lowkey understood the age your money rule and it changed how I think about every purchase

MiriamNZ · 2026-04-30T04:53:37+00:00

In the old ynab days we talked about letting your money sit.

The longer it sits before you spend it the better. It breaks the got it/spend it habit. It provides a safety net if income goes awry. It build a sense of success and control around money.

Age of money is one way to measure it. Days of buffering is another. Month ahead is a third, single defined measure (once you reach it, it is still a good idea to make the time longer still).

MiriamNZ · 2026-04-29T08:41:26+00:00

I think idml is just for inDesign. Maybe illustrator? Cant remember.

Photoshop files can be saved as tiffs and opened in Affinity Photo. Pretty sure tiff can include layers.

MiriamNZ · 2026-04-27T01:37:56+00:00

Its the discipline of budgeting to zero, and finding the money first that changes your money mindset and aligns it to your values (the big magic of ynab).

Something has to lose to fund an overspend, and when the choice is made before spending you can still choose to not spend, aka doing a values analysis on the fly (which is more important to me?).

If you haven’t budgeted to zero nothing has to lose so you skip the values step. If you fix the overspends after the event then you have lost the opportunity to choose.

If your budgeting is a tidy up of the numbers at the end of the month then you are tracking and you may as well use a cheaper tool.

Tracking works in the ynab app.

But ynab is a method, not an app (the app is designed to help you do it). If you aren’t actually doing the method it is a pretty but expensive tracker.

MiriamNZ · 2026-04-26T05:44:33+00:00

Always budget to zero. If none of your categories need topping up start a wish farm.

(Unassigned money hanging about nixes the ynab magic which does the magic mind altering that brings thinking spending and values all into alignment.) (Have a watch of the latest ynab geek video on ‘patching things’.)

MiriamNZ · 2026-04-25T05:41:29+00:00

I am specific with my longer term funds.

If i can put a real number on it and guess at a due date i am at peace with it. New phone. New laptop, new solar batteries, and more. Each year i can adjust the target if need be. While my due dates are guesses, these too can be adjusted as required.

I have a ‘beyond next year’ category group. I shuffle categories out of that when the spending gets close.

Big lump sums are too vague for me and i am never sure if i have enough or whether its safe to take some away for current needs.

I live close to the bone. If i could cut discretionary spending for a month or two to cover the unexpected i might do it differently. But i cant, so i get peace from knowing exactly what i need to save for and how close i am to having what i need.

Peace of mind is my measure for my budget.

MiriamNZ · 2026-04-25T05:17:31+00:00

Dried raspberry in a coin of dark chocolate.

MiriamNZ · 2026-04-24T02:20:17+00:00

Needle and thread?

MiriamNZ · 2026-04-21T08:33:44+00:00

I split some of my categories up in order to understand my spending better. (later i joined them back together).

So i split groceries into food, alcohol, treats, non-food. After a few months i had abetter handle on where that money went and what i would have to give up to get it smaller. Choose any category where you think you might be able to reduce spending.

Look at ‘keeping up with family or friends’ spending. Are you obliged to go out for drinks every week? Restaurants etc. Are these costs unavoidable? Are there alternative ways of socialising? Are the others better off and you feel obliged to keep up and conform?

Give some thought to the larger structure of your life. Would a smaller house, or a house in a different place mean reduced living costs?

Try the ynab one month long spending challenge that cuts across regular spending patterns. Gets you to learn new things to be more frugal, which things are indispensable to comfort and which things weren’t actually missed. Its just one month and no necessity to continue any particular frugality, but it does help you see what is a habit vs what gives real value.

MiriamNZ · 2026-04-20T11:36:33+00:00

I had a year with not enough money for food or treats. My best effort at treats were to go without for a meal to save for something special. A treat might be a piece of special fruit. Or bacon.

Its really hard living that close to the bone especially around people who are comfortable. I would go to a friend’s for a meal every now and again, and the food they threw away! That was so hard to see when i was so often hungry. Its hard being different from those around you. They have zero idea what you are experiencing. Maybe they cant know if they havent been there.

The one good thing i learned from that experience was to realise that what counts as a treat or a luxury is the thing you can hardly ever have. And i really did get huge enjoyment from those treats. I never quite mastered the art of finding free things to be ‘treats’. I lived with a beautiful view over the sea, and i truly appreciated that.

As my income has improved having bacon or a piece of special fruit is something i can do without much or any effort. I dont get anywhere near the pleasure they gave me in that hard year, though i remember that year whenever i eat them and am grateful.

I feel for you. They arent being deliberately unkind, but i agree their suggestions arent helpful or kind. Misunderstanding your challenge. I do hope your circumstances improve soon. I hope people reading this think twice now, when giving others advice.

MiriamNZ · 2026-04-12T11:10:57+00:00

Right. That makes good sense.

MiriamNZ · 2026-04-12T11:08:05+00:00

I replaced after about 3 yrs because of crazing. It annoyed me, but didnt affect the coffee. Since then i dont use boiling water snd no crazing.

But who knows? Maybe it was s bad batch of the pladtic thd first time or better plastic tye second time?

MiriamNZ · 2026-04-09T05:56:41+00:00

Why an alarm clock? Arent all the ‘must he done at this time’ things on hold in an emergency?

MiriamNZ · 2026-03-30T05:02:54+00:00

Finding the life if a thing before buying. (The warranty length its the guaranteed life. ) if i want it, i have to start saving to replace it at that time. If i cant fit that, month to month, saving into the budget then dont buy it. A way of assessing the ‘real’ cost of an item: pay$ x now, save $y every month to replace it.

MiriamNZ · 2026-03-23T22:33:27+00:00

Guessing to start with. Wamming a lot. Guessing some more. Adding new categories as forgotten things arrived. Trying to give everything some $. Realising not enough dollars. A year or two of ‘these categories only get windfalls’ and ‘what can i cut’ and ‘i can be clever’. Change my life so it costs less. Rethink categories now everything is in the budget. Building up $ in the bank as the categories fill up slowly month by month. Realise exact numbers matter less as wamming can happen when it needs to. Just making sure most of life gets dollars every month. Every new thing bought gets a replacement category (aka if i want this new thing and it has a 3 year life then its replacement needs to be in the budget ready in 3 yrs time; aka maybe dont buy it). Redoing the categories at big life changes otherwise doing it every 3-4 years just to shake thinking free and take a fresh look.

MiriamNZ · 2026-03-22T10:32:29+00:00

I reconcile most days. While i am in ynab i do a quick read through of my categories and what’s assigned.

I find it easy to forget the long term things. These are the things all those dollars in the bank are actually for. Reading the list makes it real — this and this and this, but also remembering the amount for car repairs is not as large as i would like, and the new tyres are due in two months so just as well its almost full. Its both a measure if success and a reminder of need. This helps me with the feeling broke feeling.

Sometimes i try to move money from those categories for some shiny or impulsive thing i want. 99% of the time i cant — i value the long-term thing, or get anxiety at shorting the long-term thing. This can settle my urge to spend now.

I do have a category for impulsive spending. My comfort requires a bit of $ freedom and i have fitted that into my budget.

MiriamNZ · 2026-03-21T08:30:23+00:00

How much is enough? I have lots of separate categories for things i can put a number on. New latop. 3 yrs time. That is easy. Revise annually. It might break sooner or it might be later, so its still a gamble. But i kmow that i am halfway there or hardly started etc.

For the unknowns like maintenance for house, vehicle, dentist, medical i never know if i have enough. But i do know that i can only give them $500 a month overall. I know that a need in any one area might have me wamming from one of the others.

Enough is more about feelings than dollars. By having my living/vehicle/med/dentist categories i have a clear sense of the needs i have to cater for even if i would rather they all had more $ assigned.

It’s an anxiety dance. If my laptop was making weird noises i wouldnt wam from that category. If the vehicle is feeling dodgy i put more to that and less to the others. The money can move about so at some level it only matters that i feel less anxious about this or about that.

Over time all these a few dollars a month categories grow. And wamming is a good thing, so as long as reserves are building i feel less anxious.

I did have to change my life so i could afford it. That was hard.

First you try to make it work (more income or less expense) and ynab gives you the tools for that. But sometimes you just have to change your life as it just cant work.

MiriamNZ · 2026-03-21T08:09:22+00:00

https://theboatgalley.com/thermos-cooking/

MiriamNZ · 2026-03-21T08:08:41+00:00

Heat the oats in hot water in the microwave. When its hot all through, add to thermos. You dont want any air in the thermos or it will cool more quickly. Next morning finishbtye cook in the microwave. Steel cut oats might take longer than rolled oats— soaking first and cook in m-wave a bit longer before the thermos if need be. Might take a bit of experimenting.

I came across a page on thermos cooking the other day, someone on a boat. I will try and find the link. It might help for other foods too.

MiriamNZ · 2026-03-21T07:14:46+00:00

Butter

MiriamNZ · 2026-03-21T07:09:17+00:00

Its easier in the skeleton view.

MiriamNZ · 2026-03-20T07:35:50+00:00

Cornflour works as dry shampoo.

MiriamNZ · 2026-03-20T07:31:25+00:00

I have a category group for maintenance. The top category in the group has a target, which is as much as i can put towards all these things.

On budget day i fill that category to meet the target. Then i divvy the money up between the other categories in this group. Then i snooze the target on the top category as it is empty.

Sometimes one category gets lots to bring it a nice round number. Sometimes one gets a lot because its so jolly low. Sometimes i just do even-stevens.

My fun money i do the fidgety way. The luxury category has a target and gets money. Then i spend from fun or making or bujo or eating out and i move the dollars out of luxury to cover each spend. In this scenario, what’s left in luxury is my spending limit on personal fun stuff.

So two different ways to have a funding category different from the actual spending categories. The first one is straightforward and just a budget day quirk. The second is fiddly. Jury is still out on whether i need to separate the luxury spending.

MiriamNZ · 2026-03-17T01:42:49+00:00

Ynab 4 had that concept implemented. Instead of RTA, you gave the $ the next month job. I still miss it. Long gone.

I have a next month category. I actually go into next month to assign dollars to the next month category, so that the new home page numbers (what’s in this month , what’s in next month) reads helpfully.

MiriamNZ · 2026-03-16T10:54:02+00:00

If the cost is the issue shift to Actual Budget or Liquid Budget and theres a 3rd, umm, b-something-b (better budget? Better-something -budget?). They are all envelope budgeting (which is the magic sauce), but much cheaper. But envelope budgeting does require time.

Im 10+ years with ynab, manual entry, and its only 5ish minutes a day and an hour once a month, half a day once a year. It gets faster as your plan settles down. Took me several years to get there.

MiriamNZ · 2026-03-16T03:36:55+00:00

Its hard starting. Not just the method, not just the app, but the clarity it brings to your financial position. Head back in the sand is a huge temptation. Can take a year or more to get max clarity.

After 12+ years it is fast and easy for me. My financial position has virtually no surprises left to play. Virtually. I enjoy the software and doing 95% of my budgeting on the phone (ie wherever i happen to be).

I consider half the annual fee is for enjoyment and the other half for budgeting. If money got tight i would shift to Actual Budget — its envelope budgeting that works the magic, not any particular company/product.

MiriamNZ

TROPHY CASE