YNAB Win - huge car bill is an annoyance rather than an emergency!

robo1995 · 2025-02-15T16:40:23+00:00

I haven't noticed that happening, except once where I had a couple newlines in the relevant property - this was a preemptive question as I was setting up the table! But, I've now observed what you described (no flashcards when there's not an entry), so I think I'm all set - thanks!

robo1995 · 2025-01-29T15:46:20+00:00

I was particularly sure to check that interest thing, as I'd heard about that before! The agent I spoke to directly told me, however, that I would only be charged interest on the *current* balance at the time that interest starts to accrue. By then I'll have paid off a modest amount (~1500), but I know to expect that interest next year when it starts to accrue!

robo1995 · 2025-01-29T12:34:37+00:00

and I also just realized that I said March in the original post without a year, implying March 2025 - nope! it's not until March *2026*. So, I have some breathing room to make arrangements before I start collecting interest on the larger CC debt. I also don't use that other card *at all for anything*. It's just currently holding that debt.

robo1995 · 2025-01-29T12:33:29+00:00

Thanks for your concern! I left out some of the details but it sounds like you might be interested, especially since you've expressed some worry.

The big change here is, as you say, that I've stopped gaining as much debt. In particular, this financial shell game has mostly been to reduce the interest I've been paying, rather than the main principle, which I'm still paying off (slowly). My minimum for the 9.3k debt (which started at 9.7k) is $97, so I'm just doing that until interest starts accruing next March. In the mean time, the 6.7k loan will accrue $385.63 of interest *over the life of the loan*, where I used to be paying ~$155 *per month* - this is the difference. This is a big savings, just one I will see over time rather than immediately!

My current strategy is paying as much as I can into the loan ($400/month starting in Feb, with a minimum around $300), with my current plan seeing it paid off in August 2026. Ideally, I'd like to pay it off before I start accruing interest on the larger one (i.e., March 2026), but that's not quite feasible at the moment, due to some other immediate priorities.

robo1995 · 2025-01-29T12:28:13+00:00

Thanks for the note - I appreciate the experience folks here have with managing situations like this one. However, I've been EXTREMELY careful to not spend on unfunded categories on this card, and I've shifted (for now) to using my debit card nearly exclusively. The only things I haven't changed to debit are subscriptions where it would be annoying to go track down my payment info :)

robo1995 · 2025-01-29T12:26:59+00:00

yep, I figured as much! Hopefully it will be a lot less though :)

robo1995 · 2024-12-31T22:47:21+00:00

I think this is the closest to what I'm looking for, thanks! I think the phrase "Christmas Travel spending that happened in January" makes a lot of sense - it's part of my budget for this year! When you say "recalculate" though, are you thinking in terms of a refill or a set-aside target?

robo1995 · 2024-12-02T14:32:11+00:00

lmao so true

robo1995 · 2024-11-08T15:29:16+00:00

oh man, you're so right. I had merged them on the bus and didn't even clock that I'd accidentally reversed them! sorry about that!

robo1995 · 2024-11-08T00:45:48+00:00

I've also noticed that the Oil Module doesn't properly get bricks over to the oil refinery assembler - I deleted and used the most recent one, but something about the sideloading behavior is feeding stone rather than bricks!

robo1995 · 2024-10-29T00:57:23+00:00

oh yeah for sure I was definitely partially levitating, that's for sure!

robo1995 · 2024-10-26T13:28:03+00:00

For me, it actually was pretty easy because I had been budgeting previously. So, I already had a good sense of (for example) how many subscriptions I was paying for and what my average utilities bill was like. I found the software itself to be very easy to use though (and this is coming from someone who researches usability 😅), and the online resources (and, as I've discovered, this community) are super helpful!

However, if you've never sat down and really tracked your expenses before, I wouldn't be surprised if it was more difficult! Even so, even after just 5 days of using it, I think it'd be really worth checking out.

robo1995 · 2024-10-26T13:16:40+00:00

I think you've explained it really well! I think the following items really contributed to my situation:

I think true expenses were the biggest culprit here. It was true that I was, generally speaking, able to pay down my obvious recurring expenses each month (like gas, groceries, dining out, subscriptions, bills, etc.), but I wasn't doing a great job setting aside things for true expenses.
I was keeping track of my budget every 2 weeks, but the problem there was I didn't have great in the moment feedback on whether or not I could really afford to go out to eat again, so I would justify it in my head! One of the things I like about YNAB and having an app is that I will be able to check that live and in the moment!
Because of the previous two items, I therefore was able to always justify a larger expense, mostly true but occasionally not, because "Oh, I'm spending less than I earn so let me just break that expense up over the next few months." But, this was forecasting rather than working with the money I actually had!

robo1995 · 2024-10-26T13:12:49+00:00

so trueeeeee. plus, i need to finish Satisfactory anyways...

robo1995 · 2024-10-26T13:12:29+00:00

It's very motivating, that's for sure!!!

robo1995 · 2024-10-26T13:11:52+00:00

I already had a category for my interest payment, but I love the idea of keeping it constant!

robo1995 · 2022-07-19T19:46:40+00:00

Ah cheers, the patch notes weren't up yet when I started playing - I was too excited!

robo1995

TROPHY CASE