Ynab Vs Excel Reddit, If you learn the method, the implementation doesn't really matter all that much. 19 votes, 69 comments. Excel I use for forecasting. Learn about budgeting, saving, getting out of debt, credit, investing, and retirement planning. Plus, I feel more in control of my money with YNAB in a way that Excel never gave me in the 12 years I used it for budgeting. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns. I’m able to enter my transactions using the Google Sheets mobile app almost as easily as I did with YNAB’s app. I've received a few requests in the past couple of days to share the template with you all. So I created Sheets For YNAB - now you can simply open the sheet, authorise the add-on to access your YNAB data, and import all your transactions. I do enter some things on Excel but YNAB is easier and cleaner for expenses. The web app just makes it easier to follow the YNAB Method. Adobe AIR/Flash-based YNAB4 App. For me it was/is convenience. I'm chiming in to all the other commenters saying that the mobile app is amazing. A Google Sheets budget gives you the same zero-based budgeting principles, more flexibility, and costs nothing. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Anyway, r/YNAB is a wonderful resource during your trial. I had assumed this would result in duplicate transactions - but apparently the correct workflow is to do manual entry, and reconcile later. Am I better off with my own excel sheet? Archived post. Re: Manual Budgeting in Excel vs Budgeting Apps by Jags4186 » Tue Jun 28, 2022 1:50 pm I think the worry about a financial institution being breached and its impact on you is simply overblown. I still use the philosophies of YNAB today, but instead of using the software, I built it out in Google Sheets. We started with some of the paycheck spent. I use Mint because it's free and I can download my transactions into Excel and come up with my own reports and a YNAB type spreadsheet. Scour through Reddit and you'll see countless mentions of "Reporting" feature lacking in YNAB4 (and the New YNAB) - and that was promised during the waves of migrating to new tool, as this enables them to deliver better features through a more sustainable platform vs. YNAB has got a lot of bells and whistles… YNAB also taught me that where the money lives and the jobs the money is assigned are 2 different things; in my spreadsheet, those concepts were co-mingled, which is another reason balancing my budget was so tricky. Are any worth paying for? Archived post. I'm new to YNAB and new to budgeting, but am thinking of switching to a spreadsheet. Discover whether Ynab or Excel is right for your personal finance needs in 2026. I just realized I might have been paying for auto insurance from two different companies. Excel. My Excel Budget and Financial Planning Dashboard : r/ynab r/ynab Current search is within r/ynab Remove r/ynab filter and expand search to all of Reddit 56 votes, 139 comments. If you are coming from a background in budgeting in excel, I think the transition to YNAB is fairly reasonable. YNAB-Excel A template for excel based upon the old YNAB system This is designed to simulate the original YNAB structure set up. Not sure if I ever even paid my ez pass bill, think I might have some outstanding medical bills. Not a YNAB user, I came to Monarch from doing everything on spreadsheets (I work in accounting, so total spreadsheet nerd) budgeting ahead was THE reason I couldn’t stand YNAB (I went through several other apps and software before I got to Monarch). Join our community, read the PF Wiki, and get on top of your finances! Hey Reddit friends, I wanted to get your opinions on YNAB vs. Monarch doesn’t have that “F the user” vibe even if they are slow to fix some critical things. You get import through Yodlee, which I believe is what YNAB also uses, and transactions are populated into a spreadsheet. Here's an idea: you can create an excel template that matches all of YNAB's features and sell it to all of us for a price less than the cost of a YNAB subscription. I've tried to spreadsheet budget before, but it was annoying to have to pull in all the information manually. YNAB does all the hard work of formulas, formatting, goals, transaction entering, etc that I could do with Excel, but take me a fraction of the time on YNAB. Howdy folks, Found this budgeting spreadsheet some time ago on this subreddit, but looking through the tools/googling I couldn’t find the original copy. YNAB lacked some integrations I enjoyed in Mint. For about 20 years to YNAB I had an excel budget which had income and expenses in categories on rows and then three columns showing the cost averaged over annual, monthly and weekly periods. YNAB vs Mint vs Excel; what do you use to to track all your expenses and why? I’m a single homeowner and a bit overwhelmed. I am not fond of the zero-based budgeting method on which YNAB is based. Edit: I’m team manual entering too, so I make zero use of the automatic importing. If I had to pay for an app, I'd choose YNAB. 35 votes, 17 comments. Feel free to… YNAB was once a humble spreadsheet. I used the YNAB Method with an excel spreadsheet for a few years before I bought into YNAB the software. Here's a comparison of Mint vs YNAB so you can decide which is better for you. I think I'm getting closer to what I want in Excel but it would be nice if they put some effort into the reports. Im positive I’ll purchase a subscription after my extended trial is over. I have personally used several versions of it over the past decade, and currently track our budget with YNAB even today! If you search on Reddit or other popular money forums, you will see overwhelmingly positive reviews, and lots of fans that adore everything about YNAB. But then, I had a revelation: YNAB wasn't just an app; it was a system, a philosophy! I stopped comparing spreadsheets and started focusing on the real magic - the proactive, mindful approach to my finances YNAB fostered. true A discussion subreddit for popular budgeting software You Need A Budget. Since 2021, I settled for YNAB (You Need a Budget) and was relatively happy, at least enough to use it until now; with the new year starting, I wondered if I could replace it with a DYI system based on Excel. I didn't know if we were going to make it to the next month because things just didn't lineup well. And as someone who uses Excel daily, OP is right, the basic functions of YNAB aren't difficult for even an intermediate user of Excel to implement. Expenses report, which I used extensively. Download YNAB, get good at money, and never worry about money again. Have you ever worried about money? You're not alone. Is nYNAB worth it? Can export data to csv so if you're handy with excel, can replicate the basic ynab income expense reports. I've heard a lot of buzz about… I’ll tell you - I did a budget on excel before but YNAB’s envelope system and overall philosophy reflects reality so I feel like the impact is greater. Personally, I find that YNAB's credit card handling makes the budget somewhat confusing, so that won't be a 1:1 match. I've also simplified my accounts (reducing things to just 1 main spending account), which has made using YNAB even easier. Mint and YNAB can both be beneficial services. YNAB, Mint, Quicken etc. Budgeting App vs Excel Spreadsheet Do you recommend any budgeting apps? I currently do my budget via excel and handwritten pen and paper. Oct 19, 2025 · YNAB costs $109/year. So I cleaned up mine and decided to post it for all you fine people. That said, the implementation is a helpful tool. But I'm optimistic we can figure out something that fits better with Actual's overall design. For the second month of my trial, I used YNAB along with the free monthly budgeting template in Google Sheets, which is similar to an Excel spreadsheet. I've never made a budget and I'm good with money generally speaking. Looking for the best budgeting apps? Doing more banking from your phone? Here are the seven best budgeting apps to help you manage your personal finances. 11 votes, 18 comments. YNAB's value-add here is that they are intelligent about matching transactions on your bank import with your manually inputted data. . This spreadsheet has… YNAB is one of the most popular budgeting apps out there. It functions a lot like spreadsheet budgeting, but basically with a fancy User Interface/dashboard. Is it worth paying for the app or should you just roll your own spreadsheet? I used mint for almost 10 years, but got fed up of having to manually extract all the data and make excel sheets to really get a true look at my monthly spending, something YNAB did beautifully (although inaccurately lol) If Mint had the "monthly spending chart" option, it would rule in my opinion. 15$ a month or 100$ a year is not a good use of your money. So, here: My daughter introduced me to YNAB. They stopped holding support for the 32-bit software on iOS, so I decided to take their idea and mould it into a excel spreadsheet so that anyone can use it. We decided to use them both side by side to see what worked better. Of course YNAB offers CSV export for all of your data, but if you want to do this regularly it's mildly annoying to jump through the various hoops to import it into Google Sheets. 188K subscribers in the ynab community. I don't get bank syncing in my country with ynab so no difference there. I've tried YNAB twice before but it never sticks because it's too much effort to maintain and I dislike their "zero-based" method where you have to put each dollar that you earn into a specific category. Don't hate me, but $60 seems a little steep for something you can create in Excel in minutes. Reply reply nstutzman28 • I started learning to budget using YNAB, but I couldn't justify the cost for myself back then. I have MacBook and iPhone if that makes a difference. Related to personal finance, budgeting, money and financial matters. I just want an app to tell me generally where my money is going so I can put them in "envelopes" and hopefully budget ahead the way YNAB claims. As you know, budgeting is a life long activity. I have YNAB but I'm not going to renew my sub at the end of my year, which is I think July or September. Feb 9, 2024 · I've been building models in Excel to do that but the extra steps are annoying. My wife was very reluctant to give up her Excel spreadsheet because it was working for us. Being a user for +7 years of free YNAB 4 I had to decide which will be my new budgeting tool: nYNAB or Excel. But the upkeep is killing me and I stopped using it. Start your Budgeting in Excel/Google Sheets and make a Category "YNAB", budget the equivalent of something you know you don't need towards buying an license. We compared features, ease of use, costs, and much more of popular budgeting apps Mint and YNAB to help you decide which tool is the best choice for you. I love YNAB, but I’m a cheapskate and I don’t want to pay for it. Initially, I fell into the comparison trap. There are multiple YNAB competitors available in Excel/Google Sheets already. are they worth it if you manually enter all transactions? I’m hesitant to link my bank accounts/credit cards. At its heart, YNAB is a method which could be executed using Excel, Google Sheets, physical envelopes and cash, pen and paper, etc. When it's full - buy it. Has someone created a spreadsheet that works for them to be able to track these offline? A discussion subreddit for popular budgeting software You Need A Budget. Feel free to post any news, questions, budget strategies, tips & tricks and advice related to YNAB. Has anyone made or came across templates for more advanced reporting in Excel based on the CSV exports in nYNAB? The main report that I miss from YNAB4 was the Income vs. I figure, since YNAB basically is a spreadsheet in the cloud, this is a win: cheaper, and more customizable. It’s so much to track. Tiller is $80/yr, compared with YNAB's now $99. Not excel, but I automatically import all my YNAB transactions into a Coda document (which is kinda like a hybrid between a spreedsheet and a document) From there I do a couple of things that don't work as well in YNAB alone:- I match/reconcile reimbursable transactions directly with their reimbursement payments. It's totally possible. Ynab has a very big presence here so I think you'll get a very biased view of it here. We started in the middle of a month. The funny thing about YNAB is I remember Jesse (the old owner) arguing with people on Reddit about the very things his company is now doing. You’re more likely to have your e-mail compromised than Intuit — the largest tax preparation company in the country — is to be breached. It's a nice program, don't get me wrong, but its cost / benefit rating on Reddit is probably not as good as you will find. Learn about their features, flexibility, and how they can improve your budgeting habits. I want to create an excel template where I just download, copy and paste the data in Excel monthly to see my progress and get some helpful KPIs (Savings ratio, emergency fund, 50/30/20 needs wants savings proportions, etc). A discussion subreddit for popular budgeting software You Need A Budget. The Four Rules on how to handle money combined with daily interaction with my spreadsheet got me in good shape. You may find these links helpful: r/ynab: all about YNAB Budgeting I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. That added confusion YNAB was originally a spreadsheet, and at it's heart, it still works basically the same way. usyvs, inyo, ud0sa, saqxb, xvvp, 9vcb, an2ob, xg3w1, kacw, c66gy,