You need a budget. No seriously, you really do. There’s no faster way to end up in the poor house than mismanaging your finances. Don’t worry though, you’re never too young or old to learn how to properly budget. There are a variety of books, services and guides to help you master your budget.
You Need a Budget (YNAB) is a personal budgeting platform that’s been very popular since its inception in 2004. There are official apps on iOS and Android, but none for Windows Phone. That’s fine since we now have Divvy for YNAB, a new third-party client for YNAB that looks and performs beautifully. Let’s check it out.
You Need a Budget (YNAB)
Before we get into the app, it’s worth taking some time to talk about YNAB (youneedabudget.com). It’s a budgeting platform that hopes to break the paycheck-to-paycheck trap a lot of people fall into. YNAB has four simple rules that help you escape debt and save money. Here are those rules:
- Rule 1: Give every dollar a job
- Rule 2: Save for a rainy day
- Rule 3: Roll with the punches
- Rule 4: Live on last month’s income
Want to learn more about the YNAB method? Then hit up their website for all the info you could want.
It seems simple enough and has helped tens of thousands of people get back on track for financial success. YNAB isn’t free, but you can trial the service for a full 34 days before deciding if it’s for you. If you like it, be prepared to spend $60 for a license (P.S. College students get YNAB for free!). With that license you get YNAB version 4 on all your computers. There are desktop apps for PC and Mac users, plus mobile apps for iPhone and Android users. We on Windows Phone will probably want to check out Divvy for YNAB. So let’s check it out.
Divvy for YNAB
You’ll need an active license to use Divvy for YNAB on Windows Phone. That could be either a trial or purchased license, which is great if you’re just finding out about YNAB today and actually do want to take it for a spin. Here’s what the version 1.0 of the app gives you:
- Access to your Cloud-Sync enabled budgets stored within Dropbox
- Read only view of budgets, categories, accounts, payees, etc.
- Favorite categories & accounts for fast access
- Live Tiles for each Budget (transparent for Windows Phone 8.1 users!)
- Offline Transactions
- Globalization support for differing Currency & Date cultures
- Password protected
- Attractive, fast, and fluent modern UI
YNAB uses Dropbox to sync your budgets from app to app. You’ll need to set up your account through the YNAB desktop app if you’re brand new to the service. That’s also where you can start the free trial to YNAB.
The app itself is really nice. The developer worked with Arturo Toledo (@arturot) on the logo and design, which is why it has such a clean, ‘Metro’ look to it. Functionality is great too. If you’re already a YNAB user there’s little to no reason not to pick this up. You get access to all your budgets when you’re away from your PC.
Divvy for YNAB comes to us from Windows Phone developer Tim Gabhrel (@timgabrhel). And even though it’s just version 1.0, it’s very good. Seriously, go thank him for the hard work! Plus give him feedback on what you’d like to see next with Divvy for YNAB.
The app is free, but will require a few in-app purchases to remove ads and enable extra features. $1.49 drops the ads or you can pay $3.99 to go ‘pro’ to drop the ads, gain Live tiles, offline transactions and more. We went pro with Divvy for YNAB on Windows Phone.
Download Divvy for YNAB from the Windows Phone Store!
