Is one of your goals getting control of your finances?
A few years ago, we went from a double-income, no kids family to a single-income, growing family. One of our first steps when we made this change was to get immediate visibility and control over the way we spent our money.
I’m a little nerdy so my answer to a challenge is usually ‘there’s an app for that’. So, I started
using the ‘You Need a Budget’ software and app. I converted from Quicken, which I literally populated every April 1st in a desperate, last-minute attempt to figure out our taxes. I’ve now used YNAB for the past 4 years consistently on a daily and monthly basis. It has
- Allowed us to set up a simple family budget, that we actually use to guide our spending
- Given us visibility into what we’re spending & if we need to adjust (e.g. cook at home a little more)
- Enabled us to manage emergency/unplanned expenses (super helpful when our roof sprang a leak)
- Provided an easy way to get out data for taxes
If you’re looking for a way to take control of your finances for 2017, check out YNAB….I’m hoping it will help you as much as it has us.
