Who what why
My Budgeting Journey
Financially, my early 20s were marked with a constantly maxed out credit card and zero money management habits. I would have spending bonanzas on paydays and later find myself with more days remaining than dollars in my bank account. I'd put off car maintenance because of the expense, which compounded as more items needed repairing and costing even more. I had no visibility into my spending or planning beyond the next bill. Eventually, I signed up for Mint. This was an improvement, but only helped track my spending and didn't provide the tools for deciding what I needed my money to do.
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Fast forward - I got married and we attempted to button up our system, however we were still happy just to make it to payday. I started keeping track of things in spreadsheets I proudly created, forecasting our income and expenditures as far out as a year. It looked great, however there was still the difficulty of getting our plan to match up with execution. There was a disconnect. We struggled with preparing for large expenses we could see on the horizon, and credit card debt crept up.
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In January 2020, frustrated by another holiday season marked by overspending, we found YNAB. Despite the rollercoaster of events that soon followed due to COVID-19, everything about YNAB had clicked and we navigated with a new financial awareness that enabled us to quickly and easily adapt our spending and saving priorities with a connected budget reality.
YNAB
You Need A Budget is budgeting software based on a powerful method of decision-making and perspective. There are 4 principles YNAB gives as the basis for how to successfully budget within their allocation style system:
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Give Every Dollar A Job
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Embrace Your True Expenses
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Roll With The Punches
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Age Your Money
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Simply stated another way, YNAB asks you to:
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determine what the money you have right now should do,
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proactively plan for irregular and non-monthly expenses,
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adapt and change your budget to reflect reality, and
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work towards getting ahead to reduce payday stress.
There's a lot that YNAB does well to help enable all this, but it still requires dedication from you - it's not set it and forget it. Together, we can work to establish sustainable habits and how YNAB's software can live within your daily life.
Becoming
a budget coach
I started Budget Better because I believe there's people out there who really wish they could get help with this money stuff but aren't sure who they can turn to, what to ask, or even if they should ask. Doesn't everyone have it all together?
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YNAB's method changed our lives, and I think if people can change how they think of budgeting it can have the same effect for them. Budget Better is here to help with the learning curve, talk through your specific situation, and provide accountability on your journey to budgeting bliss.
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As a personal finance coach laser-focused on budgets and financial literacy, I don't provide investment advice. I don't help with taxes, long term financial planning, estate planning, or insurance. There's specific professionals available for those things I can point you toward if needed. I do, however, provide perspective or suggestions of areas in your budget you may want to re-evaluate, if you're open towards making those changes. Budgeting is not meant to be restrictive. Budgets are personal, one size doesn't fit all, and they're a living representation of your priorities. At the end of the day, I want to help you learn how to budget in a way that honors your priorities and achieves your goals.