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?

  • HelloThereEnglish
    1•1 year ago
    • Make sure the goal is the “needed for spending” type goal
    • Assign the incoming payments from family members against the cellphone category
    • If those payments have arrived and they are marked as cleared, then the goal should be green as incoming counts as spendable money. If those payments are in the future, they won’t be counted. Future can be tomorrow, or after the payment is taken, it doesn’t matter. If the money isn’t in your account it does not count.

    Easist way of doing this, assign the full amount and let the excess rollover to the next month. Then from that next month you’ll only ever need to budget your share, as you’ll be constantly rolling their payments to you.