Tracking your pennies is critical to improving your event’s return on investment and managing your total cost, but you don’t have to be a math whiz to keep your event planning budget on track. Blowing your budget on swanky cocktails or headlining entertainment might seem like a good idea, but if you don’t have any budget left to promote your event, you won’t be able to attract any attendees to sip those drinks or enjoy the entertainment. Once your finances become more complicated you might consider something like Quicken, but not before you have multiple retirement and bank accounts.Coming up with an event budget isn’t the most fun part of the planning process, but without a thorough understanding of every dollar you spend, you’re setting yourself up to overspend.
That being said, try the 30 day trial and see if you like it or not. I think that is equally easy to do in a regular spreadsheet. YNAB is basically just a budgeting tool that lets you categorize and organize your spending, helps you make a budget, and then you can see how you are doing compared to your budget.
YNAB is very different from Quicken but I didn't realize that (my fault). I would say that's about as much as I would spend on it. I bought YNAB during the Steam sale when it was $15. I have the premier deluxe or whatever, cost me $75. I check my statements every week through Quicken and pay my bills using the data in Quicken. I use Quicken because it captures all my accounts and my SO's accounts and updates it every time I run it.
If you don't feel the extras justify the cost after a month, it will at least give you some ideas on how to setup a budget in the various free alternatives.Īnyway, I have YNAB and Quicken. It will give you an easy way to jump into generating and tracking a budget. I would absolutely recommend that you grab the trial. I think YNAB is an excellent tool and has provided me with enough value to justify my original purchase, but, as others have pointed out, the most important piece of any budget is your own willingness to stick to it.
She's a more visual person, so being able to show spending comparisons of the last X months in 3-4 clicks is very useful to us. While setting up the monthly budget, my wife and I do a review of the previous few months as well.
transactions are hidden, but available in a popup at one click).ģ) The desktop software has some nice, easy to generate charting functionality. the budget window gives a good summary of totals. YNAB's interface does a good job of showing pertinent information where you'd expect to see it (e.g. Again, while YNAB doesn't really do anything that you couldn't do with a spreadsheet, I find it easier to enter and track information in YNAB. The app itself is free with purchase.Ģ) The interface is intuitive and user friendly. This means we don't have to carry receipts around for entry at home and the entries synch across all three devices (two phones and the primary desktop). My wife and I use it daily to track purchases at point of sale. The core budgeting functionality can be duplicated by any cheap (or free) spreadsheet program, but YNAB does have a few extra bonuses included that make it superior to a raw spreadsheet.ġ) The Mobile App is by far the most useful bonus.
I don't regret paying full price for it at all, but when recommending it to others I do recommend waiting for a Steam Sale on it.Īs others have said, it is a glorified spreadsheet. I've been using YNAB for a little over a year now. Here, please treat others with respect, stay on-topic, and avoid self-promotion.Īlways do your own research before acting on any information or advice that you read on Reddit. Get your financial house in order, learn how to better manage your money, and invest for your future. Private communication is not safe on Reddit.