Basic Cash flow

[childay]

I have never budgeted truly , I pay myself first and save what I need to .
I have a very good idea about what we spend every month or year. , but not on how much we spend on clothes vs grocery vs other things ?

how helpful are these apps/ sites with calculating your expenses in different areas ? Any privacy concern with all your passwords with them ? Which one do you trust most ? Thanks

I use personal capital and like it better than mint. They will attempt to categorize expenses with varying accuracy. You can certainly go in and do it manually. Hard if you buy everything at Amazon though. I at times have gone back at end of year and tried to categorize at least on large expenses, you can sort by date range, size etc. Have never been a strict budgeter but good to have rough idea for planning

Some people do have privacy concerns but I think it's overblown

[Tim]

I want to learn more about budgeting/cash flow. I am using YNAB, but my spouse and I consistently run out of money before the next pay check comes in.
I'm sure most of it is just discipline, but I really need some help.

This is not really budgeting. This running out of cash. My question is how are you spending money? Is it the credit card bill is due and you are short? Is it you have auto-payments?
1. Make up your mind how much of and Efund or balance you need.
2. Make a list of the monthly bills. Everything that you pay monthly.
3. Add in any bills due next month.

I don’t care if it is detail or calculated. How much money coming in less money going out NEXT month.
You have so much information available online (banks and credit cards) the you can download into excel and simply look at one or two months.
One number, monthly spending!
Bottom line is you need it in the bank before you spend it. Minimum 3 month’s of expenses in your EFund.
Guess what, you never run out of money again. It’s not discipline or software, it’s your approach. Buy now, pay later.
Figure our how much you can spend next month, then earn it and save it. Scrounge up the money for vacations, annual car insurance or whatever before it’s due. This is simply not looking ahead one or two months. You are talking about paycheck to paycheck cash flow.

Not budgeting, like how to allocate spending and savings.

The software won’t fix the problem. You need to plan how much cash you need and have an Efund. Intellectually lazy looking for the magic pill

[Shant]

I want to learn more about budgeting/cash flow. I am using YNAB, but my spouse and I consistently run out of money before the next pay check comes in.
I'm sure most of it is just discipline, but I really need some help.

This suggests that you are overestimating how much walking around money you have. The first time I totted up my expected annual expenses I was shocked at how little my "allowance" was for day to day spending. Once I realized that, I gave myself an amount I was allowed to spend each paycheck, calculated the average daily amount I had to spend, and when it was gone the spending spigot was torqued off - if I didn't have it in the cupboard, I couldn't have it until the next pay period.

[wideopenspaces]

I want to learn more about budgeting/cash flow. I am using YNAB, but my spouse and I consistently run out of money before the next pay check comes in.
I'm sure most of it is just discipline, but I really need some help.

You need to look back at all your spending for the last 6-12 months to see where you are leaking money. You can fill out this budget template and then figure out which areas you can cut back and then religiously track your spending moving forward to help you stay on track.



INCOME

SO #1 monthly take home

SO #2 monthly take home

other income monthly



BILLS

mortgage/rent

garbage

cable

Netflix/other streaming services

landline phone

internet

cell phone

electric

natural gas/propane

water

alarm

life insurance (outside of work)

car insurance

home insurance (if not included in mortgage)

daycare/preschool

DEBT

(list smallest to largest by total due, include monthly minimum, interest rate, balance owing)

credit cards

car loan

student loan

medical bills

(add anything else you have here - personal loan, line of credit, rent to own, whatever)

MONTHLY SPENDING

auto: fuel

charity

groceries/toiletries

eating out

blow money

entertainment

college savings

retirement savings (outside contributions through work)

newspaper/magazine/online subscription

SINKING FUNDS

(Take the amount you expect to spend in a year, divide by 12 and set aside this amount each month in savings.)

clothing & shoes

haircuts

pet care

gifts, parties

school expenses

household/garden

Christmas/birthdays

home repairs and maintenance (1-3% of house value per year)

car repairs and maintenance/tags ($75/car/month recommended)

car registration/tags/taxes

($75/car/month)

electronics replacement

medical (rx, copays, contacts, dental)

kids classes/activities

adult classes/activities

tuition

property taxes (if not included in mortgage)

adult classes

travel

AAA, etc.

new car fund

[chocolatebear11]

YNAB, Mint, Personal Capital (https://www.investopedia.com/persona...ting-software/).

jfoxcpacfp will have a more comprehensive list and might be a better guide.

Welcome aboard!

Is personal capital safe to use since you have to link your accounts? It’s also appears to be free.

[F0017S0]

Is personal capital safe to use since you have to link your accounts? It’s also appears to be free.

As safe as you can be in our digital world when using any of the other major products out there…

[childay]

Is personal capital safe to use since you have to link your accounts? It’s also appears to be free.

It's free but they will try and call you to convince you to use their investment strategy and pay them AUM. They eventually stop calling

[DocintheBox]

+1 to using YNAB. My wife and I just started and so far it's quite powerful. Definitely a learning curve, but the concept of "aging your money" is a game changer in my opinion. You only spend the dollars you already have, you don't anticipate future dollars coming in to cover past expenses. You can still use a credit card (we do) to get rewards and such, but functionally it becomes like a debit card. Just like anything though, if you ignore your budget and don't log your transactions of course it won't stop you from overspending.

Another thing to consider would be some sort of a "30 day reset" where you basically live a Spartan lifestyle for a month and only spend on things that you legitimately NEED: groceries, electricity, rent/mortgage, gas, but completely avoid unnecessary spending: eating out, alcohol, entertainment, clothes, etc. It can be quite eye opening as to what you actually need to survive and what things you can and can't live without.

[SLC OB]

I want to learn more about budgeting/cash flow. I am using YNAB, but my spouse and I consistently run out of money before the next pay check comes in.
I'm sure most of it is just discipline, but I really need some help.

Sounds like you all need to use only cash for a few months. When there is no cash left, there is none left to buy with. It may help to turn this around.
Also, I agree with CordMcNally that Dave Ramsey is good with this concept and getting people to live below their means.
I have never used YNAB but I know that Mint is a retrospective look, not prospective. You need prospective.