Make Saving Money Fun! | Build a Wish Farm in YNAB 

i know im asking randomly but does anyone know of a way to log back into an Instagram account..? I was stupid lost my password. I appreciate any assistance you can offer me!

@Elijah Santiago instablaster =)

@Cayden Xzavier thanks so much for your reply. I got to the site on google and I'm trying it out atm. I see it takes a while so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

@Cayden Xzavier It did the trick and I finally got access to my account again. I am so happy:D Thank you so much you saved my account !

@Elijah Santiago No problem :)

Haha! Yes, we definitely have a HANNAH category in the budget. 😂 - Ashley

Hannah - congrats on your blanket ladders!! Also, consider getting refurbed electronics r even looking on Craigslist. You can save SO much by getting something used. And even if you spend the same amount for used, the quality you'll get will be higher. Good luck on your wish farm!

I saw in your latest video that you got one, that’s so exciting!!

Lol, I have no idea what a blanket ladder is, but I'm imagining it's like a rope ladder for getting up into a bunk bed or something... but softer on the feet.

Ha ha! I had to Google blanket ladder when you mentioned it, I had visions of blankets attached to the ceiling to form some sort of ladder swing situation! 😂 oops 😂

Yeah. They need to hire her again and give her a pay rise.

We love hearing that! Hannah is so funny! 🌻 - Ashley

You can find more of Hannah's videos in this playlist - ru-vid.com/group/PLq0_N-XTl2yBbkXjvf_0768CFDTUblw0E! Thanks for watching! - Ashley

😂 Haha! Blanket ladders for everyone! - Ashley

What the heck is a blanket ladder??? 😳

@@TheJazzzter I have one. They’re amazing haha

Gurl, MASTER than monayyyy!! We LOVE that! It's never too late to get started, and we're also never old enough that we'll simple have it "all figured out." I love this community because of the transparency and encouragement that exists here! We're cheering you on, and can't wait for you to get even further into your budgeting journey! It's worth it. -Hannah 🌻

Hello Hannah! Could you please make an update video showing this process? I am from Poland and do not fully understand this instruction :( I am more of a visual person! Thank you, I am at my 34-days trial (its my 3rd day) and I will definitely buy a yearly subscription. YNAB is a game changer!

This is SO much better, I'll even use this feature on purpose similar to the wish farm

K P, you just made our week! Thank you so much! - Ashley (& Hannah too 😄)

I came here to say the same. Super helpful!

I only watch Hannah too! LOL

Oh, wow! The sculpting course sounds amazing, Jami! 👩‍🎨 - Ashley

@@YNABofficial It is - Grand Central Atelier is an amazing place to study art. grandcentralatelier.org/workshop/portrait-sculpture-expressions/

SAME! I would like one too please!

It’s in other videos. This just addresses how to do a “wish farm.” I’ve never heard of it before and it certainly helps picturing sinking funds for “like to haves” this way (in addition to teaching people to prioritize their wants).

Tori, that incredible! Congrats on building a beautiful life for you and your daughter. I wish you all the success, and the King of Queens series sounds like the perfect 30th birthday gift to yourself! 🥳 - Ashley

😂😂😂 SURPRISE! No farm involved. 😉 Love this! - Hannah :)

Ha! When people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I never would've guessed the funny budgeting lady. But here we are! Ha! Zoo keeper wouldn't have panned out anyway... -Hannah :)

@@YNABofficial Haha! I believe in you. It's not too late to become the Tiger Queen!

@@YNABofficial girl, you're funny. Love your videos bc of your great personality

I believe it's a box with a retractable cup holder that you can use to hold your hot (or cold) beverage while streaming Netflix

😂

So glad to hear it, Samantha! Check in every once in a while and we'll keep the content comin' for ya! - Hannah :)

Jolyon, let us know how it goes for ya!! - Hannah :)

@@YNABofficial Well, I may have binged on your videos for a while... then I went off and had a lengthy conversation with support regarding documentation. Right now though, I'm just glad I've got a steady job, a safety net category, and a budget to get through the rocky road of the next few months. Keep up the good work :-)

Yes!! Jolyon, we are so glad you're feeling set and secure too!! These are crazy times, and these times are exactly why we budget!! Best of luck to ya during this corona season :) - Hannah :)

Hey there, Amy! It kind of depends. If it's gonna take a WHILE to save up for or I won't be buying it for a while, I'll likely leave those dollars in savings until it's time to make the purchase. But if it won't be long before I'll have the item funded I'll just leave it in my checking. The beauty of YNAB is, if you're frequently reconciling, you can refer to your *budget* to see how much money you have available for something, *not* your bank account. I've found since I started budgeting with YNAB it doesn't matter how much money I have in each bank account or how it's divided up among those accounts-now I just refer to my budget to know which dollars are supposed to do what. It gives awesome clarity to my bank account even though from the outside it looks just like a big, vague sum of money. Also, I've *had* an emergency account at my bank, but I just recently decided to roll those emergency dollars into my savings account, so now I only have three bank accouonts: checking, savings, and future home. Nice and simple! YNAB gives me the clarity and granularity I need. -Hannah :)

Some of us still have DVD players and don't have a TV that connects to iTunes ;)

Thought the same thing. If you already have a DVD player that is fine. But all of my movies/tv series are now on iTunes. 👍🏼

I love this one she did recently - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-eLjYlZDc2tI.html! I'm not familiar with Sunday Cool Tees, but I'll look him up. 😄 - Ashley

Haha, thanks Michele!! 🌻 Hannah

You certainly can. I do! Use the Target Goal with or without a date.

Okay Roger, hold up. You are brilliant. I LOVE the harvested category group idea!! Keeps transactions sorted and is a running list of all you've accomplished! If only you were around three months ago... -Hannah :)

I think it has to do with how YNAB used to handle deleting categories that had associated transactions. Before, when you deleted a category, it messed up your budget, because it didn't know what to do with the transactions that were marked for the category you deleted. This video Is 3 years old, so they've since fixed this issue. Now, when you delete a category, it asks you for a new category to take it's place. Hope that helps.

Two thumbs up to what Ricky said! It's definitely easier these days than it used to be. Just delete the fulfilled wish farm category, reassign any transactions contained within that category to another appropriate category when the app prompts you to, and bump a brand new category up into your wish farm! Easy peasy! 🌻 Hannah

Hey Tyler! Great catch! That's actually just a demo error, filmed a little out of order. One the bed for Julep was fully funded, I would move that whole amount to my "Dog" category, leaving that small wish list slot completely empty and ready for a new wish to take it's place! Hope that helps clarify-you caught me! ;) -Hannah

I was wondering that too! Thanks for clarifying

Hey Shaun! Not as of yet! For the bike, I'd add it to your wish farm as a large item, or depending on what speed/dedication you want to move at on saving for the bike, you could move it to another category group and put a more hefty saving goal on it. As for the home, we're looking at developing a little content on home buying this summer! -Hannah :)

Doxie-great questions! You can go ahead and set Target Balance goals for ALL your categories (whether they've been moved to the Wish Farm or are still on your Wish List) because that type of saving goal just lets you toss in whatever amount of money overtime. But, in response to your second question: yes! Once an item has been moved to the Wish Farm, it can certainly be deleted from the Wish List (because no money movement will ever happen in the wish list). In THAT case, you're totally right, it makes the most sense to add your Target Balance goals to ONLY your Wish Farm items instead of your all your Wish List items. Good catch! -Hannah :)

When my husband and I started a budget with YNAB back in August, my first priority was to get $1000 in an emergency fund. I know that's not a huge emergency fund if one of us were to lose our job, but it's a start!

Great question! For me, I set up a monthly goal on my emergency fund and have been putting in the same amount every month till I hit my goal. My wish farm items just get any leftover trickle of possible cash that didn't get assigned anywhere else. I often petsit or do odd jobs for people, and I'll usually divvy all that money up between my wish farm items or split half-and-half between wish farm and emergency fund. I also like your idea of transferring the unspent money to your emergency fund-I do that same thing, but put that extra money toward my student loans. It's really personal preference and what level of urgency you have to put that extra cash away! -Hannah :)

Doxie-a start is the very best thing you can do! I think $1,000 is a very honorable goal. Then, if you reach it, you can always say, "Let's go for $2,000!" Smaller goals are easier to meet and more encouraging (though saving $1,000 is no small feat!). Best of luck!! -Hannah :)

I hate it when I am not notified of responses... but anywho... i digress @@doxiedonna , Like Hannah said, $1000 is a great start! And anything that's > $0 is better than $0 :) Hannah also mentioned that having small goals is a great way to ensure that you'll reach them. Having a lot of small wins is a lot more attainable than 1 large win (that is the sum of all those small wins). Keep at it! I know you guys will get there!

@@YNABofficial I also do my monthly contributions to my emergency fund and, since I don't have any interest-bearing debts, I shift unspent $$ to my emergency fund. Speaking of emergency fund... What is a good way to look at the emergency fund? I know that this is personal finance and everyone has something that works for them, but I was wondering how others are looking at their EF categories. I tend to break up my EF into bunch of small sub-categories: Auto insurance deductible, medical expenses, income loss, etc. Then, I try to max out smaller targets before getting to the larger target - income loss. Is that something that you would advise users or am I overcomplicating things for myself? Thanks again!

Robert-no fear, I got your back!! docs.youneedabudget.com/article/196-using-emoji-in-your-budget - Hannah :)

Thanks for watching, Ghalia! - Ashley

No worries, Juan-we'll be updating this video soon!! -Hannah 🌻

I think you could, but then you wouldn't be able to delete the completed wish item

That would work, but eventually you're going to have a ton of hidden categories piling up. Also, your reports aren't going to reflect 100% accurately. I'm OCD so the hidden categories bother me. 😅 I also think it's good to reflect on your total spendings in your reports from time to time and make sure the spending lines up with your priorities, so every dollar matters!

Oh, I'm SURE she'll make an appearance soon! I'll see how I can incorporate her :) -Hannah :)

Hi, Steven & Tracey! If you are on the mobile app, Kelly shows you how here - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SAZ4vF3jsvI.html. And here is how to do it on your computer - docs.youneedabudget.com/article/196-using-emoji-in-your-budget. - Ashley

@@YNABofficial Thanks!

@@YNABofficial These are TOO CUTE! YES! My budget is now 126% cuter!! :)

...because you will leave past financial moves unaccounted for which just messes stuff up. You can delete the category from the Wish LIST if you haven't put in/taken out any money without consequence.

​@@rebeccamarkley5231 But wait, if the wish farm category is back at zero after moving the money into its final destination, wouldn't it be possible then to delete the item? I mean, if no money is ever spent directly from the wish farm, no activity would be recorded, right? I think I might be missing something here.

Actually, if you have been putting money into your wish farm category, then those "deposits" for lack of a better term are transactions that will be left hanging if you delete the category. You put $30/month in your Blanket Ladder category until you get to $67. If you then spend the money and delete the category, those historical entries will be negated and things will go wrong. If you just move the money from Blanket Ladder to your permanent Household category and then assign the purchase transaction to Household, all will be well. Then instead of deleting the item, you can rename it. Alternatively, you can Hide it (if you want to keep a record of your wish farm items), but it is cleaner to just rename the same category line and start growing your next Wish Farm Wish. It is not easy to explain or understand, but I have DONE the delete thing, and it just isn't pretty.

It's up to you! I personally keep my vacation category *outside* of my Wish List because I want to be certain I'm contributing a consistent amount to that category every month, where as I only trickle extra money into my Wish Farm as I come by it, which means some months I may be contributing little-to-none to it. Also, if you know the date of your vacation I'd want to add the "by date" feature to my Target Balance goal, and with my Wish Farm items I'm generally not tacking on the "by date" feature since I'm not looking to acquire those items by a certain date. Hope this helps! It's truly whatever you want! -Hannah :)

Hey Desiree! Great question. The truest answer is it's all up to you and your priorities. However, one great think about the wish farm is that you can trickle extra money in as you come by it or just throw in a few extra dollars here and there! The wish farm doesn't have to be your main project or get a huge wave of your cash every month. I think you'll be more comfortable if you're a month ahead and it will make saving for wish farm items seem much easier and guilt-free, but there's no reason you can't do a little of both at the same time! -Hannah :

Thanks! I love your videos so so much!