

It was a time of complete turmoil in my life: in February, we'd had The Fight, and so for nearly a year I'd been embroiled in a very messy divorce. My first transaction in YNAB is in December 2015. Should I be doing this a different way or am I doomed to forever have his category be overspent every month with the transactions that occur during the last week? In real life I tally these up with the next month’s transactions and get paid back with the next split transaction (e.g. Inevitably, he will always fuel up or purchase groceries at some point between that transaction and the month switching over, so his category or the grocery category will be overspent with credit. on the 25th) to ensure he has it in his account by the time he has to pull out the rent cheque for the following month. The issue lies in that I e-transfer him the money before the end of the month (e.g. In real life I pay him the difference since he has never spent more on the card than I would pay in rent each month.
You need a budget careers full#
What I’ve been doing each month is a split transaction for my half of the respective expenses as outgoing and his half of groceries and full amount of his CC purchases as incoming. I got a CC that allows for an authorized user and since it is a cash back card with higher percentages for groceries and fuel, we use this account for those transactions. If you don't yet have a high-yield savings account consider opening one, such as Marcus by Goldman Sachs High Yield Online Savings, and earning 16 times more interest than traditional accounts.I live with my boyfriend (who does not use YNAB) and I currently budget for my half of our shared expenses (rent, electric, groceries, etc.). But you could also use the money on non-essential things like dining out or traveling. Ideally, you'd use this extra money to increase your savings, especially if you don't have an emergency fund. On the other hand, if you have more income leftover after listing your expenses, you can increase certain areas of your budget. It's a good idea to reduce these costs and regularly make adjustments to the amount of money you spend so you can avoid debt. This may include reevaluating how much you spend on groceries, household goods, streaming subscriptions and other flexible costs. You should review your variable expenses to find ways to cut costs in the amount of $300. If you notice that your expenses are higher than your income, you'll need to make some adjustments.įor instance, let's say your expenses cost $300 more than your monthly net pay. The last step in creating a budget is to compare your net income to your monthly expenses. If you find that the average you spend on groceries each month is $433, you may want to round up and set the spending limit to $450. To calculate the average amount you spend on groceries, for example, add up all of your grocery spending during the past three months and divide by three. But fixed utilities, such as electric and gas, and variable costs, such as dining and household goods, often fluctuate month-to-month, so you'll need to do some math to find the average.įor these categories and any where you spending changes from month-to-month, determine the average monthly cost by looking at three months worth of spending. For example, debt repayment on a mortgage or auto loan will cost the same each month. You can look up your spending on bank and credit card statements.įixed expenses are easier to list on your budget than variable expenses since the cost is generally the same month-to-month.


After you separate fixed and variable expenses, list how much you spend on each expense per month.
