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YNAB Tips

Your YNAB budget is like an onion: peel back the next layer of mastery with these posts to guide your way.

Level Up Your YNAB Budget

So you think you can budget? The good news is that you can—you’re probably already pretty good at it if you’re here. But what if I told you that you could budget even better?

Blast Off With YNAB

Learning YNAB is just the first step to simplifying your life by streamlining your finances. Level up your budgeting abilities by getting familiar with the tips and tricks that will help you manage your money more effectively and efficiently with YNAB’s coolest features.

See the Latest Budget Tips and Tricks

  • YNAB Budgeting Tips: Habits of Successful Budgeters

    This post about best budgeting tips and habits was created in collaboration with Todoist—a popular digital task manager. Someone on Twitter compared our collaboration to the Avengers coming together for the first time, and we feel the same way.
  • 6 YNAB Hacks You Might Not Know Existed

    Learn how to add emojis in YNAB, search on mobile, and more! These hacks will have you budgeting with more efficiency than a Tim Ferriss fanboy.
  • Welcome to the Wish Farm

    Welcome To The Wish Farm!

    There are many things to love about helping people learn YNAB in a live workshop. We get to chat with people of all backgrounds and financial circumstances. We get to help people build better financial futures for themselves and their families.

More YNAB Tips…

  • 5 Budget Categories You Need Right Now

    This month was a weird one for the ol’ budget. Well, I guess last month was weird too. You know, I can’t actually remember the last time we had a normal month. The truth is that months don’t feel normal because they’re not all the same! In December, we’re not paying for high electric bills …

    Read Blog Located in: Learn to Budget / Blog
  • The Five-Minute Budget Routine

    I always think that I won’t like a daily routine. Don’t hold me back, Routine! Stop trying to tie me down, Routine! I’m sorry, Routine, I just want to keep my options open, OK? But it never takes too long before I come crawling back…. Routine, I’m sorry—I’ll never stray again! You complete me! I …

    Read Blog Located in: Learn to Budget / Blog
  • 8 Tips to Master Your Budget in YNAB

    So, you’ve signed up for YNAB and learned our method. You understand why we budget a little differently, and you might now be a hardcore YNAB enthusiast (welcome to the club). If you’re looking to jazz things up a little, to scoot money around in your budget like a true YNAB pro, then we’ve got …

    Read Blog Located in: Learn to Budget / Blog
  • How to Save for a Vacation

    So you’re dreaming of your next vacation: a cozy cabin getaway, or a wide-open sandy beach: something to just get you away from your current grind. The location is almost set, now you just need to save money to get you there. Imagine this: what if you could pay for all of your travel costs …

    Read Blog Located in: Learn to Budget / Blog
  • 5 Tips for High-Income Earners Using YNAB

    I’m a software engineer in Silicon Valley, and I’ve been using YNAB for two years. Since starting YNAB, I’ve managed to cut 20% off my monthly spending overhead and track my FIRE progress. I’ve found that no matter how much you earn, a budget is still useful. Those with large incomes might find their salaries …

    Read Blog Located in: Learn to Budget / Blog
  • How YNAB Started: The Origin Story

    I’m biased, of course, but YNAB’s origin story is one of my favorites … Part One: The Birth Story Jesse, and his wife, Julie, have a lot of babies, but YNAB was their first. After getting married in February 2003, they quickly realized that they were even more broke than expected. We’re talking two full-time …

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  • What's a Fresh Start in YNAB (and How Do I Do One?)

    With the new year, there’s a lot of noise about new beginnings, clean slates, reinvention and do-overs. Or, as we like to call them here at YNAB, Fresh Starts. But, what is a budgeting Fresh Start, you might ask? Fresh Starts are a useful (and dare I say invigorating?) way for seasoned YNABers to see …

    Read Blog Located in: Learn to Budget / Blog
  • This Category Naming Hack will Level-Up Your Budget

    Every year in late December, I love sitting down with a brand-new paper planner and dreaming about what I’ll do next year. And every year, there was one goal that kept returning to the list: the elusive dream of new flooring. Prefer to watch instead of read? Click the video below! When we moved into …

    Read Blog Located in: Learn to Budget / Blog
  • Why Doesn't My Account Balance Match My Budget?

    You’re looking at your YNAB budget. Checking account balance: $1,029. But then you look at your bank, and you see your actual checking account balance: $972. Your account balances don’t match your budget! WHY? WHY?!!! Cue: despair, anger, frustration, gray hair (and that’s hair—plural). After poring over your transactions line by line, you can’t figure …

    Read Blog Located in: Learn to Budget / Blog

Thinking About Starting a YNAB Budget?

Budgeting is not restrictive. You won’t be spending less, you’ll be spending right. So what do you have to lose? Except all that debt and stress?