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?
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)?
do you feel like you get a good view of your spending in these categories?
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.