[Community Question] How long have you been using YNAB for?

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

I’ve been in the game for about 8 months, but I’ve gone through like 4-5 different apps (I’m a Simple Bank refugee) before finding YNAB.

I definitely still spreadsheet, I can’t seem to give up my ultimate finance spreadsheet which has been in continuous use for almost a decade

I’ve been using YNAB for 2 years.

I have a spreadsheet that has over a decade of all transactions and historical net worth. However, I never incorporated an actual budget. YNAB is for the monthly budget and planning future purposes. Spreadsheet is because I need control and like to see our overall financial status.

3 years, I went off of it for 6 months thinking I could just manage it with a spreadsheet. I was somewhat successful but all the convenience YNAB gives you is really worth it and their bank syncing has gotten a lot better over the years.

I do a fresh start every year so I can see the year was 2015. Before ynab I used Mint while in college. There were mutliple small things that I wasnt liking about mint at the time, and I was now the breadwinner adulting while my other half was still in school. I happened upon ynab when it was transitioning from ynab4 to new ynab.

While ynab has good charts, I just love having a spreadsheet which has dynamic charts for utility bills, helps me see if my investment allocations are straying, and breaks down my ynab transactions via memo lines. I'm the kind of person who believes a spreedsheet can help solve any problem 😅

YNAB for many years (at least three) and I still miss it. Then I took a break and lost control of finances and signed up for new YNAB and it's worked well enough for the last 5 years.

I'd be a nervous wreck spending money if not for YNAB 😅

No spreadsheets for me now but that's how I started. I created a spreadsheet to emulate the envelope budgeting method. But YNAB categories filled that need and did it better so I switched over to that at that time.

I've been using it for most of the past seven years. I stopped using it and looked for cheaper alternatives at some point, but I realized that with the toolkit ynab is everything I need. If they ever break the toolkit for good I'm gone.

It wasn't my first budgeting app. I don't use a spreadsheet.

Using it for real since 2020 (had 2 failed attempts to use YNAB4 and nYNAB years ago). I had played around with Mint and I was a Simple bank user (only scratched the surface of their tools).

Halfway into my second year. I tell people it saved my life. Married to an accountant for a decade and I never learned to budget for myself growing up. After we split I had a choice to either live paycheck to paycheck or grow up and make a plan.

Spreadsheets, free apps, auto organizing subscriptions... Nothing really worked until ynab and it's worth every penny.

I'm using it for almost 2 years now and I've come to be almost addicted for all money other than investment accounts. I've gotten through most of my life without any budget tool. I just had a good sense of how much money was available. I'm amazed at how I've adapted to YNAB.

About 10 years, starting with YNAB4 after it was on a steam sale.

I used to use a (really crap) spreadsheet I built myself, which was fine when I was a student and had (relatively speaking) simple finances and little money. After a few years of work, getting credit cards, and having to deal with a lot of work-related travel expenses (which could often be over 1k a month) I needed something I trusted a bit more than my excel-fu.

I held out on transferring to "nYNAB" for about a year, mostly because of the bad habits I had got in to (right arrow, entering pay early, and not using credit cards properly), but haven't looked back since.

The only time I've considered leaving was the price hike - I was grandfathered in to the $45/yr tier - but the family / multibudget functionality brought me (and my partner) back as it meant the price basically stayed the same after we combined accounts.