Hi all, Another newbie question here. I manage our family’s cellphone plan, which is $199.90/month for 5 lines (two in our household, 3 from other family members). The other family members reimburse me using Venmo each month.
So, I set up a category with the target amount of $199.90, due on the date that our cell phone bill is due, as per YNAB’s recommendations. At the beginning of the month, I assigned $199.90 to that category. Then, when our family members’ venmo payments came in, I categorized those as inflows to the cell phone account. Now, waiting for the bill, I see:
- $199.90 in “assigned”
- +$120 in “activity”
- $319.90 in “available”
All of this makes sense to me. But, it seems like now I should be able to re-assign $120 to another category. If I try that, though, it suddenly shows the category as underfunded, despite the fact that I still have $199.90 available.
Am I misunderstanding how assigned / activity / available work? Why, after $120 of inflow, is YNAB still requiring me to keep $199.90 assigned?
Ooh, I have a system for exactly this that works very well for me!
I set up a category called “To Be Reimbursed”, with a no-date goal of $500. The aim for this category is to be at $500 minus whatever people owe me. To give you an example using your numbers and this system:
In your cellphone plan category, set a goal for $79.96 ($199.90/5*2 (since you cover two portions of the 5)). If your other members pay in advance, put the money in the To Be Reimbursed category (now it would $500 + the money they send you). When the bill comes in, you split it so the $79.96 comes out of your cellphone plan category and the other portion comes out of To Be Reimbursed.
This system is great because, if they pay late, it won’t affect your budget at all since you have the buffer. Also, as a nice extra thing, when someone pays me back for something, I add green flags to both the repayment and the transaction they are paying me back for so I can quickly see who still owes me.
Hope this helps!
Hmm interesting - might give this a try. I also will eventually need to figure out how to do this for work trips, medical stuff getting reimbursed out of an HSA, etc, so I will probably need to set a relatively high amount in this category. I guess that that makes sense, though, since I’m in essence extending a line of credit to all of these people.
So, in your system, do you feel like you get a good view of your spending in these categories? Or is everything just sucked up into the pluses and minuses of the reimbursement category (which may not be a big deal)?
In the To Be Reimbursed category, I do not, nor do I think I need it. In my mind, as long as I stay above zero and I can quickly see who still owes what, then that’s all the info I need!
The biggest benefit I find is that your budget then reflects your actual expenditures, which makes your “Under budgeted” in a future month actually show a correct amount.
Makes sense - thanks!