The YNAB Feature That Helped Me Sleep Better at Night

There are a lot of things that can keep you up at night: a barking dog, that thing you said in a meeting earlier that day, a to-do list a mile long.

But money worries? Those hit differently. 

They creep in like a subtle techno intro, you know something is coming, and then BAM the beat drops. You’re wide awake, replaying every "what if" in your head to the pace of Sandstorm.

Well, that is, until Cost to Be Me came out. That’s YNAB’s new feature that didn't just help me stay on top of my finances during one of the most chaotic seasons of my life—it helped me calm the money worries when my head hit the pillow.

My complete and total life overhaul

Let me back up to this time last year. Working at YNAB means we get a sneak peek at new features before the rest of the world. It’s part of the perks of the job when you’re a self-professed money nerd. So when this particular feature rolled out, life looked a little like this:

• New town
• Moving to a new place
• Moving to another new place
• First baby (and maternity leave!)
• Adding childcare costs
• Fluctuating mortgage rates
• A new income structure for my husband
  

In other words: a complete and total life overhaul. 

If you've ever lived through even ONE of those changes, you know how it can feel—how do I put this gently?

‍Completely unhinged.

So many of the financial details were up in the air. Property taxes on the new place? No clue, and not much by way of finding out. What would interest rates be when we could move in? Nope, didn’t know that one either. If I’d end up loving motherhood so completely I wanted to quit my job? No way of knowing until that squishy little baby comes into your life. (Spoiler, I love my baby, but I still like working, too.)

The money questions and the money unknowns had to be figured out. With the new place, could we afford to pay childcare? Could we afford to do all the add-ons our new place needed after our move? How do you anchor yourself financially when everything’s shifting? 

Speaking of total life overhauls, YNAB Templates can help you navigate all sorts of big life changes—like our new baby template full of categories for all the new expenses your little one will bring.

Enter: Cost to Be Me

This simple but powerful new feature lives in the "Edit Plan" section of YNAB. What is it? Well, it’s the cost to be you! Get it? We on the marketing team thought you would. But here's what the product team would want you to know: it's the total of all your monthly targets, added up into one clean, beautiful number. Or put another way, it’s your plan for your life, summed up in dollars.

You can enter your expected income, just… to know it. To hold it gently in your hands. Ok, but more realistically so you could see the gap between the money you bring in and the money you plan to spend.

Cost to Be Me helped me get my (brand new) life in order

I did a Fresh Start on my YNAB plan to keep my categories. I set up targets for our new costs—worst-case scenario style.

• Property taxes? I picked a number at the highest end of the possible spectrum.
• Childcare? Same thing, highest end of the spectrum.
• Income? Only the base salaries. No bonuses. No windfalls. No three-paycheck months. I wanted those to feel like a bountiful extra.

I’m what my husband affectionately calls "conservative" with money. (And if you’re the YNABer in your relationship, I’d bet you’re the same way.)

But when I entered all this into YNAB and saw my Cost to Be Me? I still saw margin between earning and spending. It wasn’t huge, but there was wiggle room. All plans need space for a good wiggle. Even in the worst case scenario. We weren’t overextending ourselves. The math math-ed. 

Cue the biggest, deepest sigh of relief.

For the next six months—through move-in delays, baby milestones, and all the other unpredictables—I could just… live. I wasn’t staying up late replaying money worries in my head. I had already seen the numbers. I already knew: we were okay.

Cost to Be Me helped me dream bigger

Fast forward to today: we just used Cost to Be Me again.

My husband’s loving fatherhood way more than either of us expected. So we asked a wild question: could he quit and stay home with our daughter?

Five minutes. That’s all it took to re-run the numbers.

And the answer? If we moved to a less expensive (but still completely functional) home, he could.

Not someday. Not "after we save for a decade." Pretty much immediately. (Okay, “immediately” would be after selling our current house. But you get it.)

Can you even imagine the freedom that kind of knowledge gives you? He was shocked by the answer and, I think, is still wrapping his head around the fact that we were able to “math” the questions so easily and that it's a completely do-able life change. We have options!

Of course, the reverse could’ve happened too. What if the move cost way more than expected? What if I had lost my income? What if we had surprise TWINS?! Cost to Be Me would’ve shown that too (ok, it wouldn’t have shown the twins coming). It would’ve given us the clarity—whether it was the news we wanted or not—to adjust before it became a crisis.

And maybe most importantly, we had permission to let go of the fear that so often comes with change.

Knowing our Cost to Be Me gave us something I didn’t even realize we were missing: peace of mind. It was the antidote to the endless late-night math marathons and spiraling "what if" scenarios.

Cost to Be Me showed me we were okay.

We didn’t have to wonder anymore. We could see it all, plain and simple. We had options. We had room to breathe. And maybe most importantly, we had permission to let go of the fear that so often comes with change.

So yes, Cost to Be Me quite literally helped me sleep better at night. It turned unknowns into knowns and anxiety into action. Sure, it couldn't stop the newborn wake-ups or the pregnancy bathroom runs—those DEFINITELY still happened—but when it came to the money side of things? It tucked me in every night with the comforting knowledge: we were okay.

And that kind of peace? It's priceless.

If you want to experience the priceless gift of peace of mind, try YNAB! It’s free for 34 days!