Here's a mid-month update. I kinda had forgotten the $20 challenge aspect to it. (see below) My spent month of $1073 is $519 less than my average per month last year. Adding back in the $39 I put into "savings" under the challenge, I saved $558 in March for the $20 challenge.



So why is my budget less than $1073? It’s all spelled out at Jesse’s YouNeedABudget.com site. For new folks: This is also my $20 challenge: I purchased JMJJ215’s budgeting software at www.youneedabudget.com, because I needed a way to track the challenge. I use Quicken for myself, but I am depositing more than $1073, so really needed a separate method, and I thought I’d try YNAB product. Here it is in a poorly imparted nutshell: If I overspent a category in March, I have to reduce my spending in April to catch up. Even though I spent less than $1073 in March, in some categories, like Workout, I overspent, and have to under spend in this month.

Why do some categories have a balance higher than the budget? It’s the flip side of the above, in a way. If I under spend, that category has “banked” money. I don’t pay $51 dollars a month for car insurance; I pay $304 two times a year. Using this system, I “bank” that money each month, without any work; the budget does it for me. When the Insurance Bill comes due, I’ll have that money. So my balances are this month’s budget, less this months expenditures, plus last months unspent money budgeted in that category.

So, my spent this month plus my balance should equal my monthly budget, $1073, plus my “banked” money of $71.28. (It’s off by a penny above on the chart – it’s a rounding issue, and I didn’t want to redo the chart as a graphic.)