How to Get Back on Track with YNAB

I’m just going to come right out and admit it: I’m bad at budgeting. And vacuuming. And putting away laundry. Maybe most of adulthood, actually? I didn’t expect to be facing such hard truths when I sat down to write this. 

Anyway, my intent is always good. I’ve tried rewards and punishments, new systems, different apps, envelopes, notebooks, spreadsheets, and Google docs galore. These attempts all eventually pile up like the neatly-folded t-shirts currently residing on my coffee table. 

YNAB is the only thing that has worked when it comes to staying organized about my finances, and that’s because it’s not really budgeting—it feels more like planning. It’s like a road map for my wants and needs and goals and dreams. It’s permission to indulge in the little treats that sustain me. It’s reassurance that life’s priorities are covered. It’s motivation to go ahead and make that bucket list vacation happen. It feels hopeful and optimistic instead of restrictive and punitive. 

YNAB has kept me (mostly) on track for almost a decade now. 

But am I good at it? Well… my accounts are not always promptly reconciled. Sometimes there is money hanging out in the “Ready to Assign” section. Every once in a while, I have a fat stack of transactions to categorize. And I make balance adjustment transactions more than I care to admit.

I’ll still be bold enough to say I’m good at it, because I keep doing it and because it’s vastly improved my overall quality of life. That’s the whole point, really. 

However, sometimes I just… forget to do it. How could someone who works here forget to do it? Excellent question and quite the mystery, let’s leave that for another day. But there are times that I feel completely overwhelmed about where to start when I finally feel ready to resume life as a responsible adult. 

Luckily, I am surrounded by people who can help. I enlisted our resident Budget Nerd, Ben Barlowe, for some tips and tricks on getting back on track with YNAB. 

Here are three great options to get back in the ol’ spending and saving saddle, straight from Ben himself: 

‍Make a Fresh Start

Falling behind can happen to the best of us, in YNAB and in life. There’s no shame in it, either! The key to success lies in getting started again, and I’m happy to help. 

The most common and happiest path forward for most people is a Fresh Start in YNAB. And I’m not just talking about a state of mind, I’m talking about an actual software feature.

The Make a Fresh Start option is available in your settings menu. On the web app, click the name of your budget in the top left corner and choose “Make a Fresh Start.” On mobile, tap the more button at the top of the Budget screen, then tap “Settings & Privacy,” then tap “Make a Fresh Start.”

You’ll get a confirmation screen explaining exactly what that does, and I’ll break it down for you here too: YNAB will create a fresh new budget for you with the same name as your current budget. All your accounts, categories, scheduled transactions, and targets will remain as they were before. But all of the transactions will be removed in your new budget. So you’ve got a sparkling new budget, but you don’t have to do all the set-up stuff again. 

Your old budget will still be available in the “Open Budget” screen. It will have a new name to note that it was archived on today’s date. That’s part of the beauty of the Fresh Start feature.

Think of it like your second round: you can take a deep breath and begin again with more knowledge—and you won’t lose any actual transaction data. Wondering how much you spent at that random restaurant two years ago? You can always go back to your old budget to look it up. Also, if you do a Fresh Start but immediately decide you’d rather go back to your old budget, you can! There’s quite literally nothing to lose. 

There are a few more technical steps to put your old budget to rest and set yourself up with a shiny new plan. Our support team has the full step-by-step process in this guide, and you can always reach out to us if you need help! 

‍Create a brand new budget

But maybe a fresh start doesn’t go far enough for you. Sometimes, big life events happen that bring big changes with them—like having a baby, getting married, or moving abroad. In that case, you might want to restart your YNAB life with a totally clean slate—new categories, new targets, everything! 

In that case, you can start a brand new budget in YNAB instead. Just choose the “New Budget” option in the same menu I mentioned above. Your old budget will still be available for data look-up needs, just like it was with a fresh start.

Once you give your new budget a name, everything will look a lot like it did the very first day you started YNAB. We’ll set you up with some default categories and groups, but you can customize them to your heart’s content! Add new targets and accounts and get back to YNABing in no time. 

‍Visual learner? Fear not! We have guides for you to follow. I’m partial to the video Get Started guides myself. ‍

‍Shrug and reconcile (with your bank and yourself)

Some people like to keep just one budget throughout their whole YNAB journey. If you’d like to start over but keep the same budget, the shrug and reconcile option is for you. You may see a bit of a hole in your reports, but you’ll be able to get back to YNABing pretty quickly… and that’s all that really matters!

Here is the three-step process:

‍Step 1: Reconcile your accounts

There is no point looking at the numbers on the Budget screen until your accounts are up to date and accurate. So we’ll tackle things on the accounts side first. 

If you have Direct Import set up and it’s been awhile since you opened YNAB, it’s likely been happily bringing in transactions while you were away. You have two options for handling unapproved transactions: 

• A.) Put on some music or a well-loved Netflix show and start categorizing and approving. 
• B.) Select them all, close your eyes, and hit “delete.” Yeah, your reports and averages won’t be as accurate but it’s a quick and easy fix. 

Once you’ve dealt with unapproved transactions, it’s time to reconcile your accounts. That means you want to make sure your account balances in YNAB match your balances at the bank. 

If you don’t know how to reconcile, we have a built-in feature and a handy guide to walk you through it. Or watch Hannah:

Although it may be tempting, now’s not the time to be an overachiever when it comes to tracking down every cent. Make a balance adjustment transaction and move on with your life. There's no shame in it! 

‍Step 2: Reset Available Amounts

Now that your accounts are sorted, it’s time to move on to the easy part. On the web app, there is a handy Auto-Assign button called “Reset Available Amounts.” That button does exactly what it says on the tin. It will set all your available balances in every category back to zero.

ALL your money will move back to Ready to Assign at the top of your budget. That big number should be nice and green. Focus on the pleasant green. Take a breath.

If you’d like to make any changes to your categories or targets, this is a good time to do it! Change the names of your categories, add new ones, and take a tour through your budget to check up on your targets. Are they still serving you well? If not, change them.

‍Step 3: Give every dollar a job

Now that you’ve reset your accounts and your budget, it’s time to go back to the YNAB Method. Start at the beginning and give every dollar a job. 

While your Ready to Assign amount will be a happy green, you’ll see a lot of red and yellow negative amounts in your budget. That’s all the past spending still hanging out in your budget. Cover all the negative available amounts first. With everything left over, ask yourself “What does this money need to do before I get paid again?” and assign your money accordingly. Keep going until Ready to Assign is back to zero! 

No matter how you do it, it’s important to remember that you can start over again at any time and still consider yourself a YNAB success story. Congrats!

Tune in next week when we’ll have Ben finally help us put that laundry away. In the meantime, keep on keeping on, you’re doing better than you think! 

‍Ready to do a deep dive exploration into your finances and feelings? Check out our Change Your Money Mindset workbook and email series to organize your finances, clarify your goals and priorities, and explore the “why” behind your spending.