I’m a longtime YNAB user but I’m considering switching over to Emma because the account sync is so good.
I’ve set up the app and I’ve filled out a budget. There’s one thing that’s confusing me though…
How do I save up for an infrequent expense over a few months? For example I get an invoice for my water bill that’s about £100 every 6 months. I’d like to save up for that over the period rather than budget nothing and then have one hard month where I budget £100.
In YNAB I would have a category for this and having an accumulating balance on that category.
I personally haven’t found a way to do this with Emma yet and is the biggest feature I miss from YNAB. Right now I budget things that I get billed for annually outside of Emma in a simple spreadsheet, but this would be a killer feature to add.
yes I agree this is missing. The budget needs to account for subscriptions that are less than monthly and prorate that as a commitment (as a minimum). So I know my insurance is annual, every month it should add 1/12 of the commitment I’ve still got to pay. Holidays are another expense that doesn’t average either.
Currently, the best way to handle transactions like these is to treat it like how you would treat savings.
If you have a payment of £60 due in 6 months, decrease your total monthly budget by £10. If you stick to budget, you’ll have enough left to pay that payment.
Adjust accordingly if you don’t have a monthly budgeting period. Currently, your budget should only be set to what you’re planning to spend in that pay period. Any money your putting aside shouldn’t be budgeted for.
While this technique works for some, we know it could be much clearer or could work better by allowing you to include it in your budgets. It’s on the to-do list so keep an eye out
