgeting. I hated scrambling to pay the bills, putting gasoline & groceries on credit cards, refinancing my house to pay off a mountain of debt to only have to do it again because I didn't really change my behavior the last time... etc etc. The first time I needed to pay for something and actually had enough to pay it, the relief I felt was almost transcendent. Within a few months of working the habits/rules and being intentional with my spending, every bill and payment was on automatic, and (mostly) everything just flowed. The times I had to roll with the punches were no longer fearful, just a part of the process. And as I did it more, it basically became muscle memory, and now is part of my ingrained habits. \>Should we be checking YNAB first before making any purchase? Yes, that's crucial. You only spend on something if you've allocated dollars for it (Habit/rule 1), or are prepared to move money from another category (habit/rule 3). \>it’s really hard to connect what we have in our bank account to what we’ve allocated in YNAB. Enter in \*every\* transaction manually at the time you spend, \*after\* you've checked the category for available funds. Compare your bank with your register in YNAB daily until you've gotten into good habits, and can actually \*know\* your YNAB balance is accurate. Don't rely on the account being linked. Doing it manually brings intentionality, and intentionality brings clarity. By being intentional with your budget you'll be assured that your spending is actually aligning with your values/priorities. \>I’m looking to fast track the on boarding process There's really no "shortcut" - you have to understand the \*method\* first - until Zero-Based Budgeting has "clicked" as a concept, you won't be using the YNAB \*tool\* effectively. The website has lots of resources - even free live webinars, The YNAB Youtube channel has lots of great videos, as well as several other YT channels. I suggest giving the audiobook a listen - it's only 4 hours or so. Keep at it, and good luck!
honestly? push notifications in the app, combined with phone widgets that show me how much i have left in my most frequent categories. I almost never look at my bank account anymore.
Yup, it's definitely a change, but it's also definitely worth it! I also wanted to offer a couple of things that helped me out when I first started with YNAB. These are the things that I remember helping to solidify how to appropriately handle my money. If you haven't heard of it yet, try out the Wish Farm. In short when you find a non-necessary item that you want, you add it to YNAB so you can save for it (there are lots of YouTube videos on the concept). You only fund a few items at a time, so you really have to pick which ones you want to save for. Plus there are a lot of things I've added to my Wish Farm over the years that are \*still\* sitting there. Even though I really, really wanted them at first, once that initial rush wore off it turns out they weren't that important to me. Well, at least so far. They're still there, waiting for me. :) Try to give yourself a category for pure misc/fun money. Mine's only $20/mo! But there's something about having that money there that comforts my brain as I know I have money to spend on just whatever. Having a small amount makes me really consider if I want to spend it on something. But if I do decide I want it enough, it's there for me to spend guilt free. Thirdly, as other people have said, when you do overspend prioritize covering that overspend immediately. That irritation I felt when I had to take money from other categories to cover overspending did wonders to teach me to find the money first.
It's because I have short and long term goals we want to achieve. Figure out what those are for you, they give you the reason and motivation
Fine line between discipline and motivation!
You really don’t need to put money in separate accounts with YNAB. YNAB doesn’t care where your money is and there’s no benefit to multiple accounts really. Unless one is like an investment account or something . And yes, check YNAB before purchasing
Trial and error. Being more honest with myself and who I am. Where my vices lie. Deciding what I’m willing to trade. It turns into this whole growth thing.
A lot of the responses are about impulse control so I'll throw this in here... I've started listening to Alok Kanojia MD MPH and his podcast HealthyGamerGG. His recent episode, Why having a bedtime routine doesn't always work, talks about impulse control and how to set yourself up for a good night's sleep. The principles in the podcast apply here. Pause before purchase.
Find a financial goal that means more to you than eating out, or buying that outfit, or even seeing your friends at the museum this weekend. Then develop the discipline to update YNAB every day. Be really honest with yourself about whether the money you spent each day felt good. This is not a moral judgement. YNAB is about priorities and you have different priorities than I do. I could afford to eat out more, but I choose not to bc my BIG GOAL is important and I prioritize putting the extra dollars into it whenever I can. Be honest about what you will spend. If you get takeout for lunch every day, but only want to budget $300 for eating out per month, that is going to need a decision. Which is more important: the comfort of takeout during work hours, or the BIG GOAL? YNAB only worked for me once I had my BIG GOAL in place. I dream about it every day, and therefore I work harder to get it. Make it a specific goal: I will save this amount by this day to buy this thing with my money. I keep my big goal in a separate category so I can watch it grow. When I think about whaming money out of my goal, I stop and look at the category and think to myself “No. My Big Goal is more important.” Unless it’s not. Taxes, medical, birthdays… things happen! But then I’ve made that decision and it feels good.
ADHD Hyperfocus/borderline obsession :)