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?
The "needed for spending" doesn’t take activity into account, it only looks at the budgeted money. By moving money out again you take away that money.
Maybe someone else (or the YNAB support) has a better solution for this, but afaik that’s the only thing you can do.
Setting the budget goal to what you intend to pay yourself is what I would recommend. (just another ynab user though.)