Today I rode my bike to my new-ish job for the first time (fair weather cyclist that I am). I decided every day I ride I can move the $5 I save on transit to my “Future Me” long term investments or other category I choose. It makes the money saving feel real and much more satisfying.
As a CPA, I just have to laugh because there are truly some bad CPAs. I literally build an entire spreadsheet to calculate my withholding and got a $50 refund last year! I paid in a smidge more as a buffer and that was a win for me!
It’s frustrating to me to use scheduled transactions because it doesn’t take the money out of the category until the date hits. As a result, I put it in on the day I purchase it and then adjust it when it comes through. If there’s too much time between the entry and when it’s actually charged, YNAB doesn’t match it up. My clothing budget is where that happens the most because there often don’t charge it until it ships.
I found YNAB at first over 7 years ago when my husband and I were figuring out how to save for our wedding and honeymoon and pay off debt. We were able to pay for our wedding and honeymoon while I was working part time and still in school. We also paid off about $4k in debt. Then we stopped using it …. Some emotional spending, buying and selling our first home, buying another home and 3 kids later we were over $100k in debt 😢. We are so lucky that we sold our home for a profit and was able to pay off all but 13k. Now I am finally finishing my degree and we are back on YNAB. There is soooo much less stress.
Regarding No Yellow: Toolkit has a fix that changed my life! Toolkit item under Budget: "Emphasize Underfunded Goals - Change the default orange goal underfunded warning to blue to better differentiate it from credit card overspending." This was a game changer for me. I almost removed all of my targets because orange meaning BOTH underfunded goal AND overspending credit card was driving me crazy.
When my finances were way tighter, I would play the game of how many days I could go in a row without spending. Required me to get creative, and take a lot of free samples lol. I know some people prefer a visual goal for their savings, like coloring off a block of a picture every time they set money aside. Oh, something I saw from another TH-camr that I tried last year when I had more cash flow, I input all my fun savings categories into a digital spin wheel and I'd spin the wheel sometimes to see where I should assign the money. The most fun game I think would be pairing up with a friend to budget, and then every time they impulsively purchase something over budget they would give me a dollar as a consequence.. Can't convince anyone to do that one though :P
I can honestly say I HATE budgeting. I'm not a fan of the process. However, what I love about YNAB is that it allows me to hold myself accountable. That's more important to me. Gamification may get me to like it a bit more.
In Germany, you pay your electric bill in 11 even payments and the 12th month is for closing out the account. Normally, you have a free month in December which is nice and might get a little put towards January's bill. If you went over it is unlikely to be more than you normally pay. I think this is really convenient for consumers as it is very unlikely to be hit with a big unexpected payment. I have a lot of my other variable payments set up the same way as I will never be surprised.
Yep! I’m such a nerd about finding cents off while reconciling and yes I will spend an hour to find it!!! I am so elated after finding it that it’s worth all the grumbling during the process! 🤣
Talking about reconciling - I recently spent 10-15 minutes looking for 4 cents. Eventually found it and it was just because I entered in the cost incorrectly.
You guys crack me up. I have a borderline obsessive relationship with my budget, so I’m glad I’m not alone! When I signed up for a gym membership last year, I noticed that the contract listed an annual gym maintenance fee of $14 to be charged every October. I kid you not, I actually divided up that $14 fee by the number of months leading up to that October due date and saved an incremental amount each month (in addition to my monthly gym membership) in my budget until I had exactly $14. Then, in October, the gym charged me exactly $14 and I have never felt like more of a budgeting badass
Just wanted to share, I’ve been watching and prepping my first budget for about a week and a half now, and tomorrow is my first check that will be put into YNAB and I am SO excited to budget it!!!
YAY!! It is literally one of the most fun feelings (which I used to be embarrassed to admit, but now I rep it loud and proud 😂). HAVE A BLAST funding your future and slowly increasing that financial security! One of the best feelings. 🌻 Hannah
Hey Ben & Ernie, love the gamifying episode, could you do something similar on data? Visualisations from a CSV export or something? Like no yellow and age of money but more?
Ben, for your 'early entry' transactions that may be sitting unmatched, whether manually entered or scheduled in the budget, think of them as if you would have written a check for the bill and then had to mail it. You would have recorded that check into your budget/check register but it would not have cleared the bank yet. That thought may make it less worrisome for you. 😊
Hey there Ben and Ernie! I'm definitely a YNAB nerd and personal finance blogger that typically hangs out over on Hannah's videos, but your video subject caught my attention. I have a couple helpful comments. First, if you are tired of the mortgage company messing up your escrow and have had your mortgage for a while with that company, you should call your mortgage company and tell them you would like to manage your escrow. Then you can use YNAB to manage the home owner's insurance and real estate property taxes and do it the right way. I did this and just send the money to a high interest savings account while saving for these expenses. Why let the mortgage company earn interest on that money? Second, did you know that once your money goes into your HSA you can immediately move it to another HSA provider that has a better website or better investment options? You may even be able to automate this process. Thanks for the great video! I will check out some of your other videos.
I did not know that about the HSA. FYI - you can’t manage your escrow on your own if you have an FHA loan. It’s agreed that you will have the bank manage it for the life of the loan. I took a more proactive management style with my escrow and add supplemental funds on my own so I’m ready when they do their annual accounting if I have to pay in to keep my payment the same.
I just heard Ben & Ernie talk about managing the escrow account a few months ago and thought I should try it out sometime. Well this month my mortgage was going up over $400, so I called them company to cancel the escrow. It took them a couple weeks to give an answer, but it is now my responsibility! Yay! I remember noticing that our house insurance went up considerably over 6-8 months ago, but thought I would check for cheaper rates later. We’ll time flew and That’s what the trouble is for me in letting them take care of it. I forgot it went up and never searched for a cheaper alternative. Anyway in my search I actually found a good insurance company and will save over $900. 🤩
@@grammadee with escrows I don’t think people know they can actively manage what happens. They can get cheaper insurance, request another escrow review if they update insurance etc. You don’t have to wait for annual reviews.
When I was an accountant, I enjoyed completing reconciliations the most. It always felt like a puzzle. It was always hard to let a few cents go. Ynab gives me a chance to do it for my own finances. I’m glad I’m not the only one that finds joy whenever you figure it out. 😊
I thought I was the only one that enjoyed matching transactions! I also update my variables in the scheduled transactions as soon as I get the bill. Nice to know I’m not the only nerd that enjoys it! 😂
Watching Ernie's live budgeting video recently I saw he dumps their paychecks from the month into one category. Lightbulb moment. Now I can see EXACTLY how much moolah I have to allocate to my next month and I can play with numbers without allocating them quite yet. June will be the first month we will allocate our May money all at once. Hubby will be pleased too as the allocation novelty has worn off but am hoping this will make for some inspiring conversations as we prepare for a large cut in pay as he returns to school to do his PhD.
I think it activates the creative juices when you look at a pile of money and you're like, "OK, this is it for the month-what are we going to do with it?!" ~Ernie
@@YNABofficial I agree Ernie. It's going to be really important in coming years as we will no longer be able to cover EVERYTHING every month with our new reality starting August.
This is on our idea list, Amanda! In the meantime, you could check out this video Hannah did on cash a couple years ago th-cam.com/video/e49HeJ3JaPU/w-d-xo.html ~Ernie
It would be so cool to get "points" for different activities lol. I'm sure the different social media groups would go nuts with competitions, like streaks, or a point per category not overspent or something!
I’ve only been doing this for 3 weeks and already am feeling a big shift in how I’m looking and thinking about my money, even already not spending where I usually would. I’m not even got it figured out yet and I feel successful. It feels more like a puzzle than a hard problem.
You are lucky to only owe $200! We owed something like $10-11K and had to pay a penalty. Those calculations didn’t work for us either! Try finding $10K by squeezing your monthly budget in April 😂
23:00 I must admit that after almost a decade of using YNAB, the credit card method continues to baffle me. I wish I had Ernie’s level of understanding as he talks through this part!
I wish you could set a time for scheduled transactions. I have a couple that come in the evening when pay comes in the morning and it mucks me up when I try to budget that day.
My YNAB win for May: We FINALLY (after sooo many months) did not spend more than allocated for eating out!! I celebrated by promptly ordering pizza on 6/1 ;)
@YNAB Hi Ernie! Actually, the pizza celebration was impromptu... had a sinus headache so cooking went out the window 🤣 To get our eating out under control, we switched from a monthly target to a weekly one. Once that weekly allowance is gone, we can't eat out or get delivery anymore that week. Making it a weekly amount helped us make better, more intentional decisions, and so far it's working this month too!
@@joannaraquel78 switching to a weekly target for eating out has helped us a ton, too! I've found it difficult with groceries, but there is a lot more control when it comes to eating out. Only $20 left for the week? It's dollar menu or Little Caesars! ~Ernie
@YNAB that's actually where I got the idea, we've been doing groceries that way for a while. Since I meal plan weekly it works great for us! (We also have a bulk purchases category too)
Normally I grocery shop once a week. If my grocery category is a little tight, I stretch my grocery visits to 8 or 9 days. Not only does that keep my category from being overspent, but it keeps my grocery visits to four instead of five during those longer months (or the months that have 5 Wednesdays). It isn't much of a sacrifice to only eat from your pantry a day or two at a time!
Good tips to making budgetting even more fun with little games🙂 The escrow thing is just so weird to me, I live in Belgium and we just get a bill from the goverment for the tax and a bill from the insurance company for the insurance. And the mortgage you pay to your bank. But even with that system you never know exactly how much the tax and insurance will be cause it does change every year and there is not realy a way of knowing how much it will change (maybe for the tax there is, there should be, it should be based on a law). So what happens to you when the mortgage is paid off? You still pay tax and insurance to the mortgage company??
My transactions don't always match for some reason. I haven't figured out why but my guess is because I don't put the exact name in the "Payee" section because my bank always puts "POS DEBIT" on transactions and it looks messy to me in the payee section when I go to reconcile but definitely makes it a little easier to have double transactions when they don't link.
Hmmm...as long as the amounts match and the two transactions are within 10 days of each other, the imported should always match with the manual (the payee isn't considered in matching). If that's not happening, reach out to help@ynab.com and they might be able to dig into the issue! ~Ernie
I still enter everything manually since starting YNAB in 2013. Keeps me accountable on my spending. Recently found an unauthorized charge on my credit card immediately by checking on my accounts almost daily. Love entering manually.
I moved into a new house last year on June 20 - I am so excited to get to the end of June this year so that I have a full 12 months of house expenses and can adjust all my variable expense targets 😂
I was just thinking about pinning a comment that said, "If there ever was a Budget Nerds episode you commented on, shared, or liked, please let it be this one because I campaigned for the guys to tackle this topic." 😂 - Ashley
Scheduled transactions - for transactions that charge to my card or automated from my bank, I flag them with green. That way I know it’s automated and nothing is required of me. If I have to do something like, initiate payment via Zelle etc., I flag them with a Red color. I also have scheduled transactions for Amazon subscribe & save - I set it before the due date so it reminds me to confirm that every thing that is supposed to ship this month was needed. I try to use scheduled transactions for anything that may pop up and surprise me.
You guys are wacky! What a fun topic! I love the laughter. We have a cash account, and we spend mostly cash, so I actually reconcile that one much more often than the checking account. A checking account has to balance to the penny! But we round with the cash account, there are two of us and it's just the way it is. So, if I'm within a dollar or two I call it good and say we match. Once in a while it gets off, usually when one of us had a no receipt purchase, like fresh eggs or something. If we absolutely can't figure it out I'll make the adjustment entry, but trying to avoid that has made us much better at keeping track and reconciling often. Here is my little game; sometimes we have more money than the account says we should. I'm not sure how that happens, but when the adjustment entry gives us that little bit of money to be allocated, I always add it to the Car Replacement category. It's never much money, but it's a fun win to add it to that category: like a little bonus. :) Also, you just gave me a brilliant idea! I want to buy a horse, and I need to lose weight. What if every time I lose x pounds I get to put x dollars in the horse fund???? And no fair doing it for the same pound lost 4 times. 😁Thanks for a fun episode! Linda, not Brian
Today I rode my bike to my new-ish job for the first time (fair weather cyclist that I am). I decided every day I ride I can move the $5 I save on transit to my “Future Me” long term investments or other category I choose. It makes the money saving feel real and much more satisfying.
Love this! ~Ernie
That's so cool actually! Because if you for some reason end up not biking that much, you have already budgeted for that. :)
As a CPA, I just have to laugh because there are truly some bad CPAs. I literally build an entire spreadsheet to calculate my withholding and got a $50 refund last year! I paid in a smidge more as a buffer and that was a win for me!
I still laugh when I think of that rant from Ben! ~Ernie
It’s frustrating to me to use scheduled transactions because it doesn’t take the money out of the category until the date hits. As a result, I put it in on the day I purchase it and then adjust it when it comes through. If there’s too much time between the entry and when it’s actually charged, YNAB doesn’t match it up. My clothing budget is where that happens the most because there often don’t charge it until it ships.
You can always manually match up your entry and the posted transaction that imports. ~Ernie
I found YNAB at first over 7 years ago when my husband and I were figuring out how to save for our wedding and honeymoon and pay off debt. We were able to pay for our wedding and honeymoon while I was working part time and still in school. We also paid off about $4k in debt. Then we stopped using it …. Some emotional spending, buying and selling our first home, buying another home and 3 kids later we were over $100k in debt 😢. We are so lucky that we sold our home for a profit and was able to pay off all but 13k. Now I am finally finishing my degree and we are back on YNAB. There is soooo much less stress.
Loving the more frequently content! Another thing that makes my budget feel less boring when I can watch y’all talk about it 😂
Regarding No Yellow: Toolkit has a fix that changed my life! Toolkit item under Budget: "Emphasize Underfunded Goals - Change the default orange goal underfunded warning to blue to better differentiate it from credit card overspending." This was a game changer for me. I almost removed all of my targets because orange meaning BOTH underfunded goal AND overspending credit card was driving me crazy.
When my finances were way tighter, I would play the game of how many days I could go in a row without spending. Required me to get creative, and take a lot of free samples lol. I know some people prefer a visual goal for their savings, like coloring off a block of a picture every time they set money aside. Oh, something I saw from another TH-camr that I tried last year when I had more cash flow, I input all my fun savings categories into a digital spin wheel and I'd spin the wheel sometimes to see where I should assign the money. The most fun game I think would be pairing up with a friend to budget, and then every time they impulsively purchase something over budget they would give me a dollar as a consequence.. Can't convince anyone to do that one though :P
I've never heard of that digital spin wheel idea-that's fun! ~Ernie
I can honestly say I HATE budgeting. I'm not a fan of the process. However, what I love about YNAB is that it allows me to hold myself accountable. That's more important to me. Gamification may get me to like it a bit more.
In Germany, you pay your electric bill in 11 even payments and the 12th month is for closing out the account. Normally, you have a free month in December which is nice and might get a little put towards January's bill. If you went over it is unlikely to be more than you normally pay. I think this is really convenient for consumers as it is very unlikely to be hit with a big unexpected payment.
I have a lot of my other variable payments set up the same way as I will never be surprised.
Yep! I’m such a nerd about finding cents off while reconciling and yes I will spend an hour to find it!!! I am so elated after finding it that it’s worth all the grumbling during the process! 🤣
After listening to this episode, I have discovered that I’m a budget nerd too…
Talking about reconciling - I recently spent 10-15 minutes looking for 4 cents. Eventually found it and it was just because I entered in the cost incorrectly.
Congrats on finding the discrepancy, I would hunt too. The satisfaction is always great and worth it.
Totally agree!
YNAB has been life changing for me
You guys crack me up. I have a borderline obsessive relationship with my budget, so I’m glad I’m not alone! When I signed up for a gym membership last year, I noticed that the contract listed an annual gym maintenance fee of $14 to be charged every October. I kid you not, I actually divided up that $14 fee by the number of months leading up to that October due date and saved an incremental amount each month (in addition to my monthly gym membership) in my budget until I had exactly $14. Then, in October, the gym charged me exactly $14 and I have never felt like more of a budgeting badass
🤣🤣🤣 ~Ernie
Just wanted to share, I’ve been watching and prepping my first budget for about a week and a half now, and tomorrow is my first check that will be put into YNAB and I am SO excited to budget it!!!
And I'm excited for you! Have fun!!! ~Ernie
YAY!! It is literally one of the most fun feelings (which I used to be embarrassed to admit, but now I rep it loud and proud 😂). HAVE A BLAST funding your future and slowly increasing that financial security! One of the best feelings.
🌻 Hannah
Hey Ben & Ernie, love the gamifying episode, could you do something similar on data? Visualisations from a CSV export or something? Like no yellow and age of money but more?
Ben, for your 'early entry' transactions that may be sitting unmatched, whether manually entered or scheduled in the budget, think of them as if you would have written a check for the bill and then had to mail it. You would have recorded that check into your budget/check register but it would not have cleared the bank yet. That thought may make it less worrisome for you. 😊
Hey there Ben and Ernie! I'm definitely a YNAB nerd and personal finance blogger that typically hangs out over on Hannah's videos, but your video subject caught my attention. I have a couple helpful comments.
First, if you are tired of the mortgage company messing up your escrow and have had your mortgage for a while with that company, you should call your mortgage company and tell them you would like to manage your escrow. Then you can use YNAB to manage the home owner's insurance and real estate property taxes and do it the right way. I did this and just send the money to a high interest savings account while saving for these expenses. Why let the mortgage company earn interest on that money?
Second, did you know that once your money goes into your HSA you can immediately move it to another HSA provider that has a better website or better investment options? You may even be able to automate this process.
Thanks for the great video! I will check out some of your other videos.
I did not know that about the HSA.
FYI - you can’t manage your escrow on your own if you have an FHA loan. It’s agreed that you will have the bank manage it for the life of the loan. I took a more proactive management style with my escrow and add supplemental funds on my own so I’m ready when they do their annual accounting if I have to pay in to keep my payment the same.
I just heard Ben & Ernie talk about managing the escrow account a few months ago and thought I should try it out sometime. Well this month my mortgage was going up over $400, so I called them company to cancel the escrow. It took them a couple weeks to give an answer, but it is now my responsibility! Yay!
I remember noticing that our house insurance went up considerably over 6-8 months ago, but thought I would check for cheaper rates later. We’ll time flew and That’s what the trouble is for me in letting them take care of it. I forgot it went up and never searched for a cheaper alternative.
Anyway in my search I actually found a good insurance company and will save over $900. 🤩
Three years ago I started managing my homeowner's insurance and property taxes, and it's been glorious! ~Ernie
@@grammadee with escrows I don’t think people know they can actively manage what happens. They can get cheaper insurance, request another escrow review if they update insurance etc. You don’t have to wait for annual reviews.
When I was an accountant, I enjoyed completing reconciliations the most. It always felt like a puzzle. It was always hard to let a few cents go. Ynab gives me a chance to do it for my own finances. I’m glad I’m not the only one that finds joy whenever you figure it out. 😊
I thought I was the only one that enjoyed matching transactions! I also update my variables in the scheduled transactions as soon as I get the bill. Nice to know I’m not the only nerd that enjoys it! 😂
You are not alone, Jen! 😊 ~BenB
41:00 Anyone else ate out because they had money in dining out & not in groceries? I know I've done that before
I don't know if I could actually move money from eating out to groceries! ~Ernie
Watching Ernie's live budgeting video recently I saw he dumps their paychecks from the month into one category. Lightbulb moment. Now I can see EXACTLY how much moolah I have to allocate to my next month and I can play with numbers without allocating them quite yet. June will be the first month we will allocate our May money all at once. Hubby will be pleased too as the allocation novelty has worn off but am hoping this will make for some inspiring conversations as we prepare for a large cut in pay as he returns to school to do his PhD.
I think it activates the creative juices when you look at a pile of money and you're like, "OK, this is it for the month-what are we going to do with it?!" ~Ernie
@@YNABofficial I agree Ernie. It's going to be really important in coming years as we will no longer be able to cover EVERYTHING every month with our new reality starting August.
Can you guys do an episode on how you manage your cash account? I'm intruiged but have no idea how to go about it.
This is on our idea list, Amanda! In the meantime, you could check out this video Hannah did on cash a couple years ago th-cam.com/video/e49HeJ3JaPU/w-d-xo.html ~Ernie
Less stress = More fun!
It would be so cool to get "points" for different activities lol. I'm sure the different social media groups would go nuts with competitions, like streaks, or a point per category not overspent or something!
I’ve only been doing this for 3 weeks and already am feeling a big shift in how I’m looking and thinking about my money, even already not spending where I usually would. I’m not even got it figured out yet and I feel successful. It feels more like a puzzle than a hard problem.
You are lucky to only owe $200! We owed something like $10-11K and had to pay a penalty. Those calculations didn’t work for us either! Try finding $10K by squeezing your monthly budget in April 😂
23:00 I must admit that after almost a decade of using YNAB, the credit card method continues to baffle me. I wish I had Ernie’s level of understanding as he talks through this part!
Property tax is my favorite/least favorite category. I use my credit card rewards to fill the category, bc I don't want to use my "own" money!
Good news Ernie! Treasury Direct finally got rid of the on screen keyboard. You can now save your password 😅
I wish you could set a time for scheduled transactions. I have a couple that come in the evening when pay comes in the morning and it mucks me up when I try to budget that day.
I still don't understand why we can't just owe taxes instead of doing the withholdings & returns process. It's so frustrating.
My YNAB win for May: We FINALLY (after sooo many months) did not spend more than allocated for eating out!! I celebrated by promptly ordering pizza on 6/1 ;)
How'd you do it?!! And I love that you celebrated the very next day with pizza! ~Ernie
@YNAB Hi Ernie! Actually, the pizza celebration was impromptu... had a sinus headache so cooking went out the window 🤣 To get our eating out under control, we switched from a monthly target to a weekly one. Once that weekly allowance is gone, we can't eat out or get delivery anymore that week. Making it a weekly amount helped us make better, more intentional decisions, and so far it's working this month too!
@@joannaraquel78 switching to a weekly target for eating out has helped us a ton, too! I've found it difficult with groceries, but there is a lot more control when it comes to eating out. Only $20 left for the week? It's dollar menu or Little Caesars! ~Ernie
@YNAB that's actually where I got the idea, we've been doing groceries that way for a while. Since I meal plan weekly it works great for us! (We also have a bulk purchases category too)
I’m with Ernie. I keep the electric bill as whatever it was last month and keep the scheduled transaction so it’s not sitting too long as pending.
Normally I grocery shop once a week. If my grocery category is a little tight, I stretch my grocery visits to 8 or 9 days. Not only does that keep my category from being overspent, but it keeps my grocery visits to four instead of five during those longer months (or the months that have 5 Wednesdays). It isn't much of a sacrifice to only eat from your pantry a day or two at a time!
Good tips to making budgetting even more fun with little games🙂
The escrow thing is just so weird to me, I live in Belgium and we just get a bill from the goverment for the tax and a bill from the insurance company for the insurance. And the mortgage you pay to your bank. But even with that system you never know exactly how much the tax and insurance will be cause it does change every year and there is not realy a way of knowing how much it will change (maybe for the tax there is, there should be, it should be based on a law). So what happens to you when the mortgage is paid off? You still pay tax and insurance to the mortgage company??
Yes, in the U.S., once the mortgage is paid off, we continue to pay property taxes and for home insurance. ~Ernie
My transactions don't always match for some reason. I haven't figured out why but my guess is because I don't put the exact name in the "Payee" section because my bank always puts "POS DEBIT" on transactions and it looks messy to me in the payee section when I go to reconcile but definitely makes it a little easier to have double transactions when they don't link.
Hmmm...as long as the amounts match and the two transactions are within 10 days of each other, the imported should always match with the manual (the payee isn't considered in matching). If that's not happening, reach out to help@ynab.com and they might be able to dig into the issue! ~Ernie
Here in NZ there's no bank importing, so it's manual all the way, I'm constantly looking at our bank account often. 🤦
I still enter everything manually since starting YNAB in 2013. Keeps me accountable on my spending. Recently found an unauthorized charge on my credit card immediately by checking on my accounts almost daily. Love entering manually.
I moved into a new house last year on June 20 - I am so excited to get to the end of June this year so that I have a full 12 months of house expenses and can adjust all my variable expense targets 😂
Oh, that will be fun! ~Ernie
First!
I was just thinking about pinning a comment that said, "If there ever was a Budget Nerds episode you commented on, shared, or liked, please let it be this one because I campaigned for the guys to tackle this topic." 😂 - Ashley
Also! I think it's fitting "gamification" came out during TOTK week.
Doesn't count. You had insider information!
@@YNABofficial😂😂😂
What is happeninnnnnnng 😂😂 YNAB-ception.
🌻 Hannah
Scheduled transactions - for transactions that charge to my card or automated from my bank, I flag them with green. That way I know it’s automated and nothing is required of me. If I have to do something like, initiate payment via Zelle etc., I flag them with a Red color. I also have scheduled transactions for Amazon subscribe & save - I set it before the due date so it reminds me to confirm that every thing that is supposed to ship this month was needed.
I try to use scheduled transactions for anything that may pop up and surprise me.
I love scheduled transactions so much, and I'm so glad Ben is finally coming around to them! ~Ernie
You guys are wacky! What a fun topic! I love the laughter. We have a cash account, and we spend mostly cash, so I actually reconcile that one much more often than the checking account. A checking account has to balance to the penny! But we round with the cash account, there are two of us and it's just the way it is. So, if I'm within a dollar or two I call it good and say we match. Once in a while it gets off, usually when one of us had a no receipt purchase, like fresh eggs or something. If we absolutely can't figure it out I'll make the adjustment entry, but trying to avoid that has made us much better at keeping track and reconciling often. Here is my little game; sometimes we have more money than the account says we should. I'm not sure how that happens, but when the adjustment entry gives us that little bit of money to be allocated, I always add it to the Car Replacement category. It's never much money, but it's a fun win to add it to that category: like a little bonus. :)
Also, you just gave me a brilliant idea! I want to buy a horse, and I need to lose weight. What if every time I lose x pounds I get to put x dollars in the horse fund???? And no fair doing it for the same pound lost 4 times. 😁Thanks for a fun episode! Linda, not Brian